Vancouver Hotel Advice Needed

DH and I will be taking our first Alaskan Cruise next summer. We need help finding a good hotel in Vancouver, BC, so we can get in a few days early and explore.

We are looking for the following things in a hotel...

1. Reasonable price (I know they are more expensive than average in VBC)

2. Close to the port and or attractions (We do not mind having to take a taxi from the airport or to the port, but would like to avoid it while we are checking out the city)

3. Near the train/subway/public transportation (We have not problem taking it to get around)

4.Room has private bathroom

5. Name brand chain or local hotel with good reviews (clean and not shady)

6. In a nice area where we can walk to places, attractions, and dinner.

I was researching today, and became a little overwhelmed. Any advice is appreciated, especially from those who live there or frequent the area.

You might want to check on the WEST COAST DEPARTURES forum. This question is asked and answered regularly so just look down the first page.

Also, have a look at some trip reports (in STICKYs above). Many people fly in a few days prior so their trip report will include information on the hotel.

we stayed at the blue horizon hotel vancouver after our alaskan cruise in june, $10 taxi fare from the port, you could walk it, hop on hop off bus stopped outside the hotel door, the free bus to the suspension bridge stopped right at the door, plenty of cheap places to eat near by , rooms were great and had a good coffee machine, the price was reasonable.

DH and I will be taking our first Alaskan Cruise next summer. We need help finding a good hotel in Vancouver, BC, so we can get in a few days early and explore.

 

We are looking for the following things in a hotel...

1. Reasonable price (I know they are more expensive than average in VBC)

2. Close to the port and or attractions (We do not mind having to take a taxi from the airport or to the port, but would like to avoid it while we are checking out the city)

3. Near the train/subway/public transportation (We have not problem taking it to get around)

4.Room has private bathroom

5. Name brand chain or local hotel with good reviews (clean and not shady)

6. In a nice area where we can walk to places, attractions, and dinner.

 

I was researching today, and became a little overwhelmed. Any advice is appreciated, especially from those who live there or frequent the area.

We have done that a number of times and always got a very nice major brand name hotel, conveniently located, for far less than it would have cost to book directly with the hotel itself or through a booking agency.

Be sure to also check out tripadvisor.com

Keith

Our family had four rooms at the St. Regis Hotel in Vancouver for one night. It's a small boutique hotel. Newly renovated with modern feel to it. We were all pleased with our accommodations.

The stay included free full breakfast and internet.

The front desk was very friendly and we noticed small things like remembering our name, opening the front door for us and calling for the elevator when we entered the lobby.

It's walking distance to Vancouver's waterfront and cruise port. We walked to the port a couple of times but when we were ready to embark the ship with luggage the hotel called a cab for us.

The price was reasonable considering other hotels in the area. For the one night we didn't need a full service hotel with pool, spa and gym.

Check out reviews on Tripadvisor.

Firstly let me address some of your concerns/requirements about location & transportation. Go have a look at a map of Vancouver (Google here). Ignore the parts on the right (Burnaby, New Westminster, Surrey) and focus on the area that's surrounded by a light pink shaded border.

Hold your open right hand out in front of you, palm toward you. Your thumb is basically the whole of the downtown core - in that area it's basically impossible to be more than a $10 cab ride to Canada Place unless you hit mind-bendingly bad traffic. There are so many bus lines passing through, plus multiple Skytrain stations, that transit is rarely more than two blocks from you wherever you are.

To continue the hand analogy - your pinky finger is where the airport is. There's a wide range of hotels there which are almost always cheaper than downtown, but cost time getting to the sights. You've already confirmed you want to be walking distance to things to see & do, so stick to downtown proper. Virtually every hotel in Vancouver proper is downtown - there are some out in East Van along major roads, and the other municipalities across the water to the north of West and North Vancouver.

Your wrist is the eastern side of Vancouver proper (known by locals as East Van) and contains so few big tourist attractions that you don't need to worry about it on a first trip. There are some great neighbourhoods, but no 'Big Hits' to compare with Stanley Park, Granville Island etc.

