With all the hullabaloo about the significance of Lucky Number 8 and the opening of the Olympic Games on 8-8-08 at 8pm, little surprise then that Hyatt's Olive 8 Hotel in Seattle is rolling out three new packages with Eight as the backbone. However, there is something a little different about this hotel than the others that have 8-8-08 deals---it's not open yet.
The hotel is expected to open in December but they still are trying to take advantage of the 8 date by offering three packages for people to use when the hotel does finally open.
HotelChatter contributing editor Tim Leffel is moving around the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. and Canada, seeing the hotel scene from a family travel perspective. If you have a question about where to stay in the region, hit us on the tipline, or just comment below, and we will do our best to get you some sort of answer. Enjoy.
Seattle's Mayflower Park Hotel first opened in 1927, built for $750,000 and in a move that was rare at the time, all 240 rooms had their own baths.
On the downside, this was during prohibition, so the current bar was then a drugstore. Double rooms ran from $3.50 to $7 and suites topped out at $10 during peak periods.
You will pay $289 a night a now for a suite under the "Family Fun Package," but in today's dollars, it's a good deal. For that price you get a true suite--as in put the kids in a different room--and some quality extras.
Although the W Hotels' insistence that we hotel guests refer to their lobby as the Living Room ranks high on our Things That Annoy Us About W Hotels list, we can't help but have a strong urge to book a flight to Seattle and park it in the living room of the W Seattle.
Look how cozy that looks! We can almost see ourselves there now. We'll even break out our old flannels and Doc Martens just for the trip. Yet we might need to dip into Kurt Cobain's estate to afford it. Both the hotel website and Expedia have rooms for this weekend at $238 a night (non-refundable and no cancellations allowed.)
What: A Guitar Hero III tournament where the winner gets two airline tickets on Southwest Airlines and a stay at the Kimpton FireSky Resort & Spa in Scottsdale.
To ensure your spot in the NCAA-bracket-style tournament, register online by emailing monacoguitarhero@yahoo.com. There are 64 slots open (if you register you get one of those slots), for any level (easy, medium or hard) and it costs $15 to enter. $20 if you are in pairs.
Everyone will get a custom tournament T-shirt, plus entry into a raffle with prizes like a tandem sky dive.
The whole thing is for a good cause as proceeds will benefit the Seattle Red Cross and a Monaco employee who lost his home in a fire.
This is probably our most ideal way to pass time in a hotel these days. That is, unless someone has RockBand!
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
Want to know where you can get such a spectacular anti-view of rooftop concrete and the windows of other downtown buildings? This special anti-view comes from the Westin Seattle.
To be fair, this view is the one you get from the tenth floor, which is the first floor of the building to include guest rooms, so it's obviously not intended to be the showcase floor. We figure that when you get higher up in the Westin, the views could improve considerably. In fact, the Westin website advertises its panoramic views, taking in Lake Union, Puget Sound and the nearby Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges, so pick the right room and you'll be better off.
If you're considering checking in to a higher floor of the Westin Seattle in the next week or so, be aware that the cafe inside the hotel will be closed until at least January 1 for some renovations. Pity they're not renovating those tenth floor rooms at the same time and installing some kind of fake view.
Once again, we are stalking the #1 rankings on TripAdvisor to find what they have ranked as the top hotels in cities throughout the nation.
This week our obsession took us to Seattle, where not only did we learn that the top property is the Grand Hyatt, but that the way to a guest's heart is a great bathroom. Case in point:
The bathroom was huge (almost bigger than the actual room). I absolutely loved it!
The room was a good size, but the bathroom was amazing!
The bathrooms are massive with a separate frameless shower and extra deep soaker tub with a waterfall faucet.
So hotel developers take note: it's not all about location, location, location. Although, we're sure that can't hurt. Afterall, who can soak in a tub while staying in a bad neighborhood?
Kimpton Hotels are always on point with the latest hotel trend so there pet package at the Hotel Monaco in Seattle is really no big surprise.
The fact that they are encouraging you to ring in the New Year with your best friend is a bit of a surpise. Titled "The Hair of the Dog" and currently selling for $319 a night, this package gives you and your pooch accommodations for one-night, along with:
· a "post-party" welcome amenity to help you start the New Year on the right foot · cold pizza delivered via Room Service on New Year's Day · a $20 mini-bar credit, complimentary valet parking · and a late check-out of 2pm.
Your pet will get their own special amenity which they/you can pick from the hotel's pet menu. Things we think our four-legged friend will like? A pet massage at the nearby Dog Spa and some appetizers/treats.
Already included in this pet package is complimentary water and food bowls, poop bags, and dog and cat tags with the hotel's phone # listed on them If however you fail to return the food and water bowls, $10.00 will be added to your bill.
[Ed. Note: Welcome to our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature where we look at hotel prices in the same city and decide which is better worth your hard-earned benjamins. The screenshot here was taken on August 22, 2006 and rates are subject to change.]
For location, some room to spread out, and a kitchen for beer and munchies, Summerfield Suites in Seattle looks like a winner for the Bumbershoot Festival over Labor Day Weekend.
Bumbershoot always features a great music lineup and this year is no exception. Besides a reunion from Tribe Called Quest, there's Kanye West, Spoon, the New Pornographers, some blasts from the past like Blondie, and a great comedy lineup. It takes place over Labor Day weekend, which is not always the easiest time to find a hotel deal. The Summerfield Suites downtown, however, is going for $135 a night.
There's a bit of confusion over this hotel: it used to be a Wyndham, now is part of Hyatt, and has rates that are all over the map depending on where you look. The price on Expedia is the best, with a few options under $150 per night for the 3-day weekend. The screen shot here says there's a charge for wireless, but it looks like from the main page this has been eliminated--quite appropriate in a city that's home to Microsoft, Amazon, and Real Networks.
The hotel is located near the downtown action and is 1.5 miles from where the festival takes place. Just hop on the monorail--no parking hassles. Try to get one of the quieter rooms away from the highway and if you're on a diet, take it easy on the free breakfast. One TripAdvisor reviewer says, "Continental breakfast is the usual caloric cocktail of mini-muffins, microscopic danish and other combinations of air, starch, crystallline sugar and chemicals."
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by annie0007
