My wife and I made a prepaid reservation at the Sutton Place for 3 nights starting August 19, 2008, before we left on a cruise in the Inside Passage. We had booked a reservation months before our trip and had prepaid for our stay with a request that the hotel hold our rooms for late arrival as we planned to arrive around 10 pm on the first night. Our flight was delayed and when we arrived at midnight, the doorman said,
"I hope you have a reservation because we are sold out." The desk clerk told us we had no room and we would have to take a taxi and use another hotel. They gave us a voucher for the taxi, another room and breakfast for 3 days. They promised to refund the first night's charges, but we never received the refund. We were upgraded to a suite, but we had to change hotels and when we attempted to check in at noon the second day, we were told to come back later.

The taxi driver who took us to the other hotel said he had done the same for another guest an hour earlier.

It's obvious that the Sutton place overbooks its rooms even for prepaid guests. While the rooms are nice, their reservations are a disaster. While they attempted to make up for their mistake, we lost almost a day changing hotels.

My advice if you insist on staying at the Sutton Place, to either make sure you arrive in the afternoon, after check in or stay at the Sheraton up the street. Arriving at midnight to find your room has been given away shows an indifference to customers that is beyond contempt.

Great hotel, good sized room and bathroom. Quiet and clean. Excellent.

I stay in Vancouver frequently on business but had never stayed in the Sutton Place before. It is everything it is billed to be: good location for shopping, not bad location for business, although it is closer to the hospital and courthouse than to the downtown business core. Not particularly close to the cruise terminal, either; it will be a taxi ride away.

The opportunity for views is not the best in town, but the hotel itself does have exceptional service and the decor is old world elegant -- botanical prints, fleur de lys motifs, furniture that looks like it has some history behind it. Yes, the bed is quite soft and may not be to everyone's taste because of that.

I was upgraded to an executive suite, which was quite nice. However, the bedroom was windowless --- not my favourite, but some folks may find that adds to the ability to sleep outside the local time zone.

There is loads of room for clothing storage (in the suite, anyway). Some things are "hidden"...the laundry bag is in a drawer rather than hanging in the closet, and the coffee maker is well hidden in the bottom of the mini-bar. Wasn't particularly happy to have to search, find, pull it out and plug it in myself, although I guess it did maintain the look of the room, not having a coffeemaker front and centre in the foyer!

The bathroom is okay, but a bit worn looking. Grout was stained in the shower, the bathtub does not slope much at the back so leaning back is ... well, let's say the tubs are original to the property...I think about 20 years. The stall shower is rather small...I'd guess less than 36" across. However, the bathroom scales lied beautifully when I stepped on them, so I can at least fool myself into thinking I've lost weight on this trip!

The living room did have one small window that really opened; I like to get a bit of fresh air in a hotel room so that was good. The heating/cooling system worked quietly and well.

You can sign on to join the frequent stay club at the property's website; you can even indicate your preferred paper: national (Globe & Mail) or local (Vancouver Sun). I didn't actually receive a paper this morning ... hmmm... but others on my floor did and I did see both papers out so I presume the system works most of the time.

Given a choice, if I wanted a suite downtown, I would return to the Westin Grand instead; the property is new and just as elegant in a contemporary chic way, rather than old world elegant; the rooms more spacious, better natural light and views and a kitchenette to boot. However, I would certainly stay at the Sutton Place again without complaint.

Went for 4 nights. Close to the movie theatre which was nice. Good location. New rooms, decent restaurant for breakfast.