Review: Hyatt at Olive 8 Seattle

Late last week I had a quick overnight in Seattle (had a flight arriving at 10PM and flight leaving the next morning at 11AM), so instead of staying at one of the crappy airport hotels decided to head into the city. I have about a dozen “Big Welcome Back” promotional nights through Hyatt’s amazing promotion, so decided to try out the Hyatt at Olive 8. Last time I stayed at the Grand Hyatt Seattle (comprehensive review here), which I really liked, so I figured it was worth trying this one out so that I could compare the two.

I took the light rail from the airport, which is an unbeatable deal at $2.50. It takes about 40 minutes, and dropped me off only blocks from the Hyatt at Olive 8, which is located at Olive & 8th (shocker, I know). This is only blocks from the Grand Hyatt Seattle, so it’s a tie between the two hotels on location.

The exterior is sleek and the building is huge, though only the lower floors of the building are the hotel, while the higher floors are condominiums.

Hotel exterior

Hotel exterior

Entrance

Main lobby entrance

The lobby was quite modern. Probably not as impressive as the Grand Hyatt Seattle, but I’m not going to sit here and argue the merits of their respective interior design techniques.

At check-in I had to wait for about three minutes, at which point I was helped by an agent. She apologized for the wait and cheerily checked me in within about two minutes. She explained that I would receive free internet and breakfast in the restaurant as a Diamond member. I was surprised she didn’t name an amount, but I wasn’t going to ask. She didn’t mention anything about the Diamond welcome amenity, so I brought it up and she offered 1,000 points or “the amenity,” without mentioning what it was. I went with the 1,000 points since I was tired and would have probably chosen it either way. I was directed to the elevators and headed up to my room.

Lobby

Lobby

I proceeded to my room, which was on a high floor. The elevators and corridor were all quite modern, which isn’t surprising given the type of hotel this is and that it’s new.

Elevators

Corridor

Unlike the Grand Hyatt I didn’t get a suite upgrade for free (not that I was expecting one), and actually don’t think I received any sort of substantial upgrade. Nonetheless the room was very nicely appointed, with a king sized bed, chair, desk, and large bathroom.

Room

Room

Large TV and desk

The room had plenty of outlets, which, surprisingly enough, always seems to be an issue for me at Hyatt properties.

The view from the room wasn’t all that great, and doesn’t in any way compete with the view I had of the bay at the Grand Hyatt.

View

View

Room entrance

As I mentioned, the bathroom was a decent size and had a large walk-in shower. Unfortunately the water pressure sucked. On the plus side, the handle to adjust the temperature and turn on the water was located on the opposite end of the shower as the shower head. Very smart, given the glass partition. Seems obvious enough, but so many hotels get that wrong.

Bathroom

Shower

The hotel offers Portico amenities. Bleh! The only thing that has kind of grown on me is the bumpy soap, but the rest of the stuff still kind of sucks. Figured that this hotel would have something different given that they keep touting their environmental friendliness. Not that this isn’t environmentally friendly (or is, I don’t know), but I was expecting some sort of “earthy” bath amenities.

Portico bath amenities

Floor layout

I slept relatively well and woke up at around 8AM for breakfast. The hotel restaurant, Urbane, is located next to the lobby and has a pretty decent menu.

Urbane Restaurant

Menu

I met a local friend for breakfast, given that I can easily get away with free breakfast for two. In true United fashion, we had a fruit plate and omelet. I had the fruit plate (and ordered a yogurt parfait on the side), while my friend had an egg white omelet, which came with toast. The omelet was $14, the fruit plate was $9, and the yogurt parfait was $7.

The yogurt parfait wasn’t particularly good (maybe it’s just that I don’t like plain yogurt), but the fruit was fresh and I’m told the omelet was tasty. Altogether the breakfast came out to about $40.

Breakfast

And while I didn’t get the chance to use the pool or gym, I briefly checked them out. They are located on the second floor. The gym is very nicely equipped and even has a yoga/aerobics room (or something like that).

Gym

Gym

The pool is actually a lap pool, which is great, and there’s even a large hot tub.

Pool

At check-out all the breakfast charges were removed from my bill and I was on my way back to the airport.

Overall I had a nice stay. I did prefer the Grand Hyatt, mainly because they seem to offer Diamond members free upgrades to suites when available. I’m also generally more of a fan of a club lounge than just free restaurant breakfast, though it worked out really well in this case, since I got to the hotel at a time the club lounge would have already been closed at the Grand Hyatt Seattle. The restaurant breakfast was really good, though.

I also really liked the pool at this hotel. So when I return to Seattle I’d probably stay at this hotel if I just had a one night stay and arrive late at night (thereby missing out on the evening spread in the club lounge at the Grand Hyatt Seattle), but would otherwise stay at the Grand Hyatt Seattle. Or even better I’d hotel hop daily, given that the hotels are only a couple blocks apart and I really do want that 1,000 point Diamond amenity bonus every day. 😉