Stayed at the Baroness Hotel for 5 days, 4 nights, on the fourth floor. Booked over the phone a little after I got tickets.
Besides that steep hike up the hill, it's location is okay. About 10min from the convention on foot. We had the room facing the Virginia Mason Inn and hospital, which I believe is partnered with the Baroness. It seemed to have been a little loud all day or night because there were these rooftop vents, and on the first night it got real warm. There is no AC and the windows are wired to have a narrow opening (they open by being pushed outwards, so likely they were preventing people from falling out).
I reserved the 2 queen studio, and I got what I asked for. Comfy beds and the pillows ranged from soft to firm, and plenty of blankets. The kitchenette was cute and included everything, even the fridge was huge enough to fit our groceries so when we cooked meals (and a freezer to make ice for our poor feet). Maybe a little shabby but the place is historic, even the elevator seemed a bit scary but it was fine to use. What sort of sucked is just the lack of AC and a working kitchen fan to air out some cooking smells, but it's an older building and the room did include a box fan so we managed.
I think at times my friends were loud but we couldn't hear anyone else from other rooms, and didn't get any complaints for noisiness. Crazy sound-proofing I guess?
Great service and friendly staff. Were patience when I had to deal with the bank about my card that wasn't going through. Also they were accommodating, though at night there's little staff so when we requested a hair dryer, it took a little longer to get. We did get to check in early like 11-something because a room was available, but they did offer concierge before check-in and after check-out. My group was very thankful for the concierge even after checking out so we didn't have to lug our things around PAX on Monday.
If only the Baroness Hotel was more leveled to WSCC and not up a lot of hills, I'd say it was a perfect place to stay. Compared to the First Hill Extended Stay Apartments, where I was last year, it's a lot closer. I think I'll do my hardest to save up to be closer to WSCC next year.
Pretty much as expected I know others had some trouble but our stay was pleasant and normal. There were only a few gripes we had, our wifi was pretty awful in one half of the suite, it actually manifested hilariously with all 4 of us hanging out in the kitchen almost all the time because you couldn't get internet at all in the bedroom.
Also I'm pretty sure they upped the parking rate, we drove in from Canada and left the car parked in their secure garage all weekend, and only after realized it was 32 bucks a night, so that was pretty crazy. Peace of mind is something I guess, but maybe next time I'll shop around for cheaper parking somewhere else.
Had some minor trouble with plumbing but I think that was resolved in a reasonably timely manner...kind of awkward it happened at all though.
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.
The big open air bus thing right across from The Paramount is the end of the bus tunnel. There's an entrance for it at the opposite corner of the block you stayed on, at 3rd and James. For 2.50 each you could go down to the tunnel and take any of the buses going through it to 3 stops down to not walk uphill.
Stayed at Homewood, the breakfast was great. Stuffed myself so I was able to munch on bars for lunch.
Parking was indeed high with tax it was almost 40 bucks, but meh, that's about the price everywhere else around there. (Might just take the PAX train next time)
Rooms were nice and comfortable, AC was nice. No real issues. I took the advice and had them put me in a room facing the courtyard so it was pretty quiet.
Great place, was a bit pricy (originally planned on 4 peeps, but ended up splitting the room 3 way)
Did anyone stay at the Roosevelt by chance? It looks pretty nice from their website and fairly inexpensive compared to the Hyatt.
I didn't, a friend did, I spent a few minutes in the room and asked and overall the impression is that it's decent, but not amazing. I'd have zero problem staying there if the savings were significant. Same for, IIRC, the Paramount.
The Sheraton is nice, but honestly I've kinda realized that as long as I can get to/from the hotel rapidly at all hours, I don't care which one I'm in. I don't do a lot of room partying, mostly lobby/bar partying, and you can do that at any hotel no matter which one you're staying in. It's not like staying at the Roosevelt is gonna keep you from partying with folks in the Sheraton or Hyatt.
Of course, this year I was broke so had to commute daily. Blegh.
