Hotel Review: Holiday Inn Burnaby - Vancouver
By traveltripz on Apr 2, 2008 in Vancouver, Canada
While we were attending the Stargate convention in Vancouver we stayed at the Holiday Inn in Burnaby. We had tried to book into the Hilton Hotel which is where the convention was being held but it was booked out.
Fortunately, the Holiday Inn is within a few minutes walk to the Hilton so it still worked out well.
Getting to Burnaby wasn’t as easy as we thought. Most airports have shuttle buses but when we got to Vancouver airport the only transportation available was a bus that only went to Downtown Vancouver. The lady at the information booth recommended a taxi and told us it would cost between $40 and $50. We walked out of the terminal and noticed a sign for limousine services and asked the attendent how much it would cost to get to our hotel in Burnaby. She quoted $50 for a stretch limousine. We immediately said yes to this as it was going to be a lot more room and a lot more fun in a limo.
We got to the hotel about 30 minutes later and made our way to the counter to check in. The lobby is quite impressive for a Holiday Inn with marble floors, chandeliers and some comfortable couches.
Check-in was smooth and the staff behind the counter very friendly and helpful. They provided us with a page of recommended eating places in the area complete with directions and a mini-map of the area. We are also given a piece of paper that explains breakfast times and where the breakfast room is located and also where the pool, laundromat and fitness room can be found. This piece of paper also has the wireless internet user name and password on the back.
We head up to our room on the 4th floor (#409) and upon entering the room realise that yes, we are in a Holiday Inn room. We have stayed in a number of them during our trip to the US and Canada and they are all relatively similar. We kind of breathe a sigh of relief as we know that this will be a nice stay as have all our Holiday Inn stays so far.
We have a double room with two queen beds with nice comfortable padded mattresses and clean white fresh linen and four pillows on each bed.
The rest of the room is made up of a tv cabinet with a 26in tv, a desk with a padded office chair and a padded lounge chair. There is also a microwave and a mini-fridge. We loved this as we were able to buy frozen dinners when we didn’t feel like eating out.
The room has an air conditioner/heater although it didn’t heat up very well even though we had it on the highest setting possible. It was relatively quiet and didn’t annoy us at all.
Speaking of noise, we found the room to be very quiet. We never heard anyone from the connecting rooms, however we could hear doors slamming from the hallway on occasion. We never heard any noise from the street below.
Lighting in the room was okay. It was lit by various lamps in the room and was adequate for our needs.
Storage space was fairly standard with four drawers under the tv cabinet and open hanging space at the entrance way.
There are two mirrors in the main room - one over the desk and a full length mirror on the wall. The bathroom also has a large mirror over the sink.
Between the beds was a cupboard with a lamp, clock radio and a phone.
The bathroom is a good size and includes a bathtub with a shower, a toilet and a sink. Next to the sink there is a 4 cup coffee maker, two glass mugs, paper cups and of course coffee. We were never left any tea so we took tea bags at breakfast to take back to our room. On the other side of the sink was an ice bucket and two glasses.
Toiletries in the bathroom included shampoo, conditioner and soap. There is also a hair dryer in the room.
Most Holiday Inns provide free internet access. We prefer wired access as it is usually more stable but this hotel only has wireless. As expected we found the connection to be a bit erratic. We had a good connection most of the time but every now and then it would just drop out and one night it just wouldn’t work at all. Still, it was free so we weren’t complaining.
Breakfast is complimentary and was available in the breakfast room on the 2nd floor. It included bacon or sausage patties and mini omelettes. There are also biscuits, boiled eggs, yoghurt, cereals, bread and bagels and of course various juices and tea an coffee.
One of the other great things about this hotel is the coin laundry on the 3rd floor. From our room we just had to walk down the stairs that were right outside our room to get to it.
The laundry room is only small and you need to have your room key to get into it. It only has one washing machine, one dryer and a dispensing machine with soap powder.
The washing machine costs $1.50 and the dryer costs the same. The dryer takes 60 minutes. The powder also costs $1.50 but we went and bought some from the dollar shop. If you need quarters just ask at the front desk.
The view from our room was of the street below and also across to the Sky Train.
The hotel is in an excellent position with the Sky Train opposite (that takes you Downtown) and a bus terminal right next door. It is also conveniently connected to BC’s largest shopping complex, Metropolis at Metrotown which is a massive (and we mean massive) shopping mall that has just about every shop imaginable and a large food court. In fact there are over 500 shops and services, 16 theatres, restaurants and more.
Overall we had a great stay at this hotel and we would definitely stay here again.
Our Rating of the Holiday Inn Express Vancouver-Metrotown (Burnaby):
Checking in and out 5/5
Room 4/5
Position 5/5
Price 4/5
Cleanliness 4.5/5
We booked this package directly through the Holiday Inn website.
1 Comment(s)
By Dene on Apr 11, 2008 | Reply
You guys are sooooo INTERNATIONAL. Keep it up! Love the great tips!!