Yes, Vancouver friends, I know you said you’re visiting Seattle but I know that you really might want to stay in Bellevue. If visiting “the mall” is on your itinerary and you are headed south to shop and hang out, Bellevue is becoming more and more of a shopping hotspot and I have a great hotel choice for you if you’re from out of town.
Hotel 116
Coast hotels has revamped its Bellevue location calling it the Hotel 116. Canadian visitors will find its convenient location near Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods awesome and Chik Fil A is right next door too. (Just not open on Sunday, folks) Parking is free and if you want to ditch your car for the day there is a free shuttle service between places within a 5 mile radius of the hotel between select hours. Did I mention there is breakfast included too?
A Spiral Staircase!
We were guests of Hotel 116 by Coast Hotels for the purpose of this review and my kids and I stayed in a loft room. This was such a fun space even though it felt a little dated in its style. The room was clean and comfortable and that’s what counts most. With little kids in this room I’d be a bit wary of the big gaps in the staircase, but I’m more on the cautious side and how fun is having a SPIRAL staircase in a hotel room? The loft room has two floors which provides ample space when traveling with kids and we really should have utilized more time playing and taking pictures on the stairs. We had a view of the pool but it was too chilly to really pool the day we visited- a few weeks earlier and it would have been perfect. I like the picnic tables and space around the pool too-this kind of contained space is great for young families.
The kids and I were on our own so we piled into the big bed, ate ice cream, watched tv and snored until the morning. We could have used the downstairs fold out couch too but we were ok. Ideally when traveling with kids, there could have been another bathroom downstairs to keep them contained on one floor but this is just a wish-things worked out fine for us the way they did. We had a great time just hanging out in our room and I think that says a lot for the space.
Free Free Free
We tried the free shuttle service and we were dropped off and picked up at the mall. We used the free wifi to hunt for Pokémon. We ate the free breakfast in the morning and appreciated the yogurt and bagels the most but we saw people loading up on bacon and eggs and they looked happy. There were tons of people in the breakfast area so it felt like people thought this hotel was a good value.
I think you’ll find it a great value as well-clean, comfortable and convenient and this great hotel choice will save you some money so you can spend more shopping! The mall is a short drive away and we love the new downtown Bellevue Park and nearby Botanical Gardens for working in a bit of nature with your shopping as well. Also, Seattle is close and we saw many Seahawks fans staying here as well.
(PS. As I stated before, we were guests of the hotel and these opinions are my own and I’ve written about other free things in Bellevue here too)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)