<p>I’ll be attending a 3-4 day conference in Seattle in late May and need recommendations on decent, relatively hotels close to the Washington State Convention Center. Close would be within walking distance (so I don’t have to rent a car) and safe to go back and forth in the evening. Since I waited to register there’s no availability at Sheraton, Hilton, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt at Oliver 8, or the Crown Plaza. If I can find a relatively inexpensive alternative, I might get my employer to cover the cost.<br>
Thanks for any recommendations.</p>
<p>[Seattle</a> Waterfront Hotels | Marriott Waterfront Seattle WA Hotel](<a href=“http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/seawf-seattle-marriott-waterfront/]Seattle”>Downtown Waterfront Hotel in Seattle, WA | Seattle Marriott Waterfront)</p>
<p>Sorry not inexpensive but I would look on price line
You would be at the waterfront and could do the touristy stuff there & there are buses that you could take back & forth if you didn’t want to walk.</p>
<p>I feel for you- I hate the convention center. What time of year are you going?</p>
<p>^ Late May</p>
<p>Have you tried Fairmont Olympic? It is within walking distance from the convention center (agree with EK - that place is a zoo) - definitely not cheap, but sure beats sleeping under the I-5. 
There are some boutique hotels close to Westlake center, but I don’t remember the names. You can take the bus to and from the conference center from Westlake or even walk. There is a free ride area downtown weekdays from 7 am to 5 pm (?)</p>
<p>[Seattle</a> Hotels: Luxury Seattle Hotel at The Fairmont Olympic, Washington](<a href=“http://www.fairmont.com/seattle]Seattle”>Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Seattle - Luxury Hotel in Seattle (United States))</p>
<p>Try the La Quinta. Not very expensive, location is okay (on the edge of okay, but hey, that’s what walking shoes are for), clean and decent. I’ve stayed there several times.</p>
<p>My company puts us up at the Marriott Renaissance pretty often. Nice hotel, but maybe expensive. I don’t think it’s very far from the convention center. You’re probably just fine walking around in Seattle downtown, as long as it’s not too late at night, or on Yesler (or some places on??? 4th where the homeless hang out). It’s pretty safe and fairly upscale most of the time, plus it should stay light till after 8pm in May.</p>
<p>Now, I’m kind of cheap, but I like a nice hotel. So…if you could take a chance that you might have to walk several blocks to the convention center, if you’re in decent shape, what I personally would do is book off of hotwire.com. You can get pretty good rates on a 3-3 1/2-4 star hotel, and if you select something that is in the Pike Place area, I think you wouldn’t be too far. If you haven’t done that before, you know the area, the star value of the hotel and the price, but not the name. You can look at the area it covers and see, worst chance, how far it would be from the convention ctr. It might be very close, as it ends up, but I’d look at worse chance. That is, if you’re the betting sort. I personally think if I can get a 4 star hotel for $120, who cares which one it is? And 3 stars are pretty nice too. You can also tell if they provide airport transportation too, though I don’t know how many do from downtown. There may be other areas that look closer, but Pike Place is pretty close.</p>
<p>Thanks very much for the recommendations. I check them all out.</p>
<p>Any others?</p>
<p>If you belong to AAA or AARP, sometimes they have good rates as well. Did use HotWire in connection with Better Bidding & booked at Sheraton Hotel & Towers. The HotWire rate @ $89/night was MUCH lower than we could get any other way, but we weren’t POSITIVE on which hotel we got until after we booked the hotel & paid (we did NOT bid, which can get you lower prices). With the description & recent successful bids, you can often GUESS what hotel you’re getting. It WAS very convenient & we walked to Pike’s Market from the hotel, though it WAS a bit of a walk. That is the only hotel we’ve stayed in so far in Seattle.</p>
<p>Back in the day (and well before my time) the Olympic was the hotel for the famous and the well-heeled.</p>
<p>I do like the Olympic. Ive never stayed there but I have sung there.</p>
<p>Another nice one is the Sorrento on Madison.</p>
<p>My favorite is the Mayflower Park Hotel. Centrally located, older but very clean and comfortable with great service, and generally the best price of the upscale establishments. The wife and I walk around downtown Seattle all the time at night and have never felt threatened.</p>
<p>Shoot, too late to edit my prior post. I love the Sorrento, and a +1 for having drinks in the Fireside Room there with the live jazz music, but it’s up on the other side of I5 and the drawback would be the walk back and forth from anything downtown other than the Convention Center.</p>
<p>Thanks, very much—some good options.</p>
<p>Not sure what it is called these days but stayed at Summerfield Suites at 8th and pike a few years back. One block to convention center and accross from the bus terminal.</p>
<p>^^^It looks like it’s now a Homewood Suites - 1011 Pike.</p>
<p>I think the Hyatt bought those up. You can go to google maps or map quest & do a search for closeby hotels.</p>
<p>Homewood suites I notice is just on the other side of the freeway, on Pike & looks to be a short walk.
[Google</a> Maps](<a href=“http://maps.google.com/maps?pq=summerfield+suites&hl=en&gs_nf=1&qe=Y29udmVudGlv&qesig=8glURYeOsJmbvHBG8Z5zUQ&pkc=AFgZ2tmag8JGK9zFBnwSuztfiSgsa63RZODRbssMM2FbkwnEu7TQJUfS-gpLf36nM1kV91-XNVrkR8QcZpXhTmqsaWag3Wax3g&cp=9&gs_id=z&xhr=t&client=safari&rls=en&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1024&bih=668&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=convention+center+seattle&fb=1&gl=us&hq=convention+center&hnear=0x5490102c93e83355:0x102565466944d59a,Seattle,+WA&cid=0,0,1118056039412451155&ei=AQdNT4r-J8LeqgHP663FDg&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_BI]Google”>http://maps.google.com/maps?pq=summerfield+suites&hl=en&gs_nf=1&qe=Y29udmVudGlv&qesig=8glURYeOsJmbvHBG8Z5zUQ&pkc=AFgZ2tmag8JGK9zFBnwSuztfiSgsa63RZODRbssMM2FbkwnEu7TQJUfS-gpLf36nM1kV91-XNVrkR8QcZpXhTmqsaWag3Wax3g&cp=9&gs_id=z&xhr=t&client=safari&rls=en&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1024&bih=668&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=convention+center+seattle&fb=1&gl=us&hq=convention+center&hnear=0x5490102c93e83355:0x102565466944d59a,Seattle,+WA&cid=0,0,1118056039412451155&ei=AQdNT4r-J8LeqgHP663FDg&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_BI)
If you are really on a budget I would try price line, the end of May is starting to be tourist season, with the Folklife festival the last weekend in May. But the weather may be fantastic!</p>
<p>A couple of summers ago, we stayed at a Marriott Residence Inn on Lake Union. Very nice hotel.</p>
<p>Mercer street is a mess - you won’t want to be that far north.</p>
<p>you may want to try a bnb or airbnb dot com. </p>
<p>For the following you will need to use the bus.
You may find a couple of 2 stars places around UW.
Younger crowd and interesting neighborhoods in Fremont (tech area), Wallingford, Greenlake areas. Or area from lake union to the sound.</p>