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Thursday, November 7, 2002
Short Trips: King-size bargains at downtown getaways
By JEFF LARSEN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER PHOTOGRAPHER
This week's trip is about the shortest I've taken so far -- exactly 11 miles to the Sorrento Hotel from our northeast Seattle home.
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It's Super Saver time, when locals and visitors can score some of the best rates of the year at Seattle hotels.
Plan that downtown getaway, where you can relax from whatever lifestyle pressures you feel and let someone else attend to your needs. Thumb your nose at stress or the weather from an elegant hotel restaurant or maybe an indoor swimming pool.
The promotion starts tomorrow and runs through March 31. A record 45 hotels signed on this year and the rates run from the very affordable $55 a night at the Travelodge by the Space Needle to $175 at the luxurious Four Seasons Olympic Hotel. Some hotels have slashed rates up to 60 percent.
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 | Jeff Larsen / P-I | |
| A Chihuly glass piece -- "End of Day" -- is showcased in the lobby of the Alexis Hotel. Head concierge David Tomlinson is on duty. | ||
You can make reservations by calling 800-535-7071 in the United States and Canada. If you are calling from the Seattle area, or outside of Canada and the rest of the United States, use 206-461-5882. Reservation lines are open 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
People handling the reservations are specialists for the Super Saver program. They have visited all 45 hotels on the list and know about special features of each. They also know special offers that some hotels include beyond the reduced room rate, such as free continental breakfast or parking.
You also can make a reservation by calling a hotel directly and asking for the Super Saver rate.
To get a feel for what some of the hotels have to offer, my wife, Trish, and I not only stayed in The Sorrento, but I also phoned a random selection of hotels from the Super Saver list to see what special guest features are out there this year. I visited a few others as well to get a sense of what they looked like and what they had to offer.
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| Jeff Larsen / P-I | |
| Guests at the Inn at the Market, a boutique hotel near the Pike Place Market, get a bonus view from the hotel's fifth-floor balcony. | ||
The Sorrrento, one of Seattle's pre-eminent boutique hotels and a landmark, this summer completed a $50,000-per-room renovation project. Elegant is the first word that came to mind. Seven monster pillows were neatly arranged on the king-size bed in our third-floor suite. As it turned out, we used only two.
The Hunt Club Restaurant and bar lived up to its lively and tasty reputation. I had the caprese salad ($9) and the pan-seared scallops ($32), both of which were excellent. Trish enjoyed the organic mixed field greens ($7) and the moist king salmon entree ($26). Saturday night the new jazz piano lounge in the main lobby was so packed we couldn't get a table.
At $169, The Sorrento is on the high end of the Super Saver rate schedule.
The owners of the 76-year-old Camlin Hotel refer to it as "a legend." A bit dated since its last upgrade in the mid-1980s, the Camlin is next to the Paramount Theatre and features a roof-top restaurant and lounge, The Cloud Room, with live music five nights a week. Reid Burkett, assistant general manager, told me that ghosts of visitors past have been spotted in the hallways. I guess it's that time of year. At $62 it's at the low end of the Super Saver rates.
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| Jeff Larsen / P-I | |
| Sorrento Hotel guest Bill Imholt's image is reflected in the hotel nameplate on the elevator. | ||
Besides what she calls "the best beds in town," general manager Katherine Dooley said the Alexis Hotel prides itself in catering to the arts. The hotel is near the Seattle Art Museum and Benaroya Hall. A huge multicolored octopuslike Dale Chihuly glass sculpture called "End of Day" greets visitors in the main lobby. It's an eye opener for sure. The hotel's Painted Table restaurant is being replaced by a more casual American contemporary classic food concept restaurant named the Library Bistro. It's scheduled to open for dinner this month. The familiar Bookstore Bar is in the same place.
The four-star Inn at the Market, an independently owned boutique hotel on Pine Street, has what I would call the view of choice from its fifth-floor deck and patio overlooking the Pike Place Market and Seattle waterfront. The hotel has 70 rooms and suites and adjoining it is the popular Campagne restaurant, which, besides French cuisine, is noted for excellent seafood.
