West - Overnight options for early flight from SEA

From what I have read all the local hotels in the SEA airport area are 3-star at best.

We have an 8:40 AM flight SEA-KOA on a Saturday and will be arriving at SEA the evening before.

We were considering staying at the Fairmont, is this do-able with the taxi ride to the airport? If it is less than a 20 minute drive or so we might choose there. Luxury and snob appeal are not important to use but a quiet, safe, comfortable, completely dark room with proper temperature control is.

The best alternative seemed to be the Hilton at the airport. We were considering cheaping out and pricelineing a 3-star at the airport but there seems to be the risk of getting some undesirable properties like the Red Lion balanced against the chance of getting a more decent place like the Hilton or Doubletree for $40.00 or so.

Any advice on this would be appreciated.

I'd Priceline it. You're not going to have much time on the ground, and most of it will be in bed. I'd rather be at the airport and be able to sleep a little later. Check betterbidding.com, recent bids are $40-$45 for 3* SEA hotels. I usually get the Doubletree or Hilton, only once did I get the Holiday Inn. Of course there are no promises on what you'll get. It's going to take you longer than 20 minutes to get from the Fairmont downtown to the airport.

A cab from the Olympic to the airport at 6:30 or 7:00 AM is going to take around 20 min., so if your budget is good, then fine. Really any downtown hotel is in the same time range; the taxi can use the HOV lanes so travel time is pretty much standard. As it's a Saturday there won't be any traffic concerns.

You don't say when you're arriving the previous evening. Certainly there's more to do downtown than around the airport in terms of restaurants etc.

Otherwise I wouldn't worry about noise etc. at an airport hotel, provided it's a decent one like the Hilton or Doubletree.

ETA - Priceline in downtown SEA these days seems to be bringing up the Sheraton often as not, usually for around $80. However Fri/Sat are cruise nights so the boat people pretty much fill up all the hotel inventory, thus you shouldn't be surprised if nothing good comes up on PL for downtown.