The Westin Grand Vancouver

Hotel Stay Details
Hotel: The Westin Grand Vancouver
Dates: May 3-4, 2013 
Room Rate: $239/night (incl. tax) 
Points Earned: 1,035 SPG points

After a long hiatus away from Starwood, we've returned. This time, we stayed at The Westin Grand in downtown Vancouver.

Based on my father's analysis, he was more likely to get to Starwood Platinum Status this year than he was Hyatt Diamond Status.

Both require 25 stays or 50 nights at their properties, but because of our Thailand adventure, we already had 14 stays / 30 nights with Starwood for the year. We only had 8 stays / 12 nights with Hyatt and even with our upcoming 11 night stay in Boise's Hyatt Place hotel, we'd still be woefully short of the 25 stay / 50 night requirement to maintain Diamond for 2014.

The "suite" we we reserved was actually just a small 1 bedroom unit like the kind you find in Manhattan starter apartments. It was only 380 sq feet of space, but the views of downtown through the floor to ceiling windows really made the room.


The "suite" had a door to close off the small bedroom (that just fit in a queen mattress and a flat screen TV) so that one of my parents could stay up late watching television while the harder working other one went to bed.

The bathroom was quite spacious and clean. We had a tub as well as a shower, which is always a nice plus when I'm staying at a hotel because it can double as a swimming pool.

The interesting feature, however, was that they had a kitchenette in the closet so you could have access to a sink, microwave and some dishware in addition to the standard mini-fridge.


Since we were only here for less than 24 hours, we didn't really use much of the other hotel amenities which included a gym and a heated outdoor swimming pool.

But we did enjoy a nice breakfast downstairs at their restaurant Hidden. In addition to a la carte menu items (standard fare), they had a small brunch buffet offering as well.

We generally don't eat enough to make the buffets worth our while, so we elected for the Smart Heart Breakfast ($16 CAD) and the Hidden Breakfast ($16 CAD). The food was well presented and tasty but nothing uniquely Canadian about it.

The service, however, was quite polished and noticeably great. Everyone we encountered seemed to be truly happy to work there and made you feel like a VIP. Perhaps that was a Canadian culture thing but I think it's more that this Westin has very high standards and good training for all staff.

Overall a pleasant stay though probably a bit on the pricier side given there are some other downtown alternatives like the Four Seasons, Fairmont, Hyatt Regency and Sheraton.