The American Hotel Hostel — Hotel in Seattle

I first came here in the summer of 2019 at the tail end of my trip from Alaska heading south through Victori/Vancouver and then finally Seattle. I came here again in mid-July of 2021 for 3 nights. I stayed in Rm. 201 this time.||||I took the train from Portland, Oregon, up to Seattle to the Seattle King Street station. The hostel is very close by and easily walkable although a bit confusing getting to it. You essentially have to get to the opposite side othe railroad track from the train station(ticketing lobby). The easiest way to do this is exit the front of the station and turn left along the front of the station.||||Keep along the front of the station until it ends and then turn left walking along the street/drive passing a covered parking area and then an open parking area that is bordered by a wire mesh fence. You will pass on your right on the other side the main traffic entranc\exit for the station. Anyway, keep walking on the left side next to the wire mesh fence until you reach a very wide stair case going up. I would say it is roughly 50 yards from the time you turn left from the end of the front of the station to the staircase.||||You can can not miss the staircase. It is about 100 feet wide at least. It all goes upward about 3 stroies. At the top keep going straight. The passage from the top of the stairs narrows a bit but keeps going straight. You will go about 60 yards going directly straight away from the previously mentioned staircase until you reach a very wide street with lots of traffic on it. There is a pedstrian signal here to cross but I recommened turning left and going to the next pestrian crosswalk about 50 yards further down the street.||||At the recommended pedestrian walkway, cross it and keep going straight. You will walk between two buildings. It appears to be a mostly pedstrian path and is wide. It is about 50 yards between the previous street you cross and the next street(Jackson St I believe). ||||When you get to Jackson Street, directly across from you is South King St. You want to cross so that you are on the left side of South King Street. There is a bar/restaurant on the Jackson/South King Street corner. You will walk about 100 yards down the street and about 15 yards prioir to the next crossover street you will see a standing sign on the sidewalk indicating the hostel is directly to the left of it. The standing sign is a good 4 feet high and this time it was the only one I saw o nthe sidewalk.||||Before I get to talking about the hostel there is a good size Chinese supermarket about 130 yards away from it. From the entrance of the hostel you turn left and go the street corner 15 yards away. Turn right and cross South King St. walking by an open parking lot. You will keep walking giong through one crossover street. At the next intersection or 2nd one after crossing South King St., you turn right(do not cross the street) and go about 30 yards and you come to the main door for the supermarket. You should find at least most of what you want. It has a good produce section so vegetarians should like it. ||||At the main door for the hostel you may need to hit the buzzer to let you in. It is a secure door and sometimes they have it unlocked and other times not. Upon entering the door there is a staircase slightly on your left which you need to climb to reach the hostel reception desk. The staircase is about 7 feet from the main door.||||Upon reaching the top of the stairs you will see a desk that has a bold sign on it saying Information. This is the main reception desk. When I was there they were not manning it all the time. There was a sign on it to call a certain phone number to get someone if needed. It is not the hostel's phone number on their website.||||The common/dinning/kitchen/laundry/vending machine are located behind a set of secure double door located to the left of the recpetion about 10 feet away. You will need your hostel room keycard to get this door. The same keycard will get you through the hostel main door and secure door to access the stairs up to the hostel bedrooms.||||The best part of this hostel is its common/dinning/laundry/kitchen area. It has lots of windows, spacious, and has a cheery intior. The kitchen has everything you need to prepare your food.||||The laundry room is very nice and has nice chairs in it to sit on. There is even a futball table game in there. There are 3 sets of dryers(top) and washers(bottom) in there. They take only credit cards for payment. It is $2 for a wash and $2 for a dry. Be careful of the dryers since they get very hot at HOT. It took only 10-15 minutes to dry my clothes in them.||||There is one soft drink vending machine that serves Coke products for $1.25(can). At the time I was there it was mostly empty. There was also a snakc vending machine there as well.||||The hostel when I was there was NOT serving breakfast in the morning like they did back in 2019. I suspect that will not change much until things get more back to normal.||||Access to the rooms is via the stairs going up that is in front of the reception desk and adjacent to the stairs that come up from the main door below. I believe I heard they have an elevator there but I never took it.||||At the time I booked they offered individual rooms. They one I goot had a double bunk bed in it. The room was about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long with a window(venetians blinds). There was a desk with chair between the foot of the double bunk bed and the exterior wall. I think there was a full length mirror on the wall in there as well. The only source of light I can recall was the overhead light. I did not bother to check the wall next to the bed though there might have one there.||||There were two electrical outlets way up on the wall next to the desk. Sort of strange being that high up(about 6 off the floor). Again there may be electrical outlets next to the bunks since I did not look and I was satisfied with the ones next to the desk.||||The room was carpetted with a think carpet. I should point out the double bunk bed was painted white and a nice ladder to the top bunk.||||The beds were mostly made up. Pillowcases were on and the fitted sheet was on. The flat sheet was folded up at the bottom of the bed I think along with a blanket. No towel was included.||||The bathrooms are seperated by sex. Mine was closeby. It contained two very large showers with a wide bench to put things on. There was a soap dispenser in the shower and above the two side by side sink counter. There were two toilet stalls in there was well. Interestingly enough there was a paper towel dispenser that has a motion senser to dispense towels. Lastly, the power switch in the bathroom is a timer switch. The more you turn it the longer it stays on.||||When I was there there in late July of 2021 there was a fair number of people staying there. I would say the hostel is around 1/3 to 1/2 full. That was my impression but I could be wrong. I know they are not looking for additional staff right now. I overheard a girl looking to work there and I could tell by the guy''s attitude he was not interested though he did not say it. Though I think they are getting to a point they might need some more help if the number of people coming to stay increases.||||with||||||||||||||||||||||Superb hostel to stay at in hSeattle||||||want. It has plates, mugs, pots/pans, refrig,...

