I really, really wanted to like the Carlton Inn. Reviews on another website had praised the staff, the tidiness of the facility and the site on a bird sanctuary, and I thought these were all good reasons to give it a try, especially at a bargain rate. And it's true--the inn sits alongside a wetland which is apparently a bird sanctuary, although my two rooms both had views of the parking lot. The staff were courteous and professional on par with far grander hotels. And the place is immaculate--freshly painted, bright, tidy. It reminded me of my boyfriend's grandparent's home, where nothing is new but everything is perfectly maintained and cleaned. But...two things left me believing I wouldn't want to return: 1) The roar of the in-room air conditioning units. The first night, the thermastat turned the unit on and off intermittently, waking me up each time. I asked for a different room, and was moved to another where the fan ran continuously all night--not as unsettling, but still loud. 2) Bed quality. A previous reviewer commented on the blue and white ticked old-fashioned mattresses--and I saw them in both rooms. I can't fathom that those mattresses are really that old--like everything else, they were immaculate and in great condition. But still, they weren't comfortable. All in all, while I can see the finer points of the Carlton Inn, I slept very poorly both nights, and isn't sleeping what a hotel stay is all about?

Hmm, I don't quite understand the bad reviews that Carlton Inn gets. Perhaps it was because my friend and I only stayed here for one night, and didn't encounter the problems that other travellers did.

It wasn't half as gross as described in other reviews. I would say that it was average, and I didn't get an icky feeling about it. We also came in after midnight, and left by about 6.30 am, so we didn't get any breakfast. Nevertheless, we thought service was quick, and painless, giving us the much-needed extra sleep. We also didn't have any issues with lost reservations.

The area was a little dodgy (there was a super rundown cinema and some other shop nearby), but since the main door was locked up in the after hours, I was OK with it.

My main gripe is with how hard it was to find. It was tucked in a little lane that was rather hard to find, compared to the rest of the motels in Kirkland, which were located by the main roads.

I made a reservation here because there were no other rooms available in the area the weekend that I needed. I ended up paying for the room and not staying because it was so gross! (This isn't something I would tipically do but I just couldn't stay there)! The mattresses are the cream with blue stripes that are 20+ years old, sagging to the ground. The carpeting is grimy and doesn't appear to be cleaned regularly. The whole place is smelly and creepy in general.
The manager was very polite and apologetic about the room but still made us pay for it because we had made a reservation. I would not reccomend this flea bag hotel to anyone.

I stayed here for three nights while on business because it was one of the few places available that was close enough to my meeting location. I arrived at midnight to a flickering neon "Carlton Inn" sign, which didn't bode well when juxtaposed with the "Yuppie Pawn Shop" right next door. The room's A/C was making such a loud rattling noise I had to turn it off (thankfully it was a very cool week in Seattle so I didn't need the A/C).

In the morning, I found that the room was not well set up for business travelers. I had to unplug appliances to find room to plug in the laptop. The wireless connection had zero security, so I was wondering the whole time about getting hacked. The non-dairy creamer was a brick. Among the white towels and wash clothes was one dingy grayish-white hand towel. My colleague said that his room smelled like there was a dead rat in it. He inquired about the continental breakfast and was told that there was no free breakfast and that there had been a "misprint" in the advertisement.

When I returned to the room on the second night, I found that the travel pack of toothpaste that I had opened that morning had been tossed out by housekeeping. The regular coffee had been replaced with decaf so I had to go to the front desk for more regular.

When I returned to the room the third night, I found that housekeeping had now tossed out my face lotion (there were about 4-5 uses left in one of those little clear reusable 3-oz. travel containers, which wasn't "trash" even it had been completely empty). They had removed all of the white towels (which had all been unused but for one up to this point), and replaced them with dingy gray-ish towels that were threadbare in spots. And I had to go back to the front desk for more regular coffee, where I found my colleague asking for a new room because the smell of dead rat was now overwhelming him. They first offered him the room next door, but then said that it wasn't available. They "febreezed" his room, which covered the smell until about 5 a.m., waking my colleague from his sleep. I found the poor guy in the lobby the next morning looking fairly haggard from lack of sleep.

I would not recommend this hotel to anyone unless they're interested in a completely bizarre experience.