Hotels in Vancouver

I was looking at Rosedale on Robson Suite Hotel through Expedia, but when I went to the hotel's website - it shows that the hotel is "sold out". The website actually showed many months as being "sold out". How can this be the case if both Expedia and Booking.com shows that rooms are available?

Has anyone stayed at Rosedale on Robson?

Any recommendations of hotels in Vancouver?

What's your travel dates for hotels? We can provide better recommendations based on availability.

TheShayQueen: Ohhhh -- I know exactly what you are talking about. We have been checking the Pan Pacific website and have found the same problem. My husband called the Pan Pacific Vancouver yesterday and was told that the Pan Pacific booking software (at least for the Vancouver property) will only book nine months out. He didn't quiz the person extensively, but the person he spoke to implied that this a Canadian booking software issue common to a number of Canadian hotels. We found this interesting as we have stayed in the past at not only the Vancouver Pan Pacific, but at other Pan Pacific properties. We know that we were able to book the Pan Pacific Singapore farther out than nine months. And it was also interesting that we booked the Auberge this morning for those same dates which were not open for booking at the Vancouver Pan Pacific.

We stayed across the harbour at Lonsdale Quay. The ferry terminal is beside it, basically on the same property and the ferry terminal on the other side is very close to the cruise ship pier. Very reasonably priced. Especially nice if you are staying a couple of nights pre or post cruise. May not be reasonable if you have a bunch of suitcases to lug around though but otherwise no issues.

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My guess is the same as Northern Aurora's - just a booking engine timing issue. A lot of smaller/non-chain properties seem to have shorter future availability periods on their own sites than Expedia etc. list as available to book.

Rosedale is in a great location - and as a condo hotel it's well set-up for longer stays/larger groups with kitchens, laundry etc in-suite and actual bedrooms (up to 2) rather than 'studio' style. Since I live downtown actually staying in hotels is not something I ever need to do (YWCA Hotel on a vacation before moving is the only one I've ever personally slept in - great hotel BTW and the best pricing of anything in the area), but many repeat visitors and other posters speak highly of Blue Horizon for a somewhat more budget oriented hotel that still has good views, Pan Pacific for literally-on-top-of-the-pier convenience (at a price!), and the Fairmont chain which has 3 downtown hotels, 2 of which are almost as close as the PP. All my wife's visiting colleagues and clients love l'Hermitage - which is consistently rated at the very top of the rankings on tripadvisor etc.

Frankly though any downtown hotel is close to the pier by most cruise port standards - expect to pay $10 in a cab - and since downtown sightseeing is spread all over the core, if you're further from e.g. Chinatown, you'll be closer to e.g. Stanley Park. The only neighbourhood I'd ever advise against choosing is Granville entertainment district - the BW+ Chateau Granville, Ramada Downtown, GEC, and Comfort Suites are the relevant hotels - and that's just because of the likelihood of street noise from drunken revelers not because it's dangerous.

Vancouver is probably the safest town around for blind bidding on a hotel - literally anything 4* rated in downtown/west end is guaranteed to be a nice hotel in a nice area and convenient for dining, shopping and sightseeing. All of the even slightly-dubious options are rated 3.5 or less on priceline, hotwire etc. The only issue is making sure that it's actually real Vancouver you're booking in - since we have neighbouring municipalities who were too lazy to come up with their own names (North Van and West Van) I've seen several posts over the years from folks who ended up in the wrong city! Just yesterday someone managed to swap their North Van Comfort Suites for the downtown one at the last minute before they could no longer cancel;-)

What's your travel dates for hotels? We can provide better recommendations based on availability.

The cruise ends on July 13, 2018 in Vancouver and we want to experience at least one day there and stay the night before flying back home the next day. So, we're just looking for something reasonable for one night in a great location.

TheShayQueen: Ohhhh -- I know exactly what you are talking about. We have been checking the Pan Pacific website and have found the same problem. My husband called the Pan Pacific Vancouver yesterday and was told that the Pan Pacific booking software (at least for the Vancouver property) will only book nine months out. He didn't quiz the person extensively, but the person he spoke to implied that this a Canadian booking software issue common to a number of Canadian hotels. We found this interesting as we have stayed in the past at not only the Vancouver Pan Pacific, but at other Pan Pacific properties. We know that we were able to book the Pan Pacific Singapore farther out than nine months. And it was also interesting that we booked the Auberge this morning for those same dates which were not open for booking at the Vancouver Pan Pacific.

