World Traveller 73 
Plaza Premium Lounge has a strong footprint across Canada. When their main lounge at Toronto Pearson International Airport Domestic Terminal One would close for a much needed renovation at the start of the pandemic, Plaza Premium set up this Concept Pop Up Lounge in Terminal One Toronto Pearson so that travellers departing this terminal would still have access to a lounge. I would get the opportunity to test out it’s features on a recent trip departing Toronto Pearson International Airport.
This post is one chapter on our trip during the pandemic to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to Buy a Car. This trip was enhanced through Air Canada Aeroplan Elite Status and Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Travelling 4,300km to Buy a Car
- Air Canada Signature Business Class Pandemic Edition: Vancouver – Toronto
- Toronto Airport Marriott Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- The Process of Buying an Audi on the Internet, Ontario, Canada
- Plaza Premium Toronto Concept Pop Up Lounge – Terminal 1, Toronto, Canada
- Air Canada Signature Business Class Pandemic Edition: Toronto – Vancouver
- My Experience Shipping a Car Across Canada
Review: Plaza Premium Concept Pop Up Lounge – Toronto Pearson Terminal One, Ontario, Canada
Plaza Premium operates many lounges across Canada. Their lounge at Toronto Pearson International Airport Terminal One – Domestic has been under renovation since March 2020, since well before the pandemic. On my last visit through the terminal, the lounge was still closed for renovation.
In order to continue services, Plaza Premium had installed a pop up lounge outside of security on the public side of Terminal One Toronto Pearson International Airport while their renovations were continuing. When I stopped by in February and more recently in June 2022, it didn’t look like much was happening at their old original space so hopefully they haven’t given up on the project. The lounge renovation was expected to be completed by May 2022, so it appears quite behind schedule.
It’s also worth mentioning that the other Plaza Premium Lounges at Toronto Pearson airport do not appear to be impacted by the Terminal One – Domestic closure. These locations appear to be running normally.
Locating the Plaza Premium Concept Lounge:
After checking into Air Canada Signature Business Class Toronto – Vancouver, I wandered over to the Plaza Premium Concept Pop Up Lounge.
The only space that they could get was some outside of security “public” space located in a closed food court that likely closed as result of the pandemic.
Map Courtesy of Toronto Pearson Airport Authority
I crossed the security zone area, and wandered over to the lounge. I passed by the abandoned Starbucks, which had been shuttered since travellers only were permitted inside the airport itself.
I eventually continued on past the doomed retail outlets towards the space used for the Plaza Premium Concept Lounge. The way was well marked by temporary pop up banners.
It’s especially worth noting that this lounge is on the public side of the airport. Given that Toronto Pearson International Airport has been known to have substantial security lines at time, it’s a wise idea to keep your eyes on the security line length, prior to committing to any length of time at the concept pop up lounge.
While attending the lounge reportedly offers a complimentary fast track card, I didn’t receive one perhaps because I was already travelling in Air Canada Signature Business Class Toronto – Vancouver, and would have been entitled to priority screening anyway.
Accessing the Plaza Premium Lounge:
The Plaza Premium Lounge at Toronto Pearson Terminal One is accessed through a variety of methods:
The Lounge offers pay entries at the front reception, subject to space availability. Prices listed on the door started at $50 CAD, which is similar to the advance on line rate.
The Lounge offers visits booked through their website, in advance. These visits are tiered based on the amount of time that you stay. Rates during our visit were between $50.87 CAD ($40 USD) for a two hour visit, to $60.81 CAD ($50 USD) for a three hour stay.
For members holding the American Express Platinum Cards, access is also granted through the American Express Membership Lounge Program. Access can be granted by presenting an American Express Platinum Card at the front counter. Plaza Premium Lounges used to be part of Priority Pass until their unceremonious divorce during the pandemic.
Access to the lounge was granted through the American Express Platinum Card on a complimentary basis. The manager reception swiped my American Express Platinum Card and allowed me in.
Inside the Plaza Premium Lounge:
The Plaza Premium Concept Pop Up Lounge has plunked itself down in an otherwise seating area of the food fair concourse. In a sense, this was a great use of otherwise unused space.
There were impressive secure side views of the walkway amid natural day light spaces. The high ceilings of the public departures hall also gave the area a lot of natural light. This was probably the most redeeming feature of the lounge. It was a marked and noted upgrade from their old Plaza Premium space, which was quite compact and cosy.
The Plaza Premium Concept Pop Up Lounge space has been occupied by the usual colourful Plaza Premium chairs that are typically found in its lounges around the world. The lounge was almost completely deserted during my visit here, and there was no challenges locating a place to sit.
In addition to the usual Plaza Premium Loungers, there were also a combination of tables and chairs available for seating.
Food and Beverage:
There were some food items available for consumption. I never usually find Plaza Premium Lounge Food to be all that appealing, although I do commend them for usually offering more food at regular times throughout the day compared to the legacy airline lounges that typically only offer meal type food and meal times.
The food and beverage set up at the Plaza Premium Concept Lounge is a combination of pre-served and made to order food. Most of the food and beverage service is oriented around the bar, which is covered in service offerings.
There were also stand alone tables that were offering some small salty snacks. Like many Plaza Premium Lounges and Asian restaurants, there were models of the available food items.
Never one to pass up a food source, I tried some pasta which came as mushroom Alfredo over Spaghetti. While the presentation didn’t look all to appealing, it was actually much tastier than it looked.
In terms of beverages, the lounge offered a pop up full service bar service. In a trend that I’ve noticed in other Plaza Premium Lounges, alcohol was mostly for purchase and not available on a complimentary basis. As a result, I stuck with water and orange juice.
After a short stay, I headed off to my Air Canada Signature Business Class Toronto – Vancouver flight.
The Bottom Line: The Plaza Premium Concept Pop Up Lounge Toronto
The Plaza Premium Concept Pop Up Lounge was designed to be an interim lounge space renovations were completed on their primary lounge space within the secure side of Terminal One at Toronto Pearson International Airport. In this temporary space, the lounge offers a much more spacious version than the old Plaza Premium Lounge. The main disadvantage is that this lounge is located on the wrong side of security, which greatly impair it’s usage and relaxation features when long security lines are becoming ever more present at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
If you travel through Toronto Pearson International Airport, are the Plaza Premium Lounges part of your regular journey ?
