Post-Prime 2013 Hotel Discussion

GeeCee

Post your experiences with your hotel from this year!

I stayed at the Grand Hyatt for this first time this year, and I was quite disappointed by what I got (small room, lousy service, shoddy housekeeping) for the price premium over the other nearby hotels. I would have much rather gone to the Sheraton or the Homewood, but I had heard some complaints around the Homewood this year despite being amazed the two previous years when I had stayed there.

Quintious

Pro tip for 2014: Instead of spending $500 a night and cramming 9 people into a room (as I see a lot of people do), get a hotel in nearby Mercer Island (the nicest part of the Seattle metro area) and either express bus it or cab it to the convention centre. Even if you cab it every day, the $40 you'll spend round trip will still result in a net savings of hundreds of dollars per night, and it's only like 8 minutes away.

I'm local, so can't offer any advise on downtown area hotels (other than I know the Westin on 6th and Virginia is nice), but I think people tend to not think about the fact that if you cab 8 minutes to the con, or walk 14 minutes to the con...just because you're further away doesn't mean you're further away, if you get my meaning

alkihaul

Renassaince Marriot was a typical Marriot - clean rooms, good service, and a short walk through the park to PAX everyday. The room has two twin beds and adequate room to have a air mattress on the floor, and 7 or 8 people in the room to drink etc. The bar downstairs has a giant 12 person table which is great for cards and board games, and lots of other spaces to setup a game of something, despite the bar service lacking.

My only complaint would be the doorman lying to us about Washington cabs only being able to take 4 people (vans can take 6) and trying to push us to use the 'premium car service' which is much more costly then a cab of which I am sure they are getting a kick back.

Would stay there again.

DuelLadyS

The Red Lion was kind of a weird mix of things... pro: in room mini fridge that allowed us to bring some nicer snacks. Con: having a low-flow toilet on the 16th floor resulted in lots of multiple flushes. :S Pro: gorgeous view of the water from our room. Con: weird, loud wind-tunnel whistling whenever the room door was shut. We fixed that by keeping a towel along the bottom of it.

The room itself was small, but functional- I've stayed in bigger rooms that weren't laid out as well, so they were actually harder to manage in. The shower was nice (some hotels have lousy showerheads), but I should have preferred a mini soap bar to a mini shower gel. The comforter is one of the first hotel blankets I haven't thrown off because it was way too hot- but the pillows were inconsistent and awful. I woke up with a migraine Saturday and spent the day on pain meds. We sorted through all the pillows that night and found one I could manage with, thankfully.

House keeping was good the first 2 nights, but not as much the third... to be fair, we were in the room when they came by and I think they were rushing to get out of our way. We had the same fellow at the counter for check-in/out, and he was very nice. It's also a much shorter walk then I realized. All in all- I'd have no problem staying there again.

zerzhul

For me personally, Homewood was stellar as always. There were definitely some others that had issues, but I did not.

vespachica

Quintious wrote: »

Pro tip for 2014: Instead of spending $500 a night and cramming 9 people into a room (as I see a lot of people do), get a hotel in nearby Mercer Island (the nicest part of the Seattle metro area) and either express bus it or cab it to the convention centre. Even if you cab it every day, the $40 you'll spend round trip will still result in a net savings of hundreds of dollars per night, and it's only like 8 minutes away.

I'm local, so can't offer any advise on downtown area hotels (other than I know the Westin on 6th and Virginia is nice), but I think people tend to not think about the fact that if you cab 8 minutes to the con, or walk 14 minutes to the con...just because you're further away doesn't mean you're further away, if you get my meaning

There are hotels on M.I. now? Since when? 2010? And I would definitely argue against it being "the nicest part of the Seattle metro area" but, obviously, YMMV.

Aractor

Stayed at the Red Lion with my group this year, we've traditionally stayed at the Hilton in the passed but wanted to try and avoid hiking up the hill this year, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The room itself might have been slightly smaller than our usual Hilton room, but the use of the space was much better making it feel more open overall. I did feel the pillows were a bit of the soft side, but one call down to the front desk & we had 4 additional pillows brought up to the room solving the issue altogether.

