In my opinion Hyatt is generally not a very strong hotel chain outside the U.S. for resort-type properties, for example in Canada there is a grand total of ONE resort from Hyatt in the whole country.  Spirit Ridge was an existing property which joined Hyatt three years ago as Unbound Collection – it is a great addition to Hyatt and I wish there were more of such properties in Hyatt’s portfolio in various parts of the world.  We stayed at Spirit Ridge and generally found the hotel to be decent, plus combined with the fact that there is not much competition from other hotel chains in the area then it’s a no brainer especially for Hyatt Globalists guests who receive excellent benefits at this property.

Location

Spirit Ridge is about a 4-5 hour drive east of Vancouver and right by the U.S. border in Eastern Washington state.  The closest (major) airport is probably Kelowna which is more than 1.5-hour drive, so access to Osoyoos is not the easiest no matter what; at least they have free parking on the hotel grounds.  Osoyoos is officially Canada’s warmest town based on year-round average temperatures and it’s also Canada’s only desert; in fact it’s the northern tip of the USA desert.  The location is very nice, it’s on an Aboriginal reserve with great views of the winery, lake, and mountains behind.

Room

I booked the entry level room and received an upgrade as Globalist to a Lake View Villa which is essentially a one-bedroom apartment with two full bathrooms, a kitchen, and even a washer and dryer.  The bathroom off the bedroom had the sink actually in the bedroom and the bathroom itself was small and only had a shower in a bathtub and a toilet.  However the second bathroom (near the kitchen) was nicer with a stand-alone shower and more space overall.  The villa was not luxury despite being a fairly new construction, for example the shower was cheap fiberglass and overall construction quality was not very high with brittle doors among other things, but the total space available was generous and the views, balcony, and fireplace made it a comfortable and enjoyable stay.  When we arrived the weather was uncharacteristically cold and we did not use the grill on the balcony but with normal weather I am sure other guests make good use of it for some home cooking to complement the full kitchen in the villa.  The welcome gift was a snack and a bottle of sparkling water; it was surprising that a resort on a winery does not give a bottle of wine instead upon arrival.  

Bathroom toiletries were not my favorite for example the peppermint shampoo, but in their defense they were not boring cheap generic stuff: toiletries were made by Mother Earth which is an Indigenous Canadian-owned company which focuses on natural ingredients.  I thought the cedar soap had a unique scent which was worth asking a couple extra and bringing with us when leaving the hotel.

Dining

As Globalist guests we had free breakfast served in the main restaurant.  Because of covid they wanted to limit the number of guests especially since the seating outside could be used due to cold weather so we had to book a specific time in advance.  The restaurant had many dishes with a local touch, I don’t think I ever had venison burger as Globalist breakfast before.  Several other options on the menu were interesting as well such as a breakfast sandwich or smoked salmon on avocado toast, rather than only offering strictly traditional North American breakfast choices such as bacon and eggs.

Service

Service at the hotel was excellent, we were addressed by name in the restaurant, they remembered our choice of drink, and staff were always very friendly.  The only service issue during our stay was that housekeeping was not the most flexible.  We asked for our room to be cleaned during our breakfast time especially since they already knew exactly at what time we would be in the restaurant given the required reservations.  At first they said they could only guarantee that they would service our room in the morning but not at our time specifically, but one day they were in our room when we came back to the hotel in the afternoon and they were not finished.  Later during our stay they were more diligent about coming to our room during our breakfast but not always; we usually do not have these issues in other hotels when we request the room to be cleaned at a specific time.  Also housekeeping was not very thorough, for example when we arrived there was a lot of dust under the coffee table in the living room and it stayed as is during the entire duration of our stay.  I would also note that there is no in-room dining available at this hotel so it would be a feature where service levels cannot be considered 5-star hotel.    

Wifi

Wifi worked great during our stay with speeds of 60 Mbps.  It is also worth noting that each villa has its own router in the living room (with separate password) which means one network per room, and no shared connection.  It makes it a good hotel to work from.

Overall

Overall we had a pleasant stay at Spirit Ridge.  I would advise not to expect hotel luxury but rather a down to earth experience in a touristic quaint environment in the middle of wineries, and there will not be major disappointments.  There is almost no hotel competition from other chains in Osoyoos; for our dates Holiday Inn was about the same price as Spirit Ridge which made it a slam dunk to book at Spirit Ridge.  The treatment as Globalist guests was as good as it can be and I can recommend this hotel for people passing by the area; in fact I would even say given the lack of Hyatt resorts elsewhere in Canada it might be worth a detour for a different experience from cookie-cutter hotels elsewhere.