After my car was rear ended in a car accident coming home after a weekend of skiing, it came time to find a new car. It wasn’t as easy as I expected buying a car in today’s environment for a whole host of modern day reasons that included a messed up supply chain, a global climate change wet weather flood and lack of vehicles in the market place today. How did I end up in the end? Read on to find out…
This post is one chapter on our trip during the pandemic to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to Buy a Car. This trip was enhanced through Air Canada Aeroplan Elite Status and Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Travelling 4,300km to Buy a Car
- Air Canada Signature Business Class Pandemic Edition: Vancouver – Toronto
- Toronto Airport Marriott Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- The Process of Buying an Audi on the Internet, Ontario, Canada
- Plaza Premium Toronto Concept Pop Up Lounge – Terminal 1, Toronto, Canada
- Air Canada Signature Business Class Pandemic Edition: Toronto – Vancouver
- My Experience Shipping a Car Across Canada
Activity: The Process of Buying an Audi – on the Internet, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
For several months on the Pacific Northwest region of North America, it was virtually impossible to purchase a vehicle. A combination of several factors made car buying extremely difficult.
Firstly, a massive flooding event through the Fraser Valley caused a lot of flooded vehicles that were written off as a total loss. The flooding was so large, it had it’s own wikipedia entry. Secondly, there were challenging supply chain disruptions as a result of the pandemic that saw car deliveries delayed or deferred as a result of semi conductor chip shortages. Thirdly, I was looking in January / February which was in the middle of the car year model switch over from years 2021 to 2022. Typically, this would be a great time to find a left over model, but even these were going for full price with over a year of depreciation on them. Lastly, my own particular and eccentric tastes in vehicles led to a difficult first world situation to over come.
Buying a Car in Today’s Environment:
I have always been a bit of a car fanatic with tastes towards the rare and unusual. I’m usually found zipping up to Whistler, Canada on a year round basis, so I needed something that had the ability to store a fair amount of sports gear that included skis, mountain bikes and stand up paddleboards, among the ability to handle well along a twisty mountain highway.
Over the years, these particular car tastes have manifested themselves through ownership of some different cars. My favourite was a 2001 BMW 540i Touring; a fabulous car that met all the requirements for space, terrific power but fell a little short on the winter roads with a rear wheel drive drive train. I owned a 2003 BMW 325xi Touring, which great but a little snug in size and less exciting in the pwer department. Most recently, it’s been a 2011 BMW 535i Gran Turismo; the closest thing to a wagon since BMW stopped bringing in wagons to North America as everyone except for myself prefers a heavier Sport Utility Vehicle. While it was great as a comfortable cruiser, BMW lost a lot of it’s Ultimate Driving Machine DNA in favor of a more luxurious ride.
Searching for a Replacement Vehicle:
When my car was written off, I went to the internet to find a replacement vehicle. There wasn’t a whole lot out there in the wagon department with only Mercedes, Audi and Volvo really selling things that I was interested in.
Eventually, after looking at a few Mercedes E450 wagons, I found that they looked a little old school. The interior was pretty low tech and for a model that started it’s life in the year 2017, it was already starting to look a little dated 3 years into the model cycle.
Deciding on an Audi A6:
Despite being with BMW for over 20 years, I ended up test driving an 2021 Audi A6 sedan in Vancouver, Canada. I found that the BMW had lost a lot of it’s DNA spirit lately with the newer generation of cars and they just don’t seem to be tuned for exciting driving anymore. Instead, they’ve opted for a softer, more luxurious smoother ride.
Calling in at Audi Downtown Vancouver, the dealership offered up a white 2021 Audi A6 Progressive model that included a 21 inch sport wheel package, head up display and black shadow package. The car was a beautiful car that was nice and speedy. Unfortunately it was white in colour and the fact that it was just a sedan caused me a lot of thought on whether the smaller trunk storage space was something I could work with.
Even MrsWT73 could sense my trepidation with the car and whether it was the right fit when she snapped this photo during our test drive. She captured me in a expression of indecision of whether this test drive was joy or despair.
In the even, I passed on the white model much to the dismay of Vancouver Downtown Audi and went on the search for an Audi A6 Allroad wagon.
Locating an Audi A6 Wagon:
I considered buying a new vehicle using the European Delivery features allowing you to pick up your car in Europe and evenutally ship it home. Unfortunately, the pandemic put an end to all that with BMW and Mercedes discontinuing these options with Volvo being the only manufactuer still offering the ability to have a car delivered in Europe.
I resigned my search to dealers within Canada. I eventually located an Audi A6 wagon at an Audi dealership in the Metropolitan Toronto area at Audi Durham dealership. The 2020 Audi A6 Wagon with a clean CarFax accident report met all the qualifications and configurations to my liking. The only problem was that it was 4,300 km or 2080 miles from my home.
After some dialogue with the dealer, they agreed to hold the vehicle for me while I came out across Canada for a test drive.
Travelling to Audi Durham:
I travelled out to Toronto on Air Canada Signature Business Class Vancouver – Toronto, and eventually departed the Toronto Airport Marriott Hotel. The next morning, I set out in the winter towards the Audi Durham dealership. It was a rainy winter day in Toronto and it was a pretty bleak drive out to Audi Durham through Toronto’s clogged east / west super Highway 401.
After about thirty five minutes up the highway in the rented Infiniti Q50, I found myself at Audi Durham. Audi Durham is a small family run dealership that has been “family owned” since 1972. As a suburb of Greater Toronto, the dealership is a little bit on the smaller side.
Inside the show room, I met my sales representative. While there was a shortage of cars in Vancouver, there certainly wasn’t the same issue here. The show room was full of cars.
After the introductions, I was led into the back where I got to take a close look at the Audi A6 Allroad for the first time. The car being offered was a 2020 Audi A6 All road Progressive in Firmanent Blue with a Driver Assistant Package and a 20 inch V Spoke Design Upgrade Wheel Package. The dealer had it in great clean condition for a pre-owned vehicle that was located in a wet winter climate of Ontario, Canada.
