University Inn

I stayed at University Inn for a few nights during a part of my stay in Seattle. I am super amazed by the hospitality. This hotel is super wonderful– go book it now.
Some of the perks we enjoyed…
–We got an early check-​in and an upgraded room, for free!
–Free parking, which is pretty amazing considering a lot of the places charge like thirty bucks for mandatory valet.
–Free shuttle service!
–Continental breakfast and afternoon cupcakes!
–European bedding = no more fighting with blanket hogs

We stay at University Inn when in Seattle. The front desk staff are first class. The housekeeping staff are equally helpful. The rooms are always clean and well furnished. The breakfast is very good and well presented.

I’ve worked in the travel industry for many years, I’ve not stayed at such a nice pet friendly hotel in years. Euro style duvet bedding, very friendly staff quite knowledgable about the area, onsite parking and very quaint boutique hotel. Located in the fun University district, close to all the sites. Best bargain I’ve seen for such a clean and friendly hotel, I highly recommend the University Inn.

Location is everything .
The lobby stairs made it difficult for us to use the luggage cart without going out in the inclement weather. That was bothersome. The staff were helpful and accommodating. The room furniture was oddly placed. The shower had red mold growing all over the bottom tiles. The bed was super comfortable .
We stayed in the older wing.

I stayed at the University Inn in Seattle while I visited the University of Washington. Its dorm-​like design, location near the university, and young staff, suggest that the hotel is owned and operated by UW — but that impression is wrong. The hotel is, in fact, owned by a family, and this family has a strange obsession with pineapples. The university, and more generally, Washington state, have no connection to pineapples, so the hotel slogan, «meet me at the pineapple,» is confusing at best and misleading at worst; it’s especially misleading because the exterior of the hotel is not adorned by any pictures of pineapples or accented by any pineapple statues, there is just a plain hotel building. So even if you wanted to, you couldn’t meet anyone «at the pineapple.»
But as you enter your room, as you set your luggage down, as you hang your clothes, more pineapple paraphernalia emerges. Look to your bed, and you’re greeted by a small plush husky, the UW mascot, emblazoned with a pineapple; look beneath the husky, and a small card, illustrated with a small, skinless pineapple, explains their «naked experience duvets;» look to you coffee mug, and you’re urged to meet someone «at the pineapple;» look to the closet, and you’re given a choice of wearing pineapple emblazoned slippers or robes. But even if you look absolutely everywhere, you’ll never learn why pineapples are so important to the University Inn.
So why would this small hotel invest so heavily in pineapples, decorate their rooms with pineapple paraphernalia, and even run an unfortunately named, «pineapple express» shuttle? You’ll have to ask the management. But personally, I’d rather keep it a mystery.

I needed a place to stay where I could bring my dog. My dog was given a gift bag with treats, poop bags and a clip on dispenser, a water bowl and use of a dog bed. There was a pretty good breakfast spread. Coffee pot in room. Room was small with a terrace that you could not go out onto (deadbolt locked with a key), the AC/​heat unit was not controlled by the controls on the device. I like to keep the fan on to decrease the small sounds that put my dog on alert, and I was unable to do this. It did cause a bit of stress Since the rules say if someone complains about your dog barking you have to pay for their nights stay. I will probably not stay here again. Unit was clean, but be careful as there are lots of extras in the room that you will be charged for, like the robes, slippers, stuffed dog etc. The elevator was a bit scary too.

My boyfriend and I are in Seattle for my birthday, got here on Saturday and will be leaving tomorrow. It may be a little early to leave a review but this hotel has been amazing. The bed is extremely comfortable, the comforters are to die for, we wish we could roll one up and take it home with us! The staff has been nothing but great, they’ve given us numerous suggestions of places to go and answered every question I’ve had. Haven’t had even a mediocre experience with any staff member, they’ve all been great. I didn’t get the shuttle drivers name, but we’ve probably driven with him about 5 times this trip and he’s wonderful. This was our first trip to Seattle and I’ve fallen in love, this hotel has had a lot to do with that!

