Worldmark Birch Bay — Hotel in Birch Bay

A couple weeks ago we spent a week here on the second floor. I was grateful that our room was extremely close to the elevator... as much as I was grateful that there was a comfortable bench by the elevators! Not an entirely huge parking lot but certainly big enough to accommodate guests without having a long walk to your vehicle. We didn't attempt to park in the covered parking any days, we were able to grab a close enough parking space. Appreciative of their bellhop carts by the front doors for easy loading/unloading our luggage. The staff were friendly and helpful. Providing me w a little map and nearby restaurants. One gal was helpful when showing me a couple of eateries and noting: honestly, I prefer this one over that one. I welcome such honesty. There was some welcome happy hour Friday and Saturday or through Sunday nights where they offered bags of popcorn and beer or wine. There was a collection of dvd's, I thought to borrow but I believe there was rental prices on them. I don't know if there was some sort of cross breeze in our hallway but...wow was it refreshing to open our door, step out and feel a refreshing swath of chilly air!! I'm not sure what function was on our thermostat but we had it set at 66, one day we returned after being gone all day and it was 76 and the next day 78!! It cooled off fast enough when we turned on the ceiling fan and opened the patio door. I appreciated that they had a laminated channel line up for the tv. I noticed a DVD player but we never used it, nor did we use the fireplace. I REALLY like that their properties are the wristband room keys, so convenient!! The washer wasn't too loud, we could slide the door shut and that would muffle it. My mom used the main bath, shower most of the week as she said the master suite there wasn't any room to step out of the water flow. I appreciated the handicap bar outside the shower as the first day I went to brace myself on the wall to step out and my hand met the bar! There was a few extra towels and some pool towels in the cabinet, thanks. I was gratefully surprised to find bottles of shampoo, conditioner & body was in the shower! I'd like to note...just a thought... maybe the cleaning crew could swap out all bottles each time a room flips? A couple days before we left I had to take the conditioner bottle down to the desk to have it refilled. A couple days after checking in I went down for a box of tissues, toilet paper and she offered paper towels. I didn't sit on either of them but I was appreciative of the standard size barstools at the island instead of high barstools. The furniture was comfortable. It was a good stay, except for having to go do for the toiletries but honestly that wasn't a hassle and certainly not a deal breaker to never stay again. The bathroom was....just big enough... you had to shimmy between the vanity and the toilet to get the door open. I meant to mention it to the staff, then forgot but they conveniently have outlets and USB outlets built in to the bedside table, thanks! I thought I charged my phone all night, woke up to it not 100% so I plugged in other items, felt around for a cord in the outlet. Pulled the bed away from the wall.... only one of the outlets was working, I just moved the table cord in to the other outlet and then it worked. We didn't sit on our patio but there were chairs, a grill and an outdoor pool view. I believe we were told there were two pools, two hot tubs and two saunas on the property. The big bummer was that it's a Timeshare Upgrade to get wifi. I mean, who doesn't offer free wifi these days? So what would be the main reason we'd say no, if deciding to stay here again. Thanks for the comfortable week...

Rooms were okay..you get nice amenities like a fireplace, full kitchen, and gas grill on the balcony. TVs in each room but they are not large and not smart and the programming selection is pretty awful. The hotel itself was fine though. The front desk and concierge service were great, very polite, welcoming and always friendly. Sadly they charge extra for wi-fi which in this day and age and at the price paid to stay here.. is Pretty ridiculous.

Very Noisy place to stay though... due to the massive amount of kids who were basically roaming free range and unsupervised a lot of the time. Quiet hours are somewhat loosely observed unless you are unfortunate enough to be placed in a room under and surrounded by children or pets.. we were subjected to both the screaming kids, whining and barking huskies and what sounded like a herd of elephants and wilderbeast stampeding up and down for hours and hours at all times of day (and night) in the room above us.

