Best Western Plus Vancouver Airport

[PLW0520]

Has anyone stayed at this hotel for 1 night prior to cruise and if so is it really that bad?

[dawnvip]

BW is usually quite consistent in their offerings. I haven't actually stayed at this particular location though, so can only say that the location is a busy spot with lots of traffic, so ask for a room on the north side!

[martincath]

Never stayed, but drive past it frequently. I would concur that a north side room is absolutely a good idea - massive traffic volumes for Vancouver pass right outside as it's slap bang in the area where the multiple 'highway' routes into and out of downtown merge, with virtually every single vehicle heading to the airport from Vancouver proper or vice versa driving past!

 

My issue is that unless it was a buttload of cash less than other 'airport' hotels, even if the hotel itself is totally fine it's in a worse location for both choice of dining and access to SkyTrain than the ones in Richmond. It's over a mile on foot to Marine Gateway (which does have dining and shops since the condo towers went up, although all are soulless big chain type places) along a very industrial road - even the Denny's nearby has folded!

 

There are some nice enough little local spots, several small parks, not too far to the Fraser riverside walkway - but even when we first moved here and went to the Scottish Cultural Centre in hopes of hooking up with some haggis connections, I just did not like the vibe of the area, a super-weird mix of very parochial single family homes just north of the hotel, straight into light industrial, and just soooooo many cars constantly trundling past. I honestly feel safer here, in the worst part of downtown, than in the weirdly empty sidewalks around there after dark - although get just a few blocks north, say 70th Ave, and it's a completely different vibe.

 

I'd choose any of the Richmond area hotels - despite their similarly industrial blocks you are much closer to big malls, multiple dining options including some really good ones, and more likely to be within an easy walk of SkyTrain. Hotel shuttles here will drop you at the SkyTrain too - it's on the way - whereas for that BW+ they need to backtrack you to one of the Sea Island stations to avoid going two miles+ out of their way so you'll get hit with an extra $5pp AddFare. All the Richmond hotels avoid this, with at least one of Aberdeen, Lansdowne, or Bridgeport conveniently on their driving routes between YVR and hotel - no AddFares from these!

[PLW0520]

Thanks for the Info but not to worried about dining as there is a White Spot restaurant onsite. Also not usung the Sky Train as will just take Uber to the port in the morning. It was lot less then the other airport hotels and didn't want to pay over $400 a night for a downtown hotel. Booked it for now and will watch for price drops for other airport hotels.

[martincath]

1 hour ago, PLW0520 said:

Thanks for the Info but not to worried about dining as there is a White Spot restaurant onsite. Also not usung the Sky Train as will just take Uber to the port in the morning. It was lot less then the other airport hotels and didn't want to pay over $400 a night for a downtown hotel. Booked it for now and will watch for price drops for other airport hotels.

Nowt wrong with White Spot now and again! Ubering you'll actually save a few bucks and avoid a bottleneck bridge from the airport on the way downtown next day; if you don't have time to sightsee and you're happy with the Spot, this hotel location should work better for you than the Richmond ones.

[PLW0520]

Thanks. I guess I was more worried about the condition of the hotel.

[martincath]

4 hours ago, PLW0520 said:

Thanks. I guess I was more worried about the condition of the hotel.

Sorry, living downtown the only hotel we ever stayed in was almost 20 years ago on a visit long before moving (the YWCA, hence me still recommending it now to all and sundry if its available because it only seems to have gotten better with age!); and given the odd location this hotel is about the least likely one to find reviews of on a cruise site, far from the pier but not actually very convenient for the airport.

 

Assuming that you checked Tripadvisor, Expedia, Hotels  dot com etc. you probably found very few reviews as the hotel only changed names a couple of years ago - you should find a greater volume of not-actually-too-old reviews if you check under the previous name too, it used to be the Coast Vancouver Airport Hotel until some time during the Pandemic.

 

I have no idea what, if any, upgrades were done when BW took over other than changing the signage but skimming the most recent reviews as Coast there's a lot of 1* because of customer service issues like not issuing refunds for Covid-impacted travel - you'll have to do more of a deep dive reading longer reviews to see if they refer to more tangible issues like sound-proofing, AC etc. that might still be problematic now.