Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre

Brief:

The hotel is very nice and top-notch. The atmosphere is very clean and majestic in a modern way. The whole place is sending out vibes that the only people coming here are those with lots and lots of money and/or fame. It's the kind of place that does everything to perfection. Service is perfect and so are the facilities. The staff really tries to make you feel special, and they often succeed.

Comprehensive:

During the off-season hotels are a lot cheaper in Vancouver. I was staying on a special offer from Tourism Vancouver and this rate included a guaranteed upgrade to a one-bedroom suite, Canadian breakfast for 2 and 3pm checkout (and some more that I did not use).

The hotel is a very tall building in futuristic glass. Everything is very clean and neat, and my first thought when I entered the lobby was that I had to make sure not to do anything wrong. I did do something wrong at once, though. Out of pure excitement I approached the desk where the bellhop or doorman (or what he was) was standing and I asked him, if it was all right to check-in here. He answered in a very professional and deep voice the style of which was actually very consistent with the atmosphere, "Front desk, sir" - while he pointed his hand in the direction of the front desk.

Check-in went very smoothly and efficiently. There was no line and behind the desk was both a check-in person as well as a manager of some kind. I was told quickly that there was no need to look for my reservation confirmation number - they could just look it up with my last name. The details of my reservation (most importantly: the upgrade to a suite) was already in the computer, which I found good.

My suite was very nice. The furniture was in a modern style with somewhat bleak colors. The living room had a nice sofa some chairs and a pretty classy round glass table. There was a hand sink and the mandatory mini-bar. Some of the snacks of the mini-bar were actually in a basked on the table above the mini-bar, which was not very pleasing. It's okay with a mini-bar with very expensive snacks and drinks but to let stuff from the mini-bar "out in the open" in order to "encourage" the customer to buy more is not good. The reason was probably that the mini-bar itself was too small but then they should buy a larger one or prioritize the contents better cutting rarely chosen items off the menu.

The bedroom was nice but nothing special. What was great with both rooms was that they both corner rooms and had floor to ceiling windows. This made for a great view of the city - or rather, several of the other skyscrapers next to the Wall Centre. It really is logical; the best view of downtown cannot be had from somewhere in downtown itself.

The bathroom was fine although I would have liked it to be a little larger. The plastic bottles with shampoo and the likes were pretty big and nice. Apart from this there was not anything really special about the bathroom. I was sorry that there were bathrobes as I think that ought to be expected from an establishment of such a high class as this.

Having arrived from a pretty long flight I was pretty tired so I decided to check in early. The living room had no television - so one had to be on (or in) the bed in the bedroom to watch TV. The TV had a rather new system for movies on demand and hotel services. It offered Internet access through the TV for 24 hours at a set price - unfortunately the black keyboard that one has to use to surf the web on the TV was nowhere to be found.

I fell a sleep pretty quickly and slept well.

The following morning I headed down for breakfast. My rate included Canadian breakfast for 2 (including gratuity) at the very stylish INDIGO located near the hotel lobby. The breakfast and service was rather excellent. I even got a second glass of the magnificent fresh orange juice. The waiter did however object for a couple of seconds before providing me with the second glass. Since my rate included Canadian breakfast for 2 people I think I was entitled to a second glass. Therefore the waiter's objection - however short - does result in a lower score for the INDIGO.

After breakfast I made some calls from the room. Here I noted that the phone did not just have 2 phones but actually 3! There was one in the bathroom as well. A nice feature I think, for those who like to be on the phone while being in the tub. The notepad found next to the phone was had a nice design that was done on classy greenish paper.

Throughout my stay I called around with different requests for the hotel - and I noted that they seemed to have a policy of always addressing the guest calling with his or her last name. This they did without exception, and it worked as planned: I felt more special. One time the person answering had some problems pronouncing my name and it was pretty obvious that she had just seen it on her computer - so that kind of spoiled it.

I needed a special book dealing with filming locations for a specific television show in Vancouver (it's called The X-files but there are actually a lot of different series shot in the city). First I dialed the publisher and was told that it was out of print and had been for more than a year so the chances of actually finding it in any bookstore were not good.

I went down and headed for the Concierge desk. Here I explained my problem. At first the female concierge had a tint of disrespect in her tone and those vibes so I will deduct some points because of this. However, the woman kept looking and called several bookstores - it was no easy task, and we started small talking a little. She told me that she never really got hooked on the series herself but that they [the shooting team] used to have large trailers parked pretty close to the hotel. The concierge kept calling and I pretty much lost hope. Then finally she found a place with the book in stock! She even called and asked them to hold one of them for me and then provided me with directions for the store (it really was not very far from the hotel). Superb service!

After successfully purchasing my book and enjoying the exceptionally excellent Vancouver weather I headed back to the hotel. I needed to make some phone calls - made those from the room. Now I needed to check up on some stuff on the Web; consequently I headed for the business center of the hotel. The business center was located on the conference floor right by the elevator behind a glass door opened by a room key. The computer (of which there were 2) had a fast Internet connection - and better yet: they were free to use. What really made this business center great was its location: total silence, quite wonderful when one has work to do.

Overall my experience of the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre was one of a very fine hotel the kind of which there are not that many. Apart from a few minor details this hotel is highly recommendable.