Just had a five night reward stay at this Richmond hotel, using 4x 30000 points. Rack rates during my stay went from 200-300 US$, depending on day of week, so let's say I saved $1200 by investing 120000 points, not bad I guess. The eStandby offer after completing the reservation, held a USD $9 offer for a higher floor room. I accepted it. Full breakfast was included as a diamond (for golds probably also).
Was upgraded to a 1-bedroom King corner suite with a microwave and fridge. Nice partial panoramic views, wrecked somewhat because the balcony door didn't have a window. A 1-Bedroom by itself would have cost around 120000 points PER NIGHT if booked as a premium room. Some contstruction is going on at the opposite side of the street - no nuisance.
The area around the hotel isn't too interesting. An eclectic mix of car dealership and repair shops, very nice looking appartment buildings and immigrant style south-east Asian shops. More regular department store shopping is also available near the terminus of the Canada Line, a 10 minute walk.
Vancouver downtown (and YVR airport) can be reached via Skytrain's Canada Line. it's a 5-10 minute walk to the station for a 20 minutes ride, trains run very often. An all-day public transit pass is about $8 USD, credit cards are accepted. On weekends they only charge 2.75 CAD per single fair, so this might be cheaper. However, it looks like Vancouver, like most international cities will be switching to a NFC-card like travelcard. So this will most likely cost another $5 or more. Downtown Hilton hotels are around $100 per night extra or require twice the amount of points. So staying here in Richmond still makes sense.
Parking at the hotel is around 16 USD per night, street parking is not a real option: the few spaces are zoned for permit holders only.
Last edited by Sisosig; Jun 16, 2015 at 1:06 am