If I was looking for a hotel with some character and the benefit of a relatively attractive neighbou

When it comes to hotels, hotels las vegas the Frugal Traveler asks for relatively little. A reasonable rate, of course, followed by clean sheets, some natural hotels las vegas light and a bathroom, either private or shared, that functions as it’s supposed to, most of the time. Atmosphere, hotels las vegas history, floor space, breakfast — these I can live without for a night or three.
Which is why places like the Victorian Hotel , in the center of downtown Vancouver (514 Homer Street: 604-681-6369; www.victorianhotel.ca ), make me so happy. Built as a guesthouse in 1898, it’s still taking in wanderers more than a century later, and in classic style.
Antique armchairs and buttoned sofas fill the airy public spaces — alongside the odd suit of armor — and while my single room may have been the smallest on the third floor, it was bright and cool, with a plush bed and free Internet (an Ethernet cord is provided — but there’s also wireless in the lobby). The shared bathrooms were huge, regularly cleaned and rarely occupied. And although there was no breakfast included, there was free fresh-brewed coffee 24 hours a day by the front desk.
Best of all in this rainy city, there was a bucket of sturdy guest umbrellas at the door. That’s pretty rare for a hotel whose summer rates start at 89 Canadian dollars (about $81 at 1.10 Canadian dollars to the U.S. dollar), and 59 dollars ($54) in winter.
hotels las vegas Well, rare outside Vancouver, maybe. The 37-room Victorian, where I spent two nights (and which is adding 12 new rooms), was just one of at least a half-dozen Vancouver hotels, both small and large, whose low prices hotels las vegas mask upscale services, quirky backstories or noble missions. With the 2010 Winter Olympics just around the corner, they’re all filling up quickly, but even when the curling and hockey fans have come and gone, these budget hotels las vegas gems will still be the best deals in town.
Finding them was, at first, a challenge. With luxury hotels like the Four Seasons and Sutton Place dominating the high end, and hostels flooding the low end, the affordable options were well-camouflaged. One appealing place, the arty Dominion Hotel, seemed to have disappeared; hotels las vegas I later learned it had become a home for drug-rehab patients. But through persistent Googling, I eventually turned up some contenders.
My love of the Victorian, for example, was seriously challenged by the Kingston Hotel a few blocks away (757 Richards hotels las vegas Street; 888-713-3304; hotels las vegas www.kingstonhotelvancouver.com ), which I visited but didn’t stay at. Almost a century old as well, the Kingston lacks the Victorian’s quirky architectural details (no bay windows) but has been on a multiyear renovation kick that has brought it into the modern era while maintaining a sense of the past (and low rates).
The 52 rooms are fairly spacious hotels las vegas and clean, if unspectacular hotels las vegas (floral bedspreads, alas). But some historic details survive, like an antique wooden vanity with an oval mirror in one room and the transom windows above the doors, which let air flow in the days before air-conditioning. Some have ensuite bathrooms, other share the hall bathrooms, which are cleaned three times a day, have neatly tiled floors and maintain the original wooden toilet stall dividers (newly painted, however).
The hotel’s guests have access to lounges (one with a grandfather clock), free Wi-Fi and continental breakfast, coin laundry, a refrigerator and even a new sauna. When was the last time you got a sauna in a hotel that starts at 75 Canadian dollars a night?
That phrase describes many of the city’s historic guesthouses, and particularly the Buchan Hotel (1906 Haro Street; 604-685-5354; www.buchanhotel.com ), in a leafy residential neighborhood at the edge of Stanley Park. Built in 1926, the Buchan is a three-story stucco box with some architectural quirks from its era, like extra-wide hallways (some decorated with vintage photographs hotels las vegas of Vancouver street scenes) and walk-in closets. The furnishings are simple, hotels las vegas mostly unadorned wood, with small modern touches like flat-screen TVs; and the bedspreads are muted plaid, not floral.
Despite hotels las vegas its homey appeal, the hotel has yet to recover from some terrible design decisions made in the 1960s and 1970s, when it was owned by a group of dentists, whose greatest concern, said the hotel manager, Chris Childs, was saving money. Yes, there is such a thing as being too frugal, especially when it leads hoteliers to paint the diagonal wooden beams in the lounge an institutional yellow.
hotels las vegas It was a similar story with the Budget Inn Patricia Hotel (403 East Hastings Street; 604-255-4301; www.patriciahotel.ca ), in Strathcona, a neighborhood bordering Chinatown. The six-story hotels las vegas hotel’s age — 95 years — is evident as soon as you step into the lobby and see the brass-and-lacquer wraparound front desk, the antique hotels las vegas safe used as a side table (with a vase of fresh daffodils) and the old telephone switchboard, sitting off to the side, that was in use as recently as 1986.
