Travel Tip: Always Map the Hotel on Google

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It is important to always map the hotel on Google. I nearly booked a hotel, that was relatively close to the city, but extremely far on Google maps.

I was looking at hotel stays in Seattle. As a Platinum Elite member of Marriott Bonvoy, I invariably default to Marriott properties.  As I searched for a reasonable hotel for my stay, I came across the following options:

a screenshot of a web page

I looked at my three options, and thought, excellent. 14 miles away, I see a Fairfield Inn with a 4.4* rating. Although I am never a big fan of Fairfield Inn, for my purpose, it did a fantastic job. I was going to check-in at 11pm. Check-out at 6am. There was no need for a club lounge, breakfast, early check-in or late check-out. This was an ideal stay to not care about any elite as long as the hotel is cheap and at a reasonable location.

I just had one question. Nobody I spoke with had never heard of Bremerton. It was important to know how far Bremerton was from Redmond, Bellevue and Everett. I checked Google Maps, and was alarmed at the real location:

a map of a road

Uhhh… no. Yes, I am sure the hotel is 14 miles away from Seattle. But that is, as the bird flies. Not as my car drives.

Conclusion

I thought I knew the city of Seattle very well. It turns out, I do know the city of Seattle very well, but very little about Washington State. I am glad I caught the error before I booked. For trips like this, I typically book well within the cancellation deadline. Despite the good reviews of the Fairfield, I am confident they would not have provided free cancellation on their reservation had I called them past midnight asking them to cancel, since the hotel is just too far from Seattle.

 

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Tony

What a simpleton post… how about using the map view that Marriott provides? Also, why did you feel the need to highlight the longest route? There’s another one for 1hr 18mins that still would have made your (irrelevant) point.

Dustin

This Fairfield is walking distance from the ferry in Bremerton. But the ferry schedule has been very messed up the last few months for the Bremerton route.

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