98104 Travel Guide
Art Hotels
Artsy People and People Wanting to Be Artsy Will Totally Love This
November 3, 2008 at 8:55 AM | 0 Comments
Seattle might be known for its coffee and its rain, but if you're visiting you might have a hard time making a day of drinking coffee and wearing raincoats. Never fear bored tourists, the Renaissance Seattle Hotel wants to cultivate the art lover inside of you.
General Manager Rene Neidhart, an art lover, will be taking advantage of their downtown location and leading patrons to the once-a-month First Thursday Art Walk:
Winding through the cobblestoned streets of downtown's oldest neighborhood, art patrons will accompany Neidhart to the cream of Seattle's art venues, enjoying complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvre as the tour progresses. With more than 60 galleries, coffeehouses and shops participating in the Art Walk, there's something for art aficionados of every stripe.
Sixty galleries is pretty overwhelming, but we hear it's choose you own adventure--you decide which art strikes your fancy and when you'd rather sit back and enjoy that complimentary wine.
We found a room for $229 for November's Art Walk this Thursday.
[Photo: First Thursday Art Walk]
Seattle Hotels
Arctic Club Hotel Forgets the Little Things
October 28, 2008 at 9:26 AM | 0 Comments
The New York Times checked into the Arctic Club Hotel this weekend and came back with a review that reads like your girlfriend’s account of why she finally broke up with that guy who was sooooo good looking, but inattentive.
The Times loved the hotel’s “dashing” back story—it’s on the National Register of Historic Places, having been designed in 1916—and it’s “handsome, spacious L-shaped rooms,” but as the writer’s mother often says, “handsome is as handsome does,” and it’s in the things that matter where the Arctic Club Hotel falls short.
The writer and his family arrived “to find no one to greet us or take our bags,” leaving them to haul their own luggage. Their room was without the promised coffees or teas, an inexcusable offense for sure, but the final insult came when the writer had to fix his own toilet that wouldn’t flush. (Though it’s unclear whether the writer called the front desk for help before taking matters into his own—hopefully eventually washed—hands.)
The bottom line? Despite the witty design and accommodating staff, “the hotel still isn’t getting the details right,” and so the Times dropped the Arctic Club Hotel like a bad habit.
Hotel Openings
Seattle To Get a New Old Luxury Hotel
July 8, 2008 at 12:00 PM | 0 Comments
The Arctic Club Hotel in Seattle will open its doors for the first time on Wednesday but unlke most new hotspots popping up these days, this hotel comes with its own interesting history.
The Arctic Club was an exclusive gentlemen's club formed in 1908 and filled with members who had made their wealth in Alaska with Klondike gold. Naturally, a men's club of this stature needed a headquarters so the building at 700 Third Ave became the Arctic Club Building, complete with ivory walrus tusks on the wall.
Now 100 years and 1 spot on the National Register of Historic Places later, the building has been reborn as a high-end hotel.
Luxury Hotels
Where the Cast of 'Grey's Anatomy' Might Stay in Seattle
March 9, 2007 at 12:19 PM | 0 Comments
A few cast members of Grey's Anatomy got some serious pay raises this week--Meredith is making 200k an episode, the others are getting around 125k--meaning they are close to making at least $3 million a season. So we wondered with all this money in the bank, where would these Seattle Grace "doctors" stay if they were to actually visit Seattle one day?
We looked at what was near the city's Swedish Medical Center which has state-of-the-art surgical facilities and found that the Hotel Sorrento was only a few blocks away.
The hotel is 7-story, European-style (small) hotel that's almost a hundred years old where the staff prides themselves on their excellent service. All of which is perfect for a bunch of Hollywood celebs.
Even though this is a luxury hotel, the regular standard room just won't do. But the 1,850 sq.ft. Penthouse Suite will. There's a master bedroom with a king bed, 400 thread-count linens and a pillow menu; a marble bathroom with a double-sink vanity, and a "fill from the ceiling" air jetted tub; a living area with a baby grand piano; a dining room, library and best of all, an outdoor terrace overlooking Seattle skyline.
Yet, if the cast wants something a little more Hollywood they can book the hotel's music suite which features:
music memorabilia as eclectic as Kelly Clarkson and Black Sabbath--you'll even find a guitar played by The Who. The living space and bedroom boast a collection so whimsically selected it's sure to amuse every guest who loves to turn up the stereo.
Some other hotel perks? The place is smoke-free, pet friendly and internet access is free for the first 24 hours.
Related Stories:
· Hotel Sorrento reviews [TripAdvisor]
· "Grey's Anatomy" stars get pay rises [Yahoo!]
Seattle Hotel Reviews
Hotel 1000 Sees You When You're Sleeping
October 16, 2006 at 11:06 AM | 1 Comment
New York Times reporter Jamie Gross recently checked into Seattle's Hotel 1000 wondering if he should be expecting a scene from the Jetsons since he read on the hotel website about their high-tech amenities (a tub that fills from the ceiling, infrared occupancy sensors.)
However, walking into the place, Gross reports the lobby is just like any other--boring but stylish.
Appparently, all the high-tech stuff takes place behind the scenes. Aside from the tub, nothing may be cooler than the fact that housekeeping will never knock on your door here; their infrared occupancy sensors will also tell the front desk and hence, the whole place that your room is still occupied and thus needs no housekeeping yet.
The amenities don't stop there, these rooms are stocked:
[A] smart minibar that tells housekeeping when you're out of beer; an ultrahigh-speed Internet connection; and, most impressively, a 40-inch L.C.D. screen that does quadruple duty as a 5.1 virtual surround-sound theater, computer screen, satellite radio and digital art gallery. There's also a nifty touch-screen VoIP phone that schedules wake-up calls, summons your car from the valet, orders breakfast and checks weather and flight status -- all with surprising ease.
And in case you were wondering, that WiFi is free.
Gross also assures us that despite the high-tech gadgetry world of Hotel 1000, they still manage to create a cozy environment with warm earth tones and a comfy bedspread and plenty of pillows.
But we have to wonder if the staff is also watching the infrared occupancy sensors of our rooms as some sort of "Predator Movie" watching the two red bodies moving closer to each other in the blue light of the room.
Related Stories:
· Check In Check Out [New York Times]
· Hotel 1000 Reviews [TripAdvisor]
Celebrity Scoop
Seattle Hotel Houses Pro Athletes
September 12, 2005 at 4:16 PM | 0 Comments
A HotelChatter reader let's us know that if you are in Seattle lookin' to score a professional athlete, or an autograph from one, you might want to hang out at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel.
Apparently, last month the Chicago White Sox spent a couple days at the hotel and were spotted in the lobby and in the bar.
The reader said this property was known for hosting visiting teams in Seattle.
Related Stories:
· Renaissance Seattle Hotel Reviews [TripAdvisor]