Great location just a few exits from downtown with a fabulous hotel room, complimentary breakfast and free parking.
Likes: Comfortable bed and pillow, complimentary hotel slippers, soap dispensers, free water bottles, free continental breakfast, and free parking
Dislike: Limited parking space with all space compact (not good for Trucks and SUVs) share parking with busy restaurant next door.
The hotel staff were friendly and provided world class service which will entice me to come back again with my family. I was checked in early with a upgraded room with no additional charge. Also, I was able to use my AAA discount :)
Hotel also provide free bike rentals and shuttles (which I didn’t use) but that is an advantage for the people who need it.
Very satisfied customer :) Thank you for the experience.

I really like the comfy bed and duvet! Parking, wifi, water and breakfast was free, which was awesome! The wifi signal was strong and reliable. Check-​in was so quick and helpful. Even though I missed out on the free cupcakes in the lobby, I’d stay again!

This place is awesome! Walk to campus, only a few blocks to campus restaurants & bookstore, etc. the rooms are clean and the beds are beyond comfortable! Complimentary breakfast is just perfect! The staff have gone above and beyond to make our stay wonderful, providing maps and suggestions for all kinds of things! They overheard me talking about a family tragedy & upcoming funeral and they gave us the sweetest, most thoughtful card and some candy! We will be repeat customers for at least the next 4 years! Thank you!

While I agree that the wifi definitely needs some work, I enjoyed my stay at the University Inn. I am in Seattle, WA for a two week course with the University of Washington and this place has been lovely. The bed was ultra comfortable and I enjoyed the two down comforters. It literally took me no more than 5 minutes to fall asleep in the bed. The room was spacious and clean. The hotel does not have a gym but you can use the small workout room at its sister hotel located one block away. They also rent out cute little one speed bikes which come with a helmet and bike lock. The staff were friendly and helpful. The free breakfast was pretty good and much appreciated.
I will say that the wifi is very slow. While the shuttle is a great resource, it’s not very accessible and it gets full fast. I also highly recommend visiting the Trinity Market down the street, they make the best sandwiches. The 66 bus which takes you downtown is literally across the street.

Nice clean room. Great people at the front counter. A/​c needed help and parking spots are limited. Breakfast was fine. I would bring the family back.