I really enjoy the understated look of the interior of the Audi A6, which is the right blend of luxury, technology and “avant garde” lines that compliment each other harmoniously. The fact that it was also a rare car numbering less than 527 production Audi A6 models (sedan and Allroad) for Model Year 2020 sold within Canada, made the A6 Allroad wagon even rarer with numbers likely below 100 All Road production units for the model year that were sold throughout Canada.
The car was in reasonably good shape for a car that only had 14 months of life on the warranty. A careful walk around didn’t yield any major nicks or marks in the dark colour. While I’m not usually a fan of white or black, the dark blue was wasn’t a deal breaker, despite the ease in which a dark coloured car shows marking. The car also didn’t have any aftermarket window tint, which is over rated in my humble opinion and takes away from the clean look of any luxury vehicle.
After a through walk around and inspection, it was time for a test drive around the neighbourhood. After having driven the other Audi A6 model in Vancouver, I knew what to expect.
The car was already left in dynamic driving mode by the previous driver and was terrifically sporty for what I needed. During the careful test drive, I ensured that it tracked straight and had no usual odours or other issues with it.
After that test drive around the neighbourhood. the decision was easy.
This was it.
It had the space, the exclusivity and enough driving pizzazz to keep me entertained for at least a while. I had the paperwork all prepared by the dealership within the hour. With e-document signing, electronic signing was really easy.
Before I knew it, I was headed back to the Toronto Airport Marriott Hotel for some afternoon work calls. I was relieved not to have to rely on the public transit bus back home knowing that my days of riding the bus were coming to an end.
I had an afternoon at the hotel prior to returning home after the work day on Air Canada Signature Business Class Toronto – Vancouver. I would have the car Shipped by Rail to Vancouver in a separate process.
My Thoughts on Buying a Car:
It’s never a fun experience buying a car. However, the internet makes sourcing inventory a lot easier and with e-documents, it’s pretty easy getting transactions done. While I can appreciate that dealers have inventory to move, I was very appreciative to Audi Durham for providing a great service and holding the car subject to an inspection.
If you have recently bought a car, how smooth was your buying process in today’s supply chain environment ?
When I needed a night to stay in Toronto on a brief trip, The Toronto Airport Marriott Hotel was the best off airport option of the Marriott hotel brands. In addition to offering everything that is expected from a Marriott, including a pool, gym and a concierge lounge, the property offered very pleasant interactions with it’s staff who genuinely made my stay more pleasant.
This post is one chapter on our trip during the pandemic to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to Buy a Car. This trip was enhanced through Air Canada Aeroplan Elite Status and Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Travelling 4,300km to Buy a Car
- Air Canada Signature Business Class Pandemic Edition: Vancouver – Toronto
- Toronto Airport Marriott Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- The Process of Buying an Audi on the Internet, Ontario, Canada
- Plaza Premium Toronto Concept Pop Up Lounge – Terminal 1, Toronto, Canada
- Air Canada Signature Business Class Pandemic Edition: Toronto – Vancouver
- My Experience Shipping a Car Across Canada
Review: Toronto Airport Marriott Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
“An older full service Marriott near Toronto Pearson International Airport, that offers exceptionally friendly service at every interaction”
Booking the Toronto Airport Marriott:
I was only in Toronto for the sole purpose of inspecting a car for purchase. It didn’t really matter to me where to stay. As a result, I ended up staying close to the Toronto Pearson International Airport.
There were a usual list of hotels at or near the airport in the Marriott chain. I bypassed the in terminal Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Toronto Pearson International Airport where we had stayed previously, as it was pricing at around the $250 CAD mark. Most of the other airport hotels also had soft demand and were pricing around the $100 – $140 CAD range.
As I was going to have a rental car, I ended up staying at the Marriott Toronto Pearson International Airport. I was able to find a rate for $129 that included free parking and a grab and go breakfast. As a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium member, I would also have M Club Lounge access at this property. This would be an advantage over staying at the Westin, the Residence Inns’ the Element, Aloft’s or the Four Points that did not offer a lounge.
The hotel participates in the Marriott Bonvoy rewards program. The rates under their new variable pricing ranged from 19,200 (point savers) to 24,000 per night. As the cash price was so reasonable, I stuck with the paid rates. If you value Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.005 cents per point, you’d have to have a paid room rate of more than $120 to come out ahead redeeming Marriott Bonvoy points versus paying cash.
Getting to the Toronto Airport Marriott:
After arriving off Air Canada Signature Business Class Vancouver – Toronto, I found my way to the Hertz garage at Toronto Pearson International Airport Terminal One.
While the Toronto Airport Marriott hotel offered a shared shuttle service, it was easier for my needs to rent a vehicle considering I was going to be zipping around Toronto over my visit. The shuttle service was running every 30 minutes on 0:00 and 0:30 during my visit. It didn’t appear to be getting much use from travellers that I could see as I rarely saw it in use.
Hertz at Toronto Pearson International Airport is the only location in Canada that offers Hertz Ultimate Choice. As a Hertz President’s Circle member, I was able to choose any car in the aisle.
Today’s President’s Circle Ultimate Choice selection was pretty underwhelming. With only 5 President’s Circle vehicles to chose from between a few Toyota Camry’s and a few Dodge Chargers; unfortunately not super aspirational vehicles in the rental car world.
I ended up doing a $30 upgrade to an Infiniti Q50 just for giggles and because you only live once.
It was a short drive up to the Marriott Toronto Airport. The Toronto Airport Marriott is located a short seven minute drive away from the airport in a pretty middle of nowhere light industrial neighbourhood.
On my drive out, I got a little turned around thanks to a little slow uptick on the Google Maps GPS under the parkades and overhead viaducts. However, it was only a 6 minute drive away, with the hotel being easy to find.
Checking into the Toronto Airport Marriott:
On arrival to the Marriott, I self parked out front. The hotel was built in 1986 and the rooms were last renovated in 2008. As a result, the hotel environment is consistent with the nineteen eighties era. The Toronto Airport Marriott hotel has a somewhat monolithic and brutalist architecture look to it.
I was received at the door by an actual door man which I was not expecting for an airport Marriott. I was pointed towards the front desk and helped immediately.
