What's the best hotel in Anchorage?

Perhaps the Captain Cook!

We prefer Homewood Suites. Hawthorn Suites are also quite nice but Homewood is definitely larger.

Thanks for the 2 replies.
I guess a "suite" type room would likely be more spacious, but I guess it would be better to be downtown for convenience sake. I do wish the downtown hotels had airport pickup. I think if I could know for sure which hotel would be most quiet, I'd go with that. And I guess I think the taller the hotel the better so as to avoid street noise. The hotel section on TA of course quotes good and bad of all the hotels.
I guess I'll just need to choose one and hope for the best. I'm thinking, now, either Marriott or Capt Cook. Everything I've read says bathrooms in both those hotels are pretty meager, but it'll be ok so long as the place is quiet and the beds are good.

Have you checked out the Tripadvisor reviews?
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g60880-Anchorage_Alaska-Hotels.html

i just stayed 3 nights at the Sheraton Anchorage -- decent sized room, good bathroom, great beds, blackout curtains (a must). flat screen tv, etc. -- i'm a light sleeper so i know what you mean about quiet. the first night i had the misfortune of being next to a room with a crying baby and across from screaming children. i called the desk about the room with the yelling kids and they sent security up immediately and everything quieted down. the other two nights were very quiet. the hotel isn't central to downtown, but we weren't there to see downtown... the hotel had a nice restaurant and room service, so that did the trick

I think if I could know for sure which hotel would be most quiet, I'd go with that. And I guess I think the taller the hotel the better so as to avoid street noise.....

I guess I'll just need to choose one and hope for the best. I'm thinking, now, either Marriott or Capt Cook.

Actually, the Cook's lack of air conditioning means that some rooms (in particular the west-facing ones) may occasionally require an open window at "night" (a brief period in June/July) thereby reducing the noise benefit. In addition, the Cook enjoys a relatively unobstructed view - and accompanying noise - of the rail switching yards down by Ship Creek, and also occasionally loud airplane noise from landings and TOs at Elmendorf AFB, on the bluff opposite downtown. The Marriott or Sheraton would not suffer from these problems.

gardyloo makes a great point. btw, sheraton had central A/C which we actually used... so no loud rattling A/C unit, just a quiet central thermostat.

We just returned from Alaska and happily spent our first night in the Anchorage Hawthorne Suites. Rooms were new and quite spacious and the beds were very comfortable. The bedroom had blackout drapes but while there is heat/fan in the bedroom and a fan in the "living room" there is no air conditioning. However, the night we were there was warm and muggy and we slept quite comfortably.

The hotel is within walking distance of downtown which we took great advantage of and the breakfast was varied and satisfying.

Also, the price was reasonable and as we prefer to put our dollars into activities other than sleeping that is another reason we can recommend Hawthorne Suites.

If they don't have an airport shuttle a taxi ride would be less than $20. I would have no problem staying there again.

The Cook isn't next to the railyards as Gardyloo suggests, in fact its about a mile away. The Hilton is the downtown hotel next to the rails. The Cook does have unobstructed views of the Cook Inlet though. My suggestion is stay with a locally owned hotel the Cook

I didn't suggest it's next to the railyards. I said you can see them and hear them from there. You can also hear them from the Hilton, the Voyager, whatever the Holiday Inn is being called these days, and especially (and how) from the Comfort Inn at Ship Creek. The Hilton is not right next to the rails, it's up the hill, as you know.

I'm paying careful attention to all these replies-- interesting as well as informative. I'll be going to Barnes and Noble in a couple of days and will check out those hotel reports as well. It's not as if we're staying a month or even a week. But I know from experience that the way we "kick off" a holiday can sometimes determine the mood/feeling of the following days. I'm just trying to make the choice that's right for us. I really appreciate the specific details that everyone is offering-- helps a lot.

And how is right about the Comfort Inn, they get the shaft when thr train rolls through. I wouldn't worry about the Cook's lack of A/C......it was 59F today, also if your into "green" hotels than what better than one that dosen't pump out nasty A/C pollution.

The Captain Cook is the finest hotel. However, I highly recommend the Anchorage Grand. I travel to Alaska frequently and this is a fine place, reasonable rates and very close to everything.

If you aren't "set" on staying in a hotel in Anchorage, I can highly recommend the Big Bear Bed and Breakfast. We stayed in the Denali Room which had a separate shower and a spa bathtub--luxurious! Your host, Carol, is a former home-economics teacher and she sure knows how to cook! She'll make sure you have something different and delicious for breakfast on each day of your stay--a nice change from the average bacon and eggs that you get at most B&B's.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites at 600 E. Benson Blvd July 4-11. Their cook to order breakfasts were excellent, and the suite was nicely furnished and comfortable. We had peace and quiet, duvets, down pillows, a large bedroom and bathroom, and we just loved the place. It's a bit off the downtown noise but near enough to zip over if you want to. It was also clean and friendly, with a manager's reception every evening, including light munchies and two free drinks. It felt like a one bedroom apartment and we had zero noise from the neighbors or the hallway.

Thanks for the recent report. Actually I'd thought about Embassy Suites, but I scrapped the idea because I'd heard that it was somewhat noisy, e.g. from trash collection and other street noises. Being a low building, various sounds are more likely to disturb sleep than if one were in a high rise. I'm glad it was quiet for you, but I suspect you were just lucky.
Btw, when you say that you were able to "zip over" to the downtown-- was that by car or did you use their shuttle? I assume that for the one day (2 nights) that we're in Anchorage, we'll want to spend most of our time in the downtown area.
It interested me, by the way, that ES was virtually the same price as the Captain Cook. I suspect that we'll stay with CC, since it's unique to the area. But I'm still potentially interested in ES, esp if the rates come down a bit. Mainly, though, we need to insure quiet to whatever degree possible.
Thanks again for taking the time to post.

"a nice change from the average bacon and eggs that you get at most B&B's."

This statement sort of jumped out at me. I'm a bacon and eggs breakfast kind of guy. I haven't stayed at that many B&Bs but my experience has always been that breakfast is usually some sort of rolls, pastry, coffee cakes, or other sweets. If you ever see bacon and eggs it's most likely to strictly be in the form of a quiche. The only time I've ever seen eggs to order offered at a B&B it was kind of "well if you really WANT them, then we'll go to the trouble of fixing them for you but we already have all this other stuff ordered" -- but hardly ever the "usual breakfast". Am I off base there?

But I digress.

WE LOVED the Captain Cook for our two nights in Anchorage.

Neopatrick, most of my B&B stays have been in Britain, Ireland and Australia and they all served a full breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausage, tomato and/or mushrooms, toast, cereal, juice, etc. Sweet pastries were definitely not on the menu in those countries. I guess things are different in American B&B's.
(In fact, we did 8 nights of B&B's recently in Ireland and I would have killed to have had a good cinnamon roll for breakfast some morning. Those "Irish breakfasts" got really boring after awhile.)

Ah yes, of course you're right. I was thinking US (the paradise of baked goods and sweet breakfasts) not Ireland or the UK.

We "zipped" to the downtown area in our rental car, an easy 10 minute ride. If you see Phyliss's seafood restaurant, they have a very casual patio but don't be fooled- the food is fresh and good though medium priced. It's across from Penneys in the 5th Ave. Mall.

We were booked into Captain Cook through our cruise line and didn't expect much. Only the small area with coffee and cakes was still open, but they stayed later to accomodate all of us who had arrived at the same time from airport. Our suite was beautiful!! Unfortunately we had no time to enjoy it as we arrived at 11:00pm and were up at 5:00 the next morning. Breakfast buffet(included)was good.