We do have one of the poorest areas in North America adjacent to some of the fanciest, but the 'hotels' in that part of town will not show up in most travel sites at all - they're really long-term lodging houses, many of them still have 'hotel' in the name because they started life as a regular hotel a long, looooooonnnnnng time ago.

The advice given above about bidding is bang on the money - sticking to the neighbourhoods mentioned and 4* means you cannot get a hotel in the wrong town (having a neighbour called West Vancouver as well as a West Side and the West End of Vancouver proper can be confusing...). It also means you won't end up in our designated 'downtown party zone' on Granville Street which does have a few hotels, but all in the 2-3.5* categories. NB: while there are some locals who have a very low opinion of Granville St it has cleaned up a lot in recent years. I have no hesitation dining or just walking through the area early evening - but by concentrating our downtown bars & clubs there, there's no way to avoid hordes of drunken buffoons as the night wears on.

If you just cannot face bidding on a hotel and need to know exactly what you're getting into, the biggest bargain downtown is undoubtedly the YWCA Hotel. The location is ideal: walk into Yaletown, Gastown, Chinatown in minutes; close to Skytrain, buses, HOHO stops; maybe even walk to the port (a little under a mile). You are near our two large stadia (BC Place & Rogers Arena) so on game or concert nights there will be a lot of pedestrians around - but there is a firmly-enforced 11pm shutdown for events so you don't need to worry about crowd noise or stadium lights when sleeping.

YWCA is also ideal for saving money by making your own brekky/picnics/even full dinners if you like, as it has full kitchens every couple of floors. We stayed here on our first visit to Vancouver over a decade ago, when the area was much less developed and had no problem walking around at night - now it's positively Yuppified.

I am in need of your help with location also. I studied the google map in the post above, but I am afraid I am still confused. We have booked the Best Western Plus on Drake. If I am looking at the map correctly then, this hotel is not in a good location. It is right at Granville Street and also seems farther away from downtown then I thought. We have two nights here before our cruise which leaves on a Monday. We arrive late so really only have one full day to explore. I was planning on visiting Stanley Park and the Granville Market. We got a very good price for this hotel and I had read many positive reviews, however, now I am second guessing this choice. What is the opinion of the Vancouver residents of this area? Our cruise is next May, so I have plenty of time to make changes if necessary. Thank you very much.

Nothing wrong with the location - I live two blocks away - it's at the upper end of the downtown core - it is very popular with cruisers - I eat at the attached White Spot restaurant - http://www.whitespot.ca at least twice a week and often talk to the people eating there who are either embarking or have disembark from a cruise. It is about 13 blocks to the cruise terminal.

As it is at the upper end of Granville St it isn't that noisy as most of the entertainment zone clubs on Granville are 4 or 5 blocks away.

It is actually one of the closest hotels to Granville Island and it is only a block to the hop on hop off buses.

Hope this helps somewhat.

Cheers!

Dennis

I am in need of your help with location also. I studied the google map in the post above, but I am afraid I am still confused. We have booked the Best Western Plus on Drake. If I am looking at the map correctly then, this hotel is not in a good location. It is right at Granville Street and also seems farther away from downtown then I thought. We have two nights here before our cruise which leaves on a Monday. We arrive late so really only have one full day to explore. I was planning on visiting Stanley Park and the Granville Market. We got a very good price for this hotel and I had read many positive reviews, however, now I am second guessing this choice. What is the opinion of the Vancouver residents of this area? Our cruise is next May, so I have plenty of time to make changes if necessary. Thank you very much.

Don't worry - Drake & Granville is right downtown. Check the scale on the map - if you were walking from the hotel to Canada Place it's only just over a mile, and you are very convenient for Granville Island (you only have to walk a quarter mile to the Aquabus ferry dock). I see UT's already posted - given he lives just a couple of blocks away his would be the default best opinion on the area.

My take is, as mentioned above, that because of all the bars & clubs it gets noisy - not dangerous, there's a police station and active patrolling especially around bar closing times - but imagine stereotypical frat boy Spring Break behaviour, drunken idiots running around, falling over, throwing up... The Drake BW is actually a little down the street from the worst of it - most of the buffoons are already in taxis/buses by the time they pass you, or walk north to get to Skytrain lines.

