A study in contrasts

The staff at the Vancouver (BC) Hyatt are the dog's bollocks (that's good, kids.)

This morning, while arranging our transfer to this hotel, I had a frank chat with the reservations agent about the lousy experience we were having so far at the Other Hotel, and I do believe she took it to heart.

She arranged early check-in for us, and when we made our way down the street and around the corner to the Hyatt, we were greeted by hyper-competent, professional staff who barely let us draw a breath by ourselves from the moment we walked in the door.

Five minutes after we presented ourselves, we were all checked in.

Ten minutes after we showed up, we and our luggage were in our room, our car was safely stashed in the underground garage, both laptops were hooked up to the hotel's high-test wireless broadband Internet, and we were being soothed by the traffic noises of downtown Vancouver from the open sliding glass door to our small balcony...and the noises produced by "party shuffle" on Carrie's iPod nano, which slotted into a stereo set up specifically to receive it.

Here's the clincher: the hotel rooms? Cost the same.

We had a lovely morning walking around downtown (a few pix are below), and after a short nap (a key feature of any Campbell vacation is the regularly scheduled mid-afternoon disco nap), we're heading out again.

Dinner tonight is going to be Malaysian. There's this place nearby that's famous for (among other things) their mango and okra salad... and the seven-course tasting menu for two is $25 each.

Canadian. :-)

Carrie at Burrard Inlet; North Vancouver, BC in background

Barry at Burrard Inlet

Vancouver Waterfront

North Vancouver, BC (across Burrard Inlet)

Vancouver notes

Uneventful flight to Seattle and drive to Vancouver last night; though we ran into some traffic getting through Seattle (the airport is south of town and Interstate 5 basically takes you smack through the city), we made it to the hotel after 12+ consecutive hours of travel from NYC in reasonably good shape... wanting nothing more than a hot shower, a room service supper, and a good night's sleep.

Unfortunately, that's when things got interesting.

When Carrie and I travel for pleasure, we try to stay in quirky little independent hotels, as we generally enjoy that experience more than the HiltonHyattMarriott in whatever city we're staying in. When we're headed someplace new, or someplace we haven't been to in a while, we rely on multiple information sources to zero in on hotels and restaurants, and usually we do fine.

Every now and then, though, that strategy doesn't work, and we find a place where the definition of "quirky" includes "unacceptable levels of service."

This was one of those times.

The centrally located, "luxury boutique hotel" we selected for our Vancouver stay last night presented us with a festival of incompetence on check-in.

They couldn't even manage to organize a tray of sandwiches and a couple of beers for two tired travelers at 8pm last night, despite repeated phone calls and even an in-person visit to the front desk.

Our first meal in Canada last night? The execrable but ubiquitous Tim Horton's.

We're relocating to a competently managed hotel--one of the sterile corporate international chains, as it happens--this morning. And then out into this lovely city in the Pacific Northwest.

I don't think the management at the hotel we're checking out of will forget me soon.