wripro

Travelsig,

I highly recommend the Shangri-La fpor both physical plant and service.

Q Shoe Guy

Luxury, nice to see that they have thoroughly regained the former splendor of this hotel. I guess the only(slightly) sad thing would be that I will have to get my Thomas Haas fix on the opposite side of the water or in Kits.

TRAVELSIG

Thanks wripro. I have stayed a few times at the Shangri-La. The physical plant is good (although personally I don't like the overcomplicated lighting system) and also I really like the decor. Unfortunately the service is not very good at all and there have been a series of cutbacks.

My "go to" at the moment is usually the Four Seasons- however my understanding is a few really top staff from the FS moved over to the Rosewood. I remember the Hotel Georgia from when I was young, and later the fantastic jazz club in the basement (Underroom if I recall correctly?). Will be interesting to see the renewal.

wripro

Interesting, Travsig. I had great service at the Shangri-La. I would definitely try the Georgia over the FS at the moment until they do a total reno.

FlyerEC

" ^
Yes, thanks for the report with photos - pity about Thomas Haas too. Good news about the pool & Bentley though. Walked by many times during my April / May visit & was looking forward to its re-opening.
Looking forward for report of & see suites/ penthouse suites

calitripgal

What a place! As previously posted by Luxury every inch of Hotel Georgia has been tastefully renovated.
The historic building is grand, has gorgeous views and is perfectly situated in the heart of town. (one block from the Skytrain)

Reservations - I booked 2 suites (promo 1/2 off rack rate) through DavidO. The hotel to my knowledge is not affiliated with FHR or Virtuoso although I just found out today that it is now a Virtuoso property.

Concierge - Phoned my home prior to arrival to discuss possible excursions, dining reservations and transportation. Expert and professional service.

Front desk - A pleasant welcome from Hiromi who we recognized from Rosewood Sand Hill. Very friendly and helpful staff.

Bellman - Escorted us to our rooms. Described hotel, amenities and a bit of history. You must have your room key wiith you at all times. The elevator will not move until you've applied your key to the keypad. If you visit the business center, fitness room, pool or spa you must have your key to open the multitude of doors...like a maze!

Junior suite - View of interior courtyard. Quiet. Not as much natural light as exterior side. Two seperate rooms. Functional footprint and design. Ample seating with table and chairs, desk and chair and sofa. High tech lighting, security button and media. TV has internet and keyboard, very easy to use. Bed a bit soft for my taste. Love the exquisite linens. Beautiful earthy decor. Very spacious bathroom with dual sinks, enormous tub and heated floors. Felt like 600sf ish.

1 Bedroom corner suite - Light galore. Large foyer with private pantry and dining table. Well planned living room with beautiful city views and loads of seating. 1/2 bath situated off living room. Spacious, bright bedroom with ample closet space. Sofa and seating area in bedroom with more city views. Bath was seemingly double the size of that in the Jr suite. I could live in the shower although I'm surprised there's no built-in seating. The shower could easily fit 20 people . Felt like 1000sf.

Lobby Lounge - great food and drinks. Reasonably priced. Nice selection. Super fun and friendly.

Restaurant/Lounge - did not try.

Fitness room - overlooks FS . Bright, every machine you'd want. Very clean, cool and crisp environment. Staff provided water, towels, fruit.

Spa / Pool - Gorgeous indoor pool. Spa tiny. Changing rooms awkwardly placed with no where to change and do your hair...strange.

House car (Bentley) - Brings a smile to my face. The chauffeur was the cutest, most accommodating man ever. What a pleasure it was to spend time with him. He clearly new everything there was to know about Vancouver and almost begged to share and show you ... completely unobtrusively . He truly knows the art of sincere conversation.

Conclusion - Traveled with family and we all felt at home. Loved the kindness and fun-spirit of the staff. Loved the rooms! Only problem was food. There was no where to eat but Hawksworth? which was way too stuffy for us and the teens (3, 18 year olds) were not allowed in the lobby lounge nor the Hawksworth lounge. I would've loved a casual, relaxing meal at HG with the girls but that was not an option anywhere on the property. Tons of options of course right outside the door.

Was a pleasurable experience and we will be back.

(would someone let me know how to post photos? )

infamousdx

Had a very nice one night stay here in the Executive Suite w Balcony. I don't stay in luxury hotels very often so I loved everything about the room. People are right when they describe it as understated elegance.

Also had a chance to dine at Market... the food was amazing but the service was lacking very noticeably.

infamousdx

Just wanted to share the portion of my TR at the Shangri-La... loved it (for the one night we stayed).

http://infamousdx.com/2011/11/03/sha...ncouver-hotel/

luxury

I stayed this weekend at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia. I am in the process of communicating with the hotel about our stay -- once that process is over I will write a more complete report.

In short, probably the best room product in the city currently. However, the soft product is rough (perhaps jagged?) around the edges. The F&B was a disaster. Hawksworth for breakfast was also a disaster -- however, since the GM of the restaurant is a friend, should be better next time.

More to come.....

luxury

Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. Due to time constraints, I will use point form format.