Ahhhh interesting. My trip is about 10 months out so that would explain it. I just found it odd because I have never seen that before. Now I know that i'm not going crazy ;p.

Thank you all for your feedback, especially martincath. Very, very informative with great information.

Looking at booking.com for two people in USD for July 13, 2018.

• $204 Days Inn » 3 blocks from cruise terminal, check online reviews for potential issues
  
• $240 Holiday Inn Vancouver Downtown
  
• $243 Century Plaza » sirens may be an issue with the hospital across the street
  
• $251 Rosedale » suites!!!!
  
• $285 Residence Inn Marriott
  
• $289 Auberge » 3 blocks from cruise terminal
  
• $332 Delta » 5 blocks from cruise terminal
  
• $345 L'Hermitage
  
• $349 Georgian Court
  
• $389 Hampton Inn » a fav for Hilton point collectors
  
• $397 Sheraton
  
• $406 Westin Grand
  
• $424 Marriott Pinnacle
  
• $430 Westin Bayshore » fav for Stanley Park joggers
  
• $438 Hyatt Regency
  
• $446 Pinnacle Harbourfront
  
• $544 Pan Pacific » you sleep above the cruise terminal
  
• $613 Rosewood
  
• $673 Four Seasons
  
• $812 Fairmont Vancouver
  
• $877 Fairmont Waterfront » you sleep across the street from the cruise terminal
  
• $975 Fairmont Pacific Rim » 5 blocks from the cruise terminal
  

Thoughts...

• we are 10 months away and hotels are just starting to show availability
  
• Auberge gets my vote for being 3 blocks from the cruise terminal and price
  
• YWCA shows a double with a private shower for about $127. https://ywcavan.org/hotel
  

I highly recommend the YWCA. Book it through the hotel though - it's cheaper than going through an agency and the YWCA sees more of the money to use in their social work. You can't walk to the pier, but the cab is about $8-10 CAD. And it's close to public transportation.

We found the same with the Blue Horizon Hotel, where we have stayed before and highly recommend. I called to find out when they would open their bookings for next June and was told that it would be some time in November.

As much as we like the Blue Horizon, we went ahead and booked a room at the Listel Hotel, which is right across the street. It's also a favorite of ours. We've stayed there twice.

I'm one of those early planners who likes to get everything wrapped up early.

Hotel Blu at Robson and Cambie is nice. I stayed there for 4 nights in July.

Enjoy Vancouver!

Patti

On 9/24/2017 at 2:45 PM, Cruise_More_Often said:

As much as we like the Blue Horizon, we went ahead and booked a room at the Listel Hotel, which is right across the street. It's also a favorite of ours. We've stayed there twice.

We have reservations post cruise in July. Did you take a taxi from cruise terminal to the hotel?  And from the hotel to the airport? 

Yes to both.

22 minutes ago, Cruise_More_Often said:

Yes to both.

About how much is a taxi each way?

Also, how much time did you allow from your pick up time at the hotel to get to the airport? Our departure time is at 12:00 pm. 

Neither my husband nor I remember what we paid, but I bet if you asked on the West Coast or Canada (Alaska/Pacific Coastal) boards, someone from Vancouver will be able to help you. They will also be able to help with your airport timing question.

28 minutes ago, Cruise_More_Often said:

Neither my husband nor I remember what we paid, but I bet if you asked on the West Coast or Canada (Alaska/Pacific Coastal) boards, someone from Vancouver will be able to help you. They will also be able to help with your airport timing question.

Thanks. I'll ask there. I'll emailed the hotel but haven't gotten a response yet. We had even considered bypassing the taxi line and walking the several blocks to the hotel. We don't mind the walk even with pulling our Iuggage BUT that's not a good idea if it's raining or crossing through a lot of traffic! I think we've scratched that option since we're not familiar with the area. 🙂 

I think you've made a good decision. It's not that close, and some of the trip is uphill.

