Hotel Review: The Historic Davenport In Spokane, WA

Shae and I recently finished up a 10 night stay at the beautiful Historic Davenport hotel in Spokane, WA.

It’s not often that we stay in what I’d class as a fancy hotel and even rarer that we stay anywhere for 10 nights at a time, let alone a nice hotel like this! It was therefore a treat to be able to stay in such a lovely property in a beautiful city for a week-and-a-half.

We enjoyed ourselves there so much – both at the hotel and in the city – that we’ve decided to stop there for a quick overnight stop later this year when driving back through Washington state to get to Montana.

Here’s a full review of our stay at The Historic Davenport in Spokane, WA.

Check-In

We were moving on to Spokane from Coeur d’Alene which is only about 30 minutes away. We didn’t want to arrive at the hotel too early as we didn’t think we’d be able to check in, so we killed some time at Manito Park before heading on to the hotel.

Despite arriving at 2pm (check-in is officially from 4pm), we were able to get checked in straight away. The front desk agent was friendly and advised that we’d been upgraded to a Davenport Suite (we’d booked a ‘1 King Larger Room’). That was a nice surprise because I’d checked the Marriott website that morning or the night before and hadn’t seen any suites available. What made it even more surprising was that we’d booked a 10 night stay; usually we don’t get suite upgrades on stays that long as hotels figure they might be able to sell the room for at least part of that time.

The front desk agent also let us know that although the hotel charges a destination fee (more about that in a later section), the fee was waived for us thanks to my Titanium status in the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program. That was a surprise too as waived resort fees aren’t a benefit with Marriott, so it’s great that The Historic Davenport offers that for at least Titanium members; I don’t know if they have the same policy for those with Platinum status.

We were soon given our keys for room 1403 which is on the hotel’s top floor.

Davenport Suite – Bedroom

The hotel’s Davenport Suite room type is a junior suite rather than a one bedroom suite as there’s not a fully separate living room and bedroom. It was a more spacious room than we’d been anticipating though, so that was appreciated.

When entering the room the bathroom and closet were off to the left, with the small living room area straight ahead and the bedroom off to the right.

The living area had a couple of armchairs with an ottoman and side table. The armchairs faced the TV and gas fireplace, the latter of which we enjoyed several times during our stay when it got cooler.

I didn’t take a photo of it, but the side table had a small welcome gift of some soft peanut brittle which can be bought from the hotel’s store by the front desk.

Something to note if you stay in a room at The Historic Davenport which has a fireplace. After turning on the switch on the wall, it takes 10-15 seconds for the fire to kick in, so you just have to be patient. We’d initially thought it was broken or decorative, but it worked without a problem once we left it turned on long enough. Truffles enjoyed taking up residence in front of the fire whenever we had it on.

Our room had a king bed which was pretty comfortable. The pillows were very soft; I was fine with them, but Shae didn’t care for them too much as they were too squishy for her liking.

The bed was taller than your average bed, so beneath the bed on both sides was a wooden stepstool that you could pull out to help yourself into bed if needed.

On the far side of the room was a desk and chair, as well as a wet bar with a Keurig coffee maker, mini-fridge and microwave. The mini-fridge was on the larger side of mini-fridges which we appreciated seeing as we were there for 10 nights. It also had a freezer compartment inside that was large enough for all our ice packs and which worked well enough to keep them frozen.

On the opposite end of the room was the closet. This contained a safe, iron and ironing board, as well as a couple of bathrobes hidden away to the left.

The view out of our room looked out at the Steam Plant Hotel and Steam Plant Restaurant & Brew Pub.

If you’d like to order room service during your stay, there’s a room service menu on the desk. It was a little surprising that there were no prices listed on the menu.

Davenport Suite – Bathroom

The bathroom had both a spacious walk-in shower and a jacuzzi tub. The shower was only half-enclosed as there was no door, something I’m not normally a fan of because a) water tends to splash out and b) it ends up being chilly and drafty. In this instance though, the design ensured no water splashed out and it stayed a reasonable enough temperature in there.

There were large wall-mounted bottles of L’Occitane en Provence toiletries in the shower, with a bottle of shower gel next to the bath too.

Outside of the bathroom itself (it was next to the bedroom closet) was the bathroom sink.

Overall, we very much enjoyed our suite. It had classic style without feeling dated, was spacious and had features like a wet bar and fireplace that we were able to make good use of during our stay. Being on the top floor also helped ensure that our room was quiet as it meant we never heard anyone walking around above us (I’ve no idea though if that’s even an issue on other floors).