There was no wait at check in and a friendly reception provided instructions to the room, along with certifying my vaccine status for entry into the restaurants, lounge and pool areas. The check in was unusually pleasant for a high turnover airport hotel. My vaccination status was checked, and I was given a card with an expiry date and a Green Check Mark which was to be used for all restaurant, pool, meeting space and M Lounge areas.
My room rate included complimentary parking and a grab and go breakfast. The parking did not need a voucher or a pass displayed on the dash, but I had to present a licence plate at the front desk. The Marriott Bonvoy Elite breakfast was offered in the M Lounge (which was thankfully open) or the hotel Showcase restaurant located in the lobby. I took the 1,000 points as the Marriott Bonvoy welcome bonus.
I was also provided a $10 Food and Beverage Voucher as a result of the lounge “offering reduced services”. I think this was more of a courtesy touch as the lounge experience was pretty typical for a North American lounge in my recent Marriott visits.
I was also able to get a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium late check out of 4 PM without any negotiation or haggling. This was appreciated so that I could manage my work calls during the day.
The Room: Guest Room, One King
I led myself up to room #856. While I didn’t receive a room category upgrade as a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium member, I did get a high floor which was one down from the top with a pleasant view. It was a bleak winter view from the elevator foyer windows that somewhat represented the cold realities of a winter Toronto stay.
The room itself is the traditional Marriott yellow and red themed room. The room was quite compact at 340 sq feet. It was fine for a solo traveller, although two travellers together would probably be pressing it a little bit.
The room featured lots of available plug ins. I was able to plug in two computers (a laptop and a table) along with two phones.
The bathroom was compact. The sink was located just off the entrance way in a semi public area which wasn’t very private.
The toiletries were the standard “this works” branded soaps, shampoos and conditioners.
Based on the floor layout, there appeared to be limited suites at this property. Many of the upgrade opportunities appeared to exist with corner rooms as there appeared to be only a few suite per floor.
Like many airport hotels, the views from the room were not super impressive. In the best case scenarios, an airport hotel will give you a view of runway or airside operations. In this case, the Toronto Airport Marriott hotel is located too far away from the airport for this to happen. While there was a view of the winter snow covered golf course, there were also views of a less inspiring container facility. Occasionally, there were views of aircraft on final approach to their runways.
There was the usual Marriott filtered coffeemaker in the room, in addition to bottled water.
The room offered a straight forward room service menu from the Showcase Restaurant. This was perfect for those experiencing late arrivals to the property.
There was a little airplane noise from the adjacent runway. The hotel is close enough in proximity to the airport that the hotel has red aircraft landing lights on the roof. This background went on until about midnight, until flight operations pretty much wound down for the day.
The room noise itself was pretty quiet without much noise coming from the hotel itself. However, the area was quite windy and rainy. I had a pretty sleepless night overall at this property with the wind weather noise, which has nothing to do with the hotel.
Around the Property:
M Lounge (Executive Lounge),
The property offers an M Lounge located just off the lobby and adjacent to the Showcase Restaurant. During our visit, it was open and accessible for those staying on a Concierge Level Floor and on a complimentary basis for Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Titanium and Ambassador Bonvoy Elite members per the terms of the Marriott Bonvoy program.
The meal timings were as follows:
- Breakfast 06:30 AM – 11:00 AM
- Lunch 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM
- Dinner 5:00 PM – 10:30 PM
- Grab and Go Items: 5:30 AM – 1:45 AM.
I redeemed my $10 food and beverage voucher against a 9oz Glass of J Lohr Merlot in the lounge. It was brought over with waiter services along with a bag of chips, along with very kind offers to adjust the television from news to sports to whatever I wanted to watch. They were very hospitable and went above and beyond what I was expecting within an M Club Executive Lounge.
Food was also available to order within the lounge from the adjacent Wayside Bar and Restaurant. The food could also be enjoyed in the lounge for those looking for a more casual eating experience, instead of from within a proper restaurant environment.
Food and Beverage:
The Toronto Marriott Airport hotel is located within a bunch of airport hotels in a neighbourhood that has all the charm of a light industrial complex. While there are a few steakhouses within a short walking distance, chances are if it’s a wintery evening during your stay, you’re likely to remain on property at one of the hotel options.
Wayside Social Café and Bar:
Marriott Platinum Breakfast:
The next morning I went to Wayside Social Café and Bar is the hotel’s all in one food and beverage offering that offers table seating, in addition to bar seating in the form of bar seating and high top seating.
I was presented the whole menu to order from which included hot items. I was asked to sign a bill that would be deducted off the room folio.
I ended up ordering a Continental Healthy Plate with Yogurt, Multi Gran toast and fresh fruit. As it was about 3 AM Pacific Standard Time when I was up for breakfast, I went with the light option.
The bill came with “M” Lounge written across the top. There were no issues with billing and the matter was handled promptly.
Much of the same items were available to order in the lounge. As with the M Lounge Experience, all the staff were older and exceptionally friendly.
Hotel Gym and Indoor Pool:
The hotel offers a moderately sized gym and indoor pool. The operating hours were as follows:
- Gym: 05:00 AM – 9:00 PM
- Pool: 09:00 AM – 9:00 PM
At the time of my visit, an advance reservation through the front desk was required for both facilities due to the health pandemic.
While I didn’t use the gym or the pool, it was nice to have the option available. There was nothing special about the place; there were no feature walls or amazing views. Rather, the emphasis here was on functionality and having an available space to work out, if needed.
The Toronto Airport Marriott Bottom Line:
The hotel offered everything that you would expect from a full service marriott. The hotel happened to be located in a less than exciting neighbourhood without much around it in terms of restaurants or attractions to see. While it didn’t beat the convenience of the Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Toronto Pearson International Airport, for those looking for a Marriott to stay when it doesn’t matter what the local neighbourhood looks like, the hotel will meet your needs. Lastly, it was well worth noting that the staff at this particular property were terrific to deal with and pleasant in every regard.
If you regularly stay near Toronto Pearson International Airport, is there an airport hotel that you prefer?
