World Traveller 73 
Review: Delta Hotels Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
A recent business trip to Victoria led me to the Delta Hotels Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort located steps away from downtown Victoria, Canada on the Victoria Inner Harbour. The Delta Hotels offering in Victoria offered world class Inner Harbour views, which set off a pleasant and relaxing stay in the provincial capital of British Columbia.
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Review: Delta Hotels by Marriott Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
“A Delta Hotel property that has outstanding Victoria Inner Harbour Views, at the expense of being situated a little ways away from Downtown Victoria”
This review is of the Delta Hotels Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort. For another review of a comparable Marriott Bonvoy property, please see our review of the Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour hotel.
Planning and Getting There:
I had a trip planned to Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada travelling from the Vancouver area. I needed a night to stay in between meetings. There are a number of Marriott Bonvoy properties in downtown Victoria around the Inner Harbour which include the Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour and the Delta Hotels by Marriott Ocean Pointe Resort. There is also my local favourite hotel: the Westin Bear Mountain. However, it’s a little ways out of town and not as convenient for business activities in the downtown Victoria area.
The Delta Hotel Victoria Ocean Pointe resort was built in 1992 and has always operated under the Delta Hotel franchise flag. It operated under the Delta Privileges loyalty program, until Delta Hotels was acquired by Marriott in April 2015.
The room rate was quite soft being off season and travelling in February; far from the peak summer season of travel when many visitors come to town. My rate at the time was under $200 CAD ($156 USD). In the summer months, I have seen the rate climb as high as $500 CAD (391 USD) a night. The hotel is presently a Marriott Bonvoy Category 5, and is floating around 35,000 points. If you value Marriott Bonvoy points around $0.005 per point, you’re probably better off redeeming points on a 35,000 point room if the room rate is higher than $175 USD per night.
I booked this stay via the Marriott website direct. As I booked with Marriott Titanium status, I was promised an upgrade to the best available room (including suites), lounge access, and a guaranteed late check out to 4 PM.
The hotel is situated close to the Inner Harbour area of Downtown Victoria. The hotel is about a ten minute walk most downtown restaurants, offices. While I had a dry visit without rain, the location could lead to a very wet walk across to the Inner Harbour if it were raining.
After taking BC Ferries by car across from Tsawwassen to Schwartz Bay ferry terminal, I drove to the hotel and parked in the loading zone in order to complete the check in.
Checking In:
As mentioned, I self drove to the hotel and arrived by car. There was a gated parking garage with a security arm. As a result, I parked in the front loading zone and walked into the hotel. I usually like to park directly and head straight up to the lobby but that wasn’t an option today thanks to the security gate.
The lobby of the Delta Ocean Pointe hotel had a very open air feel to it. Windows opened up to the harbour, which gave the lobby a bright feeling. The lobby offered a number of public seating areas. Thanks to double story high floor windows, it was much more pleasant than the average hotel lobby.
I navigated myself over to the reception desks. It was about 5 PM when I arrived. There was no one in line at front desk, which was not manned. Despite this, I was attended to promptly. I also noted a fair amount of older leisure travellers staying at this property, consistent with Victoria, Canada being a destination that generally attracts an older demographic of tourists.
I had a friendly reception host who processed my check in. I was thanked for being a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite level member and accepted 500 Marriott Bonvoy points as an elite welcome amenity.
I had booked a base level Guest Room, – 1 King No View which was consistent with my rate. I received a complimentary room upgrade to a Guest Room – 1 King Water View.
Later in the stay, I did happen to later notice that there were suites available for purchase on the Marriott App during my stay, which included the 1 King Bed – Water View Suite, the more outrageous 1 king Bed – The Loft 1 Bedroom Bi Level Suite with Balcony, and the 1 King Bed – Water View, Presidential Bi Level Loft with Balcony.
While I didn’t get the impression that the hotel was all too full in off season on a weekday, it’s probably worth mentioning that a Marriott Platinum / Titanium level upgrade at this property, is likely from a non water view to a water facing view room. Anything on top of that is likely a special bonus. In my case, as I wasn’t expected to be at the property for any substantial period of time, I didn’t pro-actively chase after any further Marriott Bonvoy elite upgrades.
With key in hand, I self parked the car and headed up to room. From within the parking garage, there was a single set of elevators which allowed you to key your way into the hotel and directly up to your room, without changing elevators. This was very convenient and later made for an easy departure.
The Room: A Guest Room – 1 King, Water View
I led myself up to room #630. The hallways of the Delta Ocean Pointe Resort are quite business oriented and generally very plain on the inside. While some hotels have vibrant patterns on the hallway carpeting, the Delta Ocean Pointe Resort was pretty plainly decorated in their public spaces. I also found them a little dark.
After I had led myself into the room, I orientated myself to the room.
The Delta Hotels Ocean Pointe Resort One King Water view was a pretty straight forward hotel room that was well sized; a little bit larger and more generous on size than an average inner city hotel room. The room was decorated in standard Delta Hotels by Marriott decoration and flair, which tends to involve whites grey and purple colour schemes.
The room featured a medium size desk space combination. There was a light on the desk itself, which was convenient for working. There was also an integrated luggage storage area against a large flat screen television.
The room was reasonably well featured. It included two wine glasses along with an ice bucket. There was also a standard in room Cuisinart drip coffee maker and tea kettle.
