I recently had the marked misfortune of staying at the Vagabond Inn (Also known as the Seattle Pacific Inn – why does a hotel need an alias?) at 325 Aurora Ave N, Seattle with my wife and a close friend.

From the very beginning it was a fiasco. We made reservations online for three adults but when we arrived, we had been assigned a room with a single queen sized bed. We finally got that straightened out and were then given a room with two double beds. Going to the room, we couldn’t help but notice the unpleasant smells in the hallways and that the dirty, creaky elevator had no inspection certificate.

When we got into the room and started to settle in we discovered that the bathroom sink drained very slowly and that the bathroom itself was absolutely filthy. The carpet was very dirty and evidently hadn’t been vacuumed for at least one day, possibly more.

We found that there was only one set of towels, and though we made a very pointed request for sufficient towels during our stay, it never happened. We loaded our food into the refrigerator which was connected to the wall outlet in a veritable octopus of wiring along with the TV, the lamp, the coffee maker and a couple other items connecting to a single, two slot outlet. We also found this to be the case when we moved to another room later.

When we had been in the room for a half hour or so I went to the refrigerator only to find that it wasn’t working. I went back down to the front desk to insist on another room and was finally given the room next door. We transferred all of our belongings to that room and, after making sure that the refrigerator worked, we loaded all of our food into it and went to bed for the night. The next morning, I decided to make coffee. I filled the coffee pot with water and went to the machine to load it with coffee and water. When I pulled out the top portion in order to load it with coffee I was greeted by a desiccated coffee pouch deeply covered in blue-green fuzzy mold. I should mention here that every horizontal surface in both rooms were covered in dust deep enough to easily write in.

Back down to the front desk where I once again did verbal battle with the clerk. I showed him the moldy coffee machine and demanded a different one. After quite some time, he showed up at my room with another coffee machine. I looked inside where the coffee packet would go and found it had an oily sheen, as though it had been sprayed with disinfectant or something. Naturally, it was unusable as well.

The next day, thankfully our last in this pit, we found that when we returned from our business meeting the hallways reeked of Clorox and Pine Sol. I believe that the mold and my strong complaint scared them into thinking that I might complain to the health department, which I fully intend to do.

The bathroom floors were never mopped during our three day stay and were filthy when we arrived. The carpets were never vacuumed, and dirty towels were simply hung back up for re-use.

This would be a wonderful place to send your worst enemy. For me, I’ll never stay there again. The major difference between this ‘Inn’ and a flophouse is the cost. And speaking of cost, they will charge you $5 a night to park in their very insecure parking lot as well.