Hotel Five: A Staypineapple Hotel - Seattle, WA
For my birthday in early October, my partner Melissa and I went to Seattle to explore a town neither of us had been to yet. Since it was a special occasion, we decided to splurge a bit on our hotel accommodations and stayed at Hotel Five, a chic boutique hotel operated by the Staypineapple hotel chain.
Like I typically do, I booked our reservation via the Booking.com app.
Like with most hotels on the Booking.com platform, Hotel Five did not require prepayment through the app or website, instead allowing you to pay at the hotel itself. This works great for me as my United Explorer Card offers 2x miles per dollar spent when I pay directly at a hotel.
Hotel Five is conveniently located in the Belltown neighborhood, the most densely populated neighborhood in the city and known for its famous music scene, wide-ranging dining options, and world class art.
Its location in Belltown means that it is located about a 10-15 minute walk from the Pike Place Market, a 7-10 minute walk from the Space Needle and the Museum of Pop Culture, and about a 20-25 minute walk from the Climate Pledge Arena.
Hotel Five is about a 30 minute drive north from SeaTac Airport and will run you about $50-$60 via Uber/Lyft. Alternately, you can save some money and the environment by taking the 1-Line elevated rail all the way from the airport to the Westlake Station stop and walk five blocks to get to the hotel.
The entire area is very central and touristy so it feels pretty safe even when you’re walking back to your hotel in the early hours of the morning.
Check-in time is at 4 PM and check-out time is at noon. Fortunately, if you arrive early like I did, you can check in early for no fee as long as the room is ready.
The check-in process was a rather conventional affair as I paid for the room and had an additional $50 hold placed on my card per night. At the front desk I was also given a parking permit to place on my dashboard, giving me access to the garage below the building.
The Urban Suite I booked for the trip was a one bedroom suite with attached living room that included a pull-out sofa bed. The suite was located on the southern corner of the third floor of the building and didn’t really offer much in terms of a view. The Seattle Monorail runs down 5th Avenue and is almost exactly at window level with the room I was in.
In the main bedroom, the King sized bed looked noticeably different than any bedding I had ever seen. The Naked Experience, Staypineapple’s signature bedding is, according to their website, comprised of “cloud-like European-style individual duvets.”
Essentially, it’s two fancy twin-sized comforters so each person on the King sized bed gets their own comforter. The idea is that if each person has their own covers, no one can roll and pull the covers off of their partner, leaving them exposed to the frigid temperatures of a hotel room that has had the A/C running at full blast all night. I found that the dual duvet idea is good on paper, in practice, unless you plan on keeping completely isolated from the person in bed with you, the individual cover system makes cuddling or any kind of intimacy difficult to partake in.
The positioning of the TV is also a little strange. Considering the positioning of the bathroom, the usual spot for a TV in a hotel room, the foot of the bed, was not available. Instead, the TV is placed off to the side, meaning those resting on the bed are gonna have to look to the left if they want to watch anything.
Speaking of the bathroom, the bathroom in this room is unreal with a beautiful, massive shower bigger than my walk-in closet. The dual sinks for simultaneous teeth brushing was also greatly appreciated.
The living room was somewhat lackluster. The couch was rather mundane and the lighting wasn’t great but the large 60” TV was nice if you planned on staying in your room and watching TV or Netflix or something. The living room also included a decently sized mini-fridge with built in freezer.
Food options at Hotel Five are somewhat limited. Each room at Hotel Five comes with complimentary coffee and water bottles for guests and there is a small café in the lobby that sells reheated breakfast sandwiches, coffee, and other small miscellaneous snacks, sodas, and alcoholic beverages. Beyond that, as I mentioned earlier, the hotel is in a prime location with numerous restaurants and bars, so what Hotel Five may lack in terms of options, plenty more can be found within a 5-10 minute walk from the hotel.
