Fairmont Waterfront
Pan-Pacific
Four Seasons
Wedgewood
Sutton Place

These are 4-5 star hotels I have stayed at, all priced around $250-275 CAD (about $175-200 USD) and in excellent locations downtown. I checked the rates on the poular hotel website called expedia.ca...........

If you want the easiest route, and kind of a neat experience, take the metro from YVR airport (it literally almost comes right into the airport terminal) directy to the city center water front station and then you walk about a block to either the Fairmont (my personal favorite) or the Pan-Pacific just across the street.

The good thing about these two hotels is they are usually $400-500 a night in high season and are on sale right now when I just checked. They are in a perfect downtown location where you can walk to the popular west side of the city, or walk to the right, and go into the Gastown district which is some of the chic bars/restaurants and cool shops are.