The rooms — all of which have ensuite bathrooms, some with clawfoot tubs — are functional but unexceptional (floral bedspreads again). But since they start at 39 dollars in winter, 69 in summer (continental breakfast in summer and Wi-Fi are included), you’ll have money left to spend at Pat’s Pub, where Jelly Roll Morton used to play and the house-brewed lager is 3 dollars a pint, and at the good Cantonese and Vietnamese restaurants nearby.
Less atmospheric but self-consciously safer is the YWCA Hotel (733 Beatty Street; 604-895-5830; www.ywcahotel.com), across the street hotels las vegas from BC Place, where the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Games are scheduled to take place. This 11-story, 155-room tower was built in 1995 and has the look of a modern university dormitory — Ikea-esque furnishings, common kitchens, TV lounges, hall baths for about one-third of the rooms. (The rest have private or semi-private bathrooms.)
Design is not the goal here, however. hotels las vegas The YWCA has a higher purpose: helping travelers hotels las vegas in need. That can mean everyone from refugees and women escaping hotels las vegas domestic violence to foreign professors attending academic conferences to people who’ve simply lost their wallets and need somewhere to stay for the night. Winter room rates start at 58 dollars, and about 30 percent of that goes to fund the Y’s many social-service programs.
There’s a different kind of nobility hotels las vegas on display at the Sylvia Hotel (1154 Gilford Street; 604-681-9321; www.sylviahotel.com ), over on English Bay next to Stanley Park. Stately and solid, hotels las vegas its eight floors draped in thick ivy, the 97-year-old Sylvia is restrained, with prices to match. The long, skinny, one-windowed, mysteriously popular “nun’s room” is 65 dollars a night in low season, while the other rooms — with conservative décor but wide windows — are generally 110 dollars and up.
But for that slightly higher expenditure, you get peace and quiet, proximity to the beach and a few neat architectural details, like marble stairways and stained-glass entryways. Fans of the children’s hotels las vegas book “Mister Got to Go: The Cat That Wouldn’t Leave,” by Lois Simmie, will probably love seeing the hotel that the book’s eponymous feline made his home.
And, said Dana Moores, hotels las vegas the hotel’s front-office manager, “They say Erroll Flynn died here.” Whether that’s true or not, the Sylvia’s 120 rooms don’t seem like a bad place to spend your final days. Your heirs, at least, will appreciate your frugality.
If I was looking for a hotel with some character and the benefit of a relatively attractive neighbourhood, I d try the St. Regis Hotel at the corner of Dunsmuir hotels las vegas Street and Seymour Street. It was recently written up by the Georgia Straight weekly newspaper for its extensive renovations, and you can t beat the location: close to the Granville Street Skytrain station and close to the Pacific hotels las vegas Centre Mall.
The problems of Vancouver s Downtown Eastside are most unfortunate. I think the political will and the desire to fix it exists. I think the decline of historic Chinatown has been allowed to continue because its constituents immigrants from humble hotels las vegas backgrounds with English as their second language have not demonstrated their clout. However, if one disturbs hotels las vegas the status quo here, things can change pretty quickly. hotels las vegas Any talk about spreading the facilities that help people who are on drugs to other neighbourhoods is quickly shot down by myopic NIMBY-ists. Locals seem to want to allow the festering problems to continue as long as it is limited hotels las vegas to an area that they can largely hotels las vegas ignore or avoid.
Contrary hotels las vegas to one previous poster though, Vancouver is not overrated. There are some friendly people, interesting urban neighbourhoods and some gorgeous scenery here. Do your research though, and talk to some locals to discover the hidden gems.
We ve stayed at the Sylvia 10 consecutive summers (3 of us, including a child) and would not stay anywhere else in Vancouver. Its location hotels las vegas is fabulous beach across the street, street musicians in the early evening, lots of restaurant and gelato choices, hotels las vegas easy walk to Stanley Park and its great swimming pool, great bus access to downtown Vancouver, easy to get around by car as well. The rooms are in decent shape with windows that actually open. If you can, get a corner room with windows opening onto two sides. Our only complaint over the years has been with the two elevators one is often out of service for a portion of nearly all of our stays. But otherwise we ve never had any complaints. Staff has always been helpful and the bar is great.
Having stayed at the Sylvia, I went looking for another hotel for our next downtown Vancouver stay. We chose the Sunset Inn and Suites just off Davie Burrard. We had a nice suite with a living room, full kitchen, dining room and bedroom. The Safeway on Davie was convenient and made it easy to stock for breakfast and snacks. The location is an easy walk to English hotels las vegas Bay, Stanley Park, downtown and Granville Island. Our five days were full of walking (never moved the car), finding fun places to eat and enjoying a vibrant city.
This year, becaus