Philip Gissen

Review of Hotel Bellwether

I liked the Hotel Bellwether. Certainly, the views...

I liked the Hotel Bellwether. Certainly, the views from our room were magnificent. It was a five star stay for us, although the Hotel Bellwether may not be a five star hotel when comparing hostelries around the world.

Our second floor room was large, with a pleasant balcony overlooking Bellingham Bay and the islands. The room s architecture was almost a twin of our room at the Willows Lodge in Woodinville. Strangely, they each had an accordion window over the tub looking into the bedroom. I don t get the design. Even the electric fireplaces were in the same location. However, at the Bellwether, we were in the main building with
underground parking. That was very convenient. In addition, the groomed paths and walkways, in and around the marina, were lovely with lots of choices for food or drinks.

Service was professional, but soulless. When I tried to engage with the front desk, they actually went silent. It was almost rude. Communication was odd, at best. The front desk explanation about how to get to the garage, made me feel as if I had to drive to a different county. The garage was right under the hotel. They forgot to mention that.

Staff at the restaurant in the hotel also found communication difficult. We asked the front at the restaurant if we could have a table outside for drinks and snacks on Friday evening. They said, Let me see what s available, and walked outside. Five minutes passed, ten minutes passed, we finally gave up and went back to our room.

Yet, I will stay at the Bellwether again when I return to Bellingham. Those views are priceless and worth the more than $750.00 I paid for a two night stay. I really liked the town of Bellingham, which had a ton of stuff to do in town and around, in spite of the insidious Covid virus. I realize staffing is next to impossible these days and entire generations of Americans have lost the art of communicating. Technology has not helped nor endorsed social interaction. Soon, we will be a mute society and will have machines communicate for us, void of all emotion and soul. Won t that be fun.