Prestige Oceanfront Resort, member of WorldHotels Luxury — Hotel in Sooke

My partner and I stayed at the Prestige Oceanfront Resort for our friends’ wedding in March of 2022.

Good: 1.) We had an ocean view room with a fantastic view. 2.) The room was clean upon arrival. 3.) We had a wonderful dinner at the West Coast Grill the night before our friends’ wedding. 4.) The day of the wedding, I spent an hour in the workout facilities, which provided a wide array of fitness equipment and clean towels.

Those four points above is what justified the second star. Unfortunately, the hotel failed to deliver on numerous fronts.

Bad: 1.) I’ve attached a photo of an adjacent room’s uncollected room service that remained on the floor for the duration of our stay (3 days). 2.) The pool and hot tub were quite murky, the jets in the hot tub were not operational. 3.) There is practically no air circulation in the room. Smells linger from the bathroom for extended periods of time. The air quickly becomes stale. 4.) No water is provided in the workout facilities. 5.) Liquor service at the wedding was baffling - slow, incompetent, and very basic/restrictive (both cocktails and single-shots of alcohol were not being served). As someone who has worked in the industry and whose family has both a liquor-primary license and a retail store, I was in awe at the missed opportunity for revenue generation. For a significant duration of time, there was only one [very slow] person behind the bar for approximately 100+ people (wedding-goers in particular!). The subsequently long and remarkably sluggish line drove countless guests to leave to their rooms to consume their own alcohol. Unfortunately and inevitably, this led to the poor choice by some of the guests to bring their own liquor down. I will say that the hotel was very quick to prevent the consumption of liquor purchased off-premises. Furthermore, the hotel had the DJ relay a threat to have the event shut-down if this did not cease. What I also found strange is that two men, without uniform or name tags (one taller man with slick-back hair and a shorter man with lots of tattoos), were hired by the hotel to gruffly prevent guests from taking their liquor outside (when stepping out for a cigarette, to get some fresh air after dancing, or to make a phone call). I went to step outside with a beer in my hand and one of the men touched me and told me that I was not to bring liquor outside. I didn’t know who he was and almost completely ignored his command. Good signage would be helpful. 6.) When the wedding had concluded, perhaps 20 so guests had gathered in two adjoining rooms to continue their enjoyment. I was one of them. I was excited to meet and converse with some more of the wedding party. It was a pleasant environment with most sitting and chatting. Understandably, other hotel guests had complained of the noise that we were making at that time of the night. The night manager came upstairs with immediate and loud hostility and threatened the bride, still in her wedding dress, to cease all activity or be charged for the nightly room fee of all adjacent occupied rooms. The demeanour of the night manager was extremely inflammatory and I feel that if a reasonable and calm request to turn off any music, keep voices down, or perhaps to remain off the patio then I believe the message would’ve been widely received.

This hotel does not do the word ‘prestige’ justice. I would not stay at this hotel again of my...

We stayed at the Prestige for two nights for a wedding. The venue was beautiful, clean and well kept. We checked in with ease, however we soon found out that we were placed in the wrong room as our room was adjoined to a larger family suite who had our room reserved for their extended family. When we went to speak with the front desk about the issue and swapping rooms with the other family, they claimed that they weren’t able to do it as our room was not the same type (standard vs. oceanfront). We ended up having to move/swap rooms in the middle of a wedding, the time between the ceremony and the reception. They also provided zero help in terms of bell boys during the move (don’t believe there are any bell boys at this hotel). Once we arrived at the new room, the toilet wouldn’t flush so we called front desk to fix it and by the time we arrived back at the room for bed, it was fixed. At the end, they still upcharged us for the upgrade in room type for the second night despite this being a mistake on their end in terms of management.

Due to temporary physical disabilities, I had to wash my hair in the sink so we asked for a foldable/small chair to use since the chairs in the room were cloth and had high backs that wouldn’t allow me to lean back. After calling the front desk, they said that they were unable to find us a chair and were not very helpful. As we were setting up for the wedding, we in fact saw hundreds of foldable chairs downstairs in the storage room by the reception hall. We ended up taking matters into our own hands and used a straw chair off another room’s balcony.

My elderly grandparents came down from the mainland to attend the wedding. They arrived early so asked if they could check in earlier. They were told to wait by the lounge and would be checked in by 2pm and a member from management would hand the room keys to them. 2pm came by and nobody updated, so we went to speak to the front desk. They were given the keys and upon arriving to the room, they realized it was the wrong configuration/room type. They had to wait longer to get it sorted out and their actual room ended up being on the opposite side of the hotel.

Lastly, we were hanging out at a cousin’s room and there was a large stain of blood on the sheets.

In summary, beautiful hotel and wedding venue/reception hall. Cleaning staff was pleasant and did a great job. Management seemed a bit disorganized and needs improvement. Not too...

We spent one night at the Sooke Prestige Oceanfront Resort, but it seemed more hype than substance.

This is not a resort; it's a hotel.

On the surface, the hotel appears splendid, boasting a grand entrance, shiny lobby, and great view.

However, once inside, the hotel feels tired. I've stayed in Holiday Inns with nicer rooms.

Upon arrival, our reservation created quite a bit of confusion. The desk staff seemed untrained, and while we stood at the counter waiting for an email confirmation, they continued to handle inbound phone calls. They lacked either the authority or training to solve check-in issues. The assistant manager finally stepped in with a "sort it out later" attitude so we could finally complete check-in.

The bed was comfortable enough and both the room furnishings and bathroom seemed clean. However, the bathroom was basic, and strangely, the heat was on upon our arrival in the middle of July. A hotel with generic shower curtains in a tub is basic at best. The carpet showed stains, and the headboard seemed worn out.

Sound isolation was non-existent. Our room was carpeted – presumably, all rooms are – but sound transfer, even just walking above, was audibly intrusive late into the night. All hallway doors have heavy closers (presumably for security?), causing quite an issue with slamming doors.

The WiFi was lacking. While I never trust hotel networks to have much, if any security, the fact that I could see and access any other guest device connected to the WiFi was worrying, especially in today's cybersecurity climate. Wifi coverage was mediocre and speed was poor. The network was essentially a "free for all" with respect to access to bandwidth. (screenshot in photos)

The views were decent.

The restaurant, which seemed to be independent or semi-independent from the hotel, was a nice spot. The food was good and delivered promptly. The staff were knowledgeable and attentive. The supervisor/manager even took the time to update us about a large group seated before us and keep us posted on timing, which was appreciated and felt like a complete contrast to the hotel experience.

Bottom line: If you're looking for a place to sleep in Sooke, this hotel suffices. However, if you're seeking a resort experience or something that matches the image they present, this is...