Travel + Leisure Readers' 5 Favorite Hotels in Seattle of 2024
Belltown and Downtown hotels — including two set right on Pike Place Market — top the list in our annual "World’s Best Awards" survey for 2024.
Courtesy of Thompson Seattle
Seattle is a city that’s all about water: Puget Sound on one side, Lake Washington on the other, and the seaplanes and sailboats of Lake Union right at the very heart. And for Travel + Leisure readers, it's best to stay within walking distance of the waterfront. The top hotels for 2024 hug the curve of Elliott Bay and are conveniently located for reaching downtown sites like Pike Place Market, Benaroya Hall, and the Seattle Art Museum. For those who want to get on the water themselves, the ferry terminal is nearby, too.
How Voting Works
Every year for our World's Best Awards survey, T+L asks readers to weigh in on travel experiences around the globe — to share their opinions on the top hotels, resorts, cities, islands, cruise ships, spas, airlines, and more. Over 186,000 T+L readers completed the 2024 survey. A total of more than 700,000 votes were cast across over 8,700 properties (hotels, cities, cruise lines, etc.).
Hotels were classified as either resort hotel, city hotel, inn, or safari lodge based on their location and amenities, and they were specifically rated on the criteria below:
Rooms/facilities
Location
Service
Food
Value
For each characteristic, respondents could choose a rating of excellent, above average, average, below average, or poor. The final scores are averages of these responses.
What Readers Loved
In a city known for its ongoing tech boom (and the gangbusters development that’s come with it), T+L readers valued hotels that represent a piece of Seattle history.
The charming Inn at the Market (No. 5) opened in the 1980s and remains the only hotel within century-old Pike Place Market. Its 79 guest rooms even include the spacious Beecher’s Loft, a separate apartment and events space above the original location of Beecher’s Handmade Cheese. At No. 3 is the Nordic-inspired Hotel Ändra Seattle- MGallery Collection, which opened in 2004 alongside the iconic Tom Douglas restaurant Lola — but the building has actually been operating as a hotel since 1926. “We have stayed here several times over the past several years and are never disappointed,” wrote one reader.
The Edgewater Hotel (No. 2) will go down in history as the site where The Beatles, early in their career, famously cast their fishing lines out the window. “My favorite hotel in the United States,” wrote one reader of the waterfront landmark, which looks out across the Sound from its position on a stilted pier off Alaskan Way. For another, it’s the pictures in the lobby of all the historic musicians who stayed here in the past that make it “a must-stay for music enthusiasts.” Read on for the full list.
The Winner
Thompson Seattle
Courtesy of Thompson Seattle
The first Pacific Northwest property from the Thompson brand, the No. 1 hotel in Seattle has clearly become a fixture since opening in 2016. Its 152 rooms and suites occupy a striking structure designed by Seattle-based Olson Kundig, the firm behind other notable local projects like major renovations of the Space Needle and St. Mark’s Cathedral on Capitol Hill. The glass facade means many guest rooms offer a peek (or a panorama) of Puget Sound. But you don’t have to stay overnight to get the view from the top. Head to The Nest, Thompson Seattle’s popular roof lounge, for tropical-inflected cocktails, as well as views of adjacent Pike Place Market and the wide water beyond.
The Full List
Reader Score: 93.27
Reader Score: 92.21
3. Hotel Ändra Seattle- MGallery Collection
Reader Score: 91.25
Reader Score: 89.48
Reader Score: 87.59
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