Introduction
I was in Vancouver over Valentine’s Day weekend. I’ve always stayed in Richmond instead of downtown Vancouver just because a) I’m closer to Chinatown and b) it’s so much cheaper to stay in Richmond. In the past (2+ years ago,) we used to stay at the Four Points because it was only 3K SPG points. However, they increased the rate to 7K points per night, and so we decided to stay at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport since that has remained at 3K points per night.
Location
Up until this weekend, I thought the hotel would be like RIGHT NEXT to the airport, with nothing around it. However, that’s far from the truth. The hotel is only 1.5 blocks away from No. 3 Road (highlighted,) which is the main road in Richmond. A lot of restaurants are on that road. Plus, the skytrain goes along #3 road as well. So it’s actually closer to the action than the Four Points hotel.
There is a $19 charge for self parking if you are driving. The Four Points charges something similar, so it’s a wash. I haven’t tried to park on the street, and I’m unsure if the parking meters are free on Sundays or not in Richmond. Just something to keep in mind.
6.2c per SPG point or 3.5c per SPG point?
So here’s the mistake that most new people in this game make. I could go around saying I got 6.2c CAD per SPG point since that’s $188 CAD/3K SPG. While that math is correct, the Four Points is a very good comparable hotel, and is what I would have paid if I had no SPG points. So I would have paid $106 CAD per night plus taxes and fees, but instead of paying cash, I used 3K SPG points, thus I got 3.5c of value for my SPG points. This is much higher than the usual 2c per SPG point I usually get (even after the USD/CAD conversion.) Once again, low level hotels is where you get the most bang for your buck.
Club lounge
We arrived there at noon, and they didn’t have a room ready for us. Since I had a business SPG card, they gave me a keycard to the club lounge. There were some free soda and cookies and nice comfy chairs. Sorry, I didn’t take a picture. At 5pm, they brought some hot appetizers. There were some eggrolls, some brochette, and 2-3 other small items. The eggrolls were probably the best thing there. Let me just warn you and say that you should EAT SOMEWHERE ELSE IN RICHMOND! This is the best Cantonese food outside of Hong Kong folks, so don’t waste your stomach on lounge food.
Room
While we were there, a convention was going on. Also, there are 4 ‘towers’ to this hotel, which made finding rooms a bit complicated. It felt like a Vegas hotel without the casinos and the old ladies. As for the room, it was nothing special; typical airport hotel room. Walls were pretty thin though; heard lots of noise in the morning.
Conclusion
If this hotel remains at 3K SPG points a night, I’ll be going back many times. With its closeness to the skytrain and Richmond food, you can’t go wrong.
Do tell me where to eat. We were in Vancouver one time and the food was OK. We stayed at the Four Points last time it was 3K points.
I like Neptune Seafood for dim sum. Kirin is also great from what I heard. We had Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ this time for lunch. I just usually Yelp places in Richmond to be honest; don’t go enough to keep track of the new hot places to eat.