Hotel Theodore

Creating the ideal city break hotel is no mean feat. The aim is to create somewhere that guests will relish retreating, but not so filled with amenities that they feel short-changed not spending their entire break there. In short, cosy and welcoming, but also a springboard to adventure. 

Well, that’s exactly what Hotel Theodore in Seattle has accomplished – our perfectly placed home-from-home in the middle of the Emerald City. 

Part of the Providence Hotel group, you could feel the influence of the Portland-based company (I can say this with authority as it’s the next place we visited) as soon as you walked through the door. There was laid-back luxe décor, industrial touches and instant greetings from the friendly staff.

Yet, it was all unmistakably Seattle, meaning just the right side of hipster to feel aspirational but still inclusive. As the second stop on an epic US road trip and the city we were most excited to visit, we were counting on Hotel Theodore to be our ideal Seattle bolthole, and it did not disappoint.

After an epic day of travelling, we were thrilled to open the door to our room and find it was light and airy with bags of personality and that it was about the size of a one-bed in Peckham. 

Patterns were plentiful but complimentary hues of duck egg, camel and charcoal kept things cohesive. The whole mood was eclectic and enveloping. It also housed the biggest bed I’ve conceivably ever slept in. And don’t get me started on the shower which has ruined all other showers for me forever. 

The art was clearly carefully curated which is always one of my favourite things in a hotel – no dogs playing pool here. I also clocked a Nespresso machine, but with an on-site coffee shop just downstairs, I knew I wouldn’t be using it. 

As hard as it was to prise ourselves out of our paisley-and-plaid pleasure palace, on our first evening, we headed to the Atrium for the nightly wine hour. It’s an excellent opportunity to mingle with other guests. Or, if you’re anything like me, to go and nose around the in-house art collection – every corner has a new and exciting piece to discover. 

Of course, as it’s the ultimate city-centre hotel, I noticed there was also plenty of provision for people who need to mix business with pleasure: a gym with running machines and Pelotons, meeting rooms, and WIFI signal to rival the White House’s (I’m assuming they have good WiFi in the White House). 

Luckily, our business was being tourists. To that end, the location could not be beaten.  Everywhere you could ever want to go is walkable: the waterfront, the museums, the galleries, and the shopping (oh, the shopping) are all no more than forty minutes away. If that still seems too much, the hotel also has bikes to borrow. 

Each morning we’d walk to Pike Place Market to pick up our breakfast, whether that was a carb-fest at Piroshky Piroshky or a… carb-fest at Honest Biscuits.  

For a three-minute thrill, you could also get the Monorail, Jetson’s-style train ride that stops right by the hotel and will take you direct to tourist HQ: the Space Needle, Chihuly Garden, the Museum of Pop Culture and more. 

But apart from the great interiors, the great location and the great amenities, the thing that makes Hotel Theodore stand out is the really, really great staff. They are warm, hospitable and so helpful – everyone we encountered was a total joy. 

Whether they were tracking down an errant dress I’d had posted there, making suggestions for dinners or days out (great shout on getting the ferry to Bainbridge Island, guys) or the text service they offer which means you don’t even have to walk over to the phone in your room – they could not have made our time easier. 

So, if you’re heading Seattle-wards, make sure you stay at the Hotel Theodore – it’s the perfect pad for the innumerable adventures this city has to offer.