Air Canada offers a variety of business class cabins and aircraft to cross Canada on a trans continental trip. One of the best ways to do it is in their flagship Air Canada Signature Business Class Cabin. Air Canada Signature Class offers an end to end experience which offers a fully flat bed in an executive pod. While we’ve taken this trip several times, it would be our first time travelling this route during the pandemic. What would the service changes be under this new health environment?
This post is one chapter on our trip during the pandemic to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to Buy a Car. This trip was enhanced through Air Canada Aeroplan Elite Status and Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Travelling 4,300km to Buy a Car
- Air Canada Signature Business Class Pandemic Edition: Vancouver – Toronto
- Toronto Airport Marriott Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- The Process of Buying an Audi on the Internet, Ontario, Canada
- Plaza Premium Toronto Concept Pop Up Lounge – Terminal 1, Toronto, Canada
- Air Canada Signature Business Class Pandemic Edition: Toronto – Vancouver
- My Experience Shipping a Car Across Canada
Review: Air Canada Signature Business Class – Pandemic Edition B777-300ER, Vancouver International Airport – Toronto Pearson International Airport – Terminal One.
I purchased a regular economy class ticket in the Flex category. I was able to upgrade into the Air Canada Signature Business Class cabin as a result of e-upgrades courtesy of the Air Canada Aeroplan Elite status. For more on the upgrade process, please see the trip introduction.
Getting to Vancouver International Airport:
Unusually because I had no vehicle, and MrsWT73 didn’t fancy getting up at 4 AM to give me a ride to the airport, I took the public transit bus from the house to the airport.
After a 4:45 AM wake up, I walked up to the local bus stop to catch the 5:42 AM Translink Route 351 Express to Bridgeport Skytrain Station connecting onwards to the Skytrain Canada Line. It was a mere $2.45 CAD on my Transit Compass Card and about an hour getting to the airport.
On arrival to the Vancouver International Airport at 6:15 AM, I went to go get a boarding pass re-print. Air Canada had disabled most of the kiosks as a result of the mandatory Canadian vaccination check for flying within Canada. The line at the Air Canada Priority Counters was looking a little long at 6 – 7 persons deep so I ended up giving up on the paper boarding card idea and relying on my electronic boarding card.
Not knowing what the food situation was going to be like in the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, I had a quick Tim Horton’s breakfast snack on the public side of the domestic terminal. I ended up bypassing the nearby Plaza Premium Vancouver Domestic “C” Lounge and navigated myself through CATSA security and made my way to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Domestic.
Visiting the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge:
The Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver Domestic is accessible and complimentary on any Air Canada Business Class ticket (upgrade, award miles or revenue ticket). It can also be accessed through select credit cards and annual memberships. I’ve visited and reviewed the lounge several times before, so I won’t get into much details.
Since my last visit through the lounge, the lounge has returned to normal seating and spacing and things are looking much more normal than they once were.
Unfortunately, the food situation was pretty empty with fruit smoothies and pre-packed cottage cheese being the only items on offer. I was happy that I had stopped elsewhere for some food earlier on in the day.
Air Canada
AC 104 – Signature Business Class (R)
YVR – YYZ (Vancouver International Airport – Toronto Pearson International Airport)
February 16, 2022
8:40 AM – 4:01 PM
Booked: Boeing 777-300 ER
Flown: Boeing 777-300 ER
At 7:45 AM our 65 minutes before the flight was set to depart, I made my way down to gate C51. These gates are the swing gates in Vancouver that also accommodate international wide body aircraft.
The aircraft was boarding group one by the time that I arrived. As a result, I ended up walking straight on board just prior to the larger Group 2 boarding zone. There was single get bridge boarding today, despite both bridges being connected. I boarded through door 2L and found my way to my seat.
On Board Air Canada Signature Business Class:
Air Canada calls its domestic Business Class “Signature Class” if you are flying in an executive pod. If you happen to find yourself flying transcontinental in a regular business class seat, it’s just called Air Canada Business Class.
The Air Canada Signature Class includes business class seating in a proper reverse herringbone pod that reclines to fully flat.
The Air Canada Signature Business Class is set up on the Boeing 777-300 ER in a 1 – 2- 1 configuration. While the Air Canada Boeing 777-300 ER is generally to be avoided in the economy class configuration as a result of its high density seating of ten across (3 – 4 – 3) seating, the same compact high density issues do not present themselves in business class.
On the Boeing 777-300ER, there are two business class cabins separated by a galley. The front cabin consists of seven rows of business class and the rear cabin consists of four rows of business class.
My seat today was in the rear cabin at Row 10K – a window seat.
The pod is super comfortable for seating and working. It’s the ideal set up for trans-continental travel across Canada. There is space adjacent to the seat for laptops, work materials and other items.
On arrival to the seat, there was a bottle of Naya bottled water. There was also a pillow and a blanket on the seat. Consistent with our pandemic times, there was also an Air Canada Clean + Care containing a medicinal mask, two benzalkonium chloride wipes and a small package of Guard sanitizing gel with Vitamin E.
There is a cubby space for storage of phones and devices. The cubby storage space has both empower plug ins, a USB connection and a head phone connection.
On arrival to the seat, there was a bottle of Naya bottled water. There was also a pillow and a blanket on the seat. Consistent with our pandemic times, there was also an Air Canada Clean + Care consisting of a medicinal mask, two benzalkonium chloride wipes and a small package of Guard sanitizing gel with Vitamin E.
Pre Departure Services:
The menus were dropped off while we were waiting on the ground. The menu also included a wine list. There were no pre-departures beverages offered. The menu order was taken while on the ground in Vancouver.
The captain came on with a public address announcement to describe a flight time of 3 hours and 50 minutes with door to door time of 4 hours and 21 minutes. They anticipated a smooth flight.
The Entertainment: Advanced Video on Demand
Air Canada offers an advanced video on demand system. The system offers a touch screen and is easily navigated through either touching the screen or using a wired remote.
Like many other carriers, Air Canada has offered aspiration photographs of the destination that cycle through the monitor.
The entertainment system features several movies consistent with the Boeing 777-300ER’s regular function as a long distance international carrier. There were approximately 40 movies and about 20 television series available from the entertainment system. The headphones of the noise cancelling variety were provided along with the ability to plug into a triple prong plug.
