We've just returned from a three night stay at the IC Bellevue and were not at all impressed. This was with Ambassador membership and Diamond status.

First of all, it's important to be aware that many of the retail spaces below the hotel are currently empty and that the hotel's "award-winning restaurants" do not yet exist. They're planned, and some of the people behind them have won awards, but you shouldn't currently expect to be able to dine in-house. There's the blast-chilled lobby bar and "bistro", "Ce La Vi" (really), and there's "Fresco", which at the moment is just a breakfast room. That's it.

I booked a King Junior Suite and that's what we got. At check in I was rather disingenuously told that I'd been upgraded to a "premium floor", but in fact our room wasn't even one of the better Junior Suites. The hotel website shows some junior suites with twin washbasins and some with Lake Washington and Seattle skyline views, with room sizes from 335 to 479 square feet. Our room on the 10th floor wasn't tiny, but it only had a single basin and the view of the Hyatt Regency definitely wasn't "premium":



That said, it was a pleasant and comfortable room and the bathroom had a good shower (overhead and hand-held).

There was a large, modern TV but the signal was often decidedly low-definition (which rather detracted from the Olympic athletics).

The safe was not large enough to hold two slim laptops in sleeves.

At check out the receptionist agreed that we had not been upgraded, saying there were "a lot of Diamond Ambassadors in house right now". My request for the 10,000 "Ambassador Delivery Guarantee" points was noted, but I had to send an email reminder before they actually posted to my account.

The welcome gift was a half-bottle of Champagne and some chocolate treats. Perfectly acceptable:



Breakfast was a buffet, for which the menu price was $38 + 20% service + tax, i.e. just over $50 per head. We took breakfast as my Diamond benefit. There were a few pastries, bagels, fruit, sausages and bacon, toast and fries to order and an "egg & omelet station". It felt like a Crowne Plaza or Indigo breakfast, just not one of the better ones. Filter coffee is included, espresso-based drinks are available for an extra charge. (I ordered an espresso. The $4++ charge was in fact removed from my bill as part of the Diamond breakfast benefit, but our server didn't expect that to be the case and warned me about the extra charge. The drink came from the downstairs bar and took almost 15 minutes to arrive, luke warm.)

Location is obviously a matter of taste and/or will depend on one's other plans or commitments. It wasn't to our taste -- what Casimir found to be a "lovely and bustling" area was for us something of a cultural desert dominated by chain stores (Macy's, Nordstrom, Container Store), chain restaurants (Fogo de Chão, Cheesecake Factory) and high-rise hotels. There were more interesting one-off shops and restaurants, too, as well as better chains (Crate and Barrel, Din Tai Fung), but overall it felt about as organic as the Las Vegas strip.

We couldn't spot the "European town-square inspired streets" promised by the "Avenue" developers. (Maybe the Jo Malone shop is enough European flair for people who've never been to Europe and don't own a TV? ) The number of parking spaces, the size of many of the vehicles being driven and the six-lane streets through the middle of town reminded me of Texas, in a less than good way. Outside of the malls, Bellevue isn't pedestrian friendly.

The hotel is very conveniently located for the 271 bus to/from the University District (from where you can connect to the Link Light Rail 1 Line) and around 10 minutes brisk walk from the Bellevue Transit Center, from where you can take the 2 Line to Redmond or a 550 bus to the airport. That said, I suspect most of the people who would feel comfortable in this hotel wouldn't be seen dead on public transport.

As should be obvious by now, we will not be returning to the IC Bellevue. Our pre-stay expectations were not especially high, as we've stayed in a few other North American ICs, but this property still managed to disappoint. There was no evidence of experienced IC staff being on site to familiarise new recruits with company standards, the Ambassador progamme or IHG Rewards. We did not see a manager. No one reached out at any point to ask how our stay was going. Points for hanging up the card to decline housekeeping ("Greener Stay") only posted after a reminder.

Job ads we saw while staying suggest that the franchisee is trying to recruit to many roles without wanting to pay more than the minimum wage. Given the very large number of hospitality jobs in the area, this might not be the best way to attract staff who would help differentiate your product from the competition.