Hotel review: College Inn in Seattle, Washington

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The College Inn Hotel in Seattle bills itself as “the closest hotel to the University of Washington.” They aren’t kidding. We could peer into a UW classroom from our room. But other than being adjacent to the U of Washington campus, is College Inn a nice hotel?

The College Inn Hotel, Seattle: My Review

My high school senior daughter and I went to Seattle to tour the University of Washington. I chose this Seattle hotel for two reasons: proximity to the university, and its vintage style. It looked cute, and I thought my daughter would like that. We ended up loving much more than the look of College Inn: It’s a friendly, sweet, cozy hotel with some unexpected amenities and a fun history. That said, College Inn isn’t the modern full-service hotel that many people expect. It has a few drawbacks that might rule it out for some travelers.

College Inn’s History

As soon as we stepped into College Inn’s tiny lobby, we started learning about the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909. I had never heard of this particular world’s fair before. But it turns out, the hotel was built for the exposition, by the same architect who designed several of the expo pavillions. It’s built in a cute tudor style that probably isn’t the first thing you think of when you hear “Seattle.”

The aesthetics

You can pick out College Inn from blocks away by its distinctive roofline. In the lobby, a pretty tiled floor spells out “Ye College Inn.” Stained glass panels hang in front of the stairway windows.

The rooms are also cute. One entire wall of our room was a comfy window seat, spanning three large windows covered by wooden blinds and curtains. A pedestal sink, lit by bubbly glass sconces, and a hanging rack for coats and other clothing completed the look of an old-fashioned and charming hotel room.

The pros of Seattle’s College Inn

Location: You can’t beat the location of this hotel for vistiing the University of Washington. We were just steps from the restaurants and shops on University Way. Our meet-up for the campus tour was a mere 10-minute walk.

The College Inn is also close to the Light Link Rail station. We took the 1 Line from the airport (only $3!).

Unexpected bonus: The fourth floor. The building’s attic is a communal space where guests can use a lounge and kitchen. Hanging out in the lounge is like hanging out in a hotel lobby, but more private, because no one can enter off the street. There’s a leather couch, a few armchairs, several large tables for eating, coffee dispensers and a hot and cold water dispenser. In the kitchen, you have a full-sized refrigerator (with Sharpies for labeling your food), a large sink with dishsoap and sponge, plenty of dishes and silverware, a stove, microwave and countertop oven.

The lounge also has lots of books, including a Seattle guidebook and a cool hardcover all about the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. We also had fun paging through a 1944 University of Washington yearbook.

Traveling with my daughter, I appreciated this lounge as a space where I could give her some quiet in the mornings when I woke up and she wasn’t awake yet. If you were traveling with the whole family I think it would be even more valuable.

The cons of College Inn at the University of Washington

When we arrived at the College Inn on our first morning in Seattle, we ran into what looked like another prospective student and her parent, and they were frustrated. Because he lobby of this hotel is not staffed, so they’d had to get buzzed in, then call the one employee running the place out of a fourth-floor office to get checked into their room.

“It’s a whole process,” they told us, as they let us in.

We called the staff member, and learned we were about to experience another drawback of College Inn: We would not be able to store our bags until check-in time in the tiny lobby. Instead, we needed to carry them up to the office on the fourth floor. No elevator. While my 17-year-old and I are both in good enough shape to carry our bags up without too much trouble, I can’t claim this part was pleasant. Later in our stay we met a woman who was truly struggling on the stairs, and she told us that the hotel’s listing on Expedia hadn’t made the “no elevator” part clear.

Another thing you should be aware of is that not all the rooms have private baths. College Inn bills itself as a “European style” hotel, and shared toilet and shower facilities are part of that. I booked one of the rooms with a private bathroom.

The final drawback to this hotel was the only one that really bothered me: noise. In the lounge, I noticed a bin of free earplugs. I took this as a sign that it might get loud at night. I was right. Actually, not so much at night as in the early morning hours. Our room was across the hall from one of the communal bathrooms. So when someone got up early to take a shower, I heard the room door open and close, the bathroom door open and close, and then the water running. When neighbors left their rooms early, I heard their doors as well as footsteps in the hall.

Oh, and one little whine: Once woken up by the hallway noises, I went to the lounge to get myself coffee. I found that at 7 a.m., the staff person wasn’t on duty yet. So the coffee in the dispensers was left over from the night before. But all was not lost: I went to a Solstice Cafe on University Way instead and got a delicious latte.

Would I stay at College Inn the next time I visit University of Washington?

I would absolutely stay at this University of Washington hotel again, as long as I’m not traveling with anyone who has limited mobility. I loved that residents can cook their own meals in the communal kitchen, and I loved our room’s cozy window seat with a view of campus. If I stay again, I’ll make sure to bring my preferred brand of earplugs and pack a bag that’s not too heavy to haul up the stairs.

Check out the info box to find out how many miles I earned on this college trip!