Pool is okay.. extremely chemically though. Very very crowded spa tub which on weekends would have at times 27+ people in it at one time (limit is supposedly 10)... Again LOTS of kids too.. many of whom were far too young to even be in the spa pool (age limit is 7+).. even saw a still pregnant mother carrying a baby in a floatation suit into the spa.. with other kids splashing and screaming.. so definitely NOT relaxing soak kinda place... Unless you visit midweek at quiet season in which case you MAY only have to soak with one or two others.

Went to one of their timeshare seminars after being tricked into it by an aggressive sales rep. at the front desk who insisted I must book my place at check in to ensure it doesn't fill up and to make sure there will be enough sales reps to accommodate me at the seminar.

When my wife and i arrived at the seminar there were 3 other couples sat waiting for the seminar to begin.. when it did they announced they were short staffed and a young lady named Emily began a general presentation about what worldmark is and what benefits they could offer if we were to buy a timeshare. During the presentation Emily made a few racist jokes about the places you could or could not stay with Worldmark (note that Korea and Asia were prime targets).. and after a short video she made a couple more jokes about domestic violence and directly implied 2 out of the four couples in the room might involve the man beating his wife and being generally abusive. Following the terrible stand up routine Emily informed us we would now go and speak to individual sales reps. But after a quick gesture from a colleague who had suddenly appeared in the doorway corrected herself and announced they were short staffed and would be unable to discuss anything in a one on one setting with us.. then said some more offensive bad taste jokes before we left very unsatisfied and in awe of the terrible sales techniques demonstrated by this rep.

No idea if this is representative of Worldmark as a whole.. but id definitely avoid this place if you're looking to buy a timeshare (especially if you happen to be of...

Room was good with full kitchen, wallbed and couch in living area plus one bedroom and one bathroom. Washer and Dryer in unit. I clearly didn't stay in one of the newly remodeled units. We could hear our next door tenants going in and out of doors.

Why 3-Star?

No FREE WI-FI service. First experience with that at any resort stay. Is that a new thing coming. Thumbs down on that.

No room service the entire week. I had to deliver wet towels from room to the front desk in order to get fresh towels for bathing. I can understand that policy for swimming pool and spa ... Not for wash cloths, hand towels, and bath towels. There should be at least one room service for a week stay.

I had to go to front desk for additional toilet paper midweek as we used our one roll given in room at check in.

One tiny sample bottle of shampoo and one tiny soap bar. Yes we flew here. I did go buy some at grocery store on 1st day.

I had to go to front desk for additional garbage bags. I cooked and utilized kitchen for at least one meal per day. There are no large garbage cans to drop room garbage in ... Except driving to parking lot bin.

Fire alarm early morning and went off multiple times on 2nd day of stay. Apparently some rooms had the sprinklers go off. When I asked the front desk attendant what happened that evening, the manager very defensively jumped in and said it was a false alarm. The resort staff would have received a FAIL in the handling of the alarms and guests if the Fire Marshall was on-site.

Overall, we kept to our vacation plans and had an amazing experience. I think this resort is not receiving the operational and facility upkeep needed to have Gold or Silver Crown RCI recognition specifically due to the lack of service amenities.

Staff was openly talking to one another regards to specific guests, their sales presentations, and how they would "get them." Aggressive booking for the timeshare presentations. I learned quickly that I am not ever going to be interested in a World Mark membership.

Once I met with the actual.salesperson, Sarah, I felt different. She was professional, friendly, and knew her product. If you are interested in the membership ask for Sarah.

We chose this resort based on location. We crossed the border 3 of the 7 days of our stay. No issues with that experience at all. Most crossings were less that 10 minute wait. One crossing was 40 minutes. Check the border line up site when planning.

City of Vancouver Stanley Park Capilano Suspension Bridge Park Grouse Mountain Ski Resort White Rock and Surrey A day in Bellingham A day at San Juan Island via WSF We also spent the first and last...