Vancouver Hotel
 

Going to Vancouver on business trip end of May. Does anyone know anything about the Empire Landmark Hotel? Thanks.

Ironically enough, I'm at my boyfriend's right now, looking out the window to the Empire Landmark across the street. ;) It's a rather tall building, with a revolving restaurant called "Cloud Nine" on the top. It's located in the hotel district on Robson Street. Robson's also the place to "see and be seen", and there's tons of shopping.<BR><BR>Here's some more info on the hotel I could find:<BR><BR>http://tourism-vancouver.worldres.com/script/gen_prop.asp?hotel_id=18408&amp;n=2<BR><BR>Here's what it says:<BR><BR>"Tallest hotel located in the heart of downtown Vancouver, within walking distance of International Shopping. <BR>357 renovated rooms with private balconies, data port, wireless internet connection, voice mail, room service, complimentary local phone calls, coffee/tea and Laundry valet service. <BR>Cloud Nine Rooftop Revolving Restaurant &amp; Lounge, fitness Centre, parking &amp; business centre. 20 meeting rooms for a maximum of 400 people, 29,000 square feet of convention space."

I've stayed at the Landmark numerous times. It's quite pleasant and the staff are agreeable and helpful. The only problems I've encountered are: 1)there are too few elevators for such a large, multi-storied building and you have to wait a while. 2) I'm not sure how good the security is in the parking lot; we had a rental car broken into a couple of years ago and the security guard seemed not to know what to do about it. They tell us they've improved security since then, but who knows? Among the pluses: the neighbourhood is very nice, although you have to walk up a big, steep hill to get into the hotel. It's a block or so from Robson Market which is a great place for snacks or meals or fresh veggies, etc. We have breakfast there every morning - cheaper and nicer than the hotel coffee shop. Enjoy!

Hi Cindy,<BR><BR>In regards to your car being broken into, you may be aware of this or not, but Vancouver has the highest car breakin rate in the country. And it mostly goes hand in hand with the downtown eastside drug-addicted population. There's a lot of desperate people east of downtown Vancouver who will basically do anything for a dollar for their drug fix. And the popular way to make that dollar is to break into cars. So it doesn't necessarly have to do with the security of the parking lot (albeit, that does help), but even the top hotels parkades occasionally get cars broken into.<BR><BR>Saying that, there are 3 major steps to prevent your car from being broken into. And this goes out to anyone planning to visit Vancouver who plans to rent a car.<BR><BR>#1. When parking, try to park in a well-lit, popular parking spot. Do *not* park close to the downtown-eastside (the run down part of downtown by Gastown). If your car can be seen by the general public, even if it's up a few floors in a parkade, but can still be seen - great! This is what you want.<BR><BR>#2. Lock your doors when you leave your car.<BR><BR>#3. Leave all your valuables (and non-valuables) out of sight! Even if you only plan to be gone for one minute, all it takes is an empty gym bag, a CD case, anything that could be hiding money, or anything that could easily be pawned of for a dollar or two, and it's worth the risk for them to smash your window and grab what they see. So everytime you leave your car, please put all your bags, CD's, books, boxes, jackets, etc in the trunk of the car, or take them with you.<BR><BR>I don't want to make this sound worse than it actually is (for instance, I've lived here all my life and *knock on wood* my car hasn't ever been broken into) but if you follow those 3 rules, you're lessening your chances of being broken into by a WIDE margin! Hope this helps! :)

Hi, Robyn - yes, I agree with what you've said. We had actually taken everything out of the car and into our hotel room, but this didn't stop the thieves from looking. When they didn't find anything, they vandalized the car. What we've done since then is managed without a car within Vancouver, and then when we're travelling further afield, we pick the car up and go. We had assumed a hotel parking lot would be safe, but as in any big city, you can't really make that assumption. I love Vancouver anyway!

The Empire Landmark is an old hotel, it was built as a Sheraton. I lived in an apt.by it in the early 70's. Unless you are getting a good deal or your meeting is there, I'd stay elsewhere.

I don't quite understand the above post. I've stayed there as recently as last summer and there wasn't a thing wrong with the place, other than what I mentioned in my earlier post. There are lots of "old" hotels that are quite wonderful!