Galiano Oceanfront Inn and Spa — Hotel in Southern Gulf Islands Electoral Area

I booked a 3 day stay here with my wife as a much needed getaway that was supposed to be relaxing and worry free but it turned into a nightmare before we even arrived.

Right after I booked, I began getting inundated with redundant emails requesting the exact same information I had already provided at the time of booking. I called the front desk and was unable to reach them so I left a message.

A couple of days passed and nobody had followed up so I called again with the same results so I emailed them and called again a couple of days later and finally reached someone.

At this time, I tried to make a reservations at the restaurant but I was notified that the restaurant would be closed during our stay which was disappointing to say the least. They responded by upgrading us to a villa which has a fully equipped kitchenette. So I though, "No biggie, it's not ideal but that'll work", and we accepted the upgrade.

At that time, I also booked a couples massage with my wife at 3:00 p.m. on the 21st of December. Shortly after I received a confusing email stating that it's 2023 and she was looking at 2024 when she booked it so it's not Saturday it's Thursday and it needs to be my wife at 1:30 p.m. and me at 3:00 p.m.

Her email made no sense at all so I called back to sort out the confusion and spoke with the manager who, after a brief hold, got back to me and let me know that she had sorted it out and she had booked both my wife and I for 3:00 p.m. on the 21st.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and we arrived at the inn and checked in on December 20th in the evening. The room looked great with a beautiful patio, hot tub, barbecue, comfy furniture, a great king sized bed, etc... we were impressed. But that was the only highlight of the whole stay.

We had a late night and slept in til the afternoon the next day and, while we were making our late breakfast, received a call from the spa saying that we were late for our 1:30 p.m. appointment. I corrected the spa attendant, letting her know that after speaking with the manager, we had been confirmed for 3:00 p.m. for a couple's massage, but she decided to make it an argument and told me that the manager had never let her know that and that my only option was to either come right now or cancel.

I decided to go speak to them in person at the spa and when I arrived there, the attendant was very rude, refused to try and work out any type of solution, and again reiterated that my only option was to either be seen at separate times or cancel the service because she was just an attendant with no power and couldn't do anything to solve this problem. She was so unhelpful that I requested a manager, but of course, conveniently, no manager was working that day. One of the RMTs came out from the back when he overheard our heated discussion and, while he was much more polite than the attendant, all he did was make excuses for the poor management and the resulting customer experience we were having.

We ended up with no resolution, no solutions offered, and so, what should have been a relaxing getaway was now just an overpriced hotel stay with ZERO spa service and no restaurant.

If we wanted to cook for ourselves, do dishes, and not get spa treatment for these 3 days, we could have saved ourselves the exorbitant price tag and just stayed home.

If you follow my reviews, you'll see that I much prefer to leave kind words to celebrate a job well done than to leave bad ones because of poor service but this place is, by far, the most disorganized, unaccountable Mickey Mouse organization I've ever dealt with and I felt that it needed to be exposed.

If you're reading this review, do yourselves a favour and AVOID THIS PLACE at all costs. It just isn't worth the headache. You'll find better views, better rooms, and exponentially better service, with dignity, at one of the other resorts on Vancouver Island like Brentwood Bay, The Kingfisher, or...

We arrive on Galiano at 6pm and get to the lobby at about 6:10pm; it was empty. I ring the bell for service and it does not work – just a soft ‘clunk’ sound (foreshadowing for things to come). Up a few stairs is the dining room. A frazzled waiter is rushing back and forth in an effort to serve 2 tables of two. He sees us an ignores us and after about 5-10 minutes of trying to catch his attention, he comes down to help and seems more confused than us. He walks outside and grabs an envelope with our room key and a property map. We are not off to a good start… My wife and I use the map to find our villa (note that we did not get any check-in instructions emailed in advance, so this is all navigating on the fly). We drop our bags and double back to the restaurant and the waiter tells us that the kitchen is closed for service at 6:30pm; it is now 6:45. My mind immediately goes to reason… closed at 6:30? Isn’t that supper time? Then my mind goes to logic… their business is tied to island tourism. They know the ferry arrives at 6pm, of course they should expect peak time to be around 7pm. But what do I know about running a hotel? We walk to the gas station up the street to get something to eat… yes, a gas station. We get back to the room with a 6pack of beer and some snacks. We start the inspection and there are dirty dishes in the dishwasher, towels in the washing machine, and more towels in the dryer. So, we clean the kitchen, wash everything by hand (because how can you trust that anything is clean at this point) and finish the previous guest’s laundry. The next day we start a fire in the fireplace and run some water in the hot tub. Simply, there were cigarette butts all over the patio and in the fireplace and the water in the tub was brown. We get in anyway with a couple of glasses of wine. About 5 minute later, our upstairs neighbors spilled ice-cold water all over their deck and it came through the patio and drenched us, our towels, and our wine. I got upset, but my wife said it is not their fault, the patio should not leak like that. So I said nothing (more foreshadowing). We had diner reservations at Woodstone and had booked a shuttle service from the hotel to take us. I get an email a couple hours before our reservation to let us know that they are not able to provide the shuttle service. I call to cancel my reservation, and the owner at the Woodstone offers to pick us up. Awesome! We go for a wonderful supper and get a ride back and we have an evening cocktail in the room and off to bed. Our upstairs neighbors had other plans. They were up ALL night (no hyperbole) blasting music, screaming, fighting, dancing, you name it. In the morning, I go to the front desk to complain and I am told that they can move us to a regular room (a downgrade) but don’t worry, they won’t charge me villa rates. I ask why they are accommodating the problem guests and moving us and they say they cant move them but can ask them to be quiet. I tell them that I would have talked to them myself, but I would feel more comfortable with my pepper spray as they seemed very loud and aggressive and I am not comfortable staying and this level of service is unacceptable. We wait to see how they will resolve this issue and the maintenance manager comes by to tell us that they will not be moving the other people, that we can stay in the basic room in the hotel if we want and that they will call the authorities if I threaten anyone with pepper spray… this is INSANE!!! On the first day, I was going to give this place a 2 or 2.5 based on the poor check-in experience, poor level of cleanliness, and that they don’t have any charging for electric vehicles. With the events of the following day/night I have no hesitation stating that this is the absolute worst travel experience of my life. Avoid this place if at...

