St Regis or Blue Horizon hotels

[mommajo22]

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. After spending much of the last five evenings searching the web for hotels for our 2 night pre-cruise stay in Vancouver in September, I couldn't decide between the St. Regis Hotel and the Blue Horizon so I ended up reserving both to ensure that I would have a room. I can decide later and cancel the one I don't need. Prices are about the same but I have a Superior View King reserved at the Blue Horizon and a full breakfast is included at the St. Regis. Can anyone give me any information to help me make my decision?

[martincath]

St Regis Pros:

Much closer to Gastown, Yaletown, Chinatown on foot. Also walkable to the pier for your cruise if you can handle rolling your luggage less than 800 yards. Very close to a Canada Line station for to/from YVR.

 

Cons:

Next block is a very rundown building - was an SRO and student hostel, now all boarded up. No idea when renos will begin, but they'll be loud when they do.

 

Blue Horizon Pros:

Shuttle stops right outside for Capilano & Grouse plus HOHOs. Closer to Stanley Park. View room means you'll see gorgeous mountains over the water any day that doesn't have a low cloud ceiling.

 

Cons:

3/4 of a mile closer to the park means 3/4 of a mile further from Gastown, Yaletown, Chinatown.

 

Both have ample restos within a few blocks, bus stops close by. Overall I'd say if you plan to be out and about doing things all day, St Regis is definitely a better location - but if your local touring will prioritise Stanley Park, the North Shore (Cap, Grouse), HOHOs then BH has the edge. You are paying for the view though - so if you won't be staying in your room much, consider a cheaper non-view room at BH and spend the difference on cab fares to the other parts of town.

 

Haven't stayed in either so can't comment on quality of rooms, service etc. personally - but given the almost-identical number of reviewers on Tripadvisor and the fact that St Reg has no views, since it's ranked quite a bit better than BH it must be a LOT better to make up for the views available from BH...

[mommajo22]

Thanks, martincath, for your help. All very valid points that I will take into consideration.

[Langley Cruisers]

As locals, we have stayed at the Blue Horizon twice now for anniversary weekends. The higher price for the higher floor is definitely worth it! Sorry I can't give you a comparison but we had a delightful time at the BH and would stay there again in a heartbeat. Very conveniently located, easy to walk around, wonderful location.

[marys350]

We enjoyed our pre-cruise stay at the Blue Horizon last September. There are a variety of restaurants and shops in the neighborhood, including a liquor store and a grocery store if you want to buy wine or other last minute items for the cruise. We enjoyed a nice breakfast in the hotel restaurant. A taxi to the cruise pier was quick and less than $10.00.

 

We walked to Joe Fortes Seafood + Chop House restaurant for their Happy Hour special menu and ordered drinks and appetizers which was plenty for us at dinnertime.

Edited March 4, 2016 by marys350
Add info.

[yyjguy]

I find the area around the St Regis is plagued with many street people making it uncomfortable during evening hours. The proximity to the Granville skytrain station also loads the area with the late night party crowds. The Blue Horizon is on a busy street too, but the crowds are all residents and tourists, making it a safer area.

[martincath]

Actually according to VPD - who have a beautiful interactive map allowing drilling down within 100 metres of an individual address - crime in the area immediately around each hotel is actually very similar in level when you consider crimes related to personal safety (assaults, mugging, homicides, rapes etc) rather than B&Es and car theft which are hugely focused on the permanent populations.

 

From 6 March 2015 to 6 March 2016, there were 0 homicides in either area, 7 reported 'offences against a person' (everything except homicides that directly impacts people) near St Reg, and 2 OAAP near Blue Horizon. Considering the much-high number of people in the area around St Reg though, with the Granville Skytrain station inside the 100 metre limit and thousands passing through each day, this means your chance of being assaulted or stolen from in either area is equally negligible.

 

Going back much further doesn't help - the stats of tenant-on-tenant violence inside the then-open SRO at 500 Dunsmuir make comparisons impossible due to the privacy rules lumping all together within that 100 metre radius rather than separating by address.

 

I can appreciate that you want to warn people about something you feel discomfort over yyjguy, and I agree that there's more late-night foot traffic, especially liquored-up folks, near St Reg than BH due to the Skytrain station, but I feel you are rather off the mark on the safety and street people side of things unless you you also recommend against anyone going anywhere in Gastown ever, or to the Central Library/Centre for Performing Arts block - I walked past this daily for a year without ever seeing fewer than three people sleeping or begging. Denman & Davie, right by English Bay is another site impossible to avoid beggars at; the whole length of Granville St downtown; Waterfront or any other downtown Skytrain station too, and God forbid anyone would want to visit Stanley Park - do you have any idea of how many people live there, camped among the trees!?

 

The 'plague' of the unfortunates is more prevalent in all of these sites than around Dunsmuir & Seymour. Most beggars are sensible enough to go where people with disposable funds are to maximise their income after all - and people asking for money are much more likely to interact with tourists than the ones sleeping at night. You may not like them, but anyone who is worried enough about seeing street people to factor that into their vacation planning needs to avoid Vancouver entirely - in fact pretty much every metropolitan area up the West Coast!

 

Actually, since the SRO on the block next to St Regis closed a couple of years back there has been a massive drop in the numbers of folks hanging around that area. There's still a nice sheltered overhang by the main doors so especially in poor weather I'll see a couple of people hanging out under it and sleeping there at night, but unlike the touristy parts of town there has never been much begging going on there. In the immediate environs of the St Reg the biggest 'problem' I've ever had with the street folks is the enterprising chap who actively sweeps up the other side of that block, especially around the entrance to the Railway Club, and asks for 'donations' for doing so.

 

By the way, one of the largest support centres in the province for people living with HIV and AIDS is less than 600 yards from Blue Horizon (walking distance - more like 400 as the crow flies), and the vast majority of their clients live right in the West End. I've volunteered there on many occasions. It's non-residential, so dozens and dozens of infected people wander the streets around the area every day...

 

And again I'll point out the the thousands of reviewers who feel that St Reg is a better hotel than BH had to walk to and from it during their stay, so their ratings take account of whether or not they felt uncomfortable doing so.

[yyjguy]

Statistically perhaps the area around the St Regis is safe, I certainly can not argue against the police facts. However if I was looking for an interesting evening stroll it sure would not be on the streets around Dunsmuir and Seymour! Give me the happy crowds of tourists and locals that flock along Robson St, even late into the evening, over those found on the streets near the St Regis. Robson St is a well promoted pedestrian zone. I am on occasion lodged at Delta Suites just a block or two from the St Regis, and am very cautious when heading out in the evening. When at the Fairmont Vancouver, Sheraton Wall or Hyatt, all very near Robson St. I never give my security a second thought.

[martincath]

And ironically since the crime stats across much of downtown for muggings of 'regular joes' and tourists rather than peer violence within groups of homeless, criminals, gang members etc. are pretty consistent you'll be much more likely to end up a victim in those 'nice' areas then, simply because you aren't concerned with your safety and that shows.

 

There have been many interesting studies on the psychology and perceptive modes of different types of criminals, and consistently those who prey directly on their fellow man use an often-subconscious assessment of body language, especially gait analysis and perceived awareness from head movements, as their primary tool to decide who to go after.

 

Again though, to remind visitors that while 'common-sense' precautions should be taken everywhere, the stabbiest parts of Vancouver are still much safer than most US cities let alone cruise ports in the Caribbean, South America etc. etc. Especially for violent crimes: strangers almost never attack strangers here - the rare homicides & violent assaults we do get are vastly more likely to happen TO the 'street people', rather than be performed BY them.