I recently stayed at the Watertown Hotel, and I LOVE it. My daughter had to be seen by a doctor at the Seattle Children's hospital. We wanted to stay at a hotel the night before, since her appointment was so early in the morning. She is only a year, and takes a lot of work to get ready in the morning, and coming all the way from Olympia is a long drive so early. I read the reviews prior to booking and decided to go ahead and book a night there. They offer a discounted rate for families that have kids going to or staying at the hospital. I called several hotels and asked them if they had a hospital discount, and while they did it was MUCH more expensive. I was also concerned about safety. I wanted inside rooms, and secure free parking, which is very hard to find in the U area. They had a very secure garage to part in, and the elevator would only take you to the lobby if you don't have a key. You have to have your room key to get to the guest room floors, which I think is just Wondeful!! really makes you feel secure.

After we checked in, we went up to our room and we were quite impressed. We love that the closet doors open from the living area, and the bathroom area...so you don't have to tramp naked to the bed/living area, you can access your clothes from the bathroom area. Most hotel's "closets" are on the other end of the room from the bathroom. They also provide 2 robes to use while you are there. Their bath products were nice. the tv was pretty cool, they have it on a swiveling/slididng base, and you can actually turn the tv and watch it while you are getting ready in the bathroom. The mirror and sink area are seperate from the shower. For women, this is a plus. We don't have to stand in the steam to put our makeup on, while our husbands/kids are taking a shower. the room was small, but the way it is layed out, we had plenty of room, even with our stroller inside the room.

Now here is the best thing. They have these alacartes that you can request, before you arrive and it will be waiting in your room when you get there. They have a Seattle one in all the rooms, but you can request another one. They have artistic ones (that come with things to draw and paint and such) they have a movie watching one, an internet one, where they bring you a laptop and printer, and many many more. The one thing I would suggest to the hotel, is make the full list available on line, and when customers call to book an appointment, let them know about the many carts. But this is minor......We arrived at the hotel to late to request one. (there are certain hours only that you can request a cart)....We didn't realize they had a baby cart, with toys, wipes, takalong bibs, plastic kid spoon and fork, disposable sippie cups...lots of stuff perfect for babies.....and they include several outlet covers, so you can plug up the outlets and not worry about your baby sticking something in them. Well we asked the front desk clerk Jessica who was Wonderful!!! She not only suggested a great little italian place just a few blocks away....she said she would see about getting the baby cart and putting it in our room....even though the hours to request one is closed.
She was just so sweet and nice, and gave my daughter a little rubber ducky that she got to keep. All of the staff were so nice and more than willing to bend over backwards for customers.
We got there to late to enjoy the wine tasting on weeknights, but I'm sure that would be fun. We did partake in breakfast and I enjoyed it. Some other people commented on the quality of the breakfast, but it's free and it's available for several hours......when you are trying to get a 1 year old up early, and dressed...it's nice to just stroll downstairs and get some breakfast. I have stayed in a lot of hotels over my lifetime, and most continental breakfasts don't have hot food.....they have scrambled eggs and sausages. along with bagels, toast, muffins, scones, fresh fruit, SOY MILK (what hotel offers that?, none...this one is great), milk, OJ (it did taste a little sunny D like, but hey it was still good and nice and cold). Their muffins were really good. They also had yogurt (wonderful for kids, my daughter loves yogurt) and several different cereals....The coffee and tea are available 24/7....so that is a great thing too, though they give you a bag of starbucks coffee and a coffee maker in your room too.

Overall this experience was Wonderful!!!!! I am not a really picky person, but I am a clean freak and this place was Spotless. My husband travels a lot and stays in a lot of hotels around the world, nice ones at that...and he can always find some mold or hair or dirt in the bathrooms....I'm telling you, I'm a germaphobe and this plact was SPOTLESS. So spotless, I decided to give my daughter a bath that night before her doctor appt the next day. They even had a bath mat to put down, so she didn't slide around, and it was clean too......The beds were comfy, and the option of 2 different kind of pillows is just awesome!! I usually bring my down pillow everywhere, because I can't sleep with anything else. I forgot to bring it this time, and had no problems, I used one of their synthetic pillows, and it was Great....obviously from nice quality, not a discount store special. The sheets and comforters were nice, and clean!

I have never written a review on a hotel before, I'm not usually one to do that unless it's really bad, or really really good. This hotel exceeded all of my expectations. I have never been treated so nicely by staff in all my life...they are just wonderful. I thank Jessica (the night clerk on the 2nd) for bending over backwards and getting my daughter the baby cart. She really enjoyed it and I can't tell you much that was appreciated. The morning staff were just as nice, and just ooed and awed over my daughter, and they were all talking to her and saying hello....she was the center of their attention for a few minutes, and she loved that.

the Only thing I would suggest to the hotel, is update their hours of the cart availablility and the wine tasting in all the rooms. I found like 4 different times for all of them, and wasn't sure the real time lol....but that is so minor it's hardly worth mentioning.

My daughter unfortunatly has to have surgery next month and we Will be staying at this hotel for a few nights!!!! I would recommend this hotel to ANYONE coming to the area. They even have shuttles to take you to the local attractions and hospitals...though we drove ourself to the hospital, it's nice to know if we didn't want to we could have requested a shuttle to take us there.

