Plaza 500 - Vancouver, British Columbia Review

I would have had no complaints about this hotel were it not for the fact that it was billed as a 4-star hotel.  Since the hotel had this distinction, I expected it to live up to it.  It was in no way worthy of 4 stars.  I would not give it any stars.  It is a no star hotel if you ask me.

My first complaint about this hotel came as soon as I stepped off the elevator onto the third floor, the unfortunate location of my room.  The entire floor smelled exactly like my grandfather's house did shortly before he died.  In other words, it smelled like an incontinent old man.  Hoping that the room itself would be less offensive, I found that this was not to be the case.  The room was slightly less offensive smelling but what it lacked in smell in more than made up for in noise.  My second issue with this hotel is that my room was situated directly behind the elevators and everytime one of the two elevators went up or down, I was forced to hear it squeak.  There were something like 14 floors to this hotel and these were the only elevators for the entire building so the squeak was non-stop.  My next problem came when, after using the bathroom, which was way too small, I turned on the water to wash my hands and was immediately burned.  The water was WAY too hot.  Next, as I unpacked my things, I noticed that the closet was very hot and a little damp.  I looked into the top of the closet and saw exposed pipes, most likely carrying the burning hot water to the sink.  The paint in the closet was peeling and this may have had something to do with the incontinent old man smell as well.  I decided to check out my view and ended up tripping on a piece of carpet that was sticking up as a result of it being patched from several small pieces of carpet.  When I finally reached the window and opened the curtains, I saw that what was supposed to be a private balcony was instead a huge landing where the air conditioner and a huge satellite dish were stationed.  This also served as the balcony to several other rooms, making me feel a little less safe about sleeping in this room.  It would not be difficult for one of these fellow guests to break into my room as I tried to sleep.  As the constant squeak of the elevator made sleep impossible, I found constant vigilance was not such a problem.  You may wonder why I did not call the front desk and request a less offensive room.  I did attempt to change rooms and was told, after being asked to hold for a considerable amount of time, that the hotel was completely booked.  Having parked my car in a nearly empty parking garage, I am quite sure they were not being truthful.  Speaking of parking, it cost me $20 a night to park there.  Call me old fashioned but I believe that when you are paying to stay the night somewhere, parking should be included.  There are a few exceptions to this rule, but this hotel should not be one of them.  If you find yourself with a need to travel to Vancouver, do yourself a favor and stay far away from the Plaza 500.