RTWSTARALLIANCE

Mod. Please keep separate for a couple days so people can read and comment on before consolidating. Appreciate.

Preface: My wife has a friend she used to work with in Kyoto who moved and married here. Also had a Alaska Air $50 voucher for a companion ticket.

Status: None.

Rate: Reasonable. I purchased a room on Club level as I have no status. Well worth it.

Transportation: My wife's friend picked us up at the airport. The airport is a fair distance from town. Upon exiting there is a podium to the right where you can get shuttle transportation to/from Victoria.

Parking: Parking here is charged and the lot was full this evening.

Check-in: Greeted kindly and told about Lounge services. Pleasant.

Perks: None.

Lounge: The Hotel has a very nice Lounge on 16. Centered in the middle facing the inner harbour. A nice view. Has a fair amount of seating area. This evening there was one hot item. At dessert there was a ok spread.

Room: You enter onto carpet. We have a hall which leads directly to the bathroom. As you make the corner on your left is a closet followed by our king bed and work desk. We have full floor to ceiling windows facing the inner harbour. You can see water. In the corner you have a round table with two comfy chairs. These leads us to another full wall of windows facing out with views of water in the far distance. Then comes the bathroom.

Bathroom: We have a nice bathroom with a marble floor. The sink is at an angle with a tub. A very elegant bathroom.

Internet: There is a computer in the Lounge. Free. You also have wireless which is supposed to be free. The wired internet in the room is free.

Gym: Have not been there yet.

Spa: I do not think they have one. I did see some massage therapists with their equipment heading up from the ground floor.

Eating venues: The evening our friends took us to Sen Sushi. A Japanese place they like. Very reasonable. Like $70 for lots of food for four. This is without tip and we had no liquor. It was close by.

Local markets: There are things in the area.

Negatives: None.

Closing: This Hotel is so nice and frankly so our style that I need to seriously look at getting some status with Marriott. I keep highest status with Hilton, Hyatt and Starwood. I need to put Marriott in the wallet.

This all being said the GM of this property is great as you may know. He has been / is on FT. I missed him this afternoon because our friend took us to the Gardens. The Gardens are a must see even at $25 per adult. This Hotel will not disappoint. Regards from Victoria.

IrieDame

Indeed...I have posted on the other thread about this property and I also highly recommended it...I got to spend 6 weeks there. Glad you liked the gardens, I went there around this time last year as well and saw the end of the rose garden as the temperature was changing. Hope you get a chance to drive up the coast up to Nanaimo and beyond. Thrilled to see this hotel remains top notch.

schriste

You may want to hold off on that. The Marriott in Victoria is one of the nicest Marriotts you are likely to find in North America. I have read many of your posts and for the most part agree with your comments on the same hotels we have been to. So… it is at least remotely possible you might have a similar response to Marriott as I have had. I was new to Marriott last year and after my first Marriott visit or two was very impressed (especially with staff) and thought I might need to consider staying at more full service Marriotts. So I stayed in another dozen or so, but began to tire of them. Here’s why:

• After you stay in a number of them you will notice that they are renovating them in very much the same style. I stayed in 3 renovated hotels that had the exact same picture in the bathroom.
• Even though I like the Marriott in Victoria and would stay there again, it still was mildly annoying that the room layout I had there was exactly the same as the Marriott in Philadelphia. The shape and size of the bathroom was EXACTLY the same, even the angled sink you mention. The Victoria Marriott used marble instead of tile, so it was certainly nicer; as was the furniture… but it was still similar enough that I suddenly thought hmmm… this room reminds me of something… oh yes… it is exactly like the room I had in Philadelphia.

Good reasons? Perhaps not. There are good points such as the Revive bed (better than the Westin bed IMHO) and generally better staff than the other majors, but I do a lot of leisure travel, and staying in a hotel that is pretty much the same as the last one… kind of takes some of the fun out of travel.

Marriott is still OK; I will still stay in them. I’m not saying they are bad. I have just lost my enthusiasm for them.

FWIW: Note that even though Marriott has something like 3 times as many hotels as Starwood… there are twice as many Starwood posts on FT.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

Thank you. I've heard that in the past also. Will think about it and probably not pursue too much with Marriott as in the past.

This evening we drove around with our friends and ended up eating at Prairie Inn. It was a good high end pub style dining.

We made our way over to the Beacon Drive-In by Beacon Park. The best soft serve ice cream I have ever had.

That Japanese restaurant is named- Sen Zushi. Got it wrong. Regards from the nicest Marriott in North America.

frisbeeace

Is it worth visiting in February? I have 4 days left after a stay in Whistler with the family (kids 15 and 6) and I wonder if stay at Vancouver for the whole time or split it with a one night stay in Victoria. I appreciatte your comments.

IrieDame

I don't know if one night in February would be enough at the right time of year for you to appreciate Victoria.

USFreak

I arrived in Victoria from Seattle this past August.....I LOVED it and the Marriott was in deed everything the OP said.....The hotel restaurant downstairs was magnificent as well....impeccable service and the bellman and concierge downstairs treated you like royalty........I definitely recommend Victoria in July....just beautiful weather and although I am not a fan of gardening, Butchart Gardens will be great for anyone.....some of my screen savers on my computer are from the Gardens......This is just a general suggestion for everyone: You might want to consider flying to Seattle arriving at night and overnight at the Seattle Waterfront Marriott. The next morning, take a cab down to Lake Union to Kenmore Air and take a float plane up to Victoria from Seattle. My aunt and uncle did that with me and it was a gorgeous trip....We took the Victoria Clipper back to Seattle for a combined total of about $150-$175.....Just another option instead of paying the $600+ to fly into Victoria.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

I think you can do the city in a solid day. By that I mean if you are in the area you should not miss this place.

We had afternoon tea at the famed Empress (Fairmont). My wife loves that stuff. That being said we have never paid more ($49 CAD US) and not impressed by the Empress versus other teas we have taken around the world. It could easily be a pass.

We walked up, down and around Government Street into China town which was small but quaint. There is a alley of shops which were interesting and many movies are filmed because it is very narrow.

Today our friend will take us back to the airport. According to the bellman the shuttle may be $10 CAD and departs two hours before your flight from the hotel. Now that seems cheap to me and close on the time. Please verify. Regards from Victoria.

Fredd

We stayed there for several nights in January - total of three rooms for family members - and we were very impressed by the hotel and its staff. We also hosted a dinner for 12 in the restaurant one evening. We met early with a manager who made some good suggestions and we were very impressed by the food, the service, and the cost effectiveness. It's not a large restaurant but they managed to set up our own alcove for us which worked beautifully.

It's made me regret that we're mere Silvers with Marriott while just hitting Diamond with Hilton, at least until I read schriste's post.

Cheers,
Fredd

honu

From the web site it looks like self-parking will be $15/day. We'll be there for 9 days in June, and were wondering what other parking options might be nearby. If it were for just a couple of nights, I wouldn't mind paying the $15, but $15x9 is a bit more than spare change...

RTWSTARALLIANCE

The Hotel is fairly close to residential areas. Our friends parked their car at their home and we walked to the Hotel in the evening. Please make sure you can park in those areas. You might need a permit or hours restricted.

SanDiego1K

Is this hotel still as good in 2010 as reported in this 2007 thread?

Fredd

FWIW we stayed again for one night not too long ago and it was just as pleasant. ^

TRAVELSIG

Yes. I have stayed here quite a few times also recently- PM me if you have any specific questions and I will see if I can answer them.

mapu

Yes, absolutely!