Sleepless in Seattle
Made a last minute reservation on the cheap to downtown Seattle for business, as I had a morning meeting across the street at The Fairmont. I'm usually quick to always read reviews of hotels before booking; OMG my mistake for not doing so this time. The 1-star or less reviews I've now read are consistently accurate about the poor conditions of the room and property in general. Filthy carpet (don't dare go barefoot). Very very old everything! Since I was there in early Nov. the lack of A/C was no big deal. The tiny radiator in the corner was to be the entire rooms only source of heat which has no thermostat associated with it...and at 5am sharp you heard it fire up with the sounds of someone constantly (every 10 secs) beating a pipe wrench on steel pipes about 2 feet away which last for 15 min. (No need for an alarm clock, as the radiator imitates a jack-hammer sound inside your room). Like others, the paint was cracking and peeling from the ceiling in literally dozens of places, and the wallpaper was peeling and is dismal need of repair throughout. The bedspread was littered with cigarette burn holes...interesting considering it was a non-smoking room. The mattress was like cardboard and was advertised as a queen, but was only slightly larger than a twin. Bathroom was basic (free soap, but that's it, no hair dryer, etc) and survivable but the only outlet was on the back wall next to shower was just plain odd. The bath towels were clean but quite thin.
On the good news side, the front desk staff were very cheerful and friendly...attitudes might have changed if I'd given them my review of this old run down dump of a hotel during checkout - I figured they'd heard all the horror stories already, and perhaps I'm just a spoiled American who has higher expectations having typically stayed in higher-end big name hotels. For $100/night, I guess I got what I paid for which was location!
If you can afford to spend another $75/night there's plenty of other choices nearby that you'll actually be able to NOT BE sleepless in Seattle.