JW Marriott Parq Vancouver — Hotel in Vancouver

I booked this stay for my wife & I to celebrate her birthday - this was our first stay at the Marriott Parq, a spot she had wanted to stay at for some time. We enjoyed dinner at The Victor, took in a nearby show at Roger's Arena, & checked out the late night food offerings at the Marriott (not much after 10pm, as it turned out, but we had some light fare from the small 24/7 Casino kitchen; the bar/lounge next to it had just closed).

The staff we dealt with at the Marriott were excellent: front desk upon check in & check out, and the staff member who delivered breakfast to our room the next morning (which we had included in our hotel booking).

Our meal at The Victor was very nice. The hotel itself was nice also - the hallways we noted were very nicely appointed and lushly carpeted; our room itself was fine, though I had specifically requested a quiet room, not near the elevator or stairs & the room we were given was directly across from the stairs.

We recently had another similar stay, in another 5 star downtown Vancouver hotel. For what it's worth, there were several facets of our previous stay at the other hotel that we did not think were equally matched here at the Marriott. We had very attentive staff at the other location, not only greeting us but personalizing our stay - clearly having the celebration (in that case, our anniversary) in mind & taking extra effort to make our stay special, including a card for us in our room, & cake and treats left as a surprise. The meal we had during that other stay included free champagne, again to honour the occasion. There was nothing like this for my wife's birthday at our stay at the Marriott. The other hotel provided a turn down service and our room was taken care of with great care & detail; our other room was larger and more nicely furnished, and had a more luxurious bathroom, with both shower and substantial bathtub (which my wife loved - she was surprised and disappointed that our room in the Marriott did not have a tub). A lesser detail, but we actually only had one robe and set of slippers provided in our room, for what had clearly been booked as a stay for a couple, and needed to call to ask for another.

A few other points: we had a complementary overnight shoeshine service offered at the other hotel, which we took advantage of & were pleased with. We likewise had a breakfast service to our room the next morning, which was more elaborate and included a table that was wheeled in and unfolded for us to sit at together and enjoy our meal at, whereas at the Marriott, while the food itself was good & the server excellent, we just had the hotel room desk to eat at for one of us, and another sit on the couch.

And, admittedly subjectively, the decor and ambiance of the other hotel was nicer - or at least, more to our taste. The Marriott, with the adjoining casino & more, is more of a high traffic lobby feeling, and then with some connected venues (like The Victor) that means walking outdoors and re-entering the other location.

Overall, we were happy with our stay at the Marriott Parq but not blown away - for the amount we paid & with it being a special occasion, nothing really stood out or made it particularly special. And, with the other recent luxury hotel stay to compare it with, we felt there we had been treated better, offered more, and had a richer experience.

Finally, as post-script, I re-opened my Marriott account as recommended by the hotel, to access their Bon Voy app, which would provide free Wi-Fi access (low speed only; high speed at a cost) and to earn points on our stay. I was assured of the points earning by desk staff. However, I see now that points were never credited, and in trying to submit a 'missing stay request form' the app is now giving error messages that my info cannot be verified - though it already has been and worked fine while there....

My family and I stayed at the JW Marriott for 4 nights (May 29 to June 2). All in all, it was a disappointing, misleading and completely lacklustre stay. I have stayed at this property before and many other JWs over the years. It’s a beautiful hotel, in a good location, and with great food and entertainment.

I would like to start this review by thanking the hotel staff who were truly lovely - from the front office to support staff, all were extremely professional and helpful during our stay. I have absolutely nothing negative to stay about the staff.