This hotel is top notch and I will be staying here again. Thank you so much for the wonderful stay, and we look forward to another wonderful stay next month.

I had stayed at this hotel once before, about two years ago, and was very impressed at that time. I was planning another trip to Seattle and was able to get a great rate through AAA, and saw no reason not to return.

On looking at the first room, we realized that all the furniture was filthy. There were strange stains on the ottoman, and the couch. We asked to be changed to a new room, which they did immediately. The new room was only slightly better.

I'm not saying the room was dirty, because it was not. The furniture clearly needed to be replaced though. I put this on the comment card and we were emailed after returning home with an apology from the manager and an assurance that the rooms would be taken out of service and the problem remedied immediately.

I would still stay there again, the breakfast, wine tastings and complimentary bike rental more than made up for the shortcomings.

I just got back from a few nights stay at this hotel, which I chose after reading all the glowing reviews at TripAdvisor. The reviewers were spot on in prepping me for the ups and downs of this hotel. I stayed near the Needle when in Seattle last year and had done some exploring then and had figured out the city somewhat, so was curious about staying in the U district and wasn't disappointed with that choice. I agree with another reviewer that it is important to know what you're doing if you're going to stay near the U vs. downtown or Queen Anne. But the hotel has a shuttle service with very accommodating and helpful drivers, it's easy to use and readily available, as is their car service which you can reserve for rides to and from the airport. I used their car service for a one day conference in Bellevue and was pleased with how that worked out. The hotel also can call cabs for you if it's not during shuttle hours, and they come right away and are helpful too. The front desk staff was pretty good, helpful and friendly. Every once in a while I asked a question that confused them, but there was someone else to ask and they did their best to make sure I had correct answers to my questions. Fitness room was adequate - heck, Seattle has so many outdoor fitness options, including bicycles and helmets to borrow at the hotel - so you don't have to settle for the fitness room as the only option. Breakfast was adequate as well, more than ample choices and it was decent and available over several hours which was nice. Breakfast and happy hour with wine and beer and little snacks on the weeknights were included with the room price. There are plenty of other hotels in Seattle in higher price ranges that don't offer nearly as much as this place does. The rooms are pretty nice, a little on the small side (at least the studio I had was a little small, but you're not in the room that much), but they seem European in feeling, with windows that open and very clean and well appointed, lots of nice pillows and modern fixtures and bathrobes and decent bath products. The A La Carte option is also fun, and a nice free feature. AAA discount offers decent rates. And on the last night, since housekeeping forgot to make up my room, the front desk made a special deal for me to make up for that disappointment, which was greatly appreciated. It is a wonderful selling point to have that kind of service which is more than willing to go out of their way when it's their oversight causing a guest disappointment. I don't always find this level of service at hotels that are more expensive, so it goes a long way when hotel staff are willing to pay that extra attention to guest comforts and complaints. The Watertown certainly has another fan!

I have some mixed feelings about this place, though in the final balance of things I would recommend it. Here are my compliments and (not huge) gripes:

on the plus side:
--very comfortable bed, nice selection of high quality pillows, excellent small lights/sconces for restful evenings, handy fridge/microwave/coffemaker
--WINDOWS THAT OPEN -- and large ones at that, with wonderful views. Nothing like sleeping with fresh instead of bottled air.
--great that they filter the tap water
--if your room is near the ice and soda machines, don't worry -- they automatically turn off at 7 p.m. so no white noise! (products still available thru the night)
--very friendly staff, who try to help
--TWO bathrobes in the room! (I always wonder about those many places that only have one in the room -- when so many people travel in pairs).

on the minus:
--online reservation system/auto. confirmation letter does not include promised room rate! you just have to trust them that the price will remain the same...
--They are VERY kind in offering that you can come behind the front desk and use their computer/printer to print something out without charge. I realize this is very unusual. However, their software is VERY old so don't count on it being able to recognize your file!
--The coffee in the room is a Starbucks pack and of wretched quality, and no cartons of 1/2 n 1/2 or milk offered -- only yucky unhealthy powdered creamer.
--One of the outside key-entry doors along a side of the building doesn't work well, maybe not at all, and the staff seemed aware of the problem but it wasn't being addressed.
--USA Today delivered to the door instead of the Seattle Times? It's a "Seattle-themed" place -- how about offering a local paper instead of the most low-brow of national rags?
--Cramped looking workout room means you're working out virtually on top of others -- just a bunch of equipment piled in there -- my workout room at home is more spacious!
--The breakfast buffet, while ample, is not worth the time and effectively wastes an opportunity to have a great meal in a great foodie-lover's town (HORRIBLE coffee, juice not fresh and some more like Sunny Delight, scary looking pastries definitely not freshly baked or high quality, scrambled eggs looked like they were reconstituted powdered variety). This is the thing that makes me think that it's more like a Hampton Inn or H-I Express. And then, once you start to see the affinity with a motel chain, other details emerge in the same vein -- the ice machine plop in the hallway, the low quality TV, the absence of staff/services that would normally be present in a boutique hotel.

All that said, the price was great (we paid $159 for a standard room), the location is perfect if you know what you are doing (people who complain about this didn't do their research!), it has a positive and personal feel altogether. We would certainly be willing to stay there again.