Except for the morning where a false fire alarm went off, triggering the air pressurising generator system which pumps air to the upper floors so that the sprinklers would have enough pressure, but since it was a false alarm the sprinklers weren't open so the resulting closed pressure caused the system to overload and overheated the generator, causing it to explode in a shower of sparks which shorted out the nearby electrical system, shutting down all power in the hotel except for emergency lights and locks, while I was in the middle of taking a shower, forcing me to scramble blindly in the dark for a towel and my clothes before getting out and trying the elevator and realizing that power was cut there too, making me walk down 23 flights of stairs to the lobby where they refused to compensate guests for this incident.
I stayed at the Sheraton. I loved it. I was only really in my room to sleep and drop off stuff I didn't want to carry anymore. Other than that, I liked stumbling drunk in to the lobby at 2 am only to find people playing board games and inviting me to play with them. You can never go wrong with hanging out in the lobby in the middle of the night.
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PocketJellyFraser Valley, British ColumbiaRegistered Userregular
Yea the Sheraton lobby was fun My group brought our Cards Against Humanity down to play and had a bunch of people join us! We even had 1 guy let us use his set of COH with ALL of the expansions plus some.
I stayed at the Moore Hotel once again and loved it like always! It's a little more of a walk than the others (it's on 3rd, close to Pike Place Market), but the price and comfort was worth it. Nothing fancy as far as the room goes, but it felt cozy, held our stuff, and gave us beds to sleep in; all we needed!
The W has always been my go-to for Seattle, and as always they were tops. Front desk staff know me pretty well. Starbucks across the street, Purple Wine Bar a block away, and the Acura Experience got me to the WSCC pretty quick. Of course, the only thing I did there was stash my stuff and pass out, so, well, yeah. A bit more of a stroll to get there if outside of Acura's hours, but still totally worth it. Disclaimer - I am a Starwood Preferred Guest, so I am a bit biased...
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bacon_avengerDefender of Pork ProductsPacific NW, USARegistered Userregular
edited September 2013
This was my first time in the Homewood on Pike. As mentioned, I know that some other people had issues (contract between OnPeak and the hotel, overbooking, etc), but I had none.
Pro:
- Never had to wait long to get hot water in the shower (I was on the second floor, so that might have some effect), unlike last year at the Hilton
- Having a normal refrigerator (not a mini-fridge) was freaking awesome. I really dig the 'small apartment' thing they do with the suites.
- Free food for breakfast! Nothing overly fancy (and the bacon one way was pretty thin and brought out in small batches), but it was very edible. Dinner was available on a much smaller schedule (not on weekends or holidays), so I was only able to partake when we arrived on thursday.
- I took advantage of the Hilton Honors program and did the 'echeck-in' thing via the web site. Check-in and out was painless and fast.
Con:
- Bathroom ventilation was less than optimal. Not as bad as the Hilton last year, but still not the best.
- Somewhat more expensive than other places
Meh:
- Parking is valet only, and almost 40 a night (+ taxes). However, having controlled access to where my car was parked helped kind of make up for it. The parking garage at the Hilton was open to the public, so anyone could have wandered by and decided my window was better placed on the ground in pieces.
- I had a one bedroom suite, and the only bathroom door was in the bedroom. So if I was asleep, my friend who came with would have had to try to sneak by me without waking me up.
- Free wifi in the room that didn't appear to have many, if any, ports blocked (I was able to ssh and IRC just fine), just kinda slow to connect and transfer anything. It was also on a 24 hour timer, so there were a few times where I would be chatting with friends on IRC and have my connection drop without warning.
- While not as close as the Sheraton, it was only a block away up a rather mild hill, and there was the sooper sekrit walkway from the centre to it, which saved a lot of time navigating the crowd.
As much as I'm all for solidarity with my fellow PAX attendees and presenting a united front against a given company for how they treated someone, I am still going to stay there next year. There are too many pros over other places around the area for me to look anywhere else.