I first came here in the summer of 2019 at the tail end of my trip from Alaska heading south through Victori/Vancouver and then finally Seattle. I came here again in mid-July of 2021 for 3 nights. I stayed in Rm. 201 this time.||||I took the train from Portland, Oregon, up to Seattle to the Seattle King Street station. The hostel is very close by and easily walkable although a bit confusing getting to it. You essentially have to get to the opposite side othe railroad track from the train station(ticketing lobby). The easiest way to do this is exit the front of the station and turn left along the front of the station.||||Keep along the front of the station until it ends and then turn left walking along the street/drive passing a covered parking area and then an open parking area that is bordered by a wire mesh fence. You will pass on your right on the other side the main traffic entranc\exit for the station. Anyway, keep walking on the left side next to the wire mesh fence until you reach a very wide stair case going up. I would say it is roughly 50 yards from the time you turn left from the end of the front of the station to the staircase.||||You can can not miss the staircase. It is about 100 feet wide at least. It all goes upward about 3 stroies. At the top keep going straight. The passage from the top of the stairs narrows a bit but keeps going straight. You will go about 60 yards going directly straight away from the previously mentioned staircase until you reach a very wide street with lots of traffic on it. There is a pedstrian signal here to cross but I recommened turning left and going to the next pestrian crosswalk about 50 yards further down the street.||||At the recommended pedestrian walkway, cross it and keep going straight. You will walk between two buildings. It appears to be a mostly pedstrian path and is wide. It is about 50 yards between the previous street you cross and the next street(Jackson St I believe). ||||When you get to Jackson Street, directly across from you is South King St. You want to cross so that you are on the left side of South King Street. There is a bar/restaurant on the Jackson/South King Street corner. You will walk about 100 yards down the street and about 15 yards prioir to the next crossover street you will see a standing sign on the sidewalk indicating the hostel is directly to the left of it. The standing sign is a good 4 feet high and this time it was the only one I saw o nthe sidewalk.||||Before I get to talking about the hostel there is a good size Chinese supermarket about 130 yards away from it. From the entrance of the hostel you turn left and go the street corner 15 yards away. Turn right and cross South King St. walking by an open parking lot. You will keep walking giong through one crossover street. At the next intersection or 2nd one after crossing South King St., you turn right(do not cross the street) and go about 30 yards and you come to the main door for the supermarket. You should find at least most of what you want. It has a good produce section so vegetarians should like it. ||||At the main door for the hostel you may need to hit the buzzer to let you in. It is a secure door and sometimes they have it unlocked and other times not. Upon entering the door there is a staircase slightly on your left which you need to climb to reach the hostel reception desk. The staircase is about 7 feet from the main door.||||Upon reaching the top of the stairs you will see a desk that has a bold sign on it saying Information. This is the main reception desk. When I was there they were not manning it all the time. There was a sign on it to call a certain phone number to get someone if needed. It is not the hostel's phone number on their website.||||The common/dinning/kitchen/laundry/vending machine are located behind a set of secure double door located to the left of the recpetion about 10 feet away. You will need your hostel room keycard to get this door. The same keycard will get you through the hostel main door and secure door to access the stairs up to the hostel bedrooms.||||The best part of this hostel is its common/dinning/laundry/kitchen area. It has lots of windows, spacious, and has a cheery intior. The kitchen has everything you need to prepare your food.||||The laundry room is very nice and has nice chairs in it to sit on. There is even a futball table game in there. There are 3 sets of dryers(top) and washers(bottom) in there. They take only credit cards for payment. It is $2 for a wash and $2 for a dry. Be careful of the dryers since they get very hot at HOT. It took only 10-15 minutes to dry my clothes in them.||||There is one soft drink vending machine that serves Coke products for $1.25(can). At the time I was there it was mostly empty. There was also a snakc vending machine there as well.||||The hostel when I was there was NOT serving breakfast in the morning like they did back in 2019. I suspect that will not change much until things get more back to normal.||||Access to the rooms is via the stairs going up that is in front of the reception desk and adjacent to the stairs that come up from the main door below. I believe I heard they have an elevator there but I never took it.||||At the time I booked they offered individual rooms. They one I goot had a double bunk bed in it. The room was about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long with a window(venetians blinds). There was a desk with chair between the foot of the double bunk bed and the exterior wall. I think there was a full length mirror on the wall in there as well. The only source of light I can recall was the overhead light. I did not bother to check the wall next to the bed though there might have one there.||||There were two electrical outlets way up on the wall next to the desk. Sort of strange being that high up(about 6 off the floor). Again there may be electrical outlets next to the bunks since I did not look and I was satisfied with the ones next to the desk.||||The room was carpetted with a think carpet. I should point out the double bunk bed was painted white and a nice ladder to the top bunk.||||The beds were mostly made up. Pillowcases were on and the fitted sheet was on. The flat sheet was folded up at the bottom of the bed I think along with a blanket. No towel was included.||||The bathrooms are seperated by sex. Mine was closeby. It contained two very large showers with a wide bench to put things on. There was a soap dispenser in the shower and above the two side by side sink counter. There were two toilet stalls in there was well. Interestingly enough there was a paper towel dispenser that has a motion senser to dispense towels. Lastly, the power switch in the bathroom is a timer switch. The more you turn it the longer it stays on.||||When I was there there in late July of 2021 there was a fair number of people staying there. I would say the hostel is around 1/3 to 1/2 full. That was my impression but I could be wrong. I know they are not looking for additional staff right now. I overheard a girl looking to work there and I could tell by the guy''s attitude he was not interested though he did not say it. Though I think they are getting to a point they might need some more help if the number of people coming to stay increases.||||with||||||||||||||||||||||Superb hostel to stay at in hSeattle||||||want. It has plates, mugs, pots/pans, refrig,...

