If you’re searching for a hotel In the Seattle area prices can get expensive at the most popular times. Is it worth looking into the northern suburbs to save a little money? Let’s find out with a visit to the Holiday Inn Express Lynnwood (North Seattle).
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I booked this hotel for 4 nights after disembarking a ship in the port of Everett.
Those nights would have totaled $565.31 or an average of $141.32 each after tax and all charges. However I booked these nights with points purchased on sale for half a cent each. With the 4th night free benefit I enjoy thanks to my IHG Premier Card the total cost for this stay was only $340.00 for the required 68k points. That’s a savings of $225.31 from the cash rate at the timeof booking, and only $85/night average. The Holiday Inn Express Lynnwood has an Expedia rating of 8.6 from 1,007 reviews. Check the Expedia rates for your dates.
I chose this hotel because I was visiting a friend who lives in this area specifically.
Holiday Inn Express Lynnwood Location
This hotel is fairly convenient by car, being at the junction of Interstates 5 and 405. It’s about half an hour north of downtown Seattle. You can also reach Seattle proper by light rail from the nearby Lynnwood City Center which is about 20-25 minutes walk from the hotel on ground that is rather hilly.
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This is a nice, upscale area with local bus service on all the main roads. There’s enough restaurants and shops very close by to keep you fed and happy over the course of a short stay. My friend tells me that this area is much nicer than 128th Street, where another string of hotels is present.
Holiday Inn Express Lynnwood Property
Holiday Inn Express is the most consistent of all the budget chains and if you’ve stayed in one before you should know what to expect here. This hotel is the “and Suites” version and at the time I booked the suites were just a few dollars more nightly over the cost of a king room.
Being a suburban location with no obvious tourism draws nearby, the breakfast area doesn’t get overcrowded here even at peak times. They do a great job all around with the breakfast and I particularly enjoyed the Costa coffee machines in the lobby grinding beans fresh to order 24 hours a day.
The fitness center is somewhat basic but also uncrowded and if you’re traveling with kids they’ll appreciate the indoor pool. There’s plenty of free parking available.
Holiday Inn Express Lynnwood Guest Rooms
The suites here aren’t proper suites but consist of a foldout sofa bed in its own seating area with a second TV. There’s also a chaise lounge on the bedroom side of the room.
My room was large and clean and had tons of room for storage, both of unpacked clothes and baggage or whatever you’re traveling with. There’s enough room to store bicycles in the suite or anything else you may be hauling around.
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Bathroom gets high marks and I didn’t encounter any problems in there. My only complaint was that the TV’s are very slow to change channels, and don’t indicate which channel you’re on. A few channels are missing and others don’t match the channel guide. This problem was true of both TV’s in the room.
About Lynnwood
Traveling without a car, I didn’t enjoy this location as much as I could have. It’s an easy walk to the mall and it’s a very nice mall, but there’s not a lot to do or explore here on foot. The hotel is just a bit too far from the light rail to be truly convenient.
The nearby town of Edmonds has more of a neighborhood feel and reminded me almost exactly of East Nashville. The city of Everett is an old-school port town that feels very modern and vibrant with lots of amenities that are walkable.
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Lynnwood is much more suburban than either of those, or than Tacoma. It’s hard to imagine who the hotels here are for, exactly.
Bottom Line
Bottom line is that this is a perfectly nice Holiday Inn Express location that I probably wouldn’t stay in again.
I would have much preferred being in downtown Everett where there are several similar properties to choose from. If you want to be in Seattle you should really stay closer to or in Seattle, even for more money.
Take a look around the whole area and book something a little more convenient unless you have a car and need a lot of room for family travel.
