Name: Panama Hotel
Address: 605 1/2 South Main Street Seattle,South Main Street, Seattle, Seattle, Seattle, WA 98104, United States of America
Rating: 6

24-hour reception

Smoke-free property

Heating

All Spaces Non-Smoking (public and private)

No elevators

General

Non-smoking rooms

Family room

Wardrobe/Closet

Bathrobe

Toiletries

Rooms

Laundry

Luggage storage

Wake-up service

Services and amenities

Vending machine

Bottled water

Meals

Parking

Beach/pool towels

Pool and beach

Fax and copy machine

Business

Family/Kid Friendly

Kids

Pets allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Room amenities

Bryan Ohno Gallery

Danny Woo Community Garden

Kobe Terrace

Hing Hay Park

Seattle Pinball Museum

Wing Luke Museum

Seattle Metropolitan Police Museum

Greg Kucera Gallery

International Children’s Park

Occidental Square

Boeing Field International Airport

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

Airport Sea-Tac

Panama Hotel

Seattle

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

16-beds

17-beds

18-beds

19-beds

2-beds

20-beds

21-beds

22-beds

23-beds

24-beds

25-beds

26-beds

27-beds

28-beds

29-beds

3-beds

30-beds

31-beds

32-beds

33-beds

34-beds

35-beds

36-beds

37-beds

38-beds

39-beds

4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

When I called around 7pm to make a reservation the hotel phone wasn't working (I learned this later) so I walked over at 8:30pm to inquire about vacancy. A kind employee informed me that despite vacancy he didn't have access to keys and so I probably couldn't reserve a room. He recommended I check a nearby hotel and return, at which point he may have keys. When I returned, I began to enter the lobby as before, but a woman loitering nearby began questioning me without identifying herself. I explained my situation; she looked me up and down and said, "you know how much we charge, right?" When I replied "yes" she told me the price as if she hadn't heard me respond. Moreover, the price she quoted was incorrect, even after accounting for taxes and fees. I determined she was the owner and still she stood staring at me without offering help or information. I began to walk up to the front desk to find the employee I had spoken to previously. It became clear that keys were now present, but I was not allowed a room due to some judgment the owner made about me. I can only guess why. After talking with people at the hotel, seeing the inside of the building, and reading other reviews, I am glad I did not stay.

Jan Johnson (owner) talked down at me, turned me away--despite vacancy

I loved how almost all of the original hotel is preserved, it really makes you feel like you’re a part of history. All of the people who worked there were exceedingly kind, including the owner Jan who sat down with us and told us all about the history of the hotel. This was a wonderful experience! 

I love Panama hotel

The beds and linen are so comfortable, I had an amazing sleep here. Entire hotel is beautifully taken care of and very clean. Because of the care and historical nature of this hotel, staying here was not only restful, but a special experience - this is not your typical hotel. I was surprised this peaceful and unique place to stay exists right in downtown Seattle. 

Great rest in a historical hotel, right downtown Seattle

***SCAM ALERT***Do not book here.***  They charged my credit card unlawfully.  I tried to cancel my reservation for two weeks.  No response to emails.  No one answers the phone and the voicemailbox is full. *****

Unauthorized Credit Card Charges

Loved the history of the place.  Wish I didn't have to search for that history online, as the owner only provides a little bit of that history in pictures on the walls, but likes to talk about it in person.  No info on tours for the only surviving original Japanese bath house in the US that is in the basement.  Would have loved to see it if I'd known I could! 

The owner can be very off putting, and ten minutes later very nice and interesting.  If you catch her in the mood, she’s full of cool stories to say.  All in all, she's a character and, if we'd had the time, I would have liked to pick her brain.

They seemed to take security at night seriously enough with a staff person on hand -- be warned, the neighborhood is quite sketch at night (even a bit in the day, to be honest).  But the rooms themselves are not very secure.  I didn’t feel like I was in danger, and I get keeping the old locks for historical accuracy, but dang, they were flimsy.

And while it's truly an interesting place when you know the history (and I realize they are not updating stuff to keep it as close to historically accurate as is practical and legal), some things could definitely be fixed or improved and still meet that goal. (Note that some rooms are much better maintained, outfitted and decorated than others; I didn’t get one of those nicer ones, unfortunately.)

The transoms over the doors of each room were boarded up.  Without operable transoms, it was STIFLING!  Each room does have a window (no AC or central ventilation, usually not a problem for Seattle until the last few years...), and the nights usually get got cool enough, but because all the transoms are boarded up, absolutely NO airflow, so it stayed hot in the room even though we propped the window wide open with the luggage rack.  Oh, and did I mention, no screens?  C'mon -- at least provide your guests with one of those expandable screen inserts.  Jan, the owner, said to keep the lace curtain pulled to keep the flies out.  Um, good advice, but it also blocked any outside air exchange and we sweated all night.  Better advice:  Provide a screen for your guests.  And being boarded up with black particle board is less than appealing.  Yeah, it would take some capital to restore them, I'm sure, but maybe try to get grant or something?  