The only real complaint I had was that if we missed the ~8am house keeping opportunity, it seemed like they didn't get back to our room until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but a couple of times I was trying to catch a quick power nap when they came by the second time & it was either let them take care of the room or go without for the day. :?

*edit* I can't believe I forgot to mention the free in-room WIFI! We'd planned ahead to try and get tricky about tracking down some usable WIFI while in the hotel room, but it was really nice to have free (and fairly quick) in-room WIFI available with no fuss at all.

Rebelled

Also stayed at the Red Lion. 6 people in a 2 queen bed room. It was alright. The toilet was intense.. It made everything disappear. Beds were comfy, even the floor was.. except it got really cold at night. Mini-fridge filled with beer and vanilla coke, easy access to the Elephant. We never ran into Housekeeping since we got up at 6am and were gone from 7am to at least 5pm. We'd come back and our beds would be made, fresh towels and stuff.

We also had really fun elevator rides and it was close to the convention center.

Oh, right. AMC & Adult Swim was available on the television so we watched Breaking Bad at the Hotel.. I really enjoyed that.

drunken_bard

I planned this trip very last minute as a getaway from stress in life... so i had to suffer the last minute 'deals' on the PAX hotel deals. I managed to snag a hotel room for the Friday night which i was thankful for, but when i asked if it was at all possible to extend my stay if the room was free... they just informed me that i would have to go to the regular rate of the room... which was pretty much double the cost almost.

The other issue i had with the hotel is that i was confirmed for a single king sized bed suite.. but when i arrived, i was given two double beds. I'm not really complaining about the beds, but i just wished that they would have told me ahead of time that they switched me into a double bed room, just so that i could help out a fellow PAX goer if they needed a place to stay.

All in all.. i'm going to plan this trip well ahead next year, Still had a blast though!

SwordMage

Third year in the Sheraton, and it was again a good time. Right next to the convention center, with a good bar downstairs in the lounge (I really like the changes they seem to have made since last year).

PocketJelly

Stayed at the Sheraton with 7 of us. Despite my stress about Sheraton staff repeatedly telling me over the phone/email that my two double beds were only requests and not guaranteed, we got two rooms with two double beds in each, it was great. Also, the free WiFi and mini fridge in the rooms was a nice surprise.

I do wish that they had the hot tub in the pool room that they had last year though... does anyone know why they removed it?

Traitorious

Stayed at the Red Lion this year (3 different hotels for the 3 years I've gone), and had an overall decent stay. Staff was very friendly, and the mini-fridge was a life saver when I bought a 64oz thing of juice not thinking about how I was going to refrigerate it after opening. I might still prefer the Grand Hyatt over it (and the Sheraton) as the bathroom was definitely cramped all the way around.

Rebelled

Oh, reminds me. Red Lion Hotel.. Bathroom doors with glass.. So people could pretty much see you.. atleast that's what we had in our room. Had to establish a Don't go near the bathroom if someone is in it rule.

MissFish

Question for all you out of towners:

My whole group is local, so we kinda used my house as an impromptu hotel, but next year we're looking at renting a room so we can go back and power nap (we ended up leaving by 4 every day).

Was it hard enough to get rooms that it'd be really mean of us to rent one we don't particularly need? Or was the availability there that we wouldn't be competing?

I really wouldn't want to knock someone out of a room because we can't be bothered to drive 30 minutes outside the city.

Komi

Stayed at the Crown Plaza this year, I don't think I'll be going to that one again.

Aside from the fact that it was a bit of an uphill climb (out of shape + 8 hours on your feet in lines = WHYYYY), the room was kind of beaten up looking, the bathroom seemed like it wasn't as maintained as a bathroom in a hotel of that price range should be, and housekeeping was also a bit shoddy in my experience. The toilet when flushed was extremely loud and woke up people in our room when it got used in the mornings. The AC was also near impossible to actually do anything to as the thermostat would constantly reset itself and we couldn't get it to turn on or off when we needed it to, so the room was almost constantly in a state of too cold or too hot.

I dunno if I've got enough hotel experience under my belt to be that critical, but compared to the Westin (which was cheaper overall) and the Doubletree at east (also cheaper.), this just seemed like a bit of a bust and I really don't think I'll stay there again.

