98101 Travel Guide
Tags: Celebrity Scoop / Al Gore / Green Hotels / Seattle Hotels / Political Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / → All Tags
Al Gore Keeps It Local at Hotel Vintage Park
If you watched "30 Rock" last night then you may have seen former Vice President Al Gore make a confusing cameo as an eco-concerned janitor for Rockefeller Center (above.) But if you were dining at Tulio Ristorante inside the Hotel Vintage Park in Seattle the other night, then you would have seen Al Gore live, in person.
The veep was in town for a town hall meeting to promote his new book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis. He stopped in at Tulio which serves authentic Italian cuisine, for some halibut washed down with cabernet. According to the hotel peeps, he was very gracious to the staff and shook everyone's hand who came by to said hi. Some girls also said he was quite handsome. Hmm, he did look slimmer on "30 Rock" last night.
Tags: Twilight Hotels / Kimpton Hotels / Seattle Hotels / Hotel Contests / Hotel News / Kristen Stewart / Robert Pattinson / → All Tags
Hotel Monaco Seattle is Hosting 'Twilight' Look-a-Like Contest
We live in the Pacific Northwest, so we can say in complete confidence that Edward and Bella mania is at full-tilt levels of bat sh*t crazy. You can buy a replica of the heart-shaped crystal charm Edward gives to Bella, dine on mushroom ravioli at Bella Italia and even visit the Forks Community Hospital where Dr. Cullen works.
We’ve even heard that some hotels in Port Angeles, Forks and La Push on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula (the center of "Twilight" activity) are whoring out rundown motel rooms at $150 and up – because they can take the tourism bucks and run.
We love these coastal towns for a daytrip or an afternoon of waves, but they’re kinda depressing. Then again, that's absolutely perfect for a vampire series.
Tags: Deal or No Deal / Hotel Minibars / Hotel Deals / Seattle Hotels / → All Tags
The Hotel Max Wants $100 Extra To Let You Kind Of, Sort Of 'Raid The Honor Bar'
Through the rest of the year Seattle's Hotel Maxis running a deal where visitors get to "Raid The Honor Bar" for 1/2 off normal prices. The honor bar, which we're proud to say isn't even on our radar except that's where the Hangover Water lives, tends to be particular well-stocked at boutique hotels like the Max. In addition to the usual mini-bar items the package comes with toiletry kits, a Hotel Max Robe, a t-shirt, and an "intimacy kit."
Minor problem: you'll be paying so much more over the usual hotel rate that it's quite unlikely you'll come out ahead. There's even an interpretation under which you'd be getting "ripped off."
Tags: Hotel Restaurants / Kimpton Hotels / Seattle Hotels / → All Tags
Things We Like: Free Lunch at Hotel Monaco in Seattle
We could tawk all the day long about the things we like about Hotel Monaco. For starters, it’s extremely dog friendly (the hotel's publicist has pix of pups on her business card.) The almighty F&B powers-that-be give us more days and hours than your standard Seattle happy hour--Monday through Saturday, 4 – 8 p.m.
And we know we’ll never be the next Kurt Cobain, but Hotel Monaco entertains our inner rock star with Guitar Hero on Fridays in the lobby from 5 to 6 p.m. during hosted wine hour. Wine + wannabe rock star antics = F-U-N.
Lastly, Chef Jason McClure hosts quarterly Little Bit of Lovin’ cooking classes. The next one is October 17th, $50 per person, theme to be determined.
Tags: Killer View / Seattle Hotels / Westin Hotels / → All Tags
It's Worth It to Stay Way Up There at The Westin Seattle
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
HotelChatter Flickr Group member Kyle.Britten dropped in this shot from the Westin Seattle into our HotelChatter Flickr Pool to show us just how pretty the view can get from the 47th floor, room 4737 to be exact. When you're up that high, you can see nearly as much as you can from the Space Needle as well as the needle itself.
While we'd prefer a small boutique hotel over the massive Westin Seattle towers (891 rooms in total), sometimes riding that elevator high up into the sky is worth it.
Rooms start this weekend at $199 a night. A bonus shot of the hotel's two towers, shot during our recent trip to Seattle in May, is after the jump.
Tags: Four Seasons Hotels / Seattle Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / Hotel Rumors / → All Tags
The Four Seasons Seattle Needs Some Help in The Kitchen
Try as we might, we can’t make heads or tails of what’s going on at the (newish) Four Seasons Hotel Seattle. Rumors have run rampant for weeks of huge hotel and restaurant staff layoffs (yeah, we get that we’re in a recession and this isn’t exactly earth-shattering hospitality industry news), but the one person who might get ole' heave-ho is the hotel's ART restaurant Executive Chef, Kerry Sear.
Name the local publication and since day one, the long-time local chef has gotten seriously panned. You’d think he’d step up his game a little bit – it is the Four Seasons but we’ve heard (and experienced) nothing that jives with what we’ve grown to expect from the Four Seasons brand.
Tags: Anti-View / Flickr / Snapshot / Seattle Hotels / Budget Hotels / → All Tags
The Moore Hotel's Anti-Views Strike Again
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.
Oh, gross. This sort of looks like a shipwreck, doesn't it? Or some sort of a Disneyworld ride that has to do with pirates and pillaging and the ocean?