It's a unique experience, and I'd love to give it a better rating, but leaving it as close to historically accurate doesn't mean you can’t fix it up a bit.  Decent modern mattress on really old steel bed frame and springs -- might have been comfortable if I was the only one on the bed, but with two, it was a creaky, squeaky, sproingy rollercoaster ride whenever one of us moved.  

Cool old carpets - seemed reasonably clean.  Walls and such were just kind of dingy.

Historically accurate furniture - but if the drawers don't work, it sucks not having a place to put your clothes.  I was at first disappointed by the "armoire" that looked like was some old built-in furniture stolen from somewhere else, but I would have been delighted if I had known the history of the repurposed box that it was made of.  Found that online after the fact. That's the kind of neat info that could be provided in a pamphlet or posted on the walls by the lobby.

When we booked the room, they did provide info that there were only two shared bathrooms on each floor, one for the girls, and one for the guys, and one shared shower room.  Reasonably clean, but dang, can you provide a decent shower head that gets you reasonably wet?  And maybe a foot towel?  Each guest gets a towel, a hand towel and a wash cloth, which is great. So, I had to use my hand towel for a foot towel, because who wants to step out onto a wet tile floor with someone else’s hair all over it when you just got your feet nice and clean?  

Oh, and they had a little lobby that would have been a nice place to sit and chat when you didn't want to just sit in your little room, but it was filled with the office stuff because the office was crammed with piles of papers and stuff and whatnot.  Really made the place look rundown, disorganized and unfriendly.  

Cool little things like the old call button and speaker in each room -- but no indication what it was for or when it was installed (which, again, found it on the internet after the fact...); the old functioning corner sink in the rooms was nice, but hard to reach because of the oversized dresser, which, again, didn't have usable drawers. The pictures on the wall are historical treasures and vary from room to room.  The lamps and globes are very cool.  

And really disappointing, in fact egregious, was that there was no mention that there were no elevators or ramps for this 5-story building, and that the entrance had a 20-step staircase just to get to the lobby and “main” floor of the hotel rooms.  Probably not a problem for most people, but anyone with any kind of health problem will find them daunting, especially with luggage.  Really sucked when you forgot something up in your room and your knees are grinding.  Physically challenged people need to know this.  

And know that it's right near a helioport for either a hospital or business -- very, very loud lots of times day and night.

Again – cool place for historical reasons.  The owner bought it in 1985, but seems to have lost interest on keeping up the maintenance or continuing the restoration.  Perhaps the last couple of years with the pandemic and lack of traveling have taken too much out of her budget.  As others have said in their reviews, it was very much like a hostel.  A good place to flop for the price, but not comfortable to stay at for more than a night or two.

BUT THE ABSOLUTE BEST PART ABOUT THIS PLACE WAS THE COFFEE / TEA SHOP!  A must to visit regardless of if you stay at the hotel.  If I could rate that separately, it gets 5 stars.  Best coffee and fabulous tea selections I have ever drunk, and that’s saying something for Seattle.  Nicest staff.  Super neat store front.

You go to the Panama for the history, not the comfort

Our visit was an hour long relaxing tea time in the hotel's cafe.  We stopped by while exploring the former Nihonmachi (Japanese) district on our last day in Seattle. We were greeted by Ms. Jan, the owner, who gave us a quick tour of the shop and historical tidbits of the hotel; simply charming! The building has lots of history and precious memorabilia of a bygone era.  Much success to Jan for maintaining an important structure from our past and keeping alive the Asian-American experience of WWII.

Simply Charming

Supposed old Panama Hotel (yes, VERY old) and some memorabilia and photos on the wall but over all very worn and dirty. Tea, coffee, cookies, etc. available and as we were leaving were told there were sandwiches and quiche but was hard to tell from the signage. Was told there were belongings in the basement left when Japanese left for internment camps (to be seen through glass in the floor). Items there but hard to see. 

Disappointing “museum” artifacts

woke up in what I thought was a clean room to find I am covered in bed bug bites.  Location was good, but rough sleepers everywhere in the area.  Tea room next door was fine.  No TV or telephone in the room.

Bed bugs!

This is the centerpiece of the Jamie Ford novel "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet". It held a prominent place in Japantown and Chinatown during WW2, and continues to host a "tea room", years later. You can't go downstairs where the families' stored belonging are located, but there is a small glass window in the floor to the basement. Steeped in history.

Elegant step back in time

We were heading to Vancouver to catch a short cheap cruise back down along the west coast to L.A. and decided to relive one of our favorite childhood memories, The Bremerton/Seattle Ferry. Seattle hotels are very pricey and the "quaint" Panama Hotel seemed to fit the bill. I guess it did in a way. It's close to everything. We walked from the monorail station from the Airport, walked to the Ferry building and walked to the train station the following morning. 
I'm eighty and I have stayed in some old hotels, but this one, too tell the truth, is subpar. Really. The linen's were clean and comfortable but the furniture is Junk not antique...unless antique means junk and I guess it does to some.  The scariest thing to me about the place is the fact that there is some sort of cooking going on at times downstairs and ....well...I'm sure it meets regulations but the thought of flame or sparks is downright scary in this building. I gave it three stars because of the fact that the price of hotel's in Seattle made taking a chance to seem like the best choice.

Panama Hotel

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