The Chateau Granville BW is slap bang in the heart of it and I always recommend to ask for the room at the back of the hotel - it's not as important for you but if quiet is a priority then no harm in playing safe and asking for a room at the back here too. Then you can wave to UT in his condo up the street;-)

Oh my Gosh!!!! You two are so wonderful, I could cry. Thank you so very much for putting my mind at ease. I am a terrible worrier and over think things, however, I made a terrible mistake when booking my airline tickets, picking a late arrival when I meant to pick an earlier one, and now it cannot be changed for less than $200.00. The ticket price is the same, that $200.00 is the change penalty. So that is why I think I am now obsessing over my hotel selection. Now, after hearing from you two experts on the area, I am not going to think about it anymore!!! Thank you, thank you.:D

My husband says thank you too, he is tired of me reading reviews to him:o

You're very welcome - I'm looking better at the moment because a few regular posters have been mostly offline for quite a while;-) If you really want wonderful responses, ask Scottbee about local transit or Putterdude for the dirt on local hoteliers!

From your other posts, this was for a trip in May 2015, no? Don't worry too much about the airfare - that is a LOT of time for the airline to change their schedule. If, or more likely this far in advance, WHEN they do then: a) the new timing may be better for you; b) if it isn't then traditionally all airlines allow rebooking of flights without a change fee when THEY make an alteration. Just put a note in your diary to check the flight schedules on the airline website every couple of months.

If you want to plan for the worst, put aside ~$7 a week in a jar and you'll be able to afford the change fee by next May. That's just one Starbucks trienti mochafrappachino unless Georgia is a lot cheaper than here!

Martincath: Yes, May 18th,2015. I am not use to booking airfare, so did not realize that the schedule could change, thank you for that information. We usually cruise out of Port Canaveral and drive to the port. We only flew twice, once from N.Y. and once from Ft. Lauderdale. I am almost as excited about visiting Vancouver as I am Alaska. Once we began planning this trip I realized Vancouver is a destination in itself. Now, if we could just win a lottery so we can just travel, travel, travel!:D

Thank you everyone for your input. I like to book a hotel that I can "live" with then try Priceline. This way if Priceline does not work out, I have a doable backup.

The explanations are perfect. Normally when traveling to a big city, we try to stay in Downtown, since that is where most of the actions is. I was just overwhelmed with the prices and the choices of locations.

If any one has anything else to add, it is greatly appreciated.

Husband and I will be staying at the St. Regis Hotel downtown in a couple of weeks , pre cruise stay down the west coast from Vancouver- Los Angeles. Price I got was around $200/nt and I thought that was fair for being so close to the port. We plan on taking the sky train from the airport to Vancouver city station and walk 1 block to our hotel ( also stated on the hotel's website), and the cruise port is only a few blocks away. This will be our first time trying the sky train. All the reviews look great!

Husband and I will be staying at the St. Regis Hotel downtown in a couple of weeks , pre cruise stay down the west coast from Vancouver- Los Angeles. Price I got was around $200/nt and I thought that was fair for being so close to the port. We plan on taking the sky train from the airport to Vancouver city station and walk 1 block to our hotel ( also stated on the hotel's website), and the cruise port is only a few blocks away. This will be our first time trying the sky train. All the reviews look great!

Sounds like a great plan cruzbugy; Sept is nice in Vancouver, taking the sky train works well for anyone who can manage their luggage, and your location will be very central.

We have stayed at St Regis before, nice location, but pricey. This time we have booked two nights (with private bath) and car rental at YWCA, for less than one night at St Regis.

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Husband and I will be staying at the St. Regis Hotel downtown in a couple of weeks , pre cruise stay down the west coast from Vancouver- Los Angeles. Price I got was around $200/nt and I thought that was fair for being so close to the port. We plan on taking the sky train from the airport to Vancouver city station and walk 1 block to our hotel ( also stated on the hotel's website), and the cruise port is only a few blocks away. This will be our first time trying the sky train. All the reviews look great!

We stayed at the St. Regis last year. We did our own pub crawl in gastown, we went to the observation tower. Everything was very compact.