On reaching our room, we spent five minutes fussing with the door lock, positioning the key card one way and another, but seeing only red lights. We were not doing anything wrong; rather, the first key-​card simply did not work. The second (and third) key-​cards produced a green light but the door handle nevertheless failed to engage. We ultimately discovered that, when the green light appeared, we had to count five seconds before the door handle engaged. At six seconds, the light went out. Later that day, as we were counting five for the door handle to engage, a room-​service person congratulated us on our discovery of how to enter the room.
In discussing this as well as other problems (noted * below) that should have been corrected during our three-​night stay, the desk clerks never uttered the words, «We’ll get that fixed right away,» or, «Would you like to move to another room?» One suggested that we pull the door handle up rather than push it down as one normally would. Their apparent unease (both initially and at checkout, as we reiterated our complaints) informed us that they were aware of the problems, as was room service, but that the hotel would not correct any of them. As clerks do not make such decisions, I understood that the multiple dysfunctions were known to management, which had left orders to rent the room «as is,» not only without fixing its deficiencies, but without providing unsuspecting customers with a tutorial on how to deal with *the door, *the toilet, *the bathroom sink and the table-​desk.
The bathroom was long and narrow. Lighting was inadequate. *The hot and cold taps were reversed at the sink. *Flushing the toilet required holding down the handle for ten seconds because an incompetent plumber had made the chain between the flush lever and the flapper-​valve too long, so the valve was not fully raised when the handle was depressed. This simple problem and its simple fix apparently were beyond the capabilities of Pineapple personnel to assess and correct. I assessed it but I was disinclined to fix it. There was only one towel bar for the room which, with two queen beds, was intended for many as four occupants. The counter space was also inadequate for two, much less four people.
The room was accessed through a long, wide entry hallway that connected with the hotel’s common hallway. Except for the bathroom door and an ironing board hanging on one wall, the hall, which was nearly as large as some hotel rooms in Europe, was empty. This indirect connection between the room and the hotel’s common hallway was due to the poor structural design of the building. The room was beyond the common hallway, contiguous with an inside stairwell. Perhaps it was an afterthought (a storage room that had been converted to a guest room during a remodel?) or the building’s architect was incompetent, or both.
The room was fairly large even after the hallway was discounted. However, it was rendered crowded and dysfunctional by the placement of furniture within it. The TV was in a corner, unnecessarily remote from one of the beds, and a table-​desk located where the TV should have been presented a constant menace to the toes of passersby who arose without shoes in the night. We don’t watch TV but I twice bashed my toes on a leg of the table-​desk.
There was only one nightstand and one reading lamp to serve the two beds. This was not for lack of space for one or even two more nightstands, which would have provided a reading lamp for every potential occupant. (Because we knew this was an old hotel with limited electric outlets, we brought an extension cord to charge one of our cell phones.)
The room was clean and the firm beds were comfortable. However, individual duvets, two to a bed, were another dysfunctional misery, constantly sliding off during the night because they hung over only one side of the bed. As for the pillows, they were nearly as firm as the beds, not at all malleable, more like sacks of sand than pillows and quite incapable of supporting the neck.
We wondered at a management that equates four potential guests with one towel bar, one reading lamp, one sink in a tiny counter space, and does not understand the pull of gravity.
We had stayed at this hotel once before. While our room at that time certainly had not been perfect, it had been acceptable. Indeed, while the bad design of this room and the stupid arrangement of the furniture were irritants, they were not deal-​killers. (Unless, of course, I had broken a toe on the table-​desk.) Had the hotel corrected the easily-​fixed problems prior to renting the room, we would have rated it three stars. Had it at least responded as it should have when we complained about the *problems, we would have rated it two stars. However, this hotel’s unvoiced customer service protocol was loud and clear: «We don’t give a you-​know-​whuck.» Management’s utterly disingenuous excuse, below, only confirms our opinion. We would not stay here again.

My friend and i could really relax here. The staff was very nice
I would recommend this place with ally heart. I have stayed at alot of motels over the years and this on gets a big thumb up.

Do not book a stay at this hotel if you even slightly rely on Wi-​Fi Internet access. The Wi-​Fi Internet system in place is atrocious. At best it is very, very, slow. But most of the time it simply does not work at all.
Otherwise it’s a wonderful hotel! The breakfast is cereal and bagels, so don’t get too excited about that, but the location is wonderful.
1 star because I rely on Internet access and the hotel failed to provide that.

My husband and I stay at this hotel every month and have done so every day for the last year. Primarily because it is close to the university of washington where I am being treated for brain cancer.
Sometime during the course of the last 30 days, they decided to implement some cost cutting measures, which I am all for under normal circumstances.
However, when we walked in to the room that we normally get, we were surprised to see the bed had not been made, there was a fitted sheet and two comforters folded up on top of the bed topped off by a few long black hairs (I am bald due to the cancer and my husband doesn’t have much more hair than I do, so it definitely didn’t come from us).
We called the front desk and confirm that they do not provide flat sheets anymore, nor do they do anything but leave the comforters folded on top of the bed! They say it is to save on laundry but I highly doubt they wash all their comforters everyday.
So this hotel has lost a regular customer, too bad for them, they obviously don’t care.

