The Marcus Whitman Hotel & Conference Center — Hotel in Walla Walla

I made plans to celebrate my wife's and I Valentine's together, obviously not a surprising wish. I did some research, check out a few places, and decided to try out the Marcus Whitman hotel for the first time. I've heard good things about it, and it has a fairly stellar reputation in the Walla Walla Washington and Southeast Washington area. It is a historic venue, and also has a well-known restaurant within the confines of the building. We wanted to make a One-Stop shopping type of evening, rather than any driving or traveling.

I initially called Steffan, who is the night manager at the hotel. I mention his name, because he was the Only Hotel representative that was able to provide me information and customer service to the level of quality I wished for this type of venue.

He & I explored a few more options that I was not able to decipher from the website. I was looking for something unique, and also wanted to have a spa type option, or at least a hot tub in the room. My wife and I are also fond of a room that is on the upper floors of a hotel, we typically enjoy this when staying at the Davenport in Spokane.

He did mention that there there were several rooms of this type, and recommended room 8001, which is on again one of the upper floors of the hotel, and headache much better View. Quite contrary to any place that we stayed before, including Airbnb, B&B's, hotel chains and even privately owned hotels, we've never had someone refuse to allow us to reserve a particular room such as this one. I offered to prepay, I've offered to call again a week or so before the venue, etcetera but they said their policy was not to reserve a particular room for someone.

I kept this as a option, rather than making other plans, as I assumed I would be able to contact the hotel shortly before we were to arrive that week, and hopefully have better luck. I called about a week prior to our stay, and spoke to the day manager. I also called a day or so before our stay and spoke to the evening manager. Neither one would deviate from their unexpicable policy.

I explained to the evening manager that I would rather cancel the room, rather than pay for a room I didn't want. He told me that they would be no refund available, as it was within the 48-hour cancellation time frame. I was quite upset at this, and decided to call back and speak to the night manager again. Upon speaking to Steffan, he was able to move us into that room, from the much lower floor that was offered by the evening and day staff.

Probably apparent to the audience who is reading this, there are a lot of options for overnight stays all about the country. While this venue was Exquisite, and the room was superb, we will never stay here again. I will not go through this type of booking ordeal again just in order to have a beautiful room. I'll choose another place that has a beautiful room instead.

To provide balance to this review, I will say that the restaurant was superb, the food was unique and of high-quality, and the service staff were wonderful. I should also mention that the front desk staff were also professional and courteous as would be expected at this type of hotel.

Lastly, we typically make lemonade out of lemons, and we completely enjoyed the room, the view, the delightful hot tub, the quaint and timely furnishings, and the extreme quiet of the entire facility. It was a wonderful Valentine's evening, and a superb celebration of the years that we have together.

Summarizing, if you're willing to accept whatever room they provide you, rather than having the option of picking the particular room that you wish to have, I would recommend this hotel as a superb and exquisite experience in the wonderful downtown of Walla Walla Washington.

I'm not willing to spend countless phone calls again to stay here another time. I'll just cross it off my bucket list and...

This is a great old-fashioned Hotel from the 1920s that has been nicely updated and modernized to fit with the demands and needs of modernity. I spent six nights here in 2017, and thoroughly enjoyed my time.... This was actually during the total eclipse that passed just south of Walla Walla. The hotel was therefore at full capacity.

I spent three of my nights in the new wing, where the more economical rooms are, and then three in the tower. Needless to say, the tower rooms are very nice, and all considered, reasonably priced. The breakfast that comes with the all rooms is simply excellent: a full hot breakfast with a number of offerings. This is perhaps a fringe benefit of being in a large hotel. Anyway, it was delightful.

The staff were typically polite, kind and attentive... Additionally, I had a number of dinners here at "The Marc" restaurant, and this is where the Hotel really shines, for the food is superb and the wine list, largely local, is almost in a world class. Very high quality, and I looked forward to my meals every night, and to choosing my wine.

Finally, I was impressed with the staff... and even the guests. I remember one morning relaxing in a lounge as a guest played the piano. She continued for a while, and I was fairly enraptured. When she was done, I asked her who wrote that... She looked at me, and meekly reported that it was one of her own compositions...! I therefore highly recommend Marcus Whitman Hotel (which I affectionately term "The Marc", used generally), as a place to relax and enjoy beautiful eastern Washington and the various vineyards, the Palouse country, and even as a Hotel to seek out for...

I have been on temporary assignment in the tri-cities Washington area and decided to visit Walla Walla for its famous wine tastings. We booked a "tower room" in the Marcus Whitman Hotel. It was a bit pricey at $332/night and after a series of additional fees", we paid about $370. The room was OK, nothing to rave about and was otherwise unremarkable. What was billed as a "tower room" was a small room on the 5th floor that overlooked a Shell gas station with plenty of street noise in the evening. |Service was very good, including check-in and in the restaurant and bar. The martinis we tried in the bar were also good, but expect to pay $20 for a drink. Dinner in the restaurant was also good. |We gave this venue 4.5 starts for service, 4 stars for food, 3 stars for the room, and 2.5 stars for value. The building is iconic and I hope they can up their game a bit. Overall, the stay was nice but we just did not see the value, primarily in the room pricing, but also in the food and beverage pricing. Some suggestions for the food and beverage management team below. ||Suggestions: |Send your executive chef to Las Vegas, NV and have the eggs benedict at the Buchon which is a restaurant in the Venetian hotel . Their hollandaise is unmatched; perhaps you can follow their lead. |Send your beverage manager to Pismo Beach, Calif (close to San Luis Obispo). Visit Giuseppe's at 891 Price St. Get there right when they open at 4PM because they fill up fast. Sit at the bar and try two of their martinis: their classic vodka martini (use the well vodka), dry with a twist, and then try their flat-liner martini. Note the cost of these and...