The Westin Bayshore, Vancouver — Attraction in Vancouver

Had a great stay at the Westin Bayshore. Traveled with 10 people, ages 6-85 and this was definitely the right choice. The location is better than it shows on the map-located directly on the harbor path and steps away from 2 wonderful restaurants on the water (one family oriented, one fine dining) as well as a nice 20 minute walk to the cruise terminal. ||Pros: free bikes! Great bikes offered for free to enjoy the harbor path as well as Stanley Park. Always available with convenient built-in locks, kids bikes and optional baskets. We used on 2 different days and they were super fun. ||Rooms were updated and very nice-good beds, linens and ample space. We had water views-would highly recommend this, although the Vancouver/park views are also nice. It helps that Vancouver is so beautiful! In the waterfront rooms you could see the cruise ships coming, in, the float planes arriving and departing and beautiful sunsets over the water. ||The dining here was a highlight: H2 Tasting Room is superb-well above any Westin restaurant I have experienced. Craft cocktails and elevated food. Even my foodie young adults were impressed. |Tea & Co was also a bit hit with our group: gourmet gelatos and sundaes-served cheerily until 10:00 on the dot every night. Saw a lot of people getting Starbucks coffee and other drinks throughout the day, along with some upscale to-go food offerings. A cut above.|Breakfast room: buffet was extensive and service was great in the mornings, even when they were overwhelmed by high season demand. We planned for the crowds and sent someone down 30 minutes prior to when we wanted to eat breakfast and didn't have any issues.||Special shout out to Nick in dining-who seemed to be everywhere-hustling to get us a table at H2, refilling the pancakes at the breakfast buffet-and smiling and greeting guests at the matre'd stand. Truly a standout employee!||Also want to thank Nicola: our server at breakfast who dealt with our 85 year old grandpa and a VERY specific eggs benedict request. I might have thrown those eggs in his lap, but she made sure he got what he wanted and did it with a smile and so graciously our grandmother joked that we should see if she was available to come with us on our cruise :)! Another standout employee.||Pools/Saunas were also outstanding-we enjoying the outdoor pool in the rain and relaxing in the saunas afterwards. Indoor pool looked great for smaller kids. ||Spa looked nice-didn't use but really appreciated having that option.||CONS: They do not value Bonvoy status, so if you are an elite and want appreciation, look elsewhere. From being ignored in the Elite check-in line (they took 3 people ahead of me after I had been waiting), to not having any of my guest room information prepared (I sent all guests names and ages for our 4 rooms through my Ambassador team ahead of time but apparently the hotel didn't have any of it and I needed to enter every guest name for each room again upon check-in), to charging extra for hot items on the buffet (only cold items included for Elites-really?), to no suite upgrades on any of the four rooms I reserved for two nights (huge hotel-it looked like some suites were not being used in the lower building), the Westin Bayshore gives the impression that it does not care about Bonvoy status. (I am Ambassador). ||Elevators: There are two elevators for Tower Rooms and one was not working. Other guests told us they had been there for a week and it wasn't working at all during their stay. A mechanic said it was missing a part and wouldn't be fixed for another week. Sometimes there was a line, and frequently guests had to wait 2 elevator cycles to get up to their rooms. (For this reason, I moved our youngest traveler and his parents to the original building that had 2 working elevators).||Management: Whenever there was an issue or question, front desk staff went to talk to 'management' who never appeared, introduced themselves, or helped out. It was so strange and something I've never experienced at any level of Marriott property before. It was like Oz behind the curtain. (Maybe management is just an AI bot at the Bayshore?) As a 'goodwill' gesture for being ignored in the Elite line (it was truly so bizarre and a tough way to start the vacation), the front desk agent extended some additional free breakfasts for our kids, which was appreciated. When one breakfast ended up on the bill instead of being comped, my husband went to the front desk, who had to consult management, who then proceeded to 'review the situation' overnight. My husband was floored--all of this over 1 'free' continental breakfast coupon? We ate multiple meals (and plenty of ice cream!) at the hotel, paid the upgrade fee to full buffet every breakfast, booked 4 rooms for 2 nights-and they wanted to quibble over one free continental breakfast that was given as an apology? They ended up extending the credit to us, but still...not...

