HI Seattle at the American Hotel

I was very happy with my stay in the Hostel. the staff are friendly and helpful. the kitchen is fully stocked with pots, pans etc.

Worst hostel I’ve ever stayed at. My room reeked of cigarette smoke. There were no screens so you couldn’t even open the windows to air out the musty room. The bathroom was dirty and had no toilet paper. The staff seemed bored and uninterested. I changed locations after one night and had much better experiences at two other Seattle hostels, which were both cheaper than this HI one.

American Hotel is a great hostel to stay at when in Seattle. It definitely doesn’t break the bank with their rates and provides a good home base for those who want to venture out and see the sites. I stayed there 2 nights in a double and found that it suited my needs — I spent 90% of my time out and about. Keep in mind that it is a hostel and not a hotel — even though the name suggests otherwise :) — so as far as providing a sense of how to go about exploring the city and doing the things you’re interested in, they can definitely help you out.
Highlights:
— Provides a great intro to Seattle for tourists w/​the materials they have available (i.e. tours, flyers, bulletin boards on each floor)
— Helpful and approachable staff/​front desk
— Great base location in Chinatown/​International District for those hoping to explore Seattle either by foot, light rail, and/​or monorail. For newcomers to Seattle, I’d recommend walking to Columbia Center (10 – 15 mins walking distance) to get a sense of the layout of the city. I’d definitely recommend going to Columbia Center over the Sky Tower for an aerial view.
— Hostel is nearby Uwajimaya — an Asian supermarket with a decent food court. You can stock up on food, toiletries, and etc there.
— The mattresses for the beds aren’t Marriott-​quality, but they are comfortable.
— Complimentary breakfast 6AM-​9AM
The Chinatown/​International has some side streets with some questionable characters. Just have your wits about you and you will be fine.
Side Note: if you do not specifically ask for card access for the elevators and you scan your card at any of the elevator pads, it may cause your card to malfunction when trying to scan the pad for your room. The front desk can help you out, regardless.

This place has some incredibly horrible service.
A random person walked into my paid private room in the middle of the night waking us up, when she ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT HAVE ANY ACCESS AT ALL. When I went with her to reception to let them know that they made a mistake, they just stared at me and said «oh.» WTF?! I had to again tell them to fix this problem and give the girl another room. The girl even asked them if she now had the correct room as she had to switch keys and rooms 3 different times that night in the hostel. If I was that girl, I would punch them in the face and get my money back.
I also had to go to reception constantly to update my keys because they were deactivated throughout our stay there. Overall, I paid for a place that had no A/​C, squeaking beds, unknowledgeable and some disrespectful staff, and of course, they denied any refunds.
Never again.

Worst service ever… I have never in my life experience such horrific service. They started with an attitude (the manager). Then they cancelled one of our friends card and because there stupidity they locked deactivated our keys with our stuff inside with a note on the door. After we paid they continued to being rude, disrespectful and unprofessional! PAY THE EXTRA AMOUNT AND HEAD TO A NORMAL LOCATION! Never ever coming here again!

I highly recommend HI Seattle at the American Hotel! I only stayed for one night, but the atmosphere was great and the room (especially the bed) was very comfortable. I believe it was memory foam? I was asleep before I had much time to decide. A small fan and lamp, plus two extra power plugs was a great addition to each bed.
The neighborhood might seem a bit iffy at night at first glance. There were a couple of bums standing beside the doorway when I arrived and rang the bell to get in at 10:30pm, but they didn’t say anything or bother me.
I agree with other comments that there should be screens on the windows. I wanted to leave my window open overnight to let some fresh cool air in because my room was very hot from the day, but I did not want to get chewed up by mosquitoes so I left it closed.
Overall, great room and great experience. I will stay here every time I come to Seattle as the location is wonderful — walking distance even to Pike Place Market! Recommended to anyone looking to see Seattle on a budget.