Also noise complaints. That's not really the hotels fault, but it seemed like we were staying on a floor with people that liked to make noise but complain about others making noise.

SwordMage

PocketJelly wrote: »

Stayed at the Sheraton with 7 of us. Despite my stress about Sheraton staff repeatedly telling me over the phone/email that my two double beds were only requests and not guaranteed, we got two rooms with two double beds in each, it was great. Also, the free WiFi and mini fridge in the rooms was a nice surprise.

They did? I called them about a week before PAX and confirmed our double-occupancy was set.

We'd booked through OnPeak, which was apparently the reason for the free WiFi.

GeeCee

Did anyone stay at the Roosevelt by chance? It looks pretty nice from their website and fairly inexpensive compared to the Hyatt.

Lindabear

My group and I stayed at the Sheraton. We were really pleased. Free WiFi, and of course, those over 21 could use the mini-fridge/bar so that was nice.

First day we arrived, we found the housekeepers dust rag on our bed... told the hotel and they gave us a $30 credit toward any food used within the hotel (and we used the Daily Grill!). Then, our bathroom door handle fell off (don't ask how...), and the repairman came and fixed it without charge. The staff = Really great overall. I would definitely stay here again next year!

Fenrisfang

Not sure I want to be sharing this as I want to stay there again next year...but we stayed at the Paramount Hotel last year and this year and it was great! Hubby and I got a room with a king bed and it had plenty of room in it. Small fridge in the room and the hotel included wifi. The staff there is always smiling and willing to give you a hand (from the front desk, to the cleaning staff to the valet). The front staff even gave us a cheer to keep us going when we were headed back to drop some stuff off before heading out Sunday night. I would highly recommend them.

Voro

I solo'd the Sheraton and it was my first PAX. The extra money definitely wasn't spent on the room. I've had better for less. The shower was fairly low pressure, and there was zero conditioner given until the third morning. The outer door did absolutely nothing to dull hallway noise. Being the second door away from elevators on the 5th floor, I routinely heard people talking once every 5-15 minutes until as late as midnight. Then again, it was convention center adjacent. Being able to return and drop off stuff or just recover for a few minutes was a huge plus. I had to pay for wifi and was sad that the room wifi is not available on the lobby, second, or third floors.

Aercadia

First time at the Grand Hyatt. My BF was surprised when we got to our room - apparently last year he had been put in a corner room, which is MUCH larger, but we ended up with 4 people in a regular 1-king room. Still plenty of space, as long as we kept our stuff from wandering all over the floor. We got 1 rollaway and had one PAXer on the floor, so next year maybe we will request a corner or try for a double room (but the expense!)! Bathroom was gorgeous - glass shower with amazing pressure and hot/cold water at all hours, soaking tub (fell asleep in that tub), one sink but lots of counter space, no problem for 4 people's effects. STELLAR location, no problems with service (we did not require any special service, just check-in/check-out, and rooms were made up during the day with no issue), and no noisy neighbors. Would stay there again!

Rhiley

We stayed at the Westin and have to say we came away a little disappointed. I have stayed in Westins all over and this one was probably among the worst. The staff was not rude but they were also not very friendly and the building seemed to be a little neglected. We had a light in our room that would not turn off and when the maintenance guy eventually arrived he said that they have cheap switches that break all the time. I'm sure that whatever electrical issue they had on Sunday morning that shut down the stairs and elevators leaving a ton of people stranded in the lobby didn't help my impression either.

skylatron

I stayed at an AirBnB place this year right next to the Renaissance and while I am totally OK roughing it in a room with air mattresses and one bathroom and just an over all tiny space with 6 other people - NO. Never again. It was so far The closest I've ever stayed was at the Hilton so I'd love to be there, or some place even closer, next year.

I'd still recommend an AirBnB place to save some dough though. It's just not for me, being that far away.

JenniLyne

I'm going to speak up for the Crowne Plaza. Our room was spacious (we somehow ended up with a suite) and the staff was always helpful, particularly the concierge. If you've never bothered the concierge at a major hotel, I strongly recommend doing so. I always run my tourist plans by them and make sure I've planned everything well. When you aren't sure exactly what you want to do, the concierge is always helpful when given a money estimate and a time cap of what you want. They will often make your reservations and everything for you. Even if certain things are sold out, they can sometimes still get you in with their connections. The concierge is your best friend at the hotel. Mini fridges in the rooms and luggage service that would store your bags after/before checkout were also really worth it.