On the Seattle hotel market, you typically get what you pay for! I’ve been burned more than once by a «good deal“and vowed never to take a chance again! But I needed something close to UW, my typical faves were too far away… I stayed at another Pineapple property downtown, so I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.
I think I may have a new favorite Seattle spot! It’s at least in my top 3. Here’s why:
1. Free cupcakes. Yup, that’s my top reason. Don’t hate.
2. Free parking. In Seattle, this is huge. Caution: it is on a first-​come basis, and the lot isn’t huge, so get there early if you’re set on using it.
3. Free shuttle. This helps with the «get there and park early» thing. Caution: it doesn’t run on your schedule, so if you have to be somewhere the shuttle goes at 6pm, plan ahead.
4. Free bikes! If the shuttle doesn’t tickle your fancy.
5. Free breakfast. And it’s a good one (relatively speaking) — french toast anyone?
6. Free Wifi. Yeeeeeeeah.
7. Comfortable rooms with huge stone showers and liquid hand soap (I HATE BAR SOAP).
8. Value for the price. It’s hard to find this many great things for a good price; I would have expected to pay much more for this place than I did. They run some good specials, and it’s definitely worth it!
There’s also an outdoor pool, which wasn’t useful when I was there. Service was really friendly and helpful. While it’s not super mega fancy and plush, if that doesn’t matter to you, this is a great spot.

Great place! The front desk staff were friendly, room was clean and free breakfast. The breakfast could have had a few more items, but hey, it was free and good assortment of fruit, bread, little muffins, cereal, bagels and hard boiled eggs.
They also offer a free shuttle to a number of destinations, including the light rail stop where you can pick up the train to go to the airport. That was a great service. Great location as well, close to university area but also other cool places (we went to a vegetarian place about 15 minutes drive away).

This place is most certainly a little gem of a hotel in the heart of Seattle! Where can I begin of how great this place is! The location, the amenities, the staff, the room, the atmosphere.
Price: so reasonable, this is really what sold us on finally deciding on this hotel, everywhere else we looked that was closer to Downtown was riddled with extra fees and just ridiculously expensive for a quick trip. University Inn did NOT hike up the prices for the weekend, like so many other places have a tendency to do.
Location: a three block walk from UW, two miles from Greenlake, five miles from Pike Place, a really cool neighborhood to eat, barhop, or just walk around and enjoy the leaves changing colors already! We were able to just walk down Roosevelt and check out all the shops, restaurants, and bars, so much to do and see!
Freebies: free parking (yes, its true, totally free!!) free continental breakfast, free wifi, free shuttle to get around town, free bikes to cruise around, free cupcakes, tea, and coffee for an evening nightcap!
Room: Booked a double queen room, the view wasn’t amazing, but I think if we had been a bit further over, it would have been a completely unobstructed view of the city! The option was there, but I was there to walk around and enjoy the outdoors! Spacious though, very comfy and quite nice, didn’t use the Keurig that came with the room, but it was a pleasant option to have.
I’ll definitley be staying here again, such a great location to get around the whole city, beaufitul neighborhood location, wonderful amenities, and a great staff! Look no further, its the whole Seattle Experience without the downtown pricetag!

I’ve stayed twice now at the University Inn. While their rates are a little high, the service and accommodations are very nearly worth the price. The staff are always helpful and pleasant. They have quite a bit of on-​site parking although I’ve been told they do run out at times so it’s best to get in early.
The outside is decidedly low-​tech. Either the colors or the stylings remind me of an old Howard Johnson’s. However the inside is quite stylish and modern. They have many free offerings: cupcakes and tea in the afternoons, continental breakfasts in the mornings and shuttle service to most tourist locales in the immediate area. There is also coffee and tea along with a single serve maker in the room along with free bottles of water for guests.
The location is perfect for my purposes which has been to see shows at the Neptune. Everything is within walking distance. There are more restaurants and bars than you can possibly imagine or want to try from cheap to expensive and from standard to exotic fare.
The hotel itself is very, very clean. The bed linens smell (but not badly) like they’ve been bleached within an inch of their life and make you feel secure in their cleanliness. The beds are comfy and the pillows are even better.
I’ve never heard noise from any of the other rooms which is a plus. You feel like you are in your own small oasis from within your room.
Eventually, I will try their Portland offering to see if it compares but this will do as my go to place for shows at the Neptune.