The Marriott Waterfront is a beautiful hotel and as its name suggests, it is on the waterfront. This area of Seattle is very much a "downtown" location. Across the street is the waterfront with all of the piers every 2 blocks or so. Each pier has shops and/or restaurants. It is a very fun place to be.
To the back of the hotel is the steep hill up to the city. There are stairs or an elevator to get to that part of town. A highlight was a horse-drawn carriage ride one evening through town. In that half hour ride, we passed probably a dozen Starbuck's coffee houses! We came back from this trip addicted to caffeine!