Breakfast In Palm Court Grill

The Historic Davenport offers breakfast in the Palm Court Grill on the first floor. It’s available until 11am each morning which was perfect for days when we wanted to sleep in a little.

The breakfast menu above is what was available for much of the week, with a slightly different brunch menu in play on Saturday and/or Sunday.

If you have Platinum, Titanium or Ambassador status with Marriott, you can choose complimentary breakfast as your welcome amenity. That’s far better value than picking points seeing as it gets you breakfast every morning of your stay.

We were given breakfast coupons for each morning when checking in and it says on the reverse side that the coupon does include server tips. However, be aware that – in theory – the breakfast coupon only covers their continental breakfast which consists of a pastry, coffee or tea and some kind of juice.

That was disappointing as that’s not a very substantial breakfast, but it’s not actually as bad as that. We were advised on our first morning that with the continental breakfast costing $14 per person, we could pick anything else off the menu and they’d deduct $14 per person from that total. That meant that we could, for example, order the Davenport Breakfast for a net cost of $6 rather than having to pay the full $20.

As it turned out, there were several other breakfast options costing $14, so you don’t necessarily even need to come out of pocket if you’d rather have something other than the continental breakfast. We tried several options during our 10 days there.

The bagel & lox was very good and came with a substantial amount of smoked salmon. The side salad was good too, but be aware that the red peppers that come with it are spicy. I enjoyed them with the salad, but it was a surprise the first time as I thought they were just mini bell peppers.

Shae got the biscuits and gravy one morning but wasn’t impressed – mainly due to the biscuits. They were weird – almost more like small, hard English muffins than what we’d consider biscuits. I tried her sausage gravy though and that was very good; you might need to ask for more gravy though as the serving size wasn’t very big.

The Davenport Breakfast was a solid option with your choice of bacon, ham or sausage, eggs any style, hash browns and toast.

Shae ordered the steel-cut oats several times during our stay and it was her favorite option of the ones she tried. It came with milk, brown sugar, raisins and fresh fruit.

I decided to try the strawberry and banana cocoa muesli one morning and loved it. It was sweeter and much more flavorful than I’d been anticipating, so I got it another morning too. It was also very filling.

On a different morning I tried their house-made granola with honey and blueberry yogurt. I can’t remember if the yogurt itself was blueberry-y, but it came with a generous portion of juicy blueberries. This was delicious too and was another breakfast option that was more filling than I’d been expecting. Beware of the granola to an extent though – while it was perhaps the nicest-tasting granola I’ve ever eaten, it was much harder to chew than regular granola. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of that breakfast.

The Peacock Room Lounge

A popular place for both hotel guests and the general public to visit is the Peacock Room Lounge.

We were so busy checking out all the other breweries, wineries and cideries that Spokane has to offer that we didn’t make it to the Peacock Room Lounge until the final night of our stay.

Shae ordered a glass of prosecco, while I got a mojito as I was beered out from all the breweries we’d been visiting.

The biggest feature of the Peacock Room Lounge isn’t the drinks though; it’s what’s above you. That’s because there’s a 5,000 piece stained glass design adorning the ceiling.

Other Dining

In the lobby there’s a Starbucks counter that’s open every morning from 5am.

During the summer there’s the Roof Garden Terrace Bar which apparently has lovely views of downtown Spokane. We visited in mid-April though and so didn’t get a chance to experience that.

Amenities

Fitness Room

The hotel has several amenities in the basement of the hotel. One of those is its fitness room which has several pieces of cardio equipment as well as weights.

The mini fridge in there has chilled towels for guests to use during their workouts.

Spa

Also on the basement level is a salon and spa. We didn’t get any treatments during our stay, so I’m not sure what pricing is like.

Swimming Pool

The hotel’s swimming pool is on that same level, but it was closed for maintenance during our stay. As an alternative option, guests can make use of the swimming pool at the Davenport Tower hotel, one of three sister properties in Spokane (the others being Davenport Lusso and Davenport Grand).

The Historic Davenport History

The hotel is named after Louis Davenport, its founder who opened the hotel in 1914. It was the first hotel in the US to feature air conditioning, as well as housekeeping carts, a central vacuum system and more. As you enter the hotel, there’s a statue of Mr Davenport sitting on a bench next to the front desk.

The hotel was closed in 1985 before being reopened in 2002 following extensive renovations by its new owners. They did an incredible job restoring the property to its original beauty, whisking you back to the early 1900s. You can get the best view of some of the renovation/restoration work on the second floor of the hotel which looks out over the lobby.

