Roaddoggie

Citi,

I really cannot comment on the pool becuase I did not use it while we were there for our short one night stay. Underground mall is where we spent most of our time. Sorry.

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It's nice to find a group of people from my planet!

Starwood Lurker

The pool description in our database says simply "30 foot, outdoor, heated lap pool".

Maybe you could get more information by sending them an email at [email protected]?

Sincerely,

William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

jetsethotel

Hi Citi,

(1) SWIMMING POOLS:

All 3 hotels have heated pools. Westin Grand and Bayshore are outside, while Sheraton's is inside.

I don't know the exact dimensions, but from pure eyeballing, it seems to be that the Westin Grand has a slight smaller pool size. Afterall, it's outside on its terrace.

Bayshore's pool looks quite large to me since it's in the courtyard overlooking Stanley park. Plus, it's on the ground level.

The Sheraton looks just slightly larger than the Westin Grand, but is inside, along with their re-arranged (as opposed to renovated) gym/weight room. The Grand, as nice as it is, is considered a boutique hotel, so the gym/spa/pool area will be the smallest of the 3.

(2) Bayshore area:

I presume you're referring to the proximity to Stanley Park? Any particular reason? It'll certainly be raining then (all the time). However, undoubtedly, the Westin Bayshore is right on waterfront area just next to the entrance of Stanley Park. With PLAT status, your room (though slight older and smaller than the others) will face Coal Harbour (ie. bayshore area) or English Bay (very scenic).

I love the waterviews from the Bayshore. Their lobby and convention halls have been renovated and are quite spacious. Also, their seawall/promenade is right outside the hotel; great for blading, biking, jogging, strolling, etc.

Also, there's enough to do around that area without walking too far. Check out Cardero's (next door and beautiful water view) and Cafe de Paris as nice restaurants.

(3) PLAT upgrades:

I love the Westin Grand dearly, and it's a great hotel. However, if you're looking for PLAT upgrades, the Sheraton would give you the best opportunites just because they have a LOT more rooms (over 700)! Then, the Bayshore. I find the Grand gets quite full very easily (especially with Hollywood people with big budgets and long term stays), so upgrades to their nicer, bigger suites just aren't available.

(4) internet:

All 3 now have high-speed internet. The Grand now offers FATPORT, which is a wireless internet that could be used through the hotel with your laptop. They all charge a fee now. My beef is their "12 to 12" time limit. If I check in late (quite common), and then, check out past NOON, I usually have to pay for 2 days internet!

Hope this helps.

ILUVCITIBANK

jetsethotel and Lurker, yes, I think this narrows my list down to Bayshore. Someone mentioned seaplanes that land on the bay near this Bayshore property, and I think our kids would get a kick out of watching these planes also.

But the pool, making sure its heated, and large/spacious was the real draw for this particular upcoming stay.

Thanks to all for the comments.

itsaboutthejourney

With the kids, I think the Bayshore is your best bet.

I've stayed at all three (miss the Le Soeil that used to be the 4th *wood) in Vancouver. Would normally say the Grand is the best for all the reasons others have mentioned, but the pool is larger & indoor at the Bayshore, and even I get excited about watching the seaplanes take off and land right near the hotel.

FYI: Whistler Expess is the popular bus up there, but the Greyhound is very clean, and 1/3 the price. On the first bus up in the morning, the Greyhound even stops at the Bayshore's door.

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mtacchi

I spent this past Saturday at the Bayshore, even though I live about 15 minutes away in North Vancouver.

On arrival, a valet quickly met us at our vehicle, offering luggage assistance and a welcome. We declined (only overnight bags) and handed him the car keys. Another valet led us into the lobby and wished us a pleasant stay.

Check-in at the SPG desk was painless, we were offered our ammenity, I wanted the 500 points, the better half wanted the movie. "No problem" says the clerk, "I'll give you both" Score!

Now for the tricky part, the Suite upgrade. Earlier (actually the night before) I was able to see online I had been pre-upgraded to a king bed, club floor, ocean view. Given I had paid the low,low rate for the single bed, dirty closet, toilet view room, it already was a good upgrade.

Again, proved to be a non-issue, the clerk (whose name I know, but am choosing to not release for his own privacy) says to us, "I have an amazing club floor room with the best view in the hotel, or a suite that doesn't have the heavenly bath yet and not as good a view". Hmmmmmmm. He's caught me a bit off guard. I've always taken the suite, but perhaps quality is better than quantity? He hands me both keys and says "have a look I'll watch your bags".

So off we go to #600, the Suite. Very nice overall, view is "limited" with the park as the main feature, but the bedroom is large with a large seperate living room. I thought it was pretty good (My pick). Back to the elevator and up to the 8th floor (Club level) we make our way to the 2nd room. Instantly it is apparent the room is 1/3 the space of the previous, the Heavanly bed and shower are a draw. However, the moment the curtains were open I was out of luck, "this was to be the room", SHE'S decreed it. We did have the most amazing view of Stanley Park, the harbour, downtown, and mountains. Alright, for the first time in my life, I won't take the suite. (I still can't believe it).