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This was my third, I think, year staying at the Sheraton and it was as fine as it had always been for me. Only had one minor issue, not even a complaint really, where they decided to automatically split the bill between me and my friend before we checked in. Normally, this might not have even been an issue at all, but we had already kind of assumed that it would be in my name and he would give me half, as has been the case previously, and he wasn't really able to put his half on his card at check-in. The guy at the front desk told me he wasn't able to change it at that time but let us go ahead and get to our room, but once all of the Thursday chaos died down I went back down to the front desk and everything was easily fixed, so like I said, no complaints. I just thought it was odd that they sort of automatically took it upon themselves to split the bill, when they haven't done that with me previously. I think it would have been better if they would have offered or made mention to do it before hand, just so we aren't kinda caught off guard.
Stayed way up Howell and Yale at the Marriott SpringHill Suites. Free breakfast daily, free wifi and free shuttle service to and from the convention center with minimum 15 minutes notice (though reserving a spot earlier was obviously a smarter decision). I can't say I can complain about the distance. If I wanted to I could have reserved a spot on the shuttle the night before each convention day but after taking a walk on Friday morning, a cup of coffee in hand, I decided to take the walk each morning. The perfect weather all weekend long made the distance trivial. The only thing I can really complain about the hotel is that the bathroom light and exhaust fan are linked to one switch so whenever anyone wanted to use the bathroom the fan automatically turned on as well. I wasn't too bothered (since I usually woke up before my roommates), but since I did get up first I felt like the noise coupled with the shower running or the toilet flushing was a bit much. In any event I'd definitely stay there again, the front desk was kind and helpful, they checked my bags in when I had a day to kill in Seattle for a late flight and (not sure if its special) they let me take the shuttle to Westlake Center even after we'd checked out to catch the Light Rail to SeaTac
Stayed at the Westin as well. @B:L no problems for me with the power outage, of course we were on the 6th floor (hint: the first floor with rooms). Their lobby is absolutely incredible there for large groups, but I don't think it is entirely necessary that you stay there to use it. Who knows, that may change over time. I'm not entirely sure I will stay there again, but that has nothing to do with my experience. All of the staff there were pretty awesome and helpful, except the bar staff that seemed blind to the needs of thirsty nerds in their lobby-but-not-bar-area.
Another vote for the Westin. We stayed at the Homewood last year and the Westin was a step up for sure. I was worried about not being right next to the WSCC but no problems at all doing a quick run back to the room to drop stuff off. The walk was pretty short (like 6-7 minutes) to the WSCC, shorter if you were heading to the Olive 8 for TT, and it was closer to pikes market for breakfast. We will for sure stay there again next year.
Another vote for the Westin. We stayed at the Homewood last year and the Westin was a step up for sure. I was worried about not being right next to the WSCC but no problems at all doing a quick run back to the room to drop stuff off. The walk was pretty short (like 6-7 minutes) to the WSCC, shorter if you were heading to the Olive 8 for TT, and it was closer to pikes market for breakfast. We will for sure stay there again next year.
The only downside for me for staying at Crowne Plaza was the distance between there and Pike Place Market
3rd year in a row for me at the Hyatt at Olive 8, happy with it as always. I'm slightly tempted to try something a bit closer to the coast such as the Edgewater for the view, but I'm reluctant to mess with an arrangement that A) works and is super close to the convention centre (and in the case of tabletop, was in the same building).
I am just curious, but did anyone stay in a hotel/motel/BnB outside of the downtown area?
If so, how good were they and what was the commute like coming to and going from Seattle?
♥ Properly Pleased Participant of Past PAX PrimeWest: '10, '12, '13, '14, '15, '16Ω ♥
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PedroAsaniBrotherhood of the Squirrel[Prime]Registered Userregular
I am just curious, but did anyone stay in a hotel/motel/BnB outside of the downtown area?
If so, how good were they and what was the commute like coming to and going from Seattle?
