TownePlace Suites by Marriott Portland Vancouver — Hotel in Vancouver

We booked this hotel because we planned on a trip to see the Fort Vancouver Historic Site. This hotel is located about 10 miles east of Fort Vancouver and fairly easy to find.||||The hotel has a decent sized outdoor swimming pool outside the breakfast area. We saw people cleaning the pool in the morning, but we never used it.||||We booked a studio with a king-sized bed and a sofa bed. Everything fits the description as the website says except one – no dining area. The purpose we chose Townplace from other Marriott hotels is the kitchen facilities and dining area to have our meals. The studio we had did not have a dining area, we ended up having our meal on the desk with one chair only, we had to pull the desk towards the sofa, a bit odd and inconvenient.||||The fire-wall next to elevators have mechanical arms, it shows the hotel cannot be too old.||||The ambience of the hotel is quiet, and nobody was making noises in the hallway. This is very satisfactory.||||The shower head has multiple jets, and the volume of water is good enough for a message. No shower mat was available might be due to covid-19. The bathroom has a special feature, it has doors open to the closet at the entrance. The rest of the features are pretty standard with liquid soap, shampoo, and conditioner.||||The one special feature that my son and I like most is their way to serve the continental breakfast. They do not have scramble eggs, bacons, or sausages but muffins with cheese, egg and sausage all wrapped with paper. Hard boiled eggs are also sealed in a plastic bag (Costco), and so are the Danish pastries, all are wrapped separately in plastics. It gives confidence to customers that the food is not contaminated. Other than the oatmeal and the toast, most of the food are nicely wrapped to fight the covid-19.||||Outside the hotel and across the street has an eatery and French bakery with coffee. The front desk person told me the French bakery was good and she had never heard of a complaint.||||Everything was good during our stay (other than no dining area). ||||When we checked out, the front desk person told me the $10 parking fee was the only charge. I told her I was not being informed about the parking fee when we checked in and she reversed the charges. So, make sure you clarify the parking fee when you check in with this...

The first thing you will see from the website is the pool and hot tub. That was the reason we chose this place to spend Labor Day weekend. Located east Vancouver on Mill Plain where every business is in a strip mall. This strip mall had a nice bike-themed brewery (HUB) but it recently closed. It's slated to become a different locally owned restaurant soon. There is also a Portland based French-themed bakery/cafe across the parking lot.

James, nice kid checked us in. He didn't offer us water which is supposed to happen for upper tier Marriott guests but that was fine. He was nice and you can't teach nice.

The Lobby was not to Bill Marriott's standard. Every TownePlace is to have a welcoming lobby. This was not one of them. There was no fireplace and the seating was old and showing wear. Plus the lobby was filled with bags of to-go orders for all the Homeland Security teams staying there.

The rooms were as one would expect from a TownePlace. larger fridge, some pots and pans, a few utensils. Brighter colors than a residence inn or courtyard.

They also offer things for rooms if you need them, like a blender, a slow cooker or an air fryer.

We were not there to hang out in the lobby amongst the 30 bags of to-go orders though. We spent most of our time in or around the pool.

The first day the pool had so many kids. As if one family was staying there and invited all their friends to come and bring their kids too. Everyone was well behaved and had a great time.

Across from the pool deck, but still outside is a nice fire pit and grilling area. Really well planned.

The next day it was just us. Books got read, beers were consumed and...

Made a reservation for family that was coming into town. I verified what needed to be done to pay for this room and not have the guest pay. Gave my card info as requested, was told everything was good to go. Called the day of before check in, again was told nothing else was needed. Upon check out I get a receipt for the room total on the guest card not the one provided. Called and was told by Claire she would refund it and again gave her my card info. After no charge and some time later I called again to see what was going on. Only then am I told that I need to complete a form to use my card for payment, 4 calls later. Completed form, room was paid for and then was left calling the guest to keep ensuring the charge was refunded as I was told I could not get a receipt for the refund because the charge didn't exist. Although I recieved a receipt stating it charge was processed. Confusing. After no response from Allison, the Manager I sent my husband to physically request a receipt. After he left, with no refund receipt I finally got a response to my email and responded with additional questions as prompted in the email. Four days later, still no response. The guest stated the room and breakfast was great. Too bad staff is not on the same page and management is not very responsive. Almost 400 for one night, you would think this would be a carefree experience that I would not have to continually call to get figured out. Not too mention change my credit card information as I handed it out twice and apparently it went nowhere. First and last time we will have...