My husband and I are taking our daughter to college in mid-august and are thinking of spending a couple of days with her in Seattle beforehand. We will be arriving at Seatac airport (most likely towards mid-late afternoon). We will be renting a car, but don't know whether to do so before our stay in Seattle or after (we plan on visiting Olympic NP after dropping off daughter at college). What would you recommend? We would prefer to pick up the car after and hopefully have a hotel where we can have easy access to public transportation. The problem is that we will also have quite a bit of luggage for our daughter (coming from the other side of the country). We are traveling on some budget (yeah, college bills!) so, luxury hotels are out of the question. We do want a room that has its own bathroom, that is clean and that is relatively quiet (i.e. not facing a nightclub). We would appreciate any advice for hotel location, rental car need, etc. Thanks in advance for your help!
Advice/ recommendation needed on hotel and car rental in Seattle for August
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Just go on Hotels.com or priceline.com and bid on higher star properties... they will be cheaper and better than trying on your own... we got $85 per night at a 4 star... good luck
Last year we stayed at the LaQuinta in downtown Seattle. It was certainly no luxury hotel but it was clean, fairly convenient and had a friendly, helpful staff. The other good thing about it was that it had free parking. Many of the downtown hotels charge extra for parking.
Without pointing to one car rental company-these are your choices- http://www.portseattle.org/seatac/ground/rentalcars.shtml
Probably better renting at the airport unless you can get a shuttle to your hotel and rent downtown the next day.
We actually got a great deal on the Fairmont, seriously. Apparently due to the economy they often lower their rates instead of having empty rooms. We booked directly on their website.
Travel alot to Seattle: I grew up there. You need to just get a rental car.. found best rates usually FOX..they are off site tho so you will be wrestling w/luggage and shuttle unless 1 person goes and gets the car and then doubles back to p/u other passenger w/luggage at arrival deck.
Even p/u a rental in the gagarge is going to a schlep w/luggage
Lately I've been googleing "city name" rental car coupons and coming up w/good rates..you could try that too for hotels and restaurants.
Also lately I am rec Sprinhill suites in downtown Seattle. They do have a shuttle to get you around nearby: not tot eh airport tho. I've seen 119.00 a night.
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel-information/travel/seadt-springhill-suites-seattle-downtown/
Thanks all for your great tips! I left right after I send my post and have been away for a couple of weeks so it's great to come back and see your answers. I will check the various hotels mentioned.
garyt22, I looked at priceline.com and it makes me a little nervous, plus I'm not quite sure exactly how it woks. Do a lot of people use it? It does sound like a great idea, though.
Thanks again. Lot's more to plan now!
All of the bidding sites are different... we just look for 4 star properties and see how low we can get them for... so far we have never been disappointed...
I can't help you with hotels, but if the hotel is central, it's obviously very easy to get around Seattle without a car. As far as car rental, there are at least two downtown car rental locations I know of -- Avis which is at the corner of Olive Way and (I think) 5th and then Hertz which is in the bottom of the Hyatt hotel near the Convention Center. I just did something similar and rented the car at that Hertz in order to leave town and go elsewhere, after I had spent several days in Seattle without one. That worked well for me as I had no desire to have a car in Seattle, nor pay for parking for it, nor pay for the rental since I already needed the car for a one week period outside Seattle. It's real easy to get from the airport to downtown via the light rail system which is only a few dollars, but then you'd have to be staying near a stop for that to work real well, I suppose. I was so it was perfect for me.
Car rental options will vary -- you'll pay more for renting a car for days you may not need it (but if you need it for four days, adding on 3 to make it a week probably won't raise costs, may even lower them), as well as possibly parking depending on your hotel, and airport taxes for the rental.