In earlier days, guests used to be able to fish out of the windows in their rooms at the Edgewater, the only true waterfront hotel in downtown Seattle -- OK, a little north of downtown. Its greatest moment of fame was when The Beatles stayed there during a concert visit in the 1960s.
Today the hotel is more lodgelike and caters to leisure and business travelers with one of the coziest lobbies in the city. The hotel even has wireless Internet access now. From the hotel, you can cross Alaskan Way and hop on the trolley and visit the Pike Place Market or hit a myriad of other popular downtown destinations, including the entire non-industrial waterfront.
I wouldn't wear your swimsuit to dinner, but you might pack it with you when you visit Prego's restaurant on the 28th floor of the Renaissance Madison, because you can take a dip in the indoor swimming pool on the same floor. The view from the pool, says sales and marketing director Jerry Stotler, is better than a lot of room views in Seattle. Ask for the Super Saver rate and the hotel will pay for your parking.
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| Jeff Larsen / P-I | |
| An elegant bedroom is shown here at the Sorrento Hotel in downtown Seattle. | ||
Besides its location at Sixth Avenue and Seneca Street, two blocks from the Washington State Trade and Convention Center, what makes the Crowne Plaza Seattle special -- according to director of hotel sales Teresa Benedict -- is the hotel's friendly staff. With 34 floors, 415 guest rooms and 29 suites, a full-service restaurant on the second floor called City Views, a cocktail lounge and panoramic windows in every room, the Crowne Plaza is a dynamic presence in that part of downtown.
Farther north, almost in the shadow of the Space Needle, the Hampton Inn and Suites has fashioned a pretty good package this year, which at $79 includes free parking, complimentary continental breakfast, no charge for local phone calls, data ports in every room and even a computer on site where you can check your e-mail for free.
As winter closes in, it's just a great time to cozy up in a downtown Seattle hotel and relax. Just close your eyes and pretend it's more than 11 miles from home. It works.
Here are the hotels participating in this year's Seattle Super Saver program, tomorrow through March 31. For comparison purposes, the Super Saver rate is followed by the standard rate in parentheses.
Alexis -- $154 ($295); 1007 First Ave.; 866-356-8894; www.alexishotel.com/
Best Value Seattle Inn & Suites -- $64 ($114); 225 Aurora Ave. N.; 800-255-7932; www.seattleinn.com
Best Western Executive Inn -- $67 ($147); 200 Taylor Ave. N.; 800-351-9444; www.bestwestern.com
Best Western Pioneer Square -- $79 ($159); 77 Yesler Way; 206-340-1234; www.pioneersquare.com
Camlin -- $62 ($128); 1619 Ninth Ave.; 206-682-0100, reservations 800-663-1144; www.camlinhotel.com/
Claremont -- $79 ($199); 2000 Fourth Ave.; 877-448-8600; www.claremonthotel.com
Comfort Suites Downtown -- $64 ($109); 601 Roy St.; 206-282-2600; www.choicehotels.com
Courtyard by Marriott Lake Union -- $69 ($149); 925 Westlake Ave. N.; 206-213-0100; www.courtyardlakeunion.com
Crowne Plaza Seattle -- $109 ($260); 1113 Sixth Ave.; 206-464-1980, reservations 800-521-2762; www.sixcontinentshotels.com/
Days Inn Town Center -- $64 ($179); 2205 Seventh Ave.; 206-448-3434; www.daysinn.com/
Edgewater -- $149 ($249); 2411 Alaskan Way; 206-728-7000, reservations 800 624-0670; www.edgewaterhotel.com
Executive Pacific Plaza -- $67 ($134); 400 Spring St.; 800-426-1165; www.pacificplazahotel.com