The uphill walk was a little annoying, the internet was hit and miss, and the elevators took FOREVER in the morning - but overall it was a great experience. I would happily stay there again.

taliosfalcon

stayed in the red lion for the first time and it was mostly ok, their elevators are slow which often led to 5 minute or so waits for one but whatevs, the main issue we had was our rooms temperature control appeared to do nothing, no heat, no AC, and in the middle of the night it was freezing, and during the day stiflingly hot. Going back to the sheraton next year.

helen0rz

Komi wrote: »

Stayed at the Crown Plaza this year, I don't think I'll be going to that one again.

Aside from the fact that it was a bit of an uphill climb (out of shape + 8 hours on your feet in lines = WHYYYY), the room was kind of beaten up looking, the bathroom seemed like it wasn't as maintained as a bathroom in a hotel of that price range should be, and housekeeping was also a bit shoddy in my experience. The toilet when flushed was extremely loud and woke up people in our room when it got used in the mornings. The AC was also near impossible to actually do anything to as the thermostat would constantly reset itself and we couldn't get it to turn on or off when we needed it to, so the room was almost constantly in a state of too cold or too hot.

I dunno if I've got enough hotel experience under my belt to be that critical, but compared to the Westin (which was cheaper overall) and the Doubletree at east (also cheaper.), this just seemed like a bit of a bust and I really don't think I'll stay there again.

Also noise complaints. That's not really the hotels fault, but it seemed like we were staying on a floor with people that liked to make noise but complain about others making noise.

huh. That's interesting. This was my second year at Crowne Plaza, and I had no issue whatsoever. The hill wasn't too bad, it could be better, but I didn't have an issue with that. Our bathrooms were always maintained and housekeeping were courteous (especially the first day, they showed up at 8ish in the morning and realized that might have been early, and they didn't do that after. Didn't have an issue with it though as we were about to leave the room for the day). The toilet flushing is indeed a little loud, but I find that if you flush with the door shut it's no problem at all. Our thermostat didn't reset, but I do notice when it's auto on 68, it's too cold, but if you do 70 it can be a bit warm for people that are tend to be on the hot side.

What floor did you stay on by the way? it seemed like they tried to put PAXers on the lower floors as much as possible and have the other non-PAXers at the higher level. This was evident when what was supposed to be my room was not checked out the day I got there, so lady had to give me the room in the 19th floor instead of the 9th floor like she originally wanted to.

Traitorious

taliosfalcon wrote: »

stayed in the red lion for the first time and it was mostly ok, their elevators are slow which often led to 5 minute or so waits for one but whatevs, the main issue we had was our rooms temperature control appeared to do nothing, no heat, no AC, and in the middle of the night it was freezing, and during the day stiflingly hot. Going back to the sheraton next year.

Oh yeah forgot about that. Our room's temp control was also busted. Had to turn it up to 83 on the dial to get it even remotely feeling like low 70s in the room. Also, Red Lion decided to charge everything to my card (I was the first one to arrive and they needed a card for the first night hold/incidentals) even though one of my other roommates had already paid ahead of time (they are working to reverse it at least.)

PAX_RPGA_Coordinator

My group stayed at the Red Lion. Booked 5 rooms, paid over $4k... they downsized three of the rooms from two-double beds to one bed without a word. That's incredibly inconvenient as I had booked three people into those doubles. I hate to even do that... I like to provide ample space. Hoping for happy resolution.

Booked through OnPeak.

un_r

We stayed at the Sheraton, after the Westin last year. It was better and cheaper than the Westin, but that seems to be true of almost everywhere else in Seattle. The room we got was near the elevator so we got a little extra noise but not much. The downsides: no free wifi for us, and the bathroom door appeared not to fit in the door jamb leading to it making ominous cracking noises when I tried to shut it the first night. Not fond of the $14 a small dram of Malt at the bar either.

Booked via Expedia.