Some of the staff were extremely rude, though others were nice. The building is very old and and cleanliness leaves something to be desired. I also found many of the other guests I had to share a room with rather undesirable (loud snoring and etc)

My sister and I stayed here for two nights while on a road trip as it it was the cheapest option in Seattle. I have stayed in other HI hotels and felt that staff here is among the best. They took the time to provide great recommendations (including where to park for free), suggestions for clubs and things to do and were overall very friendly.

I stayed here recently for a few nights as a budget-​conscious way to see Seattle. Situated in the heart of a Chinatown near the light rail and bus terminals, its location is one of the best things about it. One disappointment was that we booked the hostel with the specific intent of using the nearby Light Rail station to take us to the airport. Unfortunately, this specific terminal was closed for the weekend, which meant we had to take an overcrowded bus to another terminal, and it totally defeated the purpose.
The location is also one of the worst aspects about the hostel. I admit that it is quite sketchy. If I weren’t traveling with my boyfriend, I would not feel safe walking in this neighborhood alone, primarily at night. It seems like there are a lot of homeless people and/​or drug addicts roaming around, especially after dark.
The bathrooms are OK. Each floor has two private water closets which have a shower, toilet and sink. There is also a public bathroom with two shower stalls and two toilet stalls. They are pretty well maintained by the housekeeping staff. I never really had a wait or problems with getting hot water. I recommend keeping on shower sandals when using said restrooms.
I got a private room with my bf and we each got our own bunk in a twin bunk bed. The mattresses are very hard and thin. I do prefer a soft mattress, so I woke up with back and hip aches, but I expected as much for how much I paid.
There is free breakfast from 6−9am, although I think it would be more reasonable to have it from 6:30 — 9:30 or 7 – 10, because a lot of people (like me) missed breakfast due to simply wanting to sleep more. Options for breakfast include: oatmeal, bananas, oranges, bagels w/​pb or cream cheese, toast. There definitely is not much in the way of protein, but you can buy ingredients at the local Asian market (Uwajimaya) and cook for yourself as well.
I would say this hostel is moderately clean, not spotless, but not terribly disgusting either. You are expected to chip in and clean up any dishes you use. Although — I do think this counts as a public health hazard. The window in our room had no netting on it, it’s a real danger because someone (like a child) could easily fall four stories down. Also, the windowsill is coated in a THICK layer of pigeon excrement. The only means of getting fresh air also means exposing your lungs to pigeon feces, which is sure to harbor some form of disease. I don’t know how you could logically expect the hostel to clean it, but it’s surely a hazard you should be aware of.
Overall, I give this hostel a fair rating. It definitely lacks a friendly, social vibe that I expected with staying at a hostel. It seems like people mostly keep to themselves. But it’s a cheap option for those who don’t want to spend much time in their rooms and more time exploring the city.

Im never staying here again. They seriously just walked into my room without even waiting for a response. What the f***?? Thats like the first thing you expect to have when u stay somewhere, PRIVACY. I PAID FOR A PRIVATE ROOM AND YOU WALK IN WITHOUT ASKING? we paid for a private room with a ‘double bed’ but instead we get a room with 2 bunkbeds. Ugh this place only has the train station going for them, other than that, stay away. No food or drinks in room? What? I can’t have chips? Really… You really have to sneak around here but again, even if y did bring food into your room they would find it cause apparently THEY JUST WALK IN WITHOUT ASKING! Also I dont want to forget to mention how I booked a room online and paid a deposit that is supposed to be included in the overall price of the stay and when I got here they 1. Over booked so i stayed in a crowded ass room with 2 bunk beds and no room to move but then they also didnt inlcude my deposit price. GET IT TOGETHER GUYS. We went back down there to get a refund … I just feel bad for anyone who doesnt speak english and reads roman letters causd they wont know and can just get ripped off. When i told the ppl upfront about the girl invading my room, it seemed as though they wouldnt care to do anything about it but oll5never2 know. Anyways, 1 star cause I Unilocal to remember if i wanna come back and this is a definite no. 4 stars for anyone else i guess. On our way now to a new Hostel, which I’m hoping is better.

