Seattle hotel rates, month by month
| Month | Avg. nightly rate | vs. Seattle average |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | $139 | -32% |
| Feb | $150 | -26% |
| Mar | $159 | -22% |
| Apr | $169 | -17% |
| May | $213 | +4% |
| Jun | $279 | +37% |
| Jul | $297 | +46% |
| Aug | $272 | +33% |
| Sep | $253 | +24% |
| Oct | $212 | +4% |
| Nov | $165 | -19% |
| Dec | $142 | -30% |
What the curve means for planners
In Seattle, the month on the booking is a budget decision. Rates swing 53% between the cheapest and priciest months, one of the wider gaps in the 50 markets we measured.
January is the floor at $139 a night, 32% below the $204 average, while July peaks at $297, 46% above it.
If the destination is fixed but the dates are not, this is the market where it pays to schedule around the curve. Moving a multi-night group stay out of July changes the total more than most rate negotiations will.
Why do hotel prices in Seattle, WA move this way?
The numbers are data. What follows is the story we think fits them.
Seattle compresses its year into the dry season. The July peak sits where summer leisure, cruise departures, and conference traffic overlap, and the January floor looks like the rainy-season corporate baseline, with steep shoulder months showing how fast the leisure layer arrives and leaves. Weather, we suspect, is the scheduler here.
How Seattle compares
At $204 a night, Seattle, WA ranks 7 of 50 major U.S. markets by average hotel rate, 38% above the $148 median of the 50 markets in this dataset.
| Similar-priced market | Avg. nightly rate | Rank of 50 |
|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia, PA | $205 | 6 |
| San Diego, CA | $198 | 8 |
| Detroit, MI | $193 | 9 |
Questions people ask
How much does a hotel cost in Seattle?
Hotels in Seattle, WA average $204 per night, based on 1.9M publicly available rates observed in searches on Engine between May 2024 and April 2026. These are par rates, meaning the cheapest public price offered at the time of each search, not negotiated or booked rates. Monthly averages range from $139 in January to $297 in July.
What is the cheapest month for hotels in Seattle?
January is the cheapest month for hotels in Seattle, WA, averaging $139 per night, which is 32% below the city's $204 average.
What is the most expensive month for hotels in Seattle?
July is the most expensive month for hotels in Seattle, WA, averaging $297 per night, 46% above the city's $204 average.
When should I book a hotel in Seattle?
The rates on this page are advance-purchase public rates, observed in searches made 10 to 180 days before check-in, so the bigger lever is which month you stay rather than how far ahead you book. For Seattle, WA, that means aiming for January and avoiding July when dates are flexible. Our full study, Every City Has a Season, covers how timing plays out across all 50 markets.
This page is one market from a 50-city study of how hotel prices move through the year.
How we did this
The figures on this page come from the 128,536,941 hotel prices that business travelers saw when searching on Engine, a platform companies use to book work trips, across 50 U.S. markets over roughly two years (May 2024 to April 2026).
What we measured. Every data point is a par rate, meaning the cheapest publicly available nightly rate a hotel offered at the moment of a live search. These are the prices companies see while planning a trip, not Engine's negotiated rates and not the prices ultimately booked. Real corporate rates typically sit below what is shown here.
Whose trips we looked at. We focused on planned travel and included only searches made 10 to 180 days before check-in, limited to business accounts, with internal, test, and promotional activity excluded.
A few caveats. These are advertised rates, not final booked prices. Monthly figures pool multiple years to smooth year-to-year noise, so an unusually large one-off event can occasionally push a single city-month higher than a typical year.
Data analysis by Jack Swiatoschik. Written by Alec Hollingsworth. Reviewed by Engine's data team.