Clix

I stayed at the Courtyard Marriott in Pioneer Square. The construction going on for the building facade did nothing to diminish a nice stay. The only drawback that I can think of is the fairly long walk to/from the convention center. My wife and I didn't mind the walk, but out of shape folks probably wouldn't care for it. It made for a good morning routine, hit up one of the five Starbucks on our way to Pikes Place Market and grab breakfast, then walk and eat the rest of the way to the convention. The part that stunk was the time it could take to get back to our room to swag dump, or use a private bathroom.

zannah

GeeCee wrote: »

Did anyone stay at the Roosevelt by chance? It looks pretty nice from their website and fairly inexpensive compared to the Hyatt.

I'm local, but have stayed at the Roosevelt in the last year. It's fairly plain + the room wasn't that big, but it was clean and comfortable.

StarYoshi

I stayed at the Crowne Plaza (As I did in 2009) and it was A-OK. The housekeeping staff was punctual and effective, the staff was friendly/helpful, and the room was comfortable. It feels a bit dated compared to more modern hotels (and Wi-Fi isn't free), but I have no strong complaints. The walk can be a bit daunting if you're not up to the physical rigors, I suppose. I saved a bit of $$$ vs staying at a closer hotel (Although the Crowne Plaza isn't far from the convention center, either).

helen0rz

StarYoshi wrote: »

I stayed at the Crowne Plaza (As I did in 2009) and it was A-OK. The housekeeping staff was punctual and effective, the staff was friendly/helpful, and the room was comfortable. It feels a bit dated compared to more modern hotels (and Wi-Fi isn't free), but I have no strong complaints. The walk can be a bit daunting if you're not up to the physical rigors, I suppose. I saved a bit of $$$ vs staying at a closer hotel (Although the Crowne Plaza isn't far from the convention center, either).

The wifi was complimentary. They give you a little slip of paper with the wifi access code when you check in

shrapnel

We stayed at the Mayflower Park through OnPeak. It was maybe 5 blocks from the WSCC and was right across the street from the Westin (where PAX Dev is held).

They were able to charge my debit card up front and do pay-as-you-go incidentals so I didn't have to have a gigantic hold on the card for the whole week pending payment at checkout.

The showerhead was crazy-short for our tall group and the bathroom wasn't ventilated, but otherwise no problem with the facilities. The single queen room was a touch on the small side when you consider what you're paying--cramming an air mattress on the floor would consume all available space--but wasn't a problem for us. No complaints about the bed. They had free wifi, though it was pretty slow at peak times. No fridge, just a safe, iron, hair dryer, relatively tiny TV, and a super-handy power strip in the desk drawer for all our gadgetry.

They only had two elevators so the average wait was longer but never cripplingly long.

StarYoshi

helen0rz wrote: »

StarYoshi wrote: »

I stayed at the Crowne Plaza (As I did in 2009) and it was A-OK. The housekeeping staff was punctual and effective, the staff was friendly/helpful, and the room was comfortable. It feels a bit dated compared to more modern hotels (and Wi-Fi isn't free), but I have no strong complaints. The walk can be a bit daunting if you're not up to the physical rigors, I suppose. I saved a bit of $$$ vs staying at a closer hotel (Although the Crowne Plaza isn't far from the convention center, either).

The wifi was complimentary. They give you a little slip of paper with the wifi access code when you check in

The only slips I got were for $15 breakfast Perhaps they forgot to give it to me, heh. The Wi-Fi wasn't free in 2009, so I just assumed since I wasn't given such a slip :P I had fantastic 3g/4g access, though, so it wasn't an issue.

JenniLyne

StarYoshi wrote: »

helen0rz wrote: »

StarYoshi wrote: »

I stayed at the Crowne Plaza (As I did in 2009) and it was A-OK. The housekeeping staff was punctual and effective, the staff was friendly/helpful, and the room was comfortable. It feels a bit dated compared to more modern hotels (and Wi-Fi isn't free), but I have no strong complaints. The walk can be a bit daunting if you're not up to the physical rigors, I suppose. I saved a bit of $$$ vs staying at a closer hotel (Although the Crowne Plaza isn't far from the convention center, either).