The nicest feature of the hotel room were the two occasional chairs facing the water. I’ll give the hotel accolades for actually integrating the relaxing chairs into the view of the waterfront. Most hotels place the relaxing chair in a corner without any thought as to whether there is a view worth looking at. The Delta Hotels Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort actually positioned the chairs to take advantage of the Inner Harbour View at the hotels’ footsteps.
Looking out the windows themselves, the room had a view of the Victoria Inner Harbour. While the Inner Harbour is pretty flat and not super spectacular with a back drop like my home town of Vancouver, a view of the water is greatly appreciated after all those nights on the road staring at business parks, sky scraper windows, or unappealing parking lots.
The room featured windows that opened, but there were no balconies or other means of stepping outside to take in the ocean breezes.
The room featured a standard Delta Hotels bathroom. The bathroom featured a single vanity sink, along with the usual toiletries. There was also a stand up shower with a low pressure rain sprinkler head.
During the stay, I was able to enjoy some of the Inner Harbour views from the room. The harbour views were arguably the nicest feature of the hotel property. I had the opportunity to see rowers, wildlife and distant views of the Fairmont Empress hotel at the head of the Inner Harbour. All of these views led to a tranquil and peaceful stay.
For those interested in hotel layouts, the hotel is oriented in an “L” shape, with all the bottom left side rooms having a water view. The hotel doesn’t feature a whole host of suites per floor, so I wouldn’t expect a lot of success hoping for a Marriott Bonvoy Platinum / Titanium / Ambassador level suite upgrade.
Around the Hotel Property:
Swimming Pool:
The hotel operated an indoor swimming pool and gym. The gym hours were twenty hour hours for hotel guests. Based on the operating hours sign, it appeared that the hotel gym was also open to outside memberships on a much more limited hourly basis.
The indoor pool was among the nicest features of the health club space, as it featured a glass atrium that looked outside. It can get quite unpleasantly coastal cold in the Pacific Northwest, so an indoor pool with views to the outside is definitely the warmer way to go.
While the pool wasn’t massive, it was certainly nice to have this feature and I could seem many families using the space.
Delta Club Lounge:
The hotel offered a Delta Club Lounge was located on the Third Floor. Marriott Bonvoy offers Platinum / Titanium / Ambassador level mebers access to lounges at it’s Sheraton and Marriott properties. It typically offers a goodwill access to the lounge for it’s other brands like Luxury Collection, Westin and Delta Hotels, although it’s not guaranteed in the terms and conditions of the program.
Unfortunately, The Delta Club Lounge was closed on my visit due to the pandemic. I think this was more of a cost cutting move on the part of the hotel, since the Province of BC had restaurants open at 100% capacity.
Due to the lounge being closed, I wasn’t able to get a look inside. I also wasn’t able to confirm whether Marriott Bonvoy elites would get access at this property as the lounge wasn’t open.
Food and Beverage:
Lure Restaurant
The hotel offers a single full service restaurant and lounge on the property. The hotel’s restaurant is the Lure Restaurant. It’s situated just off the lobby and is in a space that commands views over the Inner Harbour.
The lounge itself is set back a little bit from the water view windows. If you’re visiting the lounge, I wouldn’t expect to get a spectacular water view. During my visit, the Lure Lounge was actually quite busy during happy hour. This is perhaps because there aren’t many other options immediately near the hotel itself that aren’t a ten minute walk away.
Looking down towards the water, the restaurant itself offers more opportunity for tables near the windows. It is also the quieter part of the restaurant.
Due to schedule, and an early 8 AM morning meeting, I didn’t get an opportunity to enjoy the Lure Restaurant.
Nearby the Hotel:
Around the Hotel Grounds
Shortly after I had checked in and completed all my work assignments for the day, I went for a short walk around the hotel property. From the hotel lobby, you can take a walk immediately out of the lobby water side doors, which leads you in to a large patio area.
Travelling down a series of steps, you find yourself on a large promenade walkway that unfortunately, doesn’t extend much more than the hotel property grounds. It would be great if this would integrate into a larger coastal trail network. Unfortunately, this doesn’t extend this far as of yet.
There are terrific views from the walkway area in front of the hotel. In this case, I was able to get in some fleeting sunset views on the inner harbour as the sun set during winter time for this trip.
One of the main disadvantages to this property is that it is located a short distance away from downtown Victoria. In order to get access to any restaurants off the hotel property, you have to walk about ten minutes along a wide paved walkway across the new Johnston Street Bridge.
While a walk such as this is terrific in the summer, it can be downright miserable in the winter when Victoria can get Seattle, Washington / Vancouver like rainfall which might throughly drench you. If being centrally located is important to you, I would easily recommend the more convenient Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour, which is a shorter distance to restaurants, but doesn’t offer anywhere near as nice of a view.
The Delta Hotels Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort Bottom Line:
The Delta Hotel by Marriott Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort was a perfectly functional stay and met all my travelling needs. Easily the nicest feature of the property was the water facing views, and it would be a shame to stay at this resort without booking a water view. The main drawback to this property is the physical location which is situated a short distance away from downtown Victoria. While this is an asset in the warmer summer months, it could potentially be absolutely miserable in the winter months having to walk in the rain. Despite this, I enjoyed my stay at this property and I would easily return.
World Traveller 73 
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