Seattle - Vance Hotel
 

Hi all. I stayed at the Vance in '99 and found it to be a small but reasonably clean and comfortable hotel. I am now married and looking to go back to Seattle to catch a few ball games in September, and in looking at the Vance's website, it appears as if they have renovated since my last stay.

Long story short, has anyone stayed at the Vance recently (last Fodors comments are over one year old) and, if so, what were your thoughts on the hotel?

thanks for your assistance.

Terry

There are up-to-date reviews at www.tripadvisor.com, which you can find quickly by typing "trip advisor vance seattle" in Google.

The rooms probably haven't gotten any bigger, but since you liked it the first time, it should be comfy for you to stay there again.

When I walked past the hotel a week ago, the restaurant was closed.

I've seen the reviews on Trip Advisor already - thanks for the suggestion though.

In the past, I have always had a greater confort level with reviews from the Fodors board than I have with that site - I am leery of overly positive or overly negative reviews (I assume that the poster is a shill) which Trip Advisor seems to have an abundance of, for just about every hotel I have ever looked at on their site.

Haven't stayed there this century, but my general FWIW comment would be that if the rate is in the neighborhood of $125+, I'd definitely have a run at a 4-star on Priceline before settling for the Vance. It's still rated as 3 stars by websites that in my experience are overly generous with such things, and you've got nothing to lose by giving PL a shot. People are getting the Sheraton in July/August for $100, for example.

Unfortunately, www.biddingfortravel.com is still recovering from the hacking their host took last week, so the listings on Seattle hotels are skimpy pending restoration (if ever) of their backup data. Still, if you're not looking at Labor Day, you have plenty of time to fiddle with PL for what could easily turn out to be a much better deal.

Thanks Gardyloo. Unfortunately, I need the flexibility to change or cancel my reservation, so I don't think PL is an option for me, as attractive as some of their deals may be.

Do you have any suggestions on other downtown Seattle hotels that I may want to look at, keeping in mind that I'm not really in a position to spend much more than $150US per night, which is the best rate I could find for the Vance. Even though the Cdn exchange is better than it has been in a while, $150 US is still going to set me back $200 Cdn.

In looking at various sites, hotel chains that I would normally consider staying at, e.g. Sheraton, Marriott, Hyatt, all seem to be going for $250+ per night - I don't mind spending this if it's on my client's tab, but I can't justify paying it myself.

Sure, I would look at the Silver Cloud Inns - Broadway, Lake Union - which ought to be under $150, offer shuttles downtown, free breakfast, and in the case of Lake Union, a decent view of the lake and all the comings and goings. http://scinns.com/

I used www.tripadvisor.com when booking rooms in six different cities in Mexico this past winter, and I found the ratings to be extremely reliable. However, the reviews must be read carefully and taken as a whole.

For instance, if somebody comments that some rooms are much smaller than others, chances are the hotel will try to stick you with one of the tiny rooms. That happened to us in Mexico City on our way home, so we checked out before we checked in.

Recently on this site somebody inquiring about the Forks Motel, noted all the positive statement about the place on TripAdvisor and dismissed the negative ones. As a result, she came to the wrong conclusion that the motel.

On another recent thread about ~$150 hotels in Seattle, someone suggested El Gaucho Inn in Belltown. Also Pioneer Square Hotel in Pioneer Square.