The wifi was complimentary. They give you a little slip of paper with the wifi access code when you check in

The only slips I got were for $15 breakfast Perhaps they forgot to give it to me, heh. The Wi-Fi wasn't free in 2009, so I just assumed since I wasn't given such a slip :P I had fantastic 3g/4g access, though, so it wasn't an issue.

The wi-fi was only free if you booked through OnPeak, so that may have been part of it. To be honest, the wi-fi signal in our room was so weak, I just stuck with my 3G/4G phone connection anyway.

helen0rz

JenniLyne wrote: »

StarYoshi wrote: »

helen0rz wrote: »

StarYoshi wrote: »

I stayed at the Crowne Plaza (As I did in 2009) and it was A-OK. The housekeeping staff was punctual and effective, the staff was friendly/helpful, and the room was comfortable. It feels a bit dated compared to more modern hotels (and Wi-Fi isn't free), but I have no strong complaints. The walk can be a bit daunting if you're not up to the physical rigors, I suppose. I saved a bit of $$$ vs staying at a closer hotel (Although the Crowne Plaza isn't far from the convention center, either).

The wifi was complimentary. They give you a little slip of paper with the wifi access code when you check in

The only slips I got were for $15 breakfast Perhaps they forgot to give it to me, heh. The Wi-Fi wasn't free in 2009, so I just assumed since I wasn't given such a slip :P I had fantastic 3g/4g access, though, so it wasn't an issue.

The wi-fi was only free if you booked through OnPeak, so that may have been part of it. To be honest, the wi-fi signal in our room was so weak, I just stuck with my 3G/4G phone connection anyway.

That might be it. Last year the 3G/wifi sigil was really really bad, but this year everything was great. Hmm

Komi

helen0rz wrote: »

Komi wrote: »

Stayed at the Crown Plaza this year, I don't think I'll be going to that one again.

Aside from the fact that it was a bit of an uphill climb (out of shape + 8 hours on your feet in lines = WHYYYY), the room was kind of beaten up looking, the bathroom seemed like it wasn't as maintained as a bathroom in a hotel of that price range should be, and housekeeping was also a bit shoddy in my experience. The toilet when flushed was extremely loud and woke up people in our room when it got used in the mornings. The AC was also near impossible to actually do anything to as the thermostat would constantly reset itself and we couldn't get it to turn on or off when we needed it to, so the room was almost constantly in a state of too cold or too hot.

I dunno if I've got enough hotel experience under my belt to be that critical, but compared to the Westin (which was cheaper overall) and the Doubletree at east (also cheaper.), this just seemed like a bit of a bust and I really don't think I'll stay there again.

Also noise complaints. That's not really the hotels fault, but it seemed like we were staying on a floor with people that liked to make noise but complain about others making noise.

huh. That's interesting. This was my second year at Crowne Plaza, and I had no issue whatsoever. The hill wasn't too bad, it could be better, but I didn't have an issue with that. Our bathrooms were always maintained and housekeeping were courteous (especially the first day, they showed up at 8ish in the morning and realized that might have been early, and they didn't do that after. Didn't have an issue with it though as we were about to leave the room for the day). The toilet flushing is indeed a little loud, but I find that if you flush with the door shut it's no problem at all. Our thermostat didn't reset, but I do notice when it's auto on 68, it's too cold, but if you do 70 it can be a bit warm for people that are tend to be on the hot side.

What floor did you stay on by the way? it seemed like they tried to put PAXers on the lower floors as much as possible and have the other non-PAXers at the higher level. This was evident when what was supposed to be my room was not checked out the day I got there, so lady had to give me the room in the 19th floor instead of the 9th floor like she originally wanted to.

We got put on the 33rd floor, I imagine that might have everything to do with it. It was the floor that required the key card to get to, and from what I saw of the people staying on that floor we were the only PAXers on it.

helen0rz

Man I would love to be on that floor. It seems really cool to be higher up

PikaPuff

zerzhul wrote: »

For me personally, Homewood was stellar as always. There were definitely some others that had issues, but I did not.

Homewood's terrible. No one else should go there. But since SOMEONE has to, I will brave it and go there every year. So will zerzhul. And my friends.

zerzhul

Oh, right, *cough* nobody should ever go there.... (am I doing this right?)