Review: The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane

I recently visited Tiffany in Spokane for a couple of days, as she recently moved there. Spokane is a bit of an unusual hotel market. While I’m usually loyal to Hyatt or Starwood, neither brand has a hotel there.

However, while the city isn’t huge, it has four Marriott Autograph collection properties. I didn’t expect one, let alone four. I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise, but they’re all related. The properties are called The Davenport Grand, The Historic Davenport, The Davenport Lusso, and The Davenport Tower.

The group of hotels has an interesting history. The Historic Davenport has been around for over 100 years, and has a lot of notable firsts as far as US hotels go.

Based on looking at pictures and advice from Tiffany, I decided to stay at The Davenport Grand, which looked to be the most modern property. While I sometimes like historic hotels, The Historic Davenport is supposedly haunted, so isn’t really up my alley. I don’t do bad juju well.

My nightly rate at The Davenport Grand was ~$150. I could have otherwise redeemed 25,000 points per night for the stay, though since I value Marriott Rewards points at ~0.8 cents each, paying cash seemed like the better value.

Now that Marriott has taken over Starwood, I was curious to see what the Autograph Collection experience was like, as this was my first stay with the brand. This is intended to be one of Marriott’s “independent” hotel concepts, where you get the benefit of a loyalty program while also getting a unique experience.

The Davenport Grand is located in downtown Spokane, just near the other Davenport properties.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane exterior

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane entrance

The hotel has a modern lobby that was nicer than I was expecting. It almost felt a bit kitschy (that’s true of the hotel in general), though it was still very nice.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane entrance

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane lobby

There was comfortable seating in the lobby, and even a fake fireplace between the seating zones.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane lobby

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane lobby

Reception was located inside the lobby and to the right. I was helped by a friendly staff member, who thanked me for being a Platinum member. She offered me a welcome amenity as well as breakfast vouchers. Within a couple of minutes I had a key to my room on the 16th floor. There was no mention of any sort of upgrade, and I also didn’t ask.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane reception

The hotel is near the convention center, and on top of that has a lot of conference space. There seemed to be two conferences going on — specifically, a cake baking conference and a “young beauty” conference, whatever those things are — so at times the lobby was very crowded.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane conference space

The elevators were to the left of reception, so I took one of them up to the 16th floor.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane elevators

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane hallway

My room, 1652, was located towards the end of one of the corridors.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane room exterior

I’m not sure if I received an upgrade or not, though the room was both nicely appointed and also sort of confusing. Inside the entryway the bathroom was to the right, and then the rest of the room was located straight ahead.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane king room entryway

The room featured an extremely comfortable king size bed.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane king room

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane king room

Apparently Davenport has their own special mattress, and you can even buy it if you want, for the low cost of $1,699.

Buy the Davenport Grand bed

In the corner next to the bed were two leather chairs. While I appreciated that they added a splash of color to the room, they weren’t particularly comfortable, so this very much seemed like a decision to focus on style over substance.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane king room seating

Then across from that was a desk with two rolling chairs, which I guess could double as a dining table. There were several conveniently placed outlets by the desk.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane king room desk

Then across from the bed was a small console, and above that was a TV.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane king room TV

The room had great views of downtown Spokane.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane king room view 

One thing I found a bit odd is that the sink area wasn’t in a separate room, but rather was part of the main room. Typically this is something I associate with limited service hotels, so I was surprised to see it here.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane king room bathroom

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane king room bathroom

Next to the sink was an in-room Keurig coffee machine.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane in-room Keurig coffee machine

Equally confusing as the bathroom setup was that the bath amenities by the sink and in the shower were in wall-mounted, reusable containers. That’s also something I typically associate with limited service properties. On the plus side they were L’Occitane branded, which is at least quite nice.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane L’Occitane toiletries

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane L’Occitane toiletries

The toilet and shower were in a partitioned off area with a sliding door.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane toilet

There was a fairly basic walk-in shower, though the water pressure wasn’t great.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane shower

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane shower

My biggest disappointment in the room was the wifi qualify, which was terrible. The wifi was so slow that it was almost unusable, which is completely unacceptable. That alone is a reason I wouldn’t stay here again, given how reliant I am on fast wifi.

Otherwise I found the room nice but a bit confusing. The room was spacious and had a comfortable bed. On one hand it felt luxurious, while on the other hand the reusable toiletry bottles and lack of privacy in the bathroom were what I’d expect from a limited service property.

As a Marriott Platinum member I received breakfast vouchers for both mornings. The vouchers didn’t make clear what was included, other than saying I would get a “continental breakfast.” So I went to the hotel’s restaurant and was told that I’d get coffee and a pastry. Ugh, Marriott sure sucks at elite breakfast. The server also told me I could instead have breakfast in the espresso bar. I don’t need to be in a sit down restaurant to have coffee and a pastry, so decided to do that instead.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane Platinum breakfast vouchers

The espresso bar was located in the lobby next to reception, and was a cute space.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane espresso bar

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane espresso bar

The lady working at the espresso bar seemed to have a different impression of the voucher. She explained that it could be redeemed for $10.50 towards the cost of breakfast in the restaurant or the espresso bar, which is different than what the guy told me. Still, I decided to just have “breakfast” here.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane espresso bar

Most of the food available was junk food, though now that I read the above menu, it looks like I could have had a yogurt parfait.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane espresso bar

I ordered a large coffee and lemon poppyseed muffin.

The Davenport Grand Hotel Spokane espresso bar “breakfast”

I didn’t check out the hotel’s gym, which is really the only other amenity. The hotel doesn’t have a pool, though guests at the Davenport Grand can use the pools at The Historic Davenport or The Davenport Tower.

The Davenport Grand Spokane bottom line

For a city with just a couple of hundred thousand people, Spokane has quite a selection of hotels. While the Davenport Grand was impressive for a fairly small city, I can’t otherwise say I was terribly impressed. The room was nice enough, bed comfortable, and staff friendly, though the wifi was excruciatingly slow, the room was designed with a focus on style over substance, and the hotel has a cheap breakfast benefit for Platinum members. Maybe that last thing is just something I should get used to with Marriott.