About Fairmont Olympic Hotel

Fairmont Olympic Hotel is a hotel with a lot of history.

After World War I, the Seattle Chamber of Commerce formed a committee to build a world-class hotel in Seattle. The committee looked around downtown Seattle, focused on the area that had been the original University of Washington campus, and successfully negotiated the lease. Seattle Times then held a naming contest for the hotel, which received 3,906 submissions, and the committee ultimately chose the name Olympic Hotel. Once everything was in place, Olympic Hotel officially broke ground on April 1, 1923, was completed in November 1924, and held a grand opening on December 6 of that same year, with more than 2,000 Seattle residents and guests in attendance. In 1980, Four Seasons took over hotel operations, and after a $60 million renovation, it reopened in 1982 as Four Seasons Olympic Hotel. It was taken over by Fairmont in 2003 and renamed Fairmont Olympic Hotel, which is its name to this day.

The second-floor hallway in the hotel lobby documents the hotel's construction history in detail, with old news coverage, construction photos, the hotel project proposal, the opening invitation, menus, financial statements, and more all on display. If this is your first visit, definitely take a walk through and learn about the hotel's past and present.

Traces of History

Monument

A very atmospheric hallway

Old photos

Old menus

Stay Details

This stay was booked through AMEX Fine Hotel & Resort, with a $100 dining credit plus other FHR benefits such as complimentary breakfast for two, early check-in, and late check-out.

The updated AMEX Platinum offers a $200 annual credit that can be used for FHR bookings, so it worked out perfectly for this reservation. The $200 credit posted the same day the booking posted on the 17th.

The Hotel Room

We booked the most basic Fairmont Room, but at check-in the front desk proactively upgraded us to an Executive Suite. Even though it was a suite upgrade, the actual booking prices for these two room types were pretty close on third-party sites. Of course, an upgrade is always nice. We were also given a room closest to the elevator, but we barely heard any noise, so the soundproofing was pretty good.

Living Room

Bedroom

Coffee Bar

Bathroom

Dining

Fairmont has two restaurants, Olympic Bar and Shuckers Oyster Bar. The hours are shown below:

Olympic Bar

Olympic Bar is the lobby bar, right in the center of the main hall. The atmosphere is nice, but there are very few tables and chairs where you can sit down comfortably for a proper meal.

We ordered breakfast at Olympic Bar, and you can also go to Shuckers for the buffet, which is $28 per person. For the breakfast benefit provided by FHR, either option is more than enough. The food itself was average, but the coffee was terrible, so I honestly can't recommend it.

Shuckers Oyster Bar

We had dinner at Shuckers. The only thing that really stood out was the coleslaw on the side, which had a very distinctive aroma. The server specifically said the dressing is made in-house, and it really was tasty. The oysters were quite fresh, and the rest of the entrees were just enough to fill you up.

Gym

The pool is standard size, and there is also a small hot tub. I wanted to soak in it, but after checking twice and seeing people in it both times, I decided to be cautious during the pandemic.

The fitness area is quite small, but the hotel managed to pack in as many different exercise machines as possible within the limited space, which is about all they could do.

Parking

Self-parking is $50 per night and is one block from the hotel's back entrance. Just let the front desk know at check-in, and they'll send a QR code to your phone so you don't need to take a ticket or pay separately each time you enter or exit. Valet parking is apparently only $5 more, but you have to wait every time you get your car, so it comes down to personal preference; we chose self-parking.

Downtown Seattle

From the hotel, it's a 5-minute walk to the pier and about 10 minutes to Pike Place Market. This was my first time at Pike Place Market since the pandemic began, and it seemed to have been renovated overall. It was much cleaner and brighter than before, and the shop occupancy rate (including the two lower levels) was almost 100%, even more lively than before the pandemic. The area around the market is still under construction, and I'm really looking forward to better planning.

We tried takeout from Shiro's, the famous noodle shop Mike's Noodle House in Chinatown, and the newly opened Youmi Yogurt, and all of them are worth recommending.

Summary

This staycation left us very satisfied with the AMEX FHR benefits. We actually checked in at 1:00 p.m. on Friday and checked out at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, so it was a very leisurely stay. Of course, if Fairmont's food tasted a little better, it would have been perfect.