Prince Rupert Crest Hotel

Hotel Stay Details 
Hotel: Crest Hotel 
Dates: April 24-May 3, 2013 
Rate Paid: $205/night (by Company)
Points Earned: 0

For the first time in a long while, my father agreed to stay at a hotel that didn't earn him any loyalty points or even credit card spend points. But I guess that's OK since he didn't spend any money either. As some of you may know, he's been working the past week and the company's been putting him (and us) up in the town's best accommodations, the Crest Hotel.

Before we get into the Crest, you have to put it into context with the rest of the town. Around 30 years ago, the town had a population of approximately 25,000 people driven largely by the commercial fishing and paper/pulp industries. In the past few decades, those industries declined sharply and many of the more rural communities lost their younger workers to the larger urban centers like Vancouver.

Currently, the population is closer to 12,000 (Korean population = 1.5 including my father and me), leaving much of the town's infrastructure and retail footprint underutilized. So as you drive through, you'd pass a handful of abandoned retail buildings or storefronts that haven't been updated since the early 80's.

As you pull up to the Crest, you'll be reminded of those old motor lodges your parents used to see in smaller towns. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then watch last season's Mad Men where Don leaves Megan at the Howard Johnson.

They've renovated the hotel to appeal to a higher end customer base (tons of visiting business travelers). When you get inside, you'll notice a very local British Columbian decor full of wood furniture and First Nation artwork.

We were given a room on the 2nd floor overlooking the water. Usually, we don't care as much about the views at many of the hotels we stay in because we're usually just sleeping there and venturing out more than we're staying in the room. However, given the small town and the lack of car while my father was working during the day, we really appreciated the stunning view of the water and mountains each morning.

As you can see from the photos below, the room itself was quite nice and very comfortable for a small family of three to stay for 9 days. While the bathtub looked like it would be a lot of fun for me, we decided against it when the water came out a yellowish tint. And yes, my overprotective mother freaked out a bit. Better safe than sorry.

But the best part about the hotel is the pristine views of the water.