Fairmont Olympic Hotel

The Hotel

The Fairmont Olympic Hotel opened in 1924 on the site of the University of Washington's original campus, designed in the Italian Renaissance style by Beezer Brothers and financed by a consortium that included the university's real estate holdings. For a century it has been the city's most consistent address for civic ceremony: US presidents stay here, visiting heads of state, and the Seattle business community that needs its hosting to carry institutional weight without requiring explanation.

The 450 rooms have been maintained through multiple renovations while preserving the building's essential character, high ceilings, generous proportions, and the particular quality of a room that has been in continuous luxury service for a hundred years and knows it. The Grand Ballroom and Cascade Ballroom remain Seattle's premier event spaces. The indoor pool, a rare amenity in Seattle's hotel stock, runs beneath a vaulted ceiling of considerable beauty.

The hotel's grand dining room, known as The Georgian since 1924, reopened after renovation as The George, a modern brasserie from executive chef Guillermo Carreno, redesigned by Lázaro Rosa-Violán with Art Deco chandeliers, marble floors and the room's original Palladian windows. It remains the hotel's social heart, open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and a weekend brunch that is a Seattle institution, with a menu built on Washington seafood, regional produce and premium meats. Alongside it, the Shuckers oyster bar, operating since 1984, is the city's best hotel seafood counter and a genuine local favourite independent of hotel guests, and the Lobby Bar handles the pre-dinner hour.

The location on University Street puts the hotel at the centre of Seattle's original commercial district, the Seattle Art Museum is across the street, Pike Place Market is a four-minute walk, and the Westlake Center transit hub is two blocks north. The Fairmont Olympic is the right hotel for the traveller who wants to be on foot in downtown Seattle, close to everything, in a building with a century of civic significance.

Best for Anniversary

A dinner at The George, a suite with University Street views, and the kind of hotel that makes the occasion feel appropriate to its significance. The Fairmont Olympic's anniversary programme includes room upgrades, champagne on arrival, and late checkout, the practical elements that actually make a difference. For the couple who wants ceremony without theatre, this is Seattle's answer.

Best for Business

The Olympic has hosted every significant Seattle business negotiation since 1924. The meeting rooms are equipped for executive use; The George's private dining handles client dinners with the gravitas that some occasions demand. The brand is one that communicates civic weight rather than corporate novelty, useful when your counterpart is from an institution rather than a startup.

The rooms and suites

The 450 rooms and suites have been carried through repeated renovations while keeping the building's character, high ceilings, generous proportions and the settled quality of a hotel that has been in continuous luxury service for a century. They are traditional and comfortable rather than cutting-edge, and, as in most grande-dame hotels, sizes vary with the historic floor plate, so a higher category or a suite is the surer route to space and the best light. Suites, some overlooking University Street, are the pick for a celebration. Guests praise the classic elegance, the beds and the service; the honest note is simply that this is heritage grandeur, not a new-build aesthetic.

The pool, spa and the building

The indoor pool is a genuine rarity in Seattle's hotel stock, set beneath a vaulted ceiling of real beauty, and alongside the spa and fitness centre it makes the hotel a proper retreat as well as a base, welcome in a city with real winters. The public rooms, the grand lobby, the Georgian-turned-George dining room, and the Grand and Cascade ballrooms that remain Seattle's premier event spaces, are part of the experience in their own right, and much of the pleasure of staying here is simply moving through a landmark building.

Location: downtown Seattle on foot

The address, 411 University Street, could hardly be more central: the Seattle Art Museum is across the street, Pike Place Market is a four-minute walk, and the Westlake transit hub and the shopping core are two blocks north, with the waterfront and Benaroya Hall close by. It is the right hotel for a traveller who wants to be on foot in downtown Seattle. The only caveat is the one common to a big-city core: a few surrounding blocks can feel gritty after dark, so it is a downtown-comfortable rather than a resort-cocooned setting.

What do guests say, and the honest trade-offs

Guests reserve their warmest praise for the grand public spaces, the service, the pool and the sense of occasion, and the hotel's century of civic standing is part of what people come for. The honest trade-offs are the usual ones for a historic grande dame: rooms are traditional and vary in size, rates and valet parking sit at the top of the Seattle market, and the downtown setting is central and lively rather than quiet. For a landmark, service-led Seattle stay, though, the Fairmont Olympic is the city's benchmark, and its guest scores reflect it.

Rates from $289/night. Check availability directly.