Renaissance Vancouver Harbourside Hotel

[TamaLee]

I had booked this hotel using Marriott rewards points for our Alaska cruise in May. I just received notice from the hotel that they are no longer affiliated with the Marriott. They are saying that they will still honor my reservation if I get paper rewards certificates from Marriott to present at check-in.

 

My question is, should I keep my reservation at this hotel not knowing why the "break-up" with the Marriott or move my reservation to either the Residence Inn Vancouver Downtown or Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown Hotel?

 

I would like a hotel with a view of the cruise ships and within walking distance to restaurants/bars.

 

Thoughts?

[martincath]

Personally I'd transfer to the Marriott next-door if it won't cost you extra points. The ex-Rennaissance isn't leaving the Marriott, it's leaving Rennaissance Hotels which are part of the Marriott group - it's no longer a Renaissance hotel as of yesterday, becoming the Pinnacle Harbourfront. It's not unusual for hotels to change groups - perhaps when Putterdude's next online he might have some specific insight to this change as I believe he still knows a lot of folks in the local hotel industry.

 

As to wanting a view of the ships... anything tall enough will let you see the ships as they come & go from the harbour, but very very few rooms have views of ships docked at Canada Place except the Pan Pacific and some of the next rank backward - Fairmonts Waterfront & Pacific Rim will definitely have some views.

 

The Pinnacle almost certainly has no view of docked ships - the Shaw building, Pac Rim and another tower basically form a wall many stories higher than the Pinnacle ever was between it and Canada Place. Probably why they abandoned their revolving restaurant getting on for a decade ago - it doesn't actually get much in the way of a view any more...

 

The Marriott is taller, but still has Shaw/Pac Rim between it and Canada Place both of which are c. 10 stories taller than it is. If you need a view of your ship, basically the Pan Pacific harbour view rooms are your best bet. Marriott points are not going to give you this.

 

On the walk to bars/restos front - any downtown hotel at all probably has at least half-a-dozen within 2 blocks...

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

We have stayed at both of these hotels and neither has a good view of the ships coming in or leaving due to all the buildings in front of them. Possibly if you were on the top floor of the Marriott Pinnacle you might see something. The Westin Bayshore, Pan Pacific, or Farimont might be better options.

[Kartgv]

If you specify a harbor view room, the Westin Bayshore has a spectacular view of ships coming and going, plus the mountains, sunsets, and a local yacht harbor. We used Sheraton/Starwood points, a very reasonable 12000 points for the upgraded room, complete with a narrow wrap-around balcony. Most Marriott hotels charge 20000 to 30000 points for a comparable room. There are restaurants and bars nearby, plus one of the hop on/hop off trolleys stops right at the door. There's also a great bar & grill in the hotel. We paid somewhere around $10 for a taxi to the pier. We enjoyed our stay so much last time that we're doing it again in May.

Edited February 5, 2015 by Kartgv