Hotel Max

• Review
• Friday, August 22, 2008

It should be said upfront that because the Hotel Max is the reincarnation of one of the oldest boutique hotels in the city (the Hotel Vance) a lot of the rooms are small. The bathrooms are all pretty quirky as well, since renovations (2005) left a lot of the old tile-work and fixtures.

However, because the Hotel Max is the reincarnation of one of the oldest boutique hotels in the city, it has a lot of other charms to recommend it. Instead of completely gutting the place and building yet another hotel like all the others, the new ownership has kept much of the great old charm and updated the not so great old "charm" into a quirky little arty hotel. 

For instance, the windows at the end of the hallways are capped with cute faux eye charts and all of the guest room doors are covered in enlarged photographs which do a lot to expand the space. The fifth floor is the Seattle rock floor, if you're into such things, with the door pictures exclusively of Seattle bands taken by Seattle photographers. (It is also the lone smoking floor, so take note.) And as mentioned before, the bathrooms have a carefully preserved old-timey feel.

As far as the updates, there are new-band cds in each of the rooms for guests to take or play on the provided players as well as a "pillow menu" to choose from. The requisite plush robe and flat screen tvs are also in every room. The hotel's restaurant, Red Fin, is one of the better sushi restaurants in town and their kitchen is open for delicious albeit pricey room service.

If you are looking for a something a little different than the Sheraton down the street, the Max is an excellent option...especially if you can get in one of their few in number larger rooms, ask when making reservations.