The entertainment system also provided the flight track map. Today’s flight would have us travelling along the Canada – United States border towards our destination of Toronto.
Amenity Kits:
The Amenity Kit that was previously presented on this route has gone the way of the do – do bird and was completely absent for this route. It seemed like this has been cut as a result of cost savings.
The truth be told, I didn’t really miss it. Anything that was essential was provided in the Air Canada Care+ Package provided earlier in the flight.
Departing Vancouver:
We got underway in Vancouver on Runway 06R. We had a beautiful winter departure over the Pacific Northwest mountains that were completely covered in snow.
The Meal: A Full Breakfast
The breakfast menu on Air Canada Business Class is pretty much the same over the years. It typically features an omelette and pancakes as the two main menu options. While Air Canada has paired with several celebrity chefs that include Antonio Park, Vikram Vij and Hawksworth, none of them make any real presence through a dish on the breakfast menu.
Today’s menu included a wine list which featured the usual Niagara region wines, in addition to some new world favourites from Argentina.
For today’s breakfast, I enjoyed Lavazza freshly brewed coffee and Bottega Millesimato Brut sparkling wine.
This was served with Fruit Salad, Croissant, Butter Jam, Chia Seed Pudding, Roasted Coconut.
The chia seed pudding with roasted coconut was certainly interesting. The coconut itself wasn’t all to roasted in taste, and had more of an artificial flavour to it.
The Parsley Omelette main dish was quite bland and not very exciting for my taste buds. With a mild overcook or well cooked dependent on your perspective, it was a smallish portion that wasn’t super exciting. The Red Pepper relish wasn’t all too strong or flavourful enough to add much pizzazz to the dish.
There seemed to be substantially less mask enforcement as compared to my past Air Canada Jazz flights and substantially less than my last United Airlines Business Class flghts that expected masks on, even in between sips and bites. At the conclusion of meal service, Air Canada service director completed a general announcement asking for masks to be put back on.
After the dishes were cleared way, the disappeared for rest of flight; not necessarily a bad thing given the short to medium distance of this flight.
The Second Service: A Snack & Beverage Service
At about 90 minutes before landing, there was a second service. Today’s second service consisted of a cello wrapped plastic bag of snacks, along with a drink service.
The plastic bag was a little overkill but perhaps the easiest way to distribute a napkin, potato chip bag and a chocolate bar. Inside the bag was a Miss Vickies Potato Chip bag and a full size 35g Lindt Excellence Dark Chocolate bar. This was paired with James West Pinot Noir from California. While chips and Pinot Noir don’t normally go together, who’s complaining?
My flight ticked down toward the end and the four hour journey ended pretty quickly.
I landed in Toronto Pearson international Airport and headed off to the Toronto Airport Marriott hotel for my brief stay on this trip.
My Thoughts on Air Canada Signature Class:
In a world where most of the trans-continental flights are on less exciting narrow body jets, the ability to easily fly on a wide body aircraft Boeing 777-300 ER that happens to be well aligned with your schedule is a sublime experience. The Air Canada Signature Class remains the most comfortable way to cross Canada comfortably seated in a reasonably spacious executive pod. While the food and the lounge food service wasn’t all to exciting, the comfort of the seat far outweighed any disadvantage of lack luster food. Air Canada Signature Class remains the most comfortable way to cross Canada.
If you travel between the Pacific Northwest and Toronto, do you try to route yourself in Air Canada Signature Class ?
This different trip report outlined a trip that I took for a most unusual reason: to purchase a unique car all the way across the other side of one of the largest countries in the world. This report outlines the story of my unfortunate recent car accident, and my efforts to locate a replacement car. I would end up heading all the way across Canada to find the exact car that I wanted, along with my experience shipping this car back home for it’s new life on the West Coast.
This post is one chapter on our trip during the pandemic to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to Buy a Car. This trip was enhanced through Air Canada Aeroplan Elite Status and Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Travelling 4,300km to Buy a Car
- Air Canada Signature Business Class Pandemic Edition: Vancouver – Toronto
- Toronto Airport Marriott Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- The Process of Buying an Audi on the Internet, Ontario, Canada
- Plaza Premium Toronto Concept Pop Up Lounge – Terminal 1, Toronto, Canada
- Air Canada Signature Business Class Pandemic Edition: Toronto – Vancouver
- My Experience Shipping a Car Across Canada
Trip Introduction: Travelling 4,300 km to Buy a Car – Toronto, Canada via Air Canada Signature Business Class
On my way back from a usual early winter weekend of skiing in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada my car ended up getting rear ended on the Second Narrows Bridge that separates the North Shore from Vancouver the rest of Canada. While the driver behind me swerved at the last minute, it took a giant gash out of the side of my unique and somewhat rare BMW 5 Series Grand Turismo.
Although I was able to limp the car home without a tow truck, the exhaust manifold was pretty finished.
I would later learn that as a result of a rare fender and a quarter body panel that would have to be shipped from Germany and take several months, the insurance corporation had intended to write off my car as a total loss.
While it wasn’t such a bad impact on the car accident scale, it was sad to see a car go based on what appeared to be a small area of damage.
Near the same time, there was an atmospheric river that resulted heavy rains and a in a massive flood within the nearby Fraser Valley that resulted in several hundreds, or possibly thousands of vehicles, being written off as a result of water submersion damage. This added substantial pressure and demand on the car marker in the Pacific Northwest.
Trying to Buy a Replacement Car:
In addition to the local flooding damage, the pandemic chip shortage also resulted in several difficulties in locating a new or used vehicle. After I had settled with the insurance company on my car in late January 2022, the model year switch over from 2021 to 2022 was also in effect.
I had several trips with appointments to the local car dealerships. In almost each case, any low mileage used cars were being bought out from underneath me; at times with only a few hours notice. The local Audi dealer even went so far to tell me that some Audi models were completely sold out for 2022, making ordering one not a guaranteed or timely solution.
During this process, I test drove a leftover 2021 Audi A6 model with 140km on the odometer. While it was a beautiful car, I was a little concerned with the small trunk space. We are typically loading up the car for a swervy trip up the Sea to Sky Highway up to Whistler full of ski and sporting gear.