great place just need to resolve some minor issues
minor issues but it’s a suggestion maybe putting automatic air freshener spray on the wall in each room. in my room during the 3 nights it smelled bad. one guy left and went to another hostel in the city because of the smell. it wasn’t due to property upkeep and it wasn’t due to poor housekeeping. it was a person in there with bad smelling feet. so me and my other bunkmate brought some air freshener from our own money to make the room smell a little decent and there were a few times we had to open the window at night and freeze our butts off because of the feet smell. but the hostel should be the ones to put out the cost not me or anyone else and no one deserves to sleep cold either. also another suggestion for the staff to remember to ask if you have a membership. other hostels automatically ask this question. I had to let him know after he gave me the total that I am a member. and one more suggestion housekeeping need to check the trash cans in the rooms on a regular basis. in my room both trash cans were full on arrival to my room. when I left 4 days later. the same trash was I the trash can. that can also cause the room to smell but can bring nasty bugs which would cost the company money to get rid of the them. other then that i had a great stay and a great time.

5 stars, and here’s why — Larry, the general manager of the establishment. There was a problem while I was there, I won’t bore you with the details, but I talked to Larry (Who, from what I’ve seen, is on site very often) and he handled it really well. Definitely resolved the issue. So book your stay here worry free, knowing that if you do have a problem, Larry will do his best to make it right. Thanks, Larry.

Place has dead energy, staff aren’t accommodating to basic needs of travelers. Avoid any of the HI hostels unless it’s a last resort. They all have the same kind of dreary vibe. HI hostsellers don’t care about guests as much as they do about there pockets and it shows.

don’t know why there were so many haters on this place.
beds and bathrooms were clean. Each bed had a fan and a small light, thats luxury!
all of the facilities seemed to be cleaned daily and we had no problems. The neighborhood could be considered seedy for some people who are not used to city downtownish areas.
seahawks stadium is like two blocks away/​too many jersey wearing people.
very easy to get to where ever we wanted to go plus the great late night food in china town wasn’t bad either

staff was excellent. check in went fast, even when they had to take time to combine two reservations. I was not impressed with the beds. but then I have a bad back. but over all a very good experience. I will be staying again.

Could not ask for more. Staff was flexible, helpful, knowledgeable and willing. The location is ideal. If you depend on public transit you are set. If you prefer walking you are close to all of tourist spots. The only worry I had was room sharing but I had a great experience and felt my roommates were very appropriate. There is even locker space in the room. I never had to wait for a bathroom and the secure access cards on each floor put me at ease. I slept great even with some street noise– I just closed the window. It was my first hosteling experience and I cannot wait to do it again! I 100% recommend this place for hosteling.

Bare bones. Great price. Decent breakfast. Restrooms need help. No paper. Loud streets. But nice people. Clean rooms.

You can’t beat its prices. having stayed in hostels before, I found the rooms to be well designed, the bed squeaks –but that’s what you get for ~$ 35 per person. The staff was nice, the building was incredible, the other patrons were great. All in all a great trip

Room prices are very fair, location is excellent, and there’s a kitchen and their refrigerator is clean. Laundry is expensive, but I will be staying here again for sure
^_​^

HI Seattle wasn’t my best experience. The rooms were poor as were the beds. A lot of squeaking for all beds. It’s location isn’t the best one in Seattle as well.
A good thing is, it’s close to the Subway and Amtrak Station.
No alcohol in the building as a first rule was a bit disappointing to me. Not that I’m a needy alcoholic, but a beer with some fellow travelers in the common area is always nice.
The common area is large, with some power outlets and when I was there a bit dirty.
The kitchen however is clean on a normal size and has all amenities you need for cooking.
Restrooms are clean and private
Poor breakfast and bad Internet connection, however free so no further complaints.
Staff is allright, not what you expect to see in a hostel. They could be a bit more enthusiastic and helpful.
I was glad I could leave this place, price-​value a bit overpriced. Never come back here again.