Four Seasons Olympic -- $175 ($295); 411 University St.; 206-621-1700, reservations 800-223-8772; www.fourseasons.com
Grand Hyatt Seattle -- $169 ($310); 721 Pine St.; 206-774-1234; www.grandseattle.hyatt.com/property/index.jhtml
Hampton Inn & Suites Downtown -- $79 ($129); 700 Fifth Ave. N.; 206-282-7700, reservations 800-426-7876; www.hamptoninnseattle.com
Hilton Seattle -- $129 ($183); 1301 Sixth Ave.; 206-624-0500; www.hilton.com
Holiday Inn Express Downtown -- $69 ($129); 226 Aurora Ave.; 206-441-7222; www.sixcontinentshotels.com/h/d/hi/home
Holiday Inn Seattle Center -- $85 ($139); 211 Dexter Ave. N.; 206-728-8123, www.sixcontinentshotels.com/h/d/hi/home
Homewood Suites by Hilton Downtown -- $95 ($149); 206 Western Ave. W.; 206-281-9393; www.homewood-suites.com
Hotel Monaco Seattle -- $149 ($295); 1101 Fourth Ave.; 800-715-6513; www.monaco-seattle.com/
Hotel Vintage Park -- $135 ($279); 1100 Fifth Ave.; 800-853-3914; www.hotelvintagepark.com/
Inn at Harbor Steps -- $140 ($180); 1221 First Ave.; 206-758-0973; http://www.foursisters.com/inns/innatharborsteps.html
Inn at Queen Anne -- $69 ($109); 505 First Ave. N.; 206-282-7357; www.innatqueenanne.com/
Inn at the Market -- $149 ($190); 86 Pine St.; 206-443-3600, reservations 800-446-4484; www.innatthemarket.com/main.html
La Quinta Inn & Suites -- $65 ($119); 2224 Eighth Ave.; 206-624-6820; www.laquinta.com
Marqueen -- $95 ($165); 600 Queen Anne Ave. N.; 888-445-3076; www.marqueen.com
Mayflower Park -- $119 ($180); 405 Olive Way; 800-426-5100; 206-623-8700; www.mayflowerpark.com
Mediterranean Inn -- $79 ($139); 425 Queen Anne Ave. N.; 206-428-4700, reservations 866-525-4700; www.mediterranean-inn.com
Paramount -- $104 ($230); 724 Pine St.; 206-292-9500; www.westcoasthotels.com/WHC/
Ramada Inn Seattle -- $75 ($159); 2200 Fifth Ave.; 206-441-9785; www.the.ramada.com/seattle00015
Renaissance Madison -- $125 ($250); 515 Madison St.; 206-583-0300, reservations 800-278-4159; www.themadison.com/home.html
Residence Inn by Marriott Lake Union -- $99 ($189); 800 Fairview Ave. N.; 206-624-6000; www.marriott.com
Roosevelt -- $99 ($200); 1531 Seventh Ave.; 206-621-1200; www.roosevelthotel.com/
Sheraton Seattle Hotel & Towers -- $145 ($259); 1400 Sixth Avenue; 206-621-9000; www.starwood.com
Silver Cloud Inn Lake Union -- $89 ($129); 1150 Fairview Ave. N.; 800-330-5812; www.scinns.com/lake.htm
Sixth Avenue Inn -- $69 ($199); 2000 Sixth Ave.; 206-441-8300; www.sixthavenueinn.com/
Sorrento -- $169 ($250); 900 Madison St.; 206-622-6400; 800-426-1265; www.hotelsorrento.com/
Springhill Suites by Marriott Downtown -- $69 ($149); 1800 Yale Ave.; 206-254-0500; www.marriott.com
Summerfield Suites by Wyndham -- $115 ($210); 1011 Pike St.; 206-682-8282; www.wyndham.com
Travelodge by the Space Needle -- $55 ($109); 200 Sixth Ave. N.; 206-441-7878; www.the.wingateinns.com/seattle07033
W Seattle -- $169 ($390); 1112 Fourth Ave.; 206-264-6000; www.starwood.com/whotels/
Warwick -- $112 ($220); 401 Lenora St.; 206-443-4300, reservations 800-426-9280; www.warwickhotel.com/
Westcoast Grand -- $112 ($290); 1415 Fifth Ave.; 206-971-1800, reservations, 800-325-4000; www.westcoasthotels.com/WHC/
Westcoast Vance -- $79 ($180) 620 Stewart St.; 206-441-4200, reservations 800-325-4000; www.westcoasthotels.com/WHC/
Westin Seattle -- $149 ($295); 1900 Fifth Ave.; 206-728-2259; www.starwood.com/westin/index.html
P-I photographer Jeff Larsen can be reached at 206-448-8150. For personal e-mail contact: jefflarsen@seattlepi.com. For general releases: shorttrips@seattlepi.com.
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