westcoastman

Priceline has made a new zone for Seattle and moved the Doubletree Suites @ Southcenter and Red Lion @ Southcenter into this new zone "Renton-Kent." That means those bidding for just the airport zone will get something that is closer to the airport.

Dambus

(Actually we'll only be there for about 18 hours - arriving around 18:00 and leaving at 12:00ish.)

The plan is to stay at the Airport Doubletree and use the hotel shuttle bus and airport ground transportation to see the obligatory landmarks in Seattle.

Does anyone see a flaw in this plan?

(I did do a search on this board and quickly elminated the Hilton Seattle as a possible resting place )

Thanks.

-- Dambus

[This message has been edited by Dambus (edited 08-01-2002).]

dldkjones

Apt is a bit far from Downtown SEA. Traffic can be quite bad weekdays. You need a rental car, and 1 day is min. charge, so what's the point of using hotel's comp apt transp. BTW: apt DT looks a bit dated outside, so we decided to stay at Apt Hilton the next block over which had undergone a recent remodel (ask for 4th floor room).

[This message has been edited by dldkjones (edited 08-01-2002).]

TrojanHorse

I completely disagree with dldkjones. I was in SEA for a similar trip and rather than deal with the $40 for a car, parking and the drive.. I went online and found the public transportation website.. someone from SEA can point you in the right direction.. I for the life of me can not locate the schedule right now. Anyway for $2.00 bucks or less you can take a bus downtown right from the airport, one that runs very frequently and you can even bring luggage on it.. I did.. it worked great. It won't be much longer than if you sat in traffic on the five.. and most of all you will save a fortune. now remember its just a normal city bus, not a motor coach. I know someone from SEA posted a link to the city/county website at one time.. I say try the bus

MisterNice

I rarely use Priceline, but I have used it 3 times so far in Seattle for the SEA area as the hotels are not the best and the prices are high. SEA airport area 3 star hotel rooms were $22-$32 per night (vs $90-$160 via telephone or websites) . Cars were $18-$32 per day vs $32-$56). See www.biddingfortravel.com for some bidding info. I don�t know if you need a USA addressed credit card but some really nice FT-er may know.

MisterNice

cethen

I take the bus from Downtown Seattle to SEA and vice versa fairly frequently. (I live near downtown.) I have ridden both Metro buses (that�s the $2.00 bus TrojanHorse is referring to) as well as the Gray Line Airport Bus, which travels to the downtown core to selected hotels. R/T on the Airporter is $14.00 and they are well equipped to handle luggage. They run every half hour; you can purchase tickets and board just outside the SEA luggage carousels. Even though I�m a local, I find the Airporter much more convenient than the public transportation to and from SEA, even though it�s more expensive. If you decided to stay in the downtown area, I would definitely recommend this. Plus, they use the express lanes into town!

Dambus

Thank for all the info and the links guys!

This will be the last day of a three week trip to the U.S./Canada so it'll be nice to make the most of it.


-- Dambus

cethen

Maybe, if you're lucky, you'll even get one of our rare "summer" days!

Have a great stay in Seattle!

TexasFlyer

The bellmen at the hotel have yellow flyers giving details on a shuttle that runs from the airport hotels to downtown. $12 round trip. Downtown it stops at the art museum--three blocks to Pike Market or 2 blocks to the waterfront. In the evening it runs back to the hotels on the hour. Twenty minute trip in 5pm traffic this past Monday. Costs more, but much faster than the bus. I've done both. Also, there is a shuttle that runs from the motels to the Nordstrom's in a local shopping mall. Downtown Nordies is a short walk from the art museum stop, also.

TxLobo

I got a group reservation here for a month at $89 a nite. Tell me more about this hotel, as I have time to change if need be.

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AA member since 1981

wideman

(Sorry, for those unfamiliar with the word, feh means 'i wasn't particularly pleased with it.'

I just got back from a great trip to Seattle and an awful stay at the Seattle Airport DoubleTree Hotel:

• NO HOT WATER in the morning!!! I got up at 4.15am (to take the 5am shuttle from the hotel to the airport), and hot water was unavailable in either the shower or the sink. Neither waiting a few minutes nor running the water helped � nothing but cold water. (Not even lukewarm!)
• Incredibly poor bedding. The room had one king bed, and one side of the bed was way higher than the other. It was as if a king-size mattress had been placed on 2 box springs of different heights. Once I understood that I could avoid the slippery slope by staying on one side or the other, things were better.
• Sounds and lights. Lights from the hotel (a spotlight illuminating the hotel exterior, plus another white, extremely bright neon-like light) were just outside the room, and plenty of light came through even with the curtains closed as much as possible. To make sleeping all the more difficult, the soundproofing was not nearly the standard that I�d expect from an airport hotel � the room was much noisier than at the nearby airport Hilton.
• No ESPN! The hotel has ESPN-News, but not ESPN. This sucked, �cause there was a decent football game on ESPN. The Seattle Airport DoubleTree�s own web site claims (incorrectly) that ESPN is available, and, let�s face it, ESPN is a standard cable channel in the U.S.
• Bizarre hotel layout. The hotel has a main building and a bunch of satellites, and everything is far, far away from the reception area. To get to the elevators for the main building, you need to walk through (among other areas) a space used as a function room � I had the delightful fortune of winding my way through a beauty pageant for 6-year-old girls. So cute I wanted to fwow up.

On the positive side, the staff members whom I encountered were all friendly. They also offered a breakfast coupon, which I declined as I�d be leaving well before the caf� opened. Unlike the nearby airport Hilton, the DoubleTree did not give the choice between breakfast or $$ off the price of dinner at the hotel restaurant.

There are plenty of other hotels near SEA, including the perfectly decent Hilton. The DoubleTree is less expensive, but it�s not a place where I�d choose to stay.

boilermaker

Interesting. I've stayed there numerous times, and never experienced anything like yours. The layout is a bit odd, but once I got Gold status, I automatically was booked in the main building.

ozstamps

My last stay there cost $US8 and we literally got the Presidential Suite. Needless to say - no complaints at all from us.

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr.../003530-2.html

Remember, this is supposedly the largest hotel in number of rooms in Western North America, so a big place you have to expect.

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~ Glen ~ Calling all United 1K Members - please join .. www.1Kflyers.com

YVR Cockroach

Not quite. Largest hotels (much larger) are all in Las Vegas (a few years back, it was 11 or the world's 12 largest).

Doubletree SEA is the 2nd largest Doubletree however.

GeneCMH

I stayed there this past Spring...was rather unhappy. Poor attitude at the front desk, had to fight for an upgrade, etc... (Yes I know Hilton does not promise upgrades)