-Hotel has 3 entrances. Door staff and bellmen only at main entrance / port cochere but guests arrive from all entrances, as did we. No one to help with luggage if you needed any assistance.

-Staff seemed a little cold. No warm greetings or smiles, like Le Bristol in Paris. Perhaps it is service culture of Rosewood?

-Main issue was with quality of Food and Beverage (F&B) from In-Room dining to Hawksworth. Simply put, the food is not very good. Hawksworth serves tiny portions of food for the price but also, rather unfortunately, healthy portions of attitude and pretention.

-In room dining burger was overcooked and patty was 2.0 inches in diameter. Fries were crispy but were plain shoestring fries. Burger was so overcooked there was no taste to it.

-Also ordered chicken fried steak. Batter was falling off when it arrived and was sitting a pool of oil. Meat was tough, stringy and sandy with no taste. Fried soggy due to the oil.

-Room service attendant forgot the gravy for the fried steak, never addressed us by name (not even greeted us, just wheeled the food in), uncovered the food and basically left. Only one ketchup was provided and they forgot the carafe of water we asked for.

-Made a special request for french onion soup. Was told that it was not on the menu. I asked if they would be able to make it. Room service agent simply replied, "I don't know." Had to ask her to ask the chef. She reluctantly went to ask and they were able to honor my request. While I appreciate that they were able to do so, a small bowl came filled with luke warm broth sparsely populated with onions with a small gruyere covered toast. Not quite what I had expected but I applaud the kitchen for trying to honor my request. Too bad service was barely reactionary and not proactive.

-Welcome amenity from the hotel was a small plate with 3 chocolates on it.

-No newspaper delivered following morning.

-Hotel does have probably the finest room product in the city but room dimensions are small. Heated bathroom floors are A+ during the winters.

-Toiletries are Ohné and are contained largely in pumps so you couldn't take them home with you if you wanted them. They smelt horrible so no loss for us.

Following this stay, we tried Hawksworth for dinner with friends. It was a terribly disappointing meal.

-kitchen will not work with you if you have allergies or want changes made to the dishes. In instances where they are willing to make changes be prepared for upcharges.

-If you want bread, there is a $4 charge. No idea if that is per person or per table -- to shocked to ask.

-There is a decent selection of wine by the glass. However, glasses of wine are poured in the wine room and the staff never show you the bottle, nor pour it in front of you.

-portions are small for what you pay for. The 48 hour braised beef I ordered consisted of 3 one inch by half an inch pieces of braised beef. Not as tender as you would expect and aggressively seasoned with salt on 2 pieces and none of the 3rd.

-theme of stinginess carried through to the main courses. My fish was overcooked. Friend's fish, which was thicker, was cooked to perfection. Took so long for main courses to come out, and the fact our waiter never returned to check up on us, I ate my fish as I was hungry. When a Manager came to check up on us at the end of the meal, I informed her of the overcooked fish. All she did was to promise she would tell the kitchen.

All of us left hungry and wanting. The menu featured many supplements so to get the full experience of what the chef wanted you end up paying much more.

YEW, at the Four Seasons across the way, and even Mosaic, in the Hyatt Regency, are superior restaurants. And they both don't charge for bread.

All in all, a disappointing experience at the Rosewood.

For room quality, the Rosewood is best in the city. But it lacks severely in service and in food and beverage.

-

Kagehitokiri

painful just reading.
luxury, at what point do you not pay for things?

http://www.hawksworthrestaurant.com/menus/dinner/
appetizers up to $20
mains up to $41
tasting menu $78 - cheap?

= ?
= negative/neutral result ?

TRAVELSIG

Thanks luxury for the update.

I really applaud you on not walking out when they announced that bread is $4 per person/per table/whatever. I would have.

It is not that encouraging if service is at this level- we have had many promising hotels come into the Vancouver market over the years with great ideas and then have their service decimated a couple of years later (Shangri-La being the most recent, however going all the way back to the Mandarin Oriental 25 years ago).

luxury

I was with friends who REALLY wanted to try Hawksworth. It was a later table so we were all very hungry and the restaurant was packed. This made it more difficult to say anything. I think I was also still taken aback at how reluctant Hawksworth was in trying to accommodate our needs.

The media and the difficulty of weekend reservations indicated that Hawksworth was one of Vancouver's hottest restaurants. My friends and I no longer think so.

As for the 48 hour braised beef, I think one larger piece would have been better than three small morsels. However, 3 small morsels of heaven would have been preferred as opposed to 3 small morsels of braised beef.

As for final impressions, cannot say. We have been invited back to the Rosewood but I know they will suck up like no tomorrow on that stay, should we decide to take their offer.

wripro

Thanks for the complete review, Luxury. I was going to try the Georgia on my next trip but think I'll stick with the Shangri-La.

Earthman

Glad to hear that[not the rest!] as we were staying in the much cheaper four seasons[had a great stay and great service] across the road over the new years weekend and had a choice of yew or hawksworth but chose the former and it was great to be honest.
For the price point,our suite there may have been olden style but immaculate.
Downstairs yew,especially the bar area was a pretty darn cool place to have a few beers.

Incidently we had bar food at the rosewood and it was grand too but your report shows real bad value for money overall