You can wander around the lobby and second floor even if you’re not staying there as a guest. That’s worth doing not just to view all the decor, but because the second floor features a museum-type area with exhibits from the hotel’s past, newspaper clippings and more.

Some of the most fascinating displays were those featuring photos from back in the early 1900s, such as this one of the hotel preparing for an automobile show in 1915.

Destination Fee

The Historic Davenport charges a $22.42 destination fee per night. That includes the following:

• Daily $20 food and beverage credit
• Daily two-hour bike rental
• Daily shuttle between Davenport Hotels, local attractions, arenas, theaters, and more within a half-mile radius
• Daily unlimited exercise classes at The Union West
• One-time Washington wine tasting welcome beverage (ages 21+)
• Daily enhanced high-speed internet access

It’s always annoying when hotels charge destination fees like this, but we were fortunate. That’s because the hotel has chosen to waive the destination fee for those with Titanium status (I’m not sure if those with Platinum status have it waived too). As destination fees go though, the fact that it includes $20 daily towards food and beverage gives the opportunity to get at least some value back.

Pet Policy

The Historic Davenport is a pet-friendly hotel. They have a very reasonable pet fee of $50 per room per stay (not per day) and you can bring up to two dogs per room.

The closest grass to the hotel is outside the hotel’s parking lot opposite the hotel on W 1st Ave. This has a small dedicated pet area, along with an additional grassy area behind there. Spokane is a very walkable city, so is was nice taking Truffles on longer walks down to the river and falls.

Service

Service at The Historic Davenport was very good for the most part. When we first arrived, the valet seemed to deliberately blank us until we got his attention – something that we’ve gotten used to with valets at nicer hotels as we apparently don’t look the part in our 2004 Toyota Corolla.

Other than him though, everyone else was very friendly and welcoming, the bellhops particularly.

Wi-Fi

The hotel offers complimentary Wi-Fi for all guests. It had a solid connection and speed for the most part, although one evening it seemed to have issues for a couple of hours, but that can’t always be helped.

Check-In & Check-Out Times

The official check-in time at The Historic Davenport is 4pm, although we were able to check in at 2pm. Check-out is at 12pm; if you have Platinum or higher status with Marriott you can get a 4pm late checkout guaranteed, but we didn’t need to take advantage of that.

Location

The hotel is in a fantastic location in downtown Spokane. It’s in a central spot, with it only being a 10 minute walk north to Riverfront Park. In fact, pretty much everywhere downtown can be reached within a 15 minute walk.

Parking

The hotel has a parking lot on W 1st Ave, next to the Davenport Tower (one of the hotel’s sister properties). Parking costs $25 per day for self-parking and $35 per day for valet parking. Both self and valet parking come with in/out privileges.

Despite telling the front desk agent when checking in that we’d be self-parking – and thus getting a special parking ticket to scan every time we needed to drive somewhere – we didn’t end up getting charged $25 per day which saved us $250 seeing as we stayed 10 nights. I’m not sure if that was an error on their part or if they waive parking fees for those with high enough status with Marriott. No matter the reason, we were very pleased to not have to incur $250 in parking charges!

Cost

We booked our stay at The Historic Davenport using Marriott Bonvoy points. Marriott uses dynamic pricing which means the number of points you need to redeem can vary from night to night. For our dates the pricing ranged from 22,000-40,000 points per night. Marriott has a ‘Stay 5 nights, pay for 4’ benefit, so with us staying 10 nights we got two of those nights free.

That meant we had to redeem a total of 244,000 points for our 10 night stay, or an average of 24,400 points per night. That was pretty good value seeing as the room rate during our stay would’ve been $327.51 per night including tax for the room we’d originally booked. I don’t know how much The Davenport Suite would’ve cost on our dates.

Final Thoughts

Our stay at The Historic Davenport in Spokane was one of my favorite hotel stays in the last few years. It’s a beautiful hotel in a great location in an awesome city. As I mentioned at the start of the review, we’re already planning to stay there again later this year and this would be likely be our go-to hotel any other time we visit Spokane.

Truffles Approval Rating

Truffles awards the hotel four paws out of four – pawfect! The pet fee was reasonable, our room was very quiet and the hotel was in a perfect spot for walking around the city to get her lots of sniffs.

Our Rating

Room = 4.5 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.4 / 5
Food = 4.6/5
Location = 4.8 / 5
Service = 4.5 / 5
Overall Value = 4.4 / 5

Total = 4.53 / 5

Address

The Historic Davenport, 10 S Post St, Spokane, WA 99201