I wasn’t completely sold on the white A6 model, which you can almost read on my face during the test drive.
I figured that if I was going to outlay that kind of money for a vehicle, I’d better get exactly what I want.
As a result of all these factors, I ended up checking the BMW, Mercedes and Audi websites every day for new and used inventory. I had my heart set on a European Wagon, which was only available by Mercedes, Audi or Volvo. The wagons are pretty rare in Canada as most favour a sport utility vehicle instead which comes with extra weight and fuel expense.
Deciding on an Audi Wagon:
In the end, I ended up putting down a deposit on a rare in Canada Audi A6 Allroad wagon at Audi Durham. The only issue was that the dealership happened to be 2,088 miles and 4,300 kilometres away from my home town in Vancouver.
While I could have just purchased the car outright and unseen, I still wanted to take a look at the car and give it a test drive. There could have been the possibility of odors or driveability that would be difficult to deal with after the car had been delivered across country. This resulted in a trip to inspect the car, and give it a test drive.
Planning the Trip:
The pandemic was still in some force in Canada with full vaccination required to step on board an aircraft. While the country remained in the tail end of the Omicron variant, most of the provinces were in the process of reducing restrictions at the time of this trip. This translated into soft demand and low pressure on airfare pricing.
I was able to book an Air Canada Flex Fare ticket between Vancouver – Toronto at 8 days out for $565 CAD. The Flex Fare earned 100% Redeemable Qualifying Miles. There was a promotion on at the time offering double status qualifying miles (200% Status Qualifying Miles). In addition to the promotions, as an Aeroplan Elite 35k level (Star Alliance Silver) member, I earned a further 35% Aeroplan miles bonus on this trip.
I used Air Canada Aeroplan e-upgrades to upgrade into Air Canada Business Class. As the flight was over 1,500 miles, Air Canada sought 10 e-upgrade credits for this flight. These went completely to waste during my status last year in 2020 since I didn’t actually travel anywhere that offered a business class cabin. I figured that I would throw them down for use this year on the wide body aircraft with a proper executive class pod. The process for using an e-upgrade involves signing into your account and requesting it at any time before your flight. In my case, I was waitlisted for available business class space.
I would end up getting upgraded almost immediately at the 7 day mark each way thanks to soft travel demand. I returned to the site to select a new window seat. The e-upgrades into a wide body business class cabin is arguably the best use of these since it’s the same price to upgrade into a classic recliner seat on a narrow body aircraft which is a substantially less exciting and less spacious experience.
Hotel Planning:
I was only in Toronto for the sole purpose of inspecting the car. It didn’t really matter to me where to stay so I ended up staying close to the Toronto Pearson International Airport. There were a usual list of hotels at or near the airport in the Marriott chain. I bypassed the in terminal Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Toronto Pearson International Airport where we had stayed previously, as it was pricing at around the $250 CAD mark. Most of the other airport hotels also had soft travel demand and were pricing around the $100 – $140 CAD range.
As I was going to have a rental car, I ended up staying at the Toronto Airport Marriott Hotel. I was able to find a rate for $129 that included free parking and a grab and go breakfast. As a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium member, I would also have M Club Lounge access at this property. This would be an advantage over staying at the Westin, the Residence Inns’ the Element, Aloft’s or the Four Points that did not offer any lounge.
For local transportation, I rented a car through my usual favourite Hertz at Toronto Pearson International Airport. The Hertz offers Ultimate Choice at Toronto Pearson International Airport. As a Hertz President’s Circle member, I was able to select any car from the rank and go.
While this was one of the more brief trips that I had taken, it certainly met the overall purpose of what I was trying to accomplish. It ultimately ended up in a car being delivered to Vancouver
Our points and miles redemption summary:
In summary, I earned and redeemed:
- Toronto Airport Marriott Hotel: Paid Stay
- Earned 3,006 Marriott Bonvoy Points (1,146 base + 860 Elite + 1000 Extra)
- Air Canada Flights: Paid Flight
- Vancouver – Toronto
- Earned 2,076 Aeroplan Points plus 727 Elite Status Bonus
- Toronto – Vancouver
- Earned 2,076 Aeroplan Points plus 727 Elite Status Bonus
- Vancouver – Toronto
- Redeemed 20 e-upgrade credits for an upgrade from economy into Air Canada Signature Business Class
I hope you’ll join us on an overnight trip, for a pretty unusual and unique reason.
If you have flown quick overnight transcontinental trips, what tips do you have to make the trip go smoother ?
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.
If you have stayed in Victoria Inner Harbour, is location important to you for your stay?
Our returning flight from Hawaii had us coming back to the mainland in terrific lie flat seats. Unfortunately, it ended up taking us to San Francisco which required a short flight to get back home to Canada. Our short return positioning flight was on United Airlines Express between San Francisco and Vancouver on their smaller Embraer 175.
This post is one chapter on our trip during the pandemic to Honolulu Oahu, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Marriott Bonvoy and further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA via United Airlines Business Class
- Coronavirus Testing for Travel: Getting Tested for Hawaii
- Fairmont Vancouver Airport, Canada
- United Airlines Business Class: Vancouver – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “F” Rotunda, USA
- United Airlines First Class: San Francisco – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, Honolulu, USA
- Tips for Walking Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Roy’s Waikiki Restaurant, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- On the Locals Beach at Waimea Bay Beach Park, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Snorkelling at Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Circling the East Coast to Waimanalo Bay Beach, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- How to Save on Hotel Parking in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- Marakume Udon, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- The Sheraton Waikiki – Kai Suite, Honolulu, USA
- The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort – Waikiki, Historic Garden Suite, Honolulu, USA
- United Club Lounge Honolulu, USA
- United Airlines First Class: Honolulu – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “G” International Terminal, USA
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “E” Concourse, USA
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: United Airlines Business Class E175, San Francisco International Airport – Vancouver International Airport
We arrived into San Francisco International Airport on United Airlines First Class Honolulu – San Francisco. After spending some time at the United Club Lounge “G” International Concourse and a quick spin through the United Club Lounge “E” Gates, it was time to board our flight back home to Vancouver.
