As I stated in a previous review, my wife and I are not big adventurers when it comes to travel, and are even less so now that we have a baby daughter. Our recently (today) concluded trip was only across the mountains of our beloved state of Washington and necessitated at least one night's stay in a hotel or motel. We went with Best Western Trade Winds North.

Checking It Out
This trip was for a family reunion, and being close to my in-laws that we would be caravaning over with, we let them do the research and book the room for me, the wife, our baby daughter, and themselves. Located on Division, it was very close to downtown (5 minutes) where we needed to be for a Friday night restaurant get-together, and only 3 miles from Riverfront Park where Saturday's gathering would be -- everything made this a fairly logical choice.

Check In
We checked in late (6:30pm) after hitting the restaurant first (and called to make sure it was OK). As you walked in, the sign on the door said something to the effect of 'please excuse our mess as we renovate.' The place could surely use it. The ceilings were discolored in places, the vents had the characteristic black streak around them of long neglect, and the walls looked like they had taken some heavy abuse over the years.

The three gals behind the counter (not a one dressed professionally or consistently) were busily checking in people and not a single one looked pleased to be there. I was still 3 customers away from checking in and one of the ladies lapsed into a torrential smoker's hack-attack and disappeared into the back room (continuing to hack away, leaving me to wonder if she was going to live) That didn't seem to affect the speed of the other two ladies as the line continued to crawl as slowly as it did before.

Two customers and 20 minutes later I was finally at the desk with my confirmation number, driver's license (as I saw they had asked other customers for theirs), and visa out. For at least 5 or more minutes, though, there was no one in front of me and was given blank, unsmiling stares as they finished with another customer (even though there were still three of them there) and talked to a new customer about a room. Finally, whatever magical signal was given finally went and it was my turn.
Took a bit of time for them to switch the security-deposit visa (my mother-in-law's) to mine, but they finally got that taken care of. They even acknowledged that my AAA card would earn me a discount.
They did require a photocopy of my driver's license which I found odd (I HAVE NEVER had a motel or hotel photocopy my license), but figured they'd been burned a few times -- I was starting to gather that this place garnered a *unique* kind of clientele that tended to pay in cash and just run off without paying the full bill.

Checking The Room
Anyway, at this point, 30 minutes later, we were in and I hadn't asked about the crib we were supposed to already have in our room. I went back down to the front desk and in quired in person about this. They said, "oh yeah, we will bring that right up." The crib was just a Graco pack'n'play, but was in good repair and went up just fine -- they also included a waterproof crib sheet, fitted mattress sheet and fleece blanket.

The room suffered from similar disrepair as the front desk/lobby area. I think they covered up the ceiling issues rather well with paint, but the walls had certainly see better days and I kept feeling a bit of stickiness on everything from the alarm clock, drawer handles, phone, and some desk surface areas. I don't even want to know.

Our room had two queens because that's what was available at the time, even though we didn't need the two. The beds were reasonably comfortable, however, and clean (though I did venture a look underneath the bed -- you don't even want to know).

The shower worked well and the head had three different setting but was not adjustable directionally and was too low for me (I’m only 5'9"). Don't know how you like your shower, but I like the water falling at 45-degrees or more on me, not horizontally more or less into me.

The sink counter was in need of repair. The countertop was ok; it was where it connected with the front side of the counter that it was coming apart.

The draw-cord on one of the curtains was snapped, but we could still move the curtains completely manually to let in some natural light.

This is a non-smoking hotel that used to be a smoking hotel, by the way. There are only non-smoking rooms, with a few designated smoking areas available. Unfortunately, they haven't replaced all the carpets, drapes, and other items that had been in the rooms during that time and it STILL REEKS. Believe me, the smell in our room betrayed that it had been a smoking room at one time. And, as fate would have it, one of the designated smoking areas happened to be about 20 feet from our door, and someone was often smoking there.

Check Out
This took equally as long because of the uncommunicative, unhappy-looking staff that continued to staff the front desk. One of the ladies that were there the night before was there again. The one other lady there looked a bit more professional and was moving along rather smoothly. I dealt with the lady that had been there from the night before. She had forgotten to give my my AAA discount and the computer was having issues accepting the adjusted rate. She proceed to ring up the proper rate on my credit card, so that much was taken care of. However, she stopped communicating with me at that point, mumbling about something with the computer and how it was going to be one of those days; even saying at one point 'I give up,' trying to get the other staff-person to help her. SHE NEVER COMMUNICATED TO ME THAT I NO LONGER NEEDED TO BE THERE. She left me with the impression that she still needed me or some information from me to complete the checkout procedure. She did not. I had been there for 20 minutes, was already 10 minutes late to where the reunion was meeting, and she was just giving me dumb looks the whole time. I was very mad, but did not let that show through, as I politely said thank you and quickly made my way outside, into our car where I could safely grumble.


Recommended: No