Well it did not last long, that being sleeping in my own bed…I am in Seattle on assignment and all is going well. The City of Seattle is everything that Europe is not, like clean! This place is really nice, and the views are just spectacular, lots of open water and blue skies. You get a sense of peace and that all is well. We flew up to Seattle from Los Angeles using Virgin American, that too was great, great service and a flight crew who really wanted to make it a special trip. We flew “first class” and it really was first class, I could tell as those who were flying “cargo” walked past our seats and made comments like, I wish I had a seat like that.
No one enjoys a good hotel better than I, however, I have to keep in mind that the focus is the assignment not the place I am sleeping and holding meetings. So I have used La Quinta Inns and Suites all over the country when I can. Some of these locations have had some great rooms and even better service in the past. NOT THIS TIME, to all my readers, AVOID the La Quinta Inn Downtown #436, 2224 8th Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98121…this place stinks, literally. My first room we had was #303, it smelled as if they had stored cadavers, it had that odor. I use the comparison of cadavers as I can never forget that smell having worked in a mortuary. Hmmm had someone “checked out” in this room at some point??? We were moved to room #703, there was no way this group of asswipes was going to give us a room with a view. The hallways smelled like something was decomposing and Fabreeze was used to cover it up. This place is privately owned and I have found when you stay at a La Quintas you have to look for the ones that are corporate-owned. The privately owned ones are the ones that were on the brink of total failure and then hooked into the La Quinta brand to save what was left of a failure in providing clean and competent service. I have also found that they also will gouge you on the rate per day. Let me end this by saying it is almost as disgusting as when kissing your granny and she tries to slip you the tongue…awful!
My friends at AVIS rent a car in Studio City handled the reservations for Sea-Tac (airport in Seattle) and upon our arrival we had a nice new Malibu waiting for us. Visit these guys in Studio City on Ventura Boulevard, they know how to keep it real and great rates on great cars and they can handle your rental any place you travel to.
We had a crew of four that handled the assignment in Seattle and all when off like a well-made blueberry pie and the best part was the vanilla ice cream…perfect! Thanks to all that participated in achieving the goal in under 24 hours. I had planned four days…