53 minutes ago, Cruise_More_Often said:

I think you've made a good decision. It's not that close, and some of the trip is uphill.

Good to know! Thank you so much for your help!

2 hours ago, rwa said:

 

About how much is a taxi each way?

 

Also, how much time did you allow from your pick up time at the hotel to get to the airport? Our departure time is at 12:00 pm. 

 

Taxi rates haven't really changed - since it's on the meter it does of course vary, but I'd be quite shocked if a trip FROM the pier was more than $10 (going TO the pier the bottleneck getting inside is horrible on busy cruise days, can easily add an extra $2-3 on the meter just sitting waiting to be allowed inside!) and if the cabbie is driving for more than 7 or 8 minutes even in heavy traffic you're probably being given the runaround!

To the airport depends on time of day/traffic - weekends, or mornings with commuters going opposite way, should be $30-35  but if you get caught in outbound commuter traffic could be more like $45. For a noon flight I'd suggest a 9:30am pickup - this should have you there close to the 2 hour preflight mark - unless there are multiple ships in port on the day you go to the airport! Then, especially if it's 3 or 4 ships, you want to beat the cruisers so leave at least an hour earlier. YVR recommends 3 hours pre-flight for Int'l and US-bound flights, but this is really only needed when it's a busy day.

I find that Taxi Fare Finder works very well across Canada, where taxi rates are pretty much all set by local municipal/regional bylaws - ditto in other places with similarly-locked-down rates. You may also find it a useful bookmark for future travel research.

6 minutes ago, martincath said:

Taxi rates haven't really changed - since it's on the meter it does of course vary, but I'd be quite shocked if a trip FROM the pier was more than $10 (going TO the pier the bottleneck getting inside is horrible on busy cruise days, can easily add an extra $2-3 on the meter just sitting waiting to be allowed inside!) and if the cabbie is driving for more than 7 or 8 minutes even in heavy traffic you're probably being given the runaround!

 

To the airport depends on time of day/traffic - weekends, or mornings with commuters going opposite way, should be $30-35  but if you get caught in outbound commuter traffic could be more like $45. For a noon flight I'd suggest a 9:30am pickup - this should have you there close to the 2 hour preflight mark - unless there are multiple ships in port on the day you go to the airport! Then, especially if it's 3 or 4 ships, you want to beat the cruisers so leave at least an hour earlier. YVR recommends 3 hours pre-flight for Int'l and US-bound flights, but this is really only needed when it's a busy day.

 

I find that Taxi Fare Finder works very well across Canada, where taxi rates are pretty much all set by local municipal/regional bylaws - ditto in other places with similarly-locked-down rates. You may also find it a useful bookmark for future travel research.

Thank you. This is very helpful to give us a general idea of what to expect!  Very much appreciated!

We are having the same discussion about hotels except we are staying 2 nights. 

My husband wants to stay at Pan Pacific as we'll be boarding a cruise. I just can't pull that trigger on the price.

I'm also looking at Hyatt, The Burrard, and Blue Horizon. I'm looking at all my discount avenues for the best price but  a lot are non refundable and I'm not at that point yet. Travel Zoo has Pinnacle Harbour Front  for a discount. 

I'm afraid my husband will win out due to my ability to not make a decision, 

On 9/19/2017 at 10:56 AM, jtdlmc said:

We stayed across the harbour at Lonsdale Quay. The ferry terminal is beside it, basically on the same property and the ferry terminal on the other side is very close to the cruise ship pier. Very reasonably priced. Especially nice if you are staying a couple of nights pre or post cruise. May not be reasonable if you have a bunch of suitcases to lug around though but otherwise no issues.

 

 

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I'd like to second the Lonsdale Quay.  Really cute little place with a market and restaurants below.  I agree that if you have a lot of luggage and/or mobility issues that the ferry wouldn't be ideal but the hotel is a great location with a great view of the harbor.  Rooms were recently renovated as well.  HOWEVER, it is NOT in downtown Vancouver so if you want that experience, this isn't the place for you

Many people frown on AirBnB, but I secured an entire condo in downtown Vancouver and walking distance to Stanley Park for $90/night. This price is for May, so the summer will be much more expensive.

