Trumping the luxury hotels in Vancouver
John Mackie
The Vancouver Sun
Vancouver’s new Trump International Hotel comes with the hype we’ve come to expect from The Donald.
“Trump International Hotel and Tower will be the icon in the city’s skyline,” says the hotel’s website, “bringing an unprecedented level of luxury lifestyle and service that will anchor Vancouver as an international gateway city.”
But will it?
Vancouver already has several elite hotels that cater to high-end clients. Will the Trump International Hotel really up the ante?
It definitely has some eye-catching features. The hotel comes with a chauffeured Rolls-Royce “with custom Trump details” that guests can book to take them shopping. The hotel also offers a private jet service, which is surely a big draw for the one-percenters.
And it’s in a beautiful building, a twisting tower designed by the late, great Arthur Erickson.
That said, the entrance on Georgia Street is somewhat underwhelming — it feels like you’ve stepped into a bar. But there’s a reason for that — the hotel entrance is actually in the back lane.
Honest. The Georgia Street entrance is for the Champagne Bar, “a truly sophisticated setting for toasting the good life.”
The hotel also comes with an “ultra lounge” run by Drai’s, which touts itself as “the best club in Las Vegas.” (Drai’s initially tried to do a giant Vegas-style nightclub at the hotel, but the city turned it down — the lounge is a scaled-down version.)
There are 147 rooms in the hotel, which occupies Floors 5 through 21 in the 69-storey tower. (The upper floors are condos.) The units range in size from 343 to 2,053 square feet.
You could book a smaller room this week for $353.50 per night, and a 1,517-sq.-ft., two bedroom for $913.50, but the hotel appears to be sold out from Feb. 28 to March 2.
If you wanted to book July 1, the height of tourist season, a smaller room is $500, and the “grand deluxe,” 2,053-sq.-ft., two bedroom is $2,900.
Are the rooms more luxurious than rooms in existing luxury hotels like the Shangri-La, the Rosewood Hotel Georgia or the Fairmont Pacific Rim?
Probably not — they’re all pretty skookum.
The Shangri-La is one of Asia’s premier luxury chains, and its Vancouver hotel offers 119 rooms over 15 floors of the 62-storey tower, which is the tallest building in B.C. (According to Wikipedia, the Shangri-La is 659 feet high. Trump Tower is 616 feet, which makes it second tallest in Vancouver, but third in the Lower Mainland.)
Rooms at the Shangri-La range from 400 to 1,395 sq. ft., and rent for $400 to $3,000 per night.
The Rosewood Hotel Georgia made it onto TripAdvisor’s list of the world’s top hotels in 2014, coming in at No. 16. The historic hotel dates to 1927 and has played host to a who’s who of the rich and famous, including musicians like Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Katy Perry.
Rooms in the 155-room hotel range from 325 to 1,500 sq. ft. The swankiest is the Rosewood suite, a 1,500-sq.-ft. space with two bedrooms, a living room and a dining area for eight. Oh, and each of the ensuite bathrooms features a “walk-in rainforest shower.”
What’s really appealing about the Rosewood suite is that it comes with a private rooftop terrace that can “comfortably host receptions for up to 20 guests.” It also comes with a fireplace and a “plunge pool,” which is a luxury-hotel version of a Jacuzzi.
The cost on July 1? Seven-thousand-five-hundred dollars per night.
If you want to be close to the water, the Fairmont Pacific Rim has one of the city’s best locations, on the waterfront at the foot of Burrard Street.
The 45-storey tower is also a hotel on the bottom, condo on top, with 366 rooms over the lower 22 floors. Rooms range from 400 to 2,200 sq. ft. for the three-bedroom “Prime Minister’s Suite,” which offers panoramic waterfront views.
But it’ll cost you — the Prime Minister’s Suite rents for $10,000 to $20,000 per night, depending on the season.
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