Our issue is with the accommodations. We were travelling with a small child and had specifically booked and prepaid the Ivy suite which had a separate bedroom, living room and was advertised as sound proofed. We knew we would be spending quite a bit of time in the room in the evenings while our child slept, so we wanted to be able to entertain ourselves. Unfortunately the suite was the loudest room we’ve probably ever stayed in. There was a constant clanging noise from the floor below and a sliding door with an access to a public patio right outside of the bedroom. The sliding door was loud and sometimes was used dozens of times within the hour. This also led to continuous foot traffic and noise from the area. When we inquired with the front desk as to what the noises were, they were happy to investigate and told us that the accommodation below was a villa with a patio. This actually was not true. The patio below turned out to be a public space connected to a lounge. Again, for a luxury suite that typically costs over $1,000/night, my expectation is that it is as advertised, and it clearly was not. We had also requested that the room be equipped with a fridge so we could store some of our toddler’s food. There was no fridge upon arrival but the staff did work quickly to rectify that. Of course, instead of bringing a fridge, unbeknownst to us, they brought a freezer, which ended up ruining our food over night. The next day, a fridge was provided.

My final issue with the hotel was one that I frankly cannot understand at all. Our stay was prepaid when the room was booked and upon checkin, we authorized a credit care for incidentals as expected. However, without informing me, the hotel had processed two other pre authorizations for nearly $4,000. I only found out through notifications from my credit card, and when I brought it to the front desk, I was told it was an error and charges were reversed but was not provided any further explanation. In all honesty, this is extremely disturbing. Even after informing the hotel of the first charge which was $3,700, they processed another charge the next day. This is fraud - an authorized charge is just that. I’m disappointed and shocked that something like this could occur without the staff so much as flinching an eye. The response was fine, but these charges have not yet been reversed on my credit card because any such “refund” can take up to 5 business days. I’m a seasoned traveller and I cannot say I’ve had anything similar happen previously. We are also lucky that a charge like that does not impact us negatively, but not everyone is in the same position. There was no apology and the attitude towards this mistake was disturbingly nonchalant.

All in all, it’s a lovely property with wonderful staff but it was simply not what was advertised. I will never stay...

Pros: The concierge staff was very helpful and the view from our rooms was scenic. ||Cons: As a Titanium Elite member, access to the Executive Lounge for an easy breakfast is one of the reasons we chose this hotel for our family vacation to Vancouver. Even though we booked two premium rooms for 2 adults and our three children we were not allowed to utilize the lounge for more than 2 people (elite member + one). This hotel requires you to pay an additional fee for any children (anyone over 12 months old to be exact). The fee for our children would have been an additional $250 per day. This service is absolutely not worth that amount. This is NOT readily disclosed to you when you book the room and the hotel did not inform us of this at check in- even when we confirmed that we would have access for our family. However, we were very rudely informed of this the next day by the morning Executive Lounge attendant that sits at the desk and brusquely asks for your room number upon entering the lounge with your coded key. She pushed the paper with the corporate policy into our hands and demanded we pay or leave. This was like nothing I have ever encountered at any Marriott property - especially not at a luxury property. This policy is not customer forward and definitely tainted our entire stay at the JW Parq. I understand the need to limit lounge access but for minor children traveling with you? We booked two rooms and were spending thousands of dollars at this property. This was extremely petty and made us feel very unwelcome. It would be common courtesy to at least disclose this when booking in somewhere other than the fine print. ||You will be charged a nightly "Major Event" fee per room if there are any events going on at any time in any of the nearby venues. This is just something to be aware of as we were not until we received the bill. ||Parking is in a public, non-gated garage. ||No upgrades were offered for Titanium Elite status. This is not a huge deal just something to be aware of it you are expecting any sort of benefit for status. My guess is that they cater to casino patrons instead of Marriott loyalty members. We were not even aware that there was a casino on site when we booked but it was obvious when we arrived. This is fine, but please market yourself as a casino hotel. ||The rooms were fairly clean but lacked attention to detail that one would expect at a luxury property. ||Overall staff had good intent (with the exception of the morning lounge desk attendant) but were not empowered to make any meaningful impact. We were simply told to share our concerns with the general manager and that many other families had similar complaints. The front desk staff seemed very aware of corporate "audits" and their corporate compliance score was placed above customer satisfaction at all costs. It is obvious that similar concerns are ignored by the GM and the opinions of Elite members have no impact on policy. ||We were very disappointed with our stay at the JQ Parq and will not return. Our entire visit to Vancouver was tainted because of the experience we had at this hotel. If you are a family traveling to Vancouver I highly recommend you chose another property that values you...