Like cheap? Don't need housekeeping services, ventilation or sunlight? Then this place is for you. Here is what you get: Superior location if you don't mind driving straight up a hill with a 15+ % grade while dodging unyielding, lawless drivers entering the roadway from other parking lots. Ah, but you are wonderfully situated near major highways...I-90 which gets you East toward Issaquah and the famous Triple XXX Root Beer Drive In Restaurant out to Snoqualmie Pass and ski areas or Snoqualmie Falls. Or you could head west to The Emerald City. The nearby 405 Freeway, though, will take you to north to Bellevue's upscale shopping areas, Redmond's tech companies, or Kirkland's lakefront and beyond. Head south on 405 to the airport, Southcenter Mall or Renton's Boeing facilities. But wait! Stay close and you've already got Factoria Mall area with Old Navy, The Keg, Target, Nordstrom Rack and more! With all the money you saved being cheap with accommodations, you can shop your heart out.
But what about the Homestead Village, as it is written on your room phone? Well, it is a lot like a village...an apartment village carved into a giant hillside, so I hope you like uneven walking surfaces and steps, and that your parking skills are excellent because you're probably going to need to back in your rental car to its spot in order to make it out later.
Checking in, you'll get perfunctory service without much eye contact (if any). Oh, and watch out if you made the reservation online in your name but your fellow traveller would like to pay for the room. Not allowed. Name on reservation must be the purchaser. What if you didn't have your own form of payment? Would you have been turned away rather than being allowed to have a friend take care of the bill?
Okay, so you've got your card key, you paid the $5 wi-fi fee (which is good for duration of stay) and you open the door to your damp, dark cave --- er, room, you see...exactly what they said you would see: Full/queen bed looks smallish due to basic bedding with what? anatomically correct BEES as the pattern on the bedspread...maybe so if you are staying for business reasons, you'll be busy as a...well, you know. Toss your gear on the vinyl-coated wire shelving in the mirror door closet, throw your coat on the upholstered club chair next to the heating/cooling unit under the single window and place your laptop on the 3x4 ft solid surface kitchenette island and check out the rest of your digs. Coffeemaker, toaster oven, apartment size refrigerator and two burner stove - check. A pot and pan or two, a few utensils, cups, plates and bowls - check. Oh, and the bathroom - clean and plain, with wafer thin towels (but plenty of them), actual toilet paper! soap and shampoo minis! But, uh, you smell the shampoo and it's awful so you set it aside and just use the Suave stuff you brought with you. Mmm, at least the shower works, and it's got good hot water that flows nicely from the plastic handheld and shower combo. You'll be careful with that since the flooring is plastic laminate, rather than tile. And speaking of tile, you notice the grout on the wall...sorry to know that with these low rates they couldn't afford a bottle of Tilex Mold and Mildew Remover spray.
Now it's sleepy time. Try to ignore the Tower of Babel outside as Homestead Villagers from all over the world gibber and jabber off and on throughout the day and night. Your favorite is the woman who, after a 6 a.m. jog, answers her cell phone while huffing and puffing back to her unit. "Hello? Helllooooo?" and then bla, bla, bla until she gets even louder and says, "Oh, but I'd better go now. I don't want to wake up all these sleeping people." You're thinking er, a little too late. That's okay, however. Now you're awake enough to hear the guy in the room next door snoring away. You laugh. At least he can get some zzzs. But wait. Isn't that his phone on the nightstand buzzing? Yeah, in the next room over. Oops! Now he's awake. You know because you've just heard him smack his head against the wall. Poor guy. Well, now that you're fully alert, you mighty as well get going too. This is gonna be a long half a week...with no sheer curtains on the window you can't open the drapes and gaze at the dim sunlight and drink coffee in bed without being ogled by sidewalk trekkers, no clean towels unless you pay extra for housekeeping services, and the yucky smell of banana peels in your wastebasket because you're too tired to go take out your own trash, you think about it...not bad for $49 to $79 a night...you get what you paid for. Other rooms nearby start at $100 a night, and you're not spending that much time in your room anyway. There's the whole gorgeous green Pacific Northwest just outside your room, so you decide it is a good deal, and you're happy to spend the money you saved on what matters...grande lattes, a new anorak jacket, and dinner at one of Tom Douglas's great Seattle restaurants. Yes!