An airport hotel by SeaTac that misses on some of the key features of any airport hotel. Personally I’d rather check out a different hotel the next time I’m in town.

This stay occurred in July 2023.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Fun in the Pacific Northwest
• Review: Hyatt Regency Seattle
• Exploring Seattle with Kids
• Review: JW Marriott Parq Vancouver
• Enjoying Vancouver with Kids
• Family Dining in Vancouver
• PSA: Register Your Global Entry Cards
• A Case Study on Airport Hotels: Seattle Airport Marriott (this post)
• A Sad Place to Be: The Club at SEA

Booking

For this stay, we used Jenn’s last 50k Marriott certificate, which was due to expire just a couple of weeks later. Better to use it than to lose it!

This hotel doesn’t tend to be too expensive either with points or with cash. It’s entirely possible to find nights here using a 35k certificate as well, which can be tough to use depending on the market.

Earning Marriott Points

If you’re looking to earn Marriott points quickly, you could look into picking up a Marriott credit card. Both Chase and American Express offer Marriott credit cards, but currently only Chase has an offer worth considering.

Full disclosure: the links below are standard refer-a-friend links where I may earn some Marriott for referring. There is no requirement to use the below referral links to apply but note your offer may differ when going directly to the card issuer.

One of the best offers right now is for Chase small business credit cards, giving a sign up bonus of 90k-100k Chase Ultimate Rewards points depending on the card chosen. I wouldn’t normally use this as a method to stay at Marriott hotels but I appreciate the flexibility in case I do need it.

Chase also offers a personal Marriott credit card that gives a sign up bonus of three 50k certificates on the Boundless card and 85,000 Marriott points on the Bountiful card. It’s not the best offer on the card, so it could be best to wait for a better offer unless you have an immediate need for the nights.

Arrival and First Impressions

We were dropped off in the front of the hotel and quickly found the front desk. Service here was fine, nothing spectacular and nothing troubling. We were told our room and went along our merry way.

Jenn has Gold status with Marriott, which meant no complimentary breakfast for us. That was fine here since we were flying out early and the restaurant (Aqua Terra) frankly didn’t look appealing and had poor recent reviews.

The hotel felt like it had too much of a ‘70s vibe here, with plenty of wood paneling all over. It feels almost like they were trying to be a cabin in the mountains when looking at the pictures but I definitely didn’t feel that way when in the hotel.

The Room

We arrived at Room 482. If you were trying to make the argument the hotel is going for that cabin appeal, it all goes away once you step inside the room. I would say the room looks fine, and indeed I honestly felt it was better than expected. So let’s stick to the positives first.

The room felt clean and recently remodeled. It featured two beds and a desk, has a mini fridge in case you need it, and has a Keurig coffee machine.

The bathroom is… fine. I think the vanity mirror is nicely designed and the shower maintained temperature well. Water pressure and volume could have been better. Toiletries are by thisworks, and I guess the name is true that it works but it doesn’t feel good on the skin. Also, don’t check behind the mounted toiletries because despite the recent remodel, some neglect with cleaning is leading to discoloration.

The view from the room was just of the atrium, so don’t expect too much.

Now let’s talk about the improvements.

• The room was uncomfortably hot despite temperature it claimed. Despite the unit saying the interior temperature was in the mid 60s, the room itself had to have been in the mid 70s. Potentially, this was caused by the thermostat being right underneath the vent.
• The walls here are paper thin, making for a very troublesome sleep, if your neighbors came back late at night.
• The bed was uncomfortable. There was little support and felt like the mattress was in desperate need of replacement, unfortunate because the rest of the room felt updated.
• If you wander around the atrium, be careful because the hotel doesn’t do a good job of cleaning the area. Alex was running around and ended up cutting his hand on some broken glass. Yes, it’s hard to fully blame this on hotel but they need to do a better job keeping the walkways clean and clear.
• Not sure it’s worth the free night cert if I can’t even get sleep (heat and noise)

Dining Offsite at Sparks

If you’re in for a short walk, Sharps Roasthouse is about a mile away. In my opinion, it’s worth the trek. We had a lovely early dinner here and found the staff friendly and accommodating. The food left the kids satisfied and the adults were more than pleased with the selections. It won’t be the best place you visit, but it’s going to be at least a degree or two better than what you’ll find in any airport hotel in the area.

Odds and Ends

While I did warn you about the wound Alex received when wandering around here, I will say that the atrium does offer a decent place to visit if there is a sporting event. There is a large TV here and while there wasn’t a sporting event going on during our stay, I can imagine it’s popular when something is going on.

Recommendation: Try Somewhere Else

This should have been a typical airport hotel stay. For me, I’m looking for just a couple of basic things in an airport hotel: easy access to the airport and a good night’s sleep. In terms of easy access, it was ok. There is no reservation system here for the shuttle, so it’s pretty much just first come, first served. You could walk from here to the airport, but it’s not the easiest walk (the Hilton is a bit closer). But the issue I have is more with the sleep. The paper-thin walls made for a restless night and the poor quality of the bed didn’t help at all. Ultimately I’d recommend booking a different airport hotel if you end up needing one by Seattle airport.

Airport hotels are best when satisfying all of the following criteria:

• Easy access to the airport, especially for those leaving early in the morning
• A quality night’s sleep at all hours of the day.
• Food available at all times (and ideally quality food).

In my view, the hotel ended up ok with the airport access but I could see it being a problem if you don’t arrive early enough to make the shuttle, but receives an incomplete grade for food, and a very poor grade for quality of sleep. By that measure, this hotel doesn’t pass the test on what I’m looking for in an airport hotel. I’d rather take my chances at a different airport hotel in the Seattle area next time.

What Seattle airport hotel do you like?