View from the window:

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

Bathroom:

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr;

Great free breakfast, made to order

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

I have not fallen over a cliff and am still around. I elected to take the summer off, DW had some health issues that needed attention not the least of which was a cornea transplant. There were some business and other projects that I wanted to devote my time toward ..... including my golf game which sadly needs a lot of attention and as I approach the tender age of 70 this winter....well it may be beyond repair. Any CC posts this summer have been pretty much directed toward roll calls we are involved with.

So with that here goes....it is much to early to be trying to book successfully on Priceline or Hotwire for a room next spring or summer, frankly I wouldn't spend much time until early in the new year at the earliest. A lot of the good deals that we used to enjoy by bidding on Priceline seem to have been eroded by an improving economy and even if you have a ton of time bidding on Priceline can be frustrating. My fave over the past year or so has become Hotwire...yes there is still the mystery of what you are getting but if you read the stickys, watch the maps and stay at or above 3.5*, in the compact area of downtown Vancouver you will end up with a good hotel.

This is a list of Vancouver Hotels that I post from time to time that are in about a 6 or so block radius of Canada Place. All are hotels that I can recommend but in every case you are going to have trouble keeping the nightly room rate under $200.

The Pan Pacific (part of Canada Place)

Fairmont Waterfront (across the street from Canada Place)

Fairmont Pacific Rim

Marriott Pinnacle

Renaissance

Hyatt Regency

The Shangri-la

Fairmont Vancouver Hotel

Auberge

Coast Coal Harbour

Delta Suites

The Metropolitan

Four Seasons

Rosewood Georgia

Sutton Place (about 8.5 blocks)

Sheraton at the Wall Centre (about 10 blocks)

le Soleil

The Wedgewood

I have not included the Blue Horizon or the Best Western Downtown as they are closer to a mile from Canada Place but nonetheless IMO are very good hotels. I tend to shy away from recommending old hotels that have had a re-do only because having had experience re-doing one myself I know that in these older properties not all systems, particularly mechanical systems are up to snuff.

Welcome back PD - I was wondering where you were - I did notice that you seemed to be only on the rolls calls - hope DW's is continuing her recovery and what are you doing working on projects if you are suppose to be retired?

Cheers!

Dennis

This is a very good thread. I have just started looking not for a pre-cruise hotel, but possibly a post cruise hotel. So far, the flights home either are too early for us to be sure we can get to the airport on time, or later so that we will end up flying overnight. I have tried flying over night before, and it wasn't my favorite thing. I didn't sleep on the plane, and the airport isn't quite the best place to doze off, lol. (we are flying from Vancouver to central NY)

Mostly, we may be looking for a place to just rest up and get ready for the trip back. I haven't researched much yet, but are there some nice places to stay that are closer to the airport? In walking distance of some eateries and a place or two of interest?

This is a very good thread. I have just started looking not for a pre-cruise hotel, but possibly a post cruise hotel. So far, the flights home either are too early for us to be sure we can get to the airport on time, or later so that we will end up flying overnight. I have tried flying over night before, and it wasn't my favorite thing. I didn't sleep on the plane, and the airport isn't quite the best place to doze off, lol. (we are flying from Vancouver to central NY)

 

Mostly, we may be looking for a place to just rest up and get ready for the trip back. I haven't researched much yet, but are there some nice places to stay that are closer to the airport? In walking distance of some eateries and a place or two of interest?

Some airport hotels are walking distance for a few food options, but YVR is not as far/hard to get to as many airports in large cities. Even if you're boarding an early flight next day it will generally only save you 15-20 mins of travel (30 mins in a cab from downtown early morning is quite feasible vs. a 10min drive by shuttle from most 'airport' hotels). The one exception is the Fairmont, which is actually at the airport proper (but it's on the ka-ching side).

The other downside is of course taking your bags out, checking in, then coming back downtown to go see things - sticking to downtown hotels saves c. 90mins on that round trip that you can use to actually Do Stuff.

Really the only advantage to staying out in Richmond is cost - if your budget is close to maxed out, you can use Skytrain/free airport shuttles to get out there for very little money (C$9.75pp for a daypass, possibly even less with individual tickets if you're strategic about travel times).

