After searching trip advisor for the best hotel for my husband, son and
I..we picked The Sutton Hotel. We were visiting for 5 days from New York this
past August. I had picked this hotel based on the fact it was close to
everything and that it had the famous chocolate buffet. We arrived in the middle
of the night from a late night flight..the staff could not have been nicer. They
upgraded us to a 1 bedroom apartment on the residential side of the hotel! Wow!!
With a balcony, 2 flat screen TV's, a great sound system, a full kitchen with a
dining room and what more could we want. I'm very picky and I was delighted!
This hotel has an indoor pool and a gym. They are ok..but we weren't there to
swim or workout!! The spa...wow. I hadn't planned prior to having any spa
treatments...but I suggest that it should be taken there! Food was excellent. We
were out all day, but we got breakfast around the corner in the supermarket.
Fresh rolls, bagels, coffee...we brought back the the apartment with some
yogurts.
The hotel allows pets if you have one to bring with you. It was an upscale
relaxed hotel that offered luxury, style and class. Right in the heart of
everything. It's a hotel that I felt good walking into! They even give you
cookies all wrapped up when you leave as a gift...what a nice touch. The hotel
was charming!
We stayed in the Residence portion over a very snowy weekend. The
accommodations were very comfortable and up to date. There is a super market
right across the street and a wine shop next door - with the full kitchen we did
up our own breakfast every day and enjoyed a late afternoon glass of wine and
snack. The location could not be more convenient - a block off of Robson, close
to the Pacific Center, a short walk to the ferry to Granville Island, on the bus
routes - we were so centrally located that the bad weather didn't put a dent in
the trip. All in all a great experience and wonderful relaxing long weekend. The
only downer was a glitch in our reservation - booked on their website and the
rate charged was much higher then the confirmed rate. They fixed this very
quickly and graciously - but check - the check in paperwork didn't show the
rate!
Everything went well until we got to the room. As we got there late in the
evening, we were planning on heading to bed. First problem: no sheets/pillows
for the fold out and the added pillows requested with our reservation weren't
there either. As we waited for our bedding, my wife decided to shower and found
that we only had (1) bath towel - another call to the front desk. Finally ready
for bed and, as we like to sleep cold, we turned down the Heat. At 1am, it was
still 75 degrees in the room so we opened a window - allowing all the wonderful
siren noise (4 different occasions during the night) into the room. 77 degrees
when I got up. After 3 trips by maintenance for the Heat, to no avail, and 1
trip to "fix" the t.v. remote, we we're ready to go home. Not all was bad (the
concierge was great as were the front desk and doorman/valet), but for the price
we paid it was very disappointing. They have offered us a free upgrade on our
next stay, however.
Easy check in and a great 11th floor room. Maybe the worst weather to hit
Vancouver all year, with snow then blowy rain. But Sutton Place served us well.
A close walk to Robson shops and Pacific Place Mall, and had the weather been
better, it would have made an ideal weekend stay. Plenty of places to eat
nearby. We learned to try the good review places (e.g., Cin Cin, a very
overpriced mediterranian place on Robson), and enjoyed the economical (Salathai
Thai across the street).
Had some mechanical problems with a noise a/c and drippy toilet at check in. The
maintenance staff promptly repaired problem. The room/facility is "near-Ritz
Carlton" in appointments, and tries hard to be exquisite. Even a couple of the
Posh Girls stayed here for their kick off concert tour at the GM Center in town.
But what made it 5 stars for us was David, one of the valet staff. Late Sunday
afternoon, we wanted to take a taxi in the rain just to tour and get a feel for
the city. David checked with concierge, and after 20 minutes they were unable to
get a taxi they trusted to provide a tour. David grabbed the keys to the hotel
car and took us to Stanley Park, Lion's Gate, Granville Island, Chinatown,
Gastown, and the rest of the sights, and no cost from the hotel to us. We did
treat David well, but he was exceptional, and I am sure represented the entire
staff well.
We booked a 750 sq. ft. residence at the Sutton Place Hotel and wished we had
payed a few dollars more for the Sheraton down the street. Immediately after
checking into our room, I discovered a yellow waterfall-sized leak coming from
the ceiling fan in the bathroom--looked and smelled like urine--flooding the
entire bathroom floor and seeping into the hallway carpet. The gal at the front
desk said it happened periodically when the guest in the upper floor apartment
takes a shower and forgets to put the shower curtain inside the tub. I highly
doubt that would cause a leak of that magnitude. We were afraid that the entire
ceiling might cave in. There was obviously some construction engineering issues
that the hotel has failed to address properly.
We were switched rooms, but we were unimpressed. The layout of the apartment was
really bizarre--maze-like. The one bathroom that had a shower in it was so small
that if one was to use the toilet or sink, you couldn't open the bathroom door
without crushing the other person, and it wasn't even connected to the master
bedroom. Overall, the bedrooms were small and tough to walk around the bed
comfortably, and one of the bureaus was missing a big chunk of wood underneath
the glass. Some of the furniture was outdated and flimsy. The surround sound
speaker system wasn't hooked up properly to the TV so that it only worked in DVD
mode, which the hotel engineer didn't know how to fix. The hotel provided only
enough coffee in the room to serve one cup of coffee, even though the coffee
maker was for 10 cups.
One of the two elevators on our floor didn't work properly--it only lit up when
you wanted to go down, not up, and sometimes you waited 5 to 10 minutes for it
to light up at all. Even the bellhop was embarrassed about it since there were
so many people waiting for the elevator.
There were drunks in front of the hotel taking leaks in the planters--that was
about 8pm on a Friday night.
The only positive thing about the hotel was its location--close to shopping,
restaurants. They do have 24 hr room service, but the prices are atrocious for a
mediocre menu. I was really surprised that AAA rated this hotel five diamonds.
It was certainly very expensive, but I have stayed at classier hotels with
better amenities & better service for a lot less.
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