Two things make for a pleasurable hotel experience: a great basement bar and ghosts. The Hotel Seattle has both. Well, allegedly. It’s definitely got the great basement bar, Bernard’s, which teems with lawyers and judges and bureaucrats who need a safe place to drunkenly hatch a devious plan without fear of it ending up on the public record. As for the ghosts, a Pioneer Square bartender who once manned the check-in desk says that they most definitely outnumber living guests. If you hear a bedboard slamming against a neighboring wall, that’s not a Frank Russell exec and his mistress bumping uglies, it’s two ghosts from the 1940s, back when Washington Mutual was a thriving thrift. There’s also reportedly a mysterious ballroom only danced in by ghosts. This place must have been really regal back in the day, considering how loyal its clientele—again, mostly ghosts—have remained over the years. MIKE SEELY 315 Seneca St., 800-426-2439, thehotelseattle.com