This is a very good thread. I have just started looking not for a pre-cruise hotel, but possibly a post cruise hotel. So far, the flights home either are too early for us to be sure we can get to the airport on time, or later so that we will end up flying overnight. I have tried flying over night before, and it wasn't my favorite thing. I didn't sleep on the plane, and the airport isn't quite the best place to doze off, lol. (we are flying from Vancouver to central NY)

 

Mostly, we may be looking for a place to just rest up and get ready for the trip back. I haven't researched much yet, but are there some nice places to stay that are closer to the airport? In walking distance of some eateries and a place or two of interest?

We just came back from a cruise which started in Vancouver - Los Angeles. We flew from Washington Reagan to Vancouver and stayed 2 nights pre cruise at the St. Regis downtown. We booked at least 6 months or more ahead of time thru expedia and got a pretty good rate, I think, for a great "downtown hotel for $200/nt incl hot cooked breakfast. For a downtown hotel that's pretty good rate and you can cancel if need to before a certain date, fully refundable from expedia. We had to do that for another couple who could not make it and refund came back on their credit card. We took the sky train for $9pp oneway and got off at the Vancouver city center station and walked one block over and around the corner. Very doable with 1 rolling suitcase and a carryon pp. Very walkable to everything and the bus system was very easy to use also. Morning of the cruise ,we walked 2-3 blocks down after breakfast and you're at Canada Place/cruiseship pier, check in and boarded our ship. piece of cake!:)

FYI, for anyone who loves watching Cedar Cove , we took the #235 bus all the way to Deep Cove in Vancouver. That's where they film some of their shots, beautiful and cute small town to walk around and have lunch. The lake is beautiful and kayaking and hiking if you choose . Bus stop is a couple blocks from our hotel and took about 40-45 min oneway @ $4pp.

Thank you for your review. I know a fair amount about Deep Cove as it is one of my old stomping grounds and my late FIL was the town constable back in the mid-40's. I confess that I didn't know about Cedar Cove, as a matter of fact I didn't know anything about the show until your post. But two things, Deep Cove is in North Vancouver and the lake is actually Indian Arm and an extension of Vancouver's harbour, Burrard Inlet, therefore is salt water.

I have not fallen over a cliff and am still around. I elected to take the summer off, DW had some health issues that needed attention not the least of which was a cornea transplant. There were some business and other projects that I wanted to devote my time toward ..... including my golf game which sadly needs a lot of attention and as I approach the tender age of 70 this winter....well it may be beyond repair. Any CC posts this summer have been pretty much directed toward roll calls we are involved with.

 

So with that here goes....it is much to early to be trying to book successfully on Priceline or Hotwire for a room next spring or summer, frankly I wouldn't spend much time until early in the new year at the earliest. A lot of the good deals that we used to enjoy by bidding on Priceline seem to have been eroded by an improving economy and even if you have a ton of time bidding on Priceline can be frustrating. My fave over the past year or so has become Hotwire...yes there is still the mystery of what you are getting but if you read the stickys, watch the maps and stay at or above 3.5*, in the compact area of downtown Vancouver you will end up with a good hotel.

 

This is a list of Vancouver Hotels that I post from time to time that are in about a 6 or so block radius of Canada Place. All are hotels that I can recommend but in every case you are going to have trouble keeping the nightly room rate under $200.

 

The Pan Pacific (part of Canada Place)

Fairmont Waterfront (across the street from Canada Place)

Fairmont Pacific Rim

Marriott Pinnacle

Renaissance

Hyatt Regency

The Shangri-la

Fairmont Vancouver Hotel

Auberge

Coast Coal Harbour

Delta Suites

The Metropolitan

Four Seasons

Rosewood Georgia

Sutton Place (about 8.5 blocks)

Sheraton at the Wall Centre (about 10 blocks)

le Soleil

The Wedgewood

 

I have not included the Blue Horizon or the Best Western Downtown as they are closer to a mile from Canada Place but nonetheless IMO are very good hotels. I tend to shy away from recommending old hotels that have had a re-do only because having had experience re-doing one myself I know that in these older properties not all systems, particularly mechanical systems are up to snuff.

I do not see the Hampton on your list. Do you think that hotel is ok? I booked it for next summer. Seemed like a nice place and close to everything. THanks for your thoughts on this.