We had a private room and bathroom, and our room was bare bones but very clean. The blinds were a bit broken and there were other small cosmetic issues, but nothing serious. This building is very old and it shows, yet it is not smelly or grungy. The water pressure in the shower is more like a gentle mist than a shower- LoFlo Max I guess! (I understand the need to conserve water though.)

But I really like the place. It is relatively quiet, not a "party hostel". (iykyk) There are a some lounge areas downstairs and on other floors. There is a room that has art supplies, games and puzzles, another room with a keyboard and guitar, and a laundry room and large storage lockers as well.

The staff was totally chill and on top of their game. Everybody working there was friendly. btw in case you need one, they do have hairdryers to loan, and umbrellas to borrow at the front desk. The hostel sponsers fun events throughout the year.

The dining area is roomy and the kitchen well equipped. A couple of stoves with ovens, microwaves and toasters, as well as pots, pans, dishes and utensils are available for use. There are big refridgerators, a freezer, and cabinets for storing food. A continental breakfast is served from 8am-10am.

The location in Chinatown/International District is very convenient for travel as it is just a block or so away from city bus/light rail hubs and Amtrak, and a 6 minute walk to Lumen Field. It's about a 10-15 min bus ride to get to all the touristy destinations Seattle is known for. In the neighborhood, there are a ton of restaurants and small businesses, herbal shops and the like. The Wing Luke Museum is a must, imho.

The hostel is very secure and feels safe. Key cards must be used to access every door and the elevator. There is someone on call for emergencies when the front desk is closed.

However, for me, this location is not a place to roam about at night. The restaurants and most other businesses close at 8pm sharp, and then vagrants and troubled folks are everywhere. Drug use is abundant. If you're using a map app and it directs you to take the alleyway next to the hotel-- don't. Just do not. But again, I do feel the security at the hostel is good.

The American Hotel Hostel isn't glamorous, but it doesn't need to be. It is clean, safe, has a lively atmosphere, and is great value for the price point. All in all, I'll definitely stay here again next time I visit this...