Residence by Marriott on Lake Union. King Suite. Staff could not have been more helpful. We were using enough pillows to build a fort, and two showers a day each meant evening requests for "all the towels you can find." Room was big enough for eight people if you were all comfortable with each other. Breakfast was fantastic. Pool and Jacuzzi for those who want to soak off the muscle ache. Price was a little on the high side, but I would stay again.
Downside: the walk. It's about a mile from the WSCC, which can be a killer at the end of a long day. Fortunately if you pick the right route, no uphill or downhill either way, and there is a convenience store on the route so you can load up on snacks and drinks in the morning.
Instead of staying in a hotel, we rented a condo via airbnb.com. It was right next to the convention center on the east side. Was about the same price as any hotel in the area, but it had a full kitchen. We did some grocery shopping when we arrived and were able to cook all our meals, resulting in food costs for 4 people being under $200 total for 4 days. Definitely worth doing again.
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ClixThis guy I knowSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
Vacation rentals are perfect for PAX. I used one for PAX East, but for Prime I waited until I secured badges before finding a place to stay. By that point, finding something suitable for a group was pretty much impossible if you were concerned about personal space and trying to stay close to the WSCC.
Except for the morning where a false fire alarm went off, triggering the air pressurising generator system which pumps air to the upper floors so that the sprinklers would have enough pressure, but since it was a false alarm the sprinklers weren't open so the resulting closed pressure caused the system to overload and overheated the generator, causing it to explode in a shower of sparks which shorted out the nearby electrical system, shutting down all power in the hotel except for emergency lights and locks, while I was in the middle of taking a shower, forcing me to scramble blindly in the dark for a towel and my clothes before getting out and trying the elevator and realizing that power was cut there too, making me walk down 23 flights of stairs to the lobby where they refused to compensate guests for this incident.
But other than that, the Westin was great!
Sorry to hear about your issues at the Westin. They really should have given you some form of compensation, IMHO. I'd suggest calling Starwood Corporate Customer Service at 800-328-6242 and opening a file against them.
I end at the Monaco this year. Coffee and Tea service in the lobby every morning is a big plus. I never did make it back in time for their evening wine service. A short walk to Sweet Iron for breakfast in the morning. Most places I wanted to go for dinner were a bit further of a walk than I normally like. Staff was friendly. The way they treated me made me realize how patronizing other places can be. If there were any short comings, I would say that the chair for the computer desk put too much form over function and they put too much crap in the mini-fridge. Their mini-fridge isn't sensor loaded like a lot of places. I could move stuff around to make room for my own things.
Vacation rentals are perfect for PAX. I used one for PAX East, but for Prime I waited until I secured badges before finding a place to stay. By that point, finding something suitable for a group was pretty much impossible if you were concerned about personal space and trying to stay close to the WSCC.
I go to a lot of Cons through out the year. First thing I do is secure a hotel the moment I know the dates of the con. Craigslist hasn't failed at getting me a ticket for the worst case scenario and rooms can almost always be cancelled.
Husband and I stayed at the Inn at the WAC (WA athletic club). Short walk to PAX (Just behind it). Bathroom was very spacious clean and modern. Felt very luxurious. Room was very clean, no weird smells, and we were down our own hallway so things were super quiet. I don't think many PAX attendees stayed there. We always had the elevators to ourselves and didn't see hardly anyone in the lobby ever except the staff. It was a very expensive night, total bill coming out to $250-$300 for the Saturday night we stayed there. But no complaints whatsoever. Would stay again.
One year we stayed at the Westin Seattle. Had a lovely experience there too!
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Spud387Man of InactionVancouver, BC, CanadaRegistered Userregular
Does anyone have a chart of the cost of each Hotel (based on double occupancy)?
Reading all of these comments are great as it helps us see what each Hotel offered, but some hotels cost considerably more than others and it is hard to decide where to stay next year without a frame of reference for costs.
Prime 2016 Status: Skipping. 2017, The Return.
Attended: PAX Prime 2010/'11/'12/'13/'14
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ClixThis guy I knowSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
Rates will fluctuate greatly by booking method and when the booking took place.