Boarding involved a document check at the podium prior to getting on board. While it is typically common for flights to Canada, it takes some American travellers by surprise. In today’s case, we had a negative covid check and an arrive CAN pass check form.
United Airlines
Business Class (P)
SFO – YVR (San Francisco – Vancouver)
UA 5689
October 10, 2021
Booked: Embraer 175
Flown: Embraer 175
Departure: 11:08 AM
Arrival: 1:40 PM
On board United Airlines First Class on an Embraer 175:
The United Airlines First Class Embraer 175 is a 1-2 configuration in four rows of First Class for a total of 12 seats. We located our seats in 2C 2D today.
We were able to store our rolling suitcases in the overhead bins on the right hand side of the aircraft. As many Embraer flyers will recall, the Embraers only offer suitcase storage on the right hand side of the aircraft. The overhead bins on the left hand side are only large enough for purses and coats. As a result, if storage of a suitcase above your head is important to you, make sure you get there early so you can get the bin space.
The seats offered working Empower plug ins in the center console between the seats.
The seats are reasonably comfortable for short to medium haul first class. The only disadvantage is that I find the seats slightly firm.
We received the usual United Clean Plus Sanitizing Wipe on arrival to the aircraft. We were also able to watch the last of the luggage being loaded into the hold of the aircraft.
Including our Wrapped Beach Chairs from Costco
Pre-Departure Services:
There was no offer of a pre-departure beverage today. It seems that with the pandemic cost cutting, this welcoming feature was left on the chopping block during our flight today.
Departing San Francisco International Airport:
We had a sunny departure from the San Francisco International Airport. We had a very long taxi way to the runway behind another United Embraer 175 aircraft. Our views departing the San Fransisco Bay Area had us spotting the Golden Gate Bridge as we climbed to altitude.
The Meal: All – In – One Snack Bag
As we got to altitude, an All – In – One Snack bag was passed out. The bag was a substitution for any meal service that was offered on the flight. It was very similar to the bag that we had received on our flight down.
The bag contained another Dasani 237ml bottle of water, a small bag of Stellar Pretzels and a Daelmans Authentic Dutch Stroopwafer cookie. Thankfully, I had the Bacon and Cheddar Croissant at the Starbucks earlier in the day. The snack bag itself was pretty meager. For an international flight of almost two and a half hours, I frankly expected something a little more.
Thankfully, I took some actual food from the United Club on our travels that included a sandwich and a bag of Lay’s Potato chips. I would have been dead without the sandwiches.
United Airlines In Flight Entertainment:
The entertainment was available on the United App. The selection was pretty limited. There were only 2 comedy movies, 2 documentary movies and a few television shows. As a result, I didn’t bother draining the battery down in the device.
Instead of watching movies, I ended up staring out the window. As we passed Crater Lake in Oregon state, the pilot cam on to announce our view. We had a great view as we passed over Crater Lake.
Arriving into Vancouver International Airport:
We arrived after our short two hour flight into Vancouver. Surprisingly, we arrived next to Air Tahiti Nui which is typically never seen in Vancouver, Canada.
Air Tahiti Nui had been operating its flights Papeete – Vancouver – Paris to avoid the landing restrictions in the United States that prevented aircraft and alien citizens from transiting the United States of America as a result of the pandemic restrictions. The typical routing is Air Tahiti Nui Papeete – Los Angeles then onwards to Paris. In order to continue their regular daily Paris services, they had been rerouting through Canada with Vancouver as the technical stop.
We deplaned into Vancouver International Airport. We passed by the First Nations Eagle on our way to Canada Border Services Agency inspection.
Our Canadian Arrive CAN app that we had to complete for admittance into Canada worked without issue. We passed by a Lower Level Vancouver International Airport covid testing set up.
My Thoughts on United Airlines Transborder:
Our United Airlines Business Class flight from San Francisco – Vancouver was exceptionally bare bones for a Business Class experience. Despite being on a flight over two and a half hours in length, we only received a sanitizing wipe, a coffee and a pre-packaged snack bag. I got wise on my second time around and took a sandwich from the United Club to supplement the food and beverage on board.
If you travel between the United States and Canada, do you have any preference in air carrier ?
United Airlines has a very large footprint at San Francisco International Airport and runs four separate lounges at this airport. The United Club “E” Gates is the smallest United Club at the San Francisco International Airport. The lounge served many of the United Airlines regional destinations that depart from San Francisco. We would end up checking out this lounge on our circuit of the United Club’s in San Francisco.
This post is one chapter on our trip during the pandemic to Honolulu Oahu, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Marriott Bonvoy and further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA via United Airlines Business Class
- Coronavirus Testing for Travel: Getting Tested for Hawaii
- Fairmont Vancouver Airport, Canada
- United Airlines Business Class: Vancouver – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “F” Rotunda, USA
- United Airlines First Class: San Francisco – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, Honolulu, USA
- Tips for Walking Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Roy’s Waikiki Restaurant, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- On the Locals Beach at Waimea Bay Beach Park, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Snorkelling at Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Circling the East Coast to Waimanalo Bay Beach, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- How to Save on Hotel Parking in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- Marakume Udon, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- The Sheraton Waikiki – Kai Suite, Honolulu, USA
- The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort – Waikiki, Historic Garden Suite, Honolulu, USA
- United Club Lounge Honolulu, USA
- United Airlines First Class: Honolulu – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “G” International Terminal, USA
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “E” Concourse, USA
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: United Club Lounge, San Francisco International Airport – “E” Concourse, California, United States of America
We arrived into San Francisco International Airport on United Airlines First Class: Honolulu – San Francisco. We had a four hour connection to use up prior to continuing onwards on United Airlines Business Class San Francisco – Vancouver, as a result of being on a deeply discounted business class ticket.
With MrsWT73 comfortably deposited at the American Express Centurion Lounge San Francisco, continued onwards on my lounge tour around San Francisco International Airport.
Locating the United Club San Francisco:
The United Club “E” Gates Concourse is located adjacent to the “F” Concourse. It is easily accessed through a secure passageway on the secure side. Unlike the United Club “F” Rotunda that is located close to Gate F11 out on the wing, the United Club “E” Gates is located immediately at the start of the wing near Gate E4.
Map Courtesy of flysfo