7 hours ago, takemeaway2008 said:

My husband wants to stay at Pan Pacific as we'll be boarding a cruise....

I'm also looking at Hyatt, The Burrard, and Blue Horizon. I'm looking at all my discount avenues for the best price but  a lot are non refundable and I'm not at that point yet. Travel Zoo has Pinnacle Harbour Front  for a discount.

Warning - the Burrard is a motel, not hotel, and is directly across the street from the busiest ER in the province... while it's very hipster-chic I don't believe they've upgraded the windows so I would be very hesitant to book unless you know you're comfortable sleeping with earplugs. Any discount on downtown hotels in cruise season in Vancouver should make you suspicious - occupancy rates run very, very full so frankly if any given hotel feels the need to offer discounts in advance I'd be concerned (last-minute bookings and non-specific-hotel room-filling rates of Priceline/Hotwire type bookings are fine, discounts totally expected in that sort of scenario). Hyatt and BH are better-located and both purpose-built much more recently than the Burrard, so no big noise concerns.

Lonsdale Quay (and the Pinnacle at the Pier hotel which is newer and shinier but another ~5mins walk) are both closer to downtown than any airport hotel in both time and distance (Seabus runs 15min/30min schedules but only takes 15mins to cross compared to ~7-20min SkyTrain frequency taking ~25mins), so the only real downside is luggage - if you can't schlep it around yourself then getting to the hotel from airport on arrival and to the ship for embarkation (or the reverse) will mean an expensive cab ride! Both bridges are pretty far off to each side of the quay and commuter traffic is brutal, so a cab could be well over $30 to/from downtown. Travel light enough to self-disembark the ship though, and the area around the quay is a very viable place - lots of restos plus food trucks and entertainment on the weekends in summer.

3 hours ago, PittsburghNative said:

Many people frown on AirBnB, but I secured an entire condo in downtown Vancouver and walking distance to Stanley Park for $90/night. This price is for May, so the summer will be much more expensive.

We do have legal AirBnB now - but there are unfortunately still a lot of cheaters using various loopholes that AirBnBs agreement with the city (which require all short-term rentals to display a business licence and confirm that it is their primary residence, and that their building by-laws allow such bookings). Using the same license on multiple properties, typing a fake number but in the appropriate format, acquiring a license by lying about your residence being primary/building bylaws allowing short-term rentals, or declaring that you only rent for 30+ days at a time are all workarounds - but in every case it's just a matter of time until the now-funded enforcement office manages to get around to checking. The only way to be confident your AirBnB is legal is if the host only rents part of it, not the whole home - and this is also a very good indicator that the home is safe, as your host shares the risks of any failure to meet fire codes etc!

The fact yours is a whole-home condo rental means that even if the building does allow it (unlikely, almost all condos throughout the city have a cap on even long-term rentals and no short-term rental was legal until last September) if the host is offering it for more than a few weeks total across the year then they are very unlikely to be a legal rental (they won't meet the required Primary Residence criteria). If the same host has even 1 other rental, they are definitively illegal so data-mining on AirBnB will mean they get investigated at some point. As a condo it's also likely to receive neighbour complaints, which are currently the main vehicle for prioritizing investigation - and even if the city enforcement is backlogged, condo boards are allowed to charge up to $250 a day in fines without needing to go to court!

Regardless of whether you personally care about how law-abiding your hosts are, frankly I'd be concerned that your accommodation disappears before your stay (in the worst-case scenario, right before you arrive leaving you with nowhere to stay!) At the very least I suggest you check out the points I've mentioned (multi-hosting, how long during each year it's available for) and then contact the host to ask for confirmation that they meet the licensing criteria. Unfortunately for you if they don't and they get caught, AirBnB have zero duty of care to you - the host is in breach of contract so all you can do is try suing them individually which won't help you find a hotel...

I wish I could give you a realistic assessment of the risk, but with the legalization only kicking in last fall it will probably take until at least the end of this cruise season to see how efficient the enforcement folks are. Ideally the agreement with AirBnB will be modified to ensure that they actually verify license numbers against the city records, which will weed out a lot of the cheaters right off the bat and enable visitors to book with much higher confidence.