Lonsdale Quay Hotel, North Vancouver

Unfriendly Staff, Dirty Rooms & Outrageously priced

Convenient location, walking distance to a seabus that we took everyday to town, in a market, so many food options. It's a quiet area (except in the morning, though rare it has occasional boat horns here and there). Close to many attractions (great lounge on the 2nd floor), rooms are newly renovated. Older rooms are few, thus i recommend asking for the newer rooms - they're more cozy (an in general have better appeal). If you're excepting a setting like in a 5-star hotel - this is not for you. If you want to just relax and enjoy yourself, you'll like this place, otherwise those who are uptight and only looking for luxury - i recommend you look for another place.

I initially contacted the Lonsdale Quay Hotel after researching it on Trip Advisor and reviewing its web site. Given its location I thought it might be nice to stay in North Vancouver and take the sea bus daily into the downtown. After writing an e-mail asking about rates a manager of the Lonsdale Quay wrote me and volunteered that if I would book my reservation the hotel would upgrade our four person party into the two rooms we requested. I probably should have been more suspicious, but went forward and reserved the two rooms with a credit card. Upon arriving we realized that the Lonsdale Quay is not really a hotel, or a motel, or a B&B. The communal facilities consist entirely of a small desk at the end of a hallway on the top floor of a shopping center that is utilized for guest check-in. On the floor above this floor of the shopping center is a hallway of guest rooms. After checking in we were given the incorrect metal key to our room and had to return to the front desk and wait as the clerk attempted to find the correct key. She constantly explained that she was new at her job and she needed time to deal with the situation. When I finally got a key and went up to the floor above and opened the door to the rooms all four in our party came to the immediate same conclusion � we would not be staying at the Lonsdale Quay. The room was painted a weird pinkish chartreuse color and looked dilapidated. All that could be seen out the window was a white concrete exterior wall of another portion of the shopping center. We had asked for a king size bed for my mother and father in law. Without getting very close, it readily appeared that the bed sagged in a �v� shape in the center. It appeared as if two twin beds had been pushed together. We left and checked into a Marriott in central Vancouver. The Marriott was a far better experience for about the same price. The Lonsdale Quay refused to refund our deposit. We wrote to the credit card company, and as a gesture of good-will given our concerns, the credit card company agreed to allow the hotel to keep the deposit, and also to refund one�half of the deposit back to us. We have used Yahho and Trip Advisor frequently and found it to be a great resource. A warning to users however � if a hotel has some glowing reports, and is an independent accommodation that refers to itself as a fantastic boutique hotel, as does the Lonsdale Quay, it is best to confirm the reviews with another source before booking.