Galiano Inn “HH”~ “Happy Hour” |E-Bike Island hopping is something everyone should experience if given the chance, especially if they are so-called retired, but still having to work odd jobs to meet ends, thus this is a very reasonable short get-away for a week or so. Once in the islands the cost for the squeaky clean and very adequately operated BC Ferries (saying this with confidence, in comparison to the many other countries ferry systems I have personally used), BC Ferry system is a 3 plus, and up to a 4, out of 5, in some areas, with all the necessities. You and your e-bike/bicycle are a minimal fare, and if you are a lucky retired Canadian, I’m told Monday through Thursday its a free walk-on. Every island hop offers its own special values, as one experiences the different inheritance “of the folks of those early days” having used their particular knowledge and expertise to deal with each of the different islands needs, and respect. Having said this, I happened to be switching over from one island to another and on a midway stop over on Galiano Island, the “Gem of The Gulf Islands” they call it, had walking up the road and reading the sandwich-boards at the top of the dock, and realised very quickly that here was the perfect opportunity to try out the Happy Hour advertised at the Galiano Inn & Spa. And heavens behold it was just my wallet size and truly delightful, thinking it would be a little steep by way of its attractive grounds and beautiful entry setting, one can mosey in knowing you are in a special place, especially by the well-kept gardens, silently in my mind complimenting the garden crew as truly deserving. |Unfortunately, I had missed the outside summer venue (in the photo) by a few days, as the season had just changed, but my view from behind a sturdy 3ft round 3-inch-thick redwood bar height table, was awesome, from where I was seated, I could even observe and see my ferry approaching from a distance, and leave to catch it all in good time. In this swanky but comfortable restaurant, of this Galiano Hotel & SPA, the foyer proudly displays a full wall of the most incredible collage of whale and ocean art, so beautiful. Now price wise their HH burger was only $13 and a darn good tasty burger it was, they also had sashimi and potstickers, (and I tried the mushroom potstickers, which had that nice slightly seared or burnt edge at the seal, very delicious) also presented was a tofu dish, and a crispy plate of wings, rings etc. A lager in a fair-sized glass was about $7.00 so my bill was under $40.00 Ca. plus tax., (like $28USA) and I was treated in such a courteous manner by the lady serving me, named Abby, friendly, impeccable manners and decency, leaving me with this joyous feeling of having been welcomed, well-fed, and along with a little buzz from the 2 Barnside local Lagers, I was just loving every moment of it riding back to the ferry.. I’ll be back on Galiano Island soon to visit the Famous Hummingbird Inn a friend has been talking about, and Montagues Crown and Robin, and a few other diners halfway up the island, so until then enjoy great food and good times! | B.B. (AKA B. Bartron), is a travelling incognito Bar Patron with a Ph.B degree in recreational haute cuisine, a retired writer for an international foody magazine out of Georgia USA for over 8 years critiquing restaurants and judging outdoor festivities in over 21 states, Bali, Southern Africa, Europe and Canada to name a few, some requests include having cooked for the Canadian Governor General’s Tour, The Cops for Cancer Kids camp, and in Houston Texas for the Vice Press secretary to Ronald Reagan. Remaining innominate allows for a free hand permitting the writer to immerse or rather hold the attention...