Yes, well. This is the view from the Moore Hotel in Seattle — which comes with no caption or commentary or anything via ntoper on Flickr — and we've got a couple things to say about it: number one, bummer. Number two: this is the Moore Hotel's second offense — and if we look closely, we can see a little snippet of the scene out the last anti-view-victim's window.
But like we said before: the location of this hotel is killer — near Pike Place Market, Belltown and the Space Needle, and the "European-style" rooms (where the bathroom is down the hall) start at just $59. So, uh, we suppose you could, like, go outside of your room to see Seattle.
[Photo: ntoper]
Tags: Sleeping in Seattle / Hyatt Hotels / Seattle Hotels / Hotel Happy Hours / → All Tags
Urbane at Hyatt Olive 8 for Afternoon Delights
Over the weekend we spent a few days in Seattle checking out the city's coffee shops, fish markets and, of course, the hotel scene. This week we'll be putting forth our reviews and observations on Seattle's hotels, of which there are plenty. Got any questions or suggestions? Let us know.
One of our must-see hotels in Seattle was the brand-new, LEED-certified Hyatt at Olive 8. While we didn't spend the night, we did hit up the happy hour (from 4 to 6pm) at the Urbane restaurant just off the lobby.
The hotel is named for its location at Olive and 8th Streets in Seattle. It's a hop, skip and a jump away from the main shopping center, Pacific Place, and other department stores like Nordstrom and Barney's New York. If you want to be in the heart of it all, then you can stay at the Grand Hyatt but Hyatt at Olive 8 is on the edge of the action with less foot traffic out front.
But keep in mind, this is Seattle and not New York. So even the "busy" parts of town are extremely manageable. Happy hour at Urbane. Residences look unfinished/unoccupied.
Tags: Sleeping in Seattle / HotelChatter Reviews / Seattle Hotels / → All Tags
Sleeping in Seattle: The Hotel Max For a Hip, Budget-ish Stay
Over the weekend we spent a few days in Seattle checking out the city's coffee shops, fish markets and, of course, the hotel scene. This week we'll be putting forth our reviews and observations on Seattle's hotels, of which there are plenty. Got any questions or suggestions? Let us know.
Now that you've seen the video and the anti-view, here's our full take on the The Hotel Max.
As we said before, the Hotel Max is right in the center of downtown, close to the shops and the monorail but still within walking distance to everything. And it's right across the street from a bus stop. We rode the bus all the way down to the Seattle Mariners ballpark for a game and then back at night for a little over six bucks for two people. Excellent.
The hotel is in an older building, so the rooms are small (as are the lobby and elevators). But the Max perks everything up with its hip attitude (hello, pink logo!) and amenities for the modern traveler. We also thought the service at the hotel, from the front desk to the bellmen, was great. Helpful and friendly but not overbearing.
Tags: Anti-View / Sleeping in Seattle / Seattle Hotels / → All Tags
The Hotel Max Tries to Cover Up the Worst View in the House
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.
Yesterday we showed you a video of our room at the The Hotel Max, which was lovely. But this wasn't the first room that we were given. We were first given a room on the second floor at the end of the hall which had a separate room for the toilet and a separate room for the shower, both of which you had to "step up" into. Yeah, it was weird.
But topping off the room's weirdness was this anti-view looking out onto god knows what.
We give the Max props for putting in windows that shield some of the nastiness; and even though we were staying for only one night, we still wanted a room that wasn't part of a dungeon. Hence, we asked the front desk and we received. Phew!
Tags: Sleeping in Seattle / Hotel Video Tours / Boutique Hotels / → All Tags
Sleeping in Seattle: Inside the Hotel Max
Over the weekend we spent a few days in Seattle checking out the city's coffee shops, fish markets and, of course, the hotel scene. This week we'll be putting forth our reviews and observations on Seattle's hotels, of which there are plenty. Got any questions or suggestions? Let us know.
After we reluctantly left the bathtub at the Hotel 1000, we checked in next at The Hotel Max which we booked based on this recommendation.
The Hotel Max is located in the center of downtown Seattle close to the city's best shopping and the Seattle Monorail. It's still within walking distance to the famous Pike Place Market. Just bring some good walking shoes and prepare for some baby hills.
When we arrived at noon, the room was not ready so we dropped off our luggage and went exploring. We returned at 4pm and headed up to our room on the second floor which had a crazy layout and a major anti-view.
We'll have more on that tomorrow but here's the video from the room that we were given after we complained about the anti-view. Located on the 10th floor, it was much better.
Tags: Sleeping in Seattle / Seattle Hotels / Four Seasons Hotels / → All Tags
Sleeping in Seattle: The Four Seasons ART Lounge
Over the weekend we spent a few days in Seattle checking out the city's coffee shops, fish markets and, of course, the hotel scene. This week we'll be putting forth our reviews and observations on Seattle's hotels, of which there are plenty. Got any questions or suggestions? Let us know.
Just a few blocks up from the Hotel 1000 and one block from the must-see Pike Place Market is the new Four Seasons Hotel & Residences. When we sauntered by the place, there was a Ferrari parked out front. How cliche! Nevertheless, we decided we must head inside to check this place out. (We're such suckers!)
The Four Seasons came back to Seattle last fall with a new building consisting of 147 guest rooms, residences and views overlooking Elliot Bay.
While we didn't get to see any of the rooms, we were impressed with the lobby. Forget the stuffy old Four Seasons palace-look and in-your-face grandiosity. The design here is modern, sleek and clean but at the same time gentle and diverse. There's nothing stark or sterile about it.
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