Human storage facility masquerades as hotel
Written: Jul 21 '05 (Updated Jul 21 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Professional staff--and clean.
Cons: Warm as a bank
The Bottom Line: We wanted to leave as soon as possible.
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| webguy's Full Review: Silver Cloud Inn University |
While we had plenty of better lodging options around Seattle, we chose this hotel because it was near a friend’s home and recommended as decent lodging. While the hotel was passable for one night’s stay, I can only recommend it as such, for reasons given below.
Without further ado, let’s experience the Silver Cloud University Hotel together:
Initial impression: This property looks like a typical convention or airport hotel: professional and tidy, but lacking warmth. The exterior grounds are spare and rather stifling, cramped as it is on a small parcel. On the plus side, the hotel is within walking distance of a nice shopping center with ‘upscale’ shops. Locals tell me the “third largest Starbucks in the world” is located there. Yes, we visited it; a platoon of caffeine junkies could get fixed within those walls simultaneously.
Lobby and halls: The lobby is the most attractive part of this hotel. It has an open, expansive feel with comfortable seating. Our check-in was prompt and professional, but as warm and cheery as a Swiss bank. Then we’re off, rolling our luggage through narrow halls that were creepily sparse: rows of crisp, white doors in halls devoid of paintings, plants, and warmth. Is this a hotel—or a storage facility? I was beginning to wonder.
Our room:Once in our room, that’s where the strangeness begins. At first glance, the room looks unreasonably small for this price point and location. This is Seattle after all, and there are many better hotels/inns at this rate. While the room was reasonably furnished and clean, it felt cheap and cramped. It’s as if Silver Cloud is maximizing occupancy and profit—at the guest’s expense. This was most apparent in the bathroom, whittled down to a size so small the sink had to be located in the entryway! That was too much.
More surrealistic touches It only begins with the sink. Aside from feeling shoehorned into a bank deposit box, I had a lot of gripes with the ergonomics. For your morbid amusement, I could mention clothes hooks on the top of doors, beyond easy reach. Or, how about a Kleenex dispenser at knee level? Perhaps a sadistic hotel architect explains the toilet paper dispensers requiring the guest to stretch? But, for me the piece de resistance was a small refrigerator, placed next to the bed. I only became aware of this “feature” when it kicked on at 3 a.m., awaking me. Yanking the cord, I vowed to never return—and warn others of this hotel of horrors.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
webguy
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Member: Kurt S.
Location: California coast
Reviews written: 37
Trusted by: 47 members
About Me:
I'm an avid kayaker, biker and hiker.
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