Back down to the lobby we go to collect our things and hand back the suite key, we have some champange glasses sent up, and head up ourselves. The Club level at this hotel comes with free breakfast in Currents, one of the restrau. (just order and sign the bill, they take it off at the front desk)which turned out to be a $38.50 value for us, shoe shine, and UNLIMITED FREE LONG DISTANCE CALLING. Although I didn't call Istambul or Kenya, I could have, free! I think this good be of amazing value to any international travellers to Vancouver.

I digress, shortly after returning to the room, Mrs.mtacchi ends up breaking one of the champagne glasses, no problem, housekeeping is called and cleans up after us quickly.

Additionally, we had opportunity to use the pool and steam facility which was above average.

I have stayed in every British Columbian Starwood (Whistler, Kamloops, Vancouver, ect... [so has the MRS.]) and we both agree the Bayshore exceeds them all in service, value, product. I would recommend without hesitation this property should need to stay in Vancouver.





[This message has been edited by mtacchi (edited Feb 23, 2004).]

rhetor

Wow.

pbiflyer

We stayed at this property using points this past October. We liked it so much that we extended our stay.
Great service all around. Food was great, concierge was great. Location oustanding.
BTW, I also lost out on the suite in trade for the view (my wife's choice).
Wish there was a *wood property in Victoria, would've made that visit far more pleasant.

flamboyant 1

Which roomnumber did the room with the gorgeous view on the club floor have ? This view is so nice! I can imagine it as I sit in Rotterdam overlooking a parking lot!

yyznomad

****, I had the choice of a suite on 6 or the club floor back in December... I chose the suite and thought it was a dump! Ok, I guess I'll give Bayshore one more chance... the front desk guy didn't give me the chance to take a peek at each to compare.

mtacchi

I would suggest getting a room that ended with *15,*16,*17,*19, the further you get from there the less view (relative to *16 you will get).
I forgot to add , the Club floor also had free highspeed internet in every room.

chuck1

I recently stayed at the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver. I am a SPG Plat.

I used 8500 points to secure a harbour view/step out balcony in the tower (rather than 7000 points).

The hotel was fully booked with a BP convention so no upgrades.

I received an -85 series which loooked out on Stanley Park and the Marina.

As reported, the bathroom was small but the room was spacious and the staff were quite friendly.

I wanted to warn everyone to check their bill very carefully.

Upon checkin, my rate card said CDN $77.00. I told them I was on an award stay and they quickly corrected this so I can only assume this is what they get paid by Starwood for the room.

I also signed up for the telecom package which is CDN $19.00. This allows unlimited wireless per day and unlimited calls within North America including international calls to USA. Since my cell phone charges roaming in Canada, this was a great deal.

I did have to correct them though on the bill.

Once you paid $19 for the telecom package, it seems their system also charges you $14 for the internet package. This is not correct and they quickly took the $14 off.

The system then started to bill for each long distance call to the USA. It was shocking how much these calls were and how good a deal the $19 package was.

They did remove the calls (after I pointed it out) and said it was a glitch in the system.

Overall nice people in a great location but just watch the billing.

Don't think it was deliberate but just a system problem or perhaps just the people I got to key in the info.

donnak

I arrived at Westin Bayshore on Thursday. I am here for a conference. I booked the conference rate and then received an email offering to upgrade me to a corner room with patio for an extra $20 per night. Accepted the offer. I am SPG plat. Upon arrival, the clerk advised she had a nice corner room for me. I said what about an upgrade? She said, that is an upgrade. When questioned further, she acknowledged that was the room I booked, so she would still give me that room and knock the extra $20/night off the rate. I asked for a suite upgrade. After checking for several minutes, she said none available for my entire stay. Went to the room and there was construction going on in the tower - very noisy with jackhammers. Returned to the same clerk to complain about the noise. At that point she looked through her computer and said "oh, look there is a suite I can give you." The room is very nice but how interesting that it wasn't initially available to me.
No offer of a welcome gift. No free breakfast. Truly, the hilton is a much better program as I know that I will always be given a breakfast no matter the rate I book. Not impressed.

superbobx2

Any recent comments about this hotel? I assume it has been fully renovated, since the posts from 2004 said that it was in process... is there breakfast included for plats? Also, if I'm bringing family, will we all get breakfast if there's no lounge (i.e. +2 children). I guess this probably varies, which is why I try to book hotels with club lounges, but wanted to give this a try also (already booked a few nights at the Wall Centre). Thanks!!

itsaboutthejourney

No breakfast for anyone, no lounge, I would not say the bathrooms have been remodeled, at least the 5+ stays I've had in the tower. I get a very 80's feel from the bldg, although the rooms have amazing views and you can't beat the location.