The Last Aeroplan Hurrah: Four Seasons Seattle

I have a good friend who lives in the Residences. It's a great property with a great location and beautiful views. I've considered moving into to one of the slightly more affordable apartments nearby.

One totally nitpicking minor correction: It's Pike Place Market. For some reason when tourists call it Pike's Place it *really* bothers Seattleites 😀

@ BrewerSEA -- Whoops, good catch. Fixed so I don't piss off the Seattleites!

Lucky, would you recommend Mastercard or Discover?

We liked the bed so much we bought it. Still amazing 10 years later.

@ Lawrence -- Out of curiosity, what bed is it? Might have to eventually upgrade from the W bed. 😀

Are Four Seasons Preferred Partner, Virtuoso, and American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts generally available to everyone or do you have to have some sort of insider-y membership?

@ RakSiam -- Fine Hotels & Resorts is only for American Express Platinum and Centurion cardmembers, while select travel agents have access to Four Seasons Preferred Partner and Virtuoso, and they book stays for anyone through them. I'll have a multi-part post outlining how everything works in the next week or so.

you should have been featured here 🙂

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/travel/are-travel-agents-back.html

I'm not quite so partial to the location, since 1st through 3rd streets can be pretty seedy, but I guess it isn't that dicey. Just not quite up to the same quality as the hotel itself.

My personal threshold for using my pool in Seattle is anything over 72. Demanding anything higher is wishful thinking.

Thanks for another great report Lucky. Out of curiosity, are you still a Virtuoso Advisor?

@ hsw25 -- I'm actually not. I had a bit too much on my plate, unfortunately.

LeBlanc = Frank's retarded brother.

Thanks for this review. Eye opening, I stay at the Fairmont Seattle everytime I am in Seattle (The Fairmont was the Old 4 Seasons) and I am always itching to see the rooms @ this Four Season property.

I like the modern look of the lobby and restaurant. Buttt......

Don't get me wrong here, while very nice looking the Seattle Four Seasons looks EXTREMELY underwhelming when I think of other new properties and high end destinations. The room actually looks very "Holiday Innish" That's not to say the Seattle Fairmont is any better (it is actually quite dated) but now I don't feel so bad paying $79 at the FM (without dining credit obviously)

From my perspective: 4S and FM both pride themselves on their "service" and both have high end hard products and some duds within the group.

Fairmont's Pacific Rim and Beijing are examples of super highend hard products.

Fairmont Toronto and Four Seasons Vancouver are examples of a low end hard Product.

Thanks for the indepth review. Glad you made it out of Seattle 🙂

I am sure the service is great but the room decor looks very IKEA-ish.

@Ben - I hope you're feeling better. Was it something you ate?

@AMRivlin - Interesting that you think the Fairmont Toronto is "low end hard product". It is the Royal York Hotel, a fabled hotel that even Queen Elizabeth II stayed there, not to mention celebrities from the Beatles on down. It is an old hotel, yes, but renovated and hardly "low end" IMHO.

Lucky, it seems you're elevating your typical hotel stays to more upscale and ultra luxury properties. Its interesting because you start every review saying "it's ordinarily outside my budget but...". First you did PH Shanghai, then RC HK, and now FS Seattle. Glad you seem to be enjoying it.

@Joseph

I have stayed at the Royal York in 2010 (so my opinion is based in first handedness) and I felt the hotel was extremely tired. The location and history even structure were impressive but the hard product inside (beds, carpets, drapes, wall thickness, furniture, tvs, bathrooms) left much to be desired. As many have noted regarding this property there are too many owners of the complex and they do not wish to invest a looney, and fairmont does not wish to lose this master piece in their collection, so it continues as a 2nd rate hotel.

Not to verge off into a Fairmont discussion, but the FM Queen Elizabeth in Montreal is no peach either. It seems like they don't know how to upgrade historical hotels and so don't change anything out of paralysis.

Wow, you went and invited that friends of yours and he/she did not ask you to stay at this house in Seatlle?