Part 2.

The Gold check in desk, lounge, and rooms are setup quite differently at EMP. Unlike most other properties where the Gold desk is at the Gold lounge, and rooms are concentrated on a few dedicated floors or the same area of certain floors, at EMP the Gold check in desk is located on the first floor across the main elevator lobby, and there are a few non Gold rooms separating the Gold check in desk and Gold lounge. My guess is, the check in desk needs to be right next to the elevator, so that the guests can find it easily, and the first floor is the only guest room floor that does not require keycard access from the main elevators (except the rooms on floor zero, aka the upper lobby / mezzanine floor), and the Gold lounge needs to be where it is to utilize the patio. As for the non Gold rooms between the Gold check in desk and lounge, I have no clue, maybe it's because those rooms do not have good views, as the view would mostly be the roof of the main check in building and the conference centre behind? To make things even more mysterious and interesting, there are 3 named suites, with zero floor room numbers, right south of the Gold check in desk, before the hallway turns west towards the lounge, or 150s hallway as I call it.



Note that the sign for Fairmont Gold Reception points to the wrong direction. The check in desk is located in the middle of the 140s hallway.


The Gold rooms are mostly located on floor 2-4, and it appears that they occupy different rooms on different floors, but mostly the X50s, X60s, X70s rooms, and X80 is also a Gold room at least on the fourth floor. There are a few Gold rooms on first floor too. I noticed that some of the west (harbour) facing 440s room are Gold rooms too, not sure if it's the same on other floors. The logic seems to be most rooms between the two sets of elevators are Gold rooms, unless they are too low to have a good view, or on the upper floors where the building becomes narrower.

Check in was smooth and quick. One thing I immediately noticed was although the staff might not be 100% confident in her English, she was really proud of the hotel and possessed decent amount of knowledge about The Empress, Victoria, and other Fairmont hotels. She also proactively mentioned about the hotel restaurant was almost completely booked as it's the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, and offered some alternatives. This is very different from the typical staff in North American hotels, who mostly robotically follow some scripts and don't show much interests about their hotel or the brand. Many other staff I interacted at The Empress, from the lounge staff and restaurant servers, to some random employees I met in the elevator, displayed the same level of pride and knowledge about the hotel they work at.

I received no further upgrade and got room 456, which I was extremely happy about.











It's worth noting that the hallway has a slope near the bedroom. The bedroom is about 10cm lower than the living room.


And the main washroom is a step above the bedroom.


There are 5 windows in the suite, two in the living room, one in the hallway, and two in the bedroom on two different sides, providing views of the hotel building and the city.

From the living room windows.



From the bedroom window facing east.


From bedroom window facing north.


All windows could open. Though I only opened one of them, just to see if seagulls could still fly in (https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4601675).


The room was spotlessly clean, and housekeeping observed my preferences and arranged the room accordingly. One of many details is that the switch of the nightstand lamps is on the cord, and during turndown service, housekeeper put the switch on the nightstand, so guest could reach it easily. Not many hotels pay this level of attention to details!

The Gold lounge is huge but there are many quiet corners with fine details. The heat lamps keep the patio warm and staff provide blankets to guests.













It's quite busy as it's the CanadianThanksgiving weekend, but service was efficient. The breakfast spread is significantly larger than other Canadian Fairmont properties, but the appetizer and dessert spreads are comparable IMO.








Checkout was fast, and I had a conversation with staff about the convenience of Harbour Air to Vancouver.

Overall I think it's the best hotel stay I have had this year. The service is significantly better than Gold at other Fairmont properties in Canada, and the historical elements of the hotel make it stand out against the fancier hotels, such as the Ritz Carlton in Shanghai or the St. Regis in Shenzhen. Nowadays it's rare and refreshing to see a North American hotel still pay this level of attention to details.