My wife and I stayed for 3 nights in room 501. From the airport we travelled by Sky Train to Central Vancouver City and then a 15-20 minute walk. There was a flat weekend fare (1 zone), otherwise a 2 zone ticket is required. Check in was quick and efficient.|The room comprised a bedroom, sitting area (lounge) and bathroom.||BEDROOM|Comfortable bed, TV, drawers, chair and footrest, bedside tables. The only lighting was 2 bedside lamps. There was access to the balcony from the bedroom. The view was disappointing over a concrete roof and a high Westin Tower block. There were 2 chairs on the balcony but it was too cold and unappealing to sit on.||SITTING AREA|TV, fridge, safe, drawers containing bedding, sofa bed, 2 chairs, desk, coffee table, 2 small tables, single cup coffee maker. The view was over a swimming pool and marina, but one had to stand to see it. The position of the tv and sofa needed to be reversed as all one could see from the sofa were other hotel bedrooms in the International Suite and lower levels. There was no central light, but 3 lamps gave muted lighting. ||BATHROOM|Basin, WC, bath and walk in shower with a central, overhead spray. So, if not wishing to wash one’s hair, one had to stand to the side. The water was hot and plentiful. Toiletries were in large dispensers. There was a hanging rail for clothes, which we thought odd as these are usually in bedrooms. Good lighting.|On arrival, I found the safe would not unlock and 2/3 plug sockets for the coffee maker only worked by juggling the power plug so it was partially sticking out. I called reception and maintenance staff arrived very promptly. The safe’s batteries needed replacing and the plugs were referred to an electrician. The room maids were very friendly. Replenishment of tea/coffee was variable.||BREAKFAST |I had pre-paid for buffet breakfast. On check in, I was given a card. It is a strange system. I checked in at breakfast reception, had to wait to be shown to a table and the card was placed in a holder above the jams. I had to sign a “bill” which automatically included a service charge of 18% so no tip was necessary though the server always left that line uncrossed. This was due to a non-buffet menu also being available. There was a wide selection of cooked and uncooked food, and especially enjoyable were the omelettes cooked to order. It was surprisingly busy at 7am on a Sunday, which was when it supposedly opened. It was obvious some people had been there before 7am.||ADDITIONAL COMMENTS|I was delighted to find, opposite the Vida Spa, a deposit/take book library. I had left a paperback as rubbish, but the maid had not taken it so I gladly put it in the library, Perhaps the maids are unaware of this? The hotel should do more to advertise this facility.|Stanley Park is in easy walking distance.|Robson St, about 5 minute walk, has Safeway, World Foods Market and BC Liquor Store. There was a barber where I had a haircut for $14.|Dogs were often seen in the hotel. I heard one barking in the room opposite,|The BC Connector coach, booked in advance, picks up from the hotel to go to Victoria, Vancouver Island.||CONCLUSION|We had a very comfortable stay, enjoyed breakfasts but were really disappointed with the balcony, the views and furniture arrangements in the sitting area which resulted in unappealing views. As I had paid more for this room, I thought it poor value. All the staff we encountered were polite...

I stayed with the family for 2 nights in August in a standard room with 2 double beds. There are quite a few Marriott options to choose from within Vancouver. The Westin seemed to have a slight edge over some others, with reviewers often praising the location near Stanley Park.

STANDARD ROOM: the room itself was basic but fine. Bedding was a notable positive, this was very comfortable. We had a very nice view overlooking the hotel swimming pool as well as the waterfront lined with boats and the mountains behind. The bathroom was disappointing however. Really dated and cramped with a combined shower/tub and almost nowhere to hang towels (not ideal when there are 4 of you in the room!). Noise insulation was also very poor within the room, we were on the 4th floor and could hear sea planes, music from the lounge downstairs, people talking, etc.

PHYSICAL PROPERTY: clearly a very old hotel. Looks like a generic concrete block from the outside. The lobby areas are quite nice and modernised, but soon as you step out of the lift into the room corridor it was like you were back in the 90’s. A couple of convenient onsite inclusions such as a coffee shop and a little store selling toiletries, snacks, etc. at seemingly non-hotel prices. The swimming pool was a popular spot in the sunny weather we had. This was well heated with varying ratios of shade/sun as the day progressed.

LOCATION: could be good or bad depending what you’re looking for. On the plus side the hotel is right on the edge of Stanley Park as well as the waterfront. Closer to nature and some nice scenery. On the negative side, the area immediately around the hotel was lacking in shops, restaurants, etc., so in that sense the hotel didn’t feel super central. Park aside, most things we wanted to visit were a 15+ min walk or a 10-15 min Uber ride away. That said we did enjoy the access to the park and made use of the hotel bikes (free for 2 hours) to do a loop around the park which was quite pleasant. They had kids bikes as well. Getting around was also straightforward with generally short waits for Ubers plus a line of local taxis parked outside the hotel as a backup.

STAFF: generally quite friendly, some more than others. We arrived at the hotel quite early from a cruise and appreciated getting access to our room by 10am even though the hotel was very busy. We did have an issue when our key cards stopped working at check-out time, despite a 1 hour extension previously been agreed. It seemed the late check-out hadn’t been logged on the system. It took 3 trips back and forth to the lobby with new keys being issued each time and it still didn’t work. Ultimately an engineer had to be called to get us into our room. Not ideal when you have a flight to catch! The ageing property should probably get most of the blame for this though.

CONCLUSION: I was a bit underwhelmed by this property. It is really old, despite the lobby having being spruced up. I stayed on points which made it easier to tolerate, but I couldn’t see myself returning as a cash paying guest based on the rates of CAD 800+ quoted during my dates. On the positive side I did like the view from the room, the pool area, plus the free bikes were...