Rates will fluctuate greatly by booking method and when the booking took place.
Not if Spud387 is just referring to the onpeak rates and hotels, which was my assumption. It would at least be a good baseline. @vttym put together a spreadsheet like that for pax east.
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Spud387Man of InactionVancouver, BC, CanadaRegistered Userregular
Rates will fluctuate greatly by booking method and when the booking took place.
Not if Spud387 is just referring to the onpeak rates and hotels, which was my assumption. It would at least be a good baseline. @vttym put together a spreadsheet like that for pax east.
Ya I should have clarified, I meant the OnPeak rates. Chances are (like everything) rates will go up, but if they do they generally would across the board so having 2012's pricing still gives a baseline for the next year.
Except for the morning where a false fire alarm went off, triggering the air pressurising generator system which pumps air to the upper floors so that the sprinklers would have enough pressure, but since it was a false alarm the sprinklers weren't open so the resulting closed pressure caused the system to overload and overheated the generator, causing it to explode in a shower of sparks which shorted out the nearby electrical system, shutting down all power in the hotel except for emergency lights and locks, while I was in the middle of taking a shower, forcing me to scramble blindly in the dark for a towel and my clothes before getting out and trying the elevator and realizing that power was cut there too, making me walk down 23 flights of stairs to the lobby where they refused to compensate guests for this incident.
But other than that, the Westin was great!
Sorry to hear about your issues at the Westin. They really should have given you some form of compensation, IMHO. I'd suggest calling Starwood Corporate Customer Service at 800-328-6242 and opening a file against them.
We were on the 32nd floor and had to walk down also. We came down into the lobby and I heard the hotel manager worried cause he didn't know what had happened. His number one priority was to make sure everyone was safe. I thought they/he handled the situation very well. I didn't feel like we were owed anything at all.
Except for the morning where a false fire alarm went off, triggering the air pressurising generator system which pumps air to the upper floors so that the sprinklers would have enough pressure, but since it was a false alarm the sprinklers weren't open so the resulting closed pressure caused the system to overload and overheated the generator, causing it to explode in a shower of sparks which shorted out the nearby electrical system, shutting down all power in the hotel except for emergency lights and locks, while I was in the middle of taking a shower, forcing me to scramble blindly in the dark for a towel and my clothes before getting out and trying the elevator and realizing that power was cut there too, making me walk down 23 flights of stairs to the lobby where they refused to compensate guests for this incident.
But other than that, the Westin was great!
Sorry to hear about your issues at the Westin. They really should have given you some form of compensation, IMHO. I'd suggest calling Starwood Corporate Customer Service at 800-328-6242 and opening a file against them.
We were on the 32nd floor and had to walk down also. We came down into the lobby and I heard the hotel manager worried cause he didn't know what had happened. His number one priority was to make sure everyone was safe. I thought they/he handled the situation very well. I didn't feel like we were owed anything at all.
On the other hand we were on the 6th floor and needed to kill some time before the show opened. So we walked back up to our room for some X-Wing minis on the floor. Downside was that they announced status every 5-10 minutes and the blast from the in-room intercom made me poop my pants a couple of times.
I just can't help but feel that the need to actually stay at the Westin to get the primary benefit of that hotel (giant ass lobby with big tables) is required.
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If that Homewood Suites is full the one on lower Queen Anne is nice and it's just one bus away from downtown (the D line, the 1, 2, 15, 18, etc.).
Besides that steep hike up the hill, it's location is okay. About 10min from the convention on foot. We had the room facing the Virginia Mason Inn and hospital, which I believe is partnered with the Baroness. It seemed to have been a little loud all day or night because there were these rooftop vents, and on the first night it got real warm. There is no AC and the windows are wired to have a narrow opening (they open by being pushed outwards, so likely they were preventing people from falling out).
