For convenience, we decided to stay at the Fairmont Vancouver International Airport hotel. The hotel is located immediately above the Vancouver International Airport US Trans-Border departures gates. The hotel is super convenient for early morning departures, which are all too frequent from the Pacific Northwest to other parts of the United States.

Review: Fairmont Vancouver International Airport, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada

“The most convenient airport hotel at the Vancouver International Airport.

The property is situated immediately above US departures, “

We had a 6:57 AM departure and faced a US Customs Pre-Clearance Screening before the flight, AND we were traveling with a nine year old, so we opted for a night at the posh Fairmont Vancouver International Airport.

Booking and Getting There:

We booked direct on the Fairmont Website. The booking website was a little clunky but worked without any problems with the booking.

This hotel is directly attached to the airport and is immediately and conveniently above the US Departures area of Vancouver International Airport. 

Arriving to the Property:

On arrival to the property, avoiding hotel parking rates, I parked the car in the regular long term parking and we took the parking shuttle to the airport.

We crossed the overhead walkway from the airport and had a polite check in process in the somewhat dark lobby.

The Room: Deluxe, Two Queens, Non Smoking

We were upgraded to a North facing room. These are better than the south facing rooms as the North Rooms offer a view of the North Shore mountains, and of the US and a partial view of the International aircraft operations area. If you end up on the South Side, you get a view of a rather boring parking lot, elevated subway line and a very long view to the South runway at YVR (usually used for take off’s).

The hotel was built in mid nineties and having stayed here a few times, has been refurbished over the years. I liked it more than MrsWT73. I found it to be very comfortable. MrsWT73 wasn’t too impressed with it and found the Grand Hyatt at DFW to be much nicer for an “in airport” hotel. 

Each room was equipped with the standard Fairmont amenities, including a tripod telescope which made for some entertaining sightseeing and entertainment. 

The bathroom was well equipped and linked to the main portion of the room with shutters.

The telescope was a hit with junior, who found it interesting to inspect the runway and the aircraft operations ongoing underneath us.

Overall:

Overall, the stay at the Fairmont made for a very pleasant transition to the flight downstairs the next morning. Vancouver has several other airport hotels, but none are directly attached to the terminal. Unfortunately, Fairmont only awards loyalty points on their top rates. Most discounted rates do not earn any miles, compared to the other hotels in the area (Westin, Sheraton, Delta, Hampton and Holiday Inn). If only Fairmont was a bit more competitive on the reward loyalty program, this would be my number one choice for an airport hotel in YVR.

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