I reserved the 2 queen studio, and I got what I asked for. Comfy beds and the pillows ranged from soft to firm, and plenty of blankets. The kitchenette was cute and included everything, even the fridge was huge enough to fit our groceries so when we cooked meals (and a freezer to make ice for our poor feet). Maybe a little shabby but the place is historic, even the elevator seemed a bit scary but it was fine to use. What sort of sucked is just the lack of AC and a working kitchen fan to air out some cooking smells, but it's an older building and the room did include a box fan so we managed.
I think at times my friends were loud but we couldn't hear anyone else from other rooms, and didn't get any complaints for noisiness. Crazy sound-proofing I guess?
Great service and friendly staff. Were patience when I had to deal with the bank about my card that wasn't going through. Also they were accommodating, though at night there's little staff so when we requested a hair dryer, it took a little longer to get. We did get to check in early like 11-something because a room was available, but they did offer concierge before check-in and after check-out. My group was very thankful for the concierge even after checking out so we didn't have to lug our things around PAX on Monday.
If only the Baroness Hotel was more leveled to WSCC and not up a lot of hills, I'd say it was a perfect place to stay. Compared to the First Hill Extended Stay Apartments, where I was last year, it's a lot closer. I think I'll do my hardest to save up to be closer to WSCC next year.
Pretty much as expected I know others had some trouble but our stay was pleasant and normal. There were only a few gripes we had, our wifi was pretty awful in one half of the suite, it actually manifested hilariously with all 4 of us hanging out in the kitchen almost all the time because you couldn't get internet at all in the bedroom.
Also I'm pretty sure they upped the parking rate, we drove in from Canada and left the car parked in their secure garage all weekend, and only after realized it was 32 bucks a night, so that was pretty crazy. Peace of mind is something I guess, but maybe next time I'll shop around for cheaper parking somewhere else.
Had some minor trouble with plumbing but I think that was resolved in a reasonably timely manner...kind of awkward it happened at all though.
Twitter: @lesterleesm
The big open air bus thing right across from The Paramount is the end of the bus tunnel. There's an entrance for it at the opposite corner of the block you stayed on, at 3rd and James. For 2.50 each you could go down to the tunnel and take any of the buses going through it to 3 stops down to not walk uphill.
Parking was indeed high with tax it was almost 40 bucks, but meh, that's about the price everywhere else around there. (Might just take the PAX train next time)
Rooms were nice and comfortable, AC was nice. No real issues. I took the advice and had them put me in a room facing the courtyard so it was pretty quiet.
Great place, was a bit pricy (originally planned on 4 peeps, but ended up splitting the room 3 way)
I didn't, a friend did, I spent a few minutes in the room and asked and overall the impression is that it's decent, but not amazing. I'd have zero problem staying there if the savings were significant. Same for, IIRC, the Paramount.
The Sheraton is nice, but honestly I've kinda realized that as long as I can get to/from the hotel rapidly at all hours, I don't care which one I'm in. I don't do a lot of room partying, mostly lobby/bar partying, and you can do that at any hotel no matter which one you're staying in. It's not like staying at the Roosevelt is gonna keep you from partying with folks in the Sheraton or Hyatt.
Of course, this year I was broke so had to commute daily. Blegh.
Except for the morning where a false fire alarm went off, triggering the air pressurising generator system which pumps air to the upper floors so that the sprinklers would have enough pressure, but since it was a false alarm the sprinklers weren't open so the resulting closed pressure caused the system to overload and overheated the generator, causing it to explode in a shower of sparks which shorted out the nearby electrical system, shutting down all power in the hotel except for emergency lights and locks, while I was in the middle of taking a shower, forcing me to scramble blindly in the dark for a towel and my clothes before getting out and trying the elevator and realizing that power was cut there too, making me walk down 23 flights of stairs to the lobby where they refused to compensate guests for this incident.
But other than that, the Westin was great!
TWDT Slytherin Death Eater - 2012
TWDT Slytherin Death Eater - 2013
TWDT Slytherin Death Eater - 2014
Pro:
- Never had to wait long to get hot water in the shower (I was on the second floor, so that might have some effect), unlike last year at the Hilton
- Having a normal refrigerator (not a mini-fridge) was freaking awesome. I really dig the 'small apartment' thing they do with the suites.
- Free food for breakfast! Nothing overly fancy (and the bacon one way was pretty thin and brought out in small batches), but it was very edible. Dinner was available on a much smaller schedule (not on weekends or holidays), so I was only able to partake when we arrived on thursday.
- I took advantage of the Hilton Honors program and did the 'echeck-in' thing via the web site. Check-in and out was painless and fast.
Con:
- Bathroom ventilation was less than optimal. Not as bad as the Hilton last year, but still not the best.
- Somewhat more expensive than other places
Meh:
- Parking is valet only, and almost 40 a night (+ taxes). However, having controlled access to where my car was parked helped kind of make up for it. The parking garage at the Hilton was open to the public, so anyone could have wandered by and decided my window was better placed on the ground in pieces.
- I had a one bedroom suite, and the only bathroom door was in the bedroom. So if I was asleep, my friend who came with would have had to try to sneak by me without waking me up.
- Free wifi in the room that didn't appear to have many, if any, ports blocked (I was able to ssh and IRC just fine), just kinda slow to connect and transfer anything. It was also on a 24 hour timer, so there were a few times where I would be chatting with friends on IRC and have my connection drop without warning.
- While not as close as the Sheraton, it was only a block away up a rather mild hill, and there was the sooper sekrit walkway from the centre to it, which saved a lot of time navigating the crowd.
As much as I'm all for solidarity with my fellow PAX attendees and presenting a united front against a given company for how they treated someone, I am still going to stay there next year. There are too many pros over other places around the area for me to look anywhere else.
The only downside for me for staying at Crowne Plaza was the distance between there and Pike Place Market
If so, how good were they and what was the commute like coming to and going from Seattle?
Residence by Marriott on Lake Union. King Suite. Staff could not have been more helpful. We were using enough pillows to build a fort, and two showers a day each meant evening requests for "all the towels you can find." Room was big enough for eight people if you were all comfortable with each other. Breakfast was fantastic. Pool and Jacuzzi for those who want to soak off the muscle ache. Price was a little on the high side, but I would stay again.
Downside: the walk. It's about a mile from the WSCC, which can be a killer at the end of a long day. Fortunately if you pick the right route, no uphill or downhill either way, and there is a convenience store on the route so you can load up on snacks and drinks in the morning.
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Sorry to hear about your issues at the Westin. They really should have given you some form of compensation, IMHO. I'd suggest calling Starwood Corporate Customer Service at 800-328-6242 and opening a file against them.
I go to a lot of Cons through out the year. First thing I do is secure a hotel the moment I know the dates of the con. Craigslist hasn't failed at getting me a ticket for the worst case scenario and rooms can almost always be cancelled.
One year we stayed at the Westin Seattle. Had a lovely experience there too!
Reading all of these comments are great as it helps us see what each Hotel offered, but some hotels cost considerably more than others and it is hard to decide where to stay next year without a frame of reference for costs.
Attended: PAX Prime 2010/'11/'12/'13/'14
Ya I should have clarified, I meant the OnPeak rates. Chances are (like everything) rates will go up, but if they do they generally would across the board so having 2012's pricing still gives a baseline for the next year.
Attended: PAX Prime 2010/'11/'12/'13/'14
We were on the 32nd floor and had to walk down also. We came down into the lobby and I heard the hotel manager worried cause he didn't know what had happened. His number one priority was to make sure everyone was safe. I thought they/he handled the situation very well. I didn't feel like we were owed anything at all.
On the other hand we were on the 6th floor and needed to kill some time before the show opened. So we walked back up to our room for some X-Wing minis on the floor. Downside was that they announced status every 5-10 minutes and the blast from the in-room intercom made me poop my pants a couple of times.
I just can't help but feel that the need to actually stay at the Westin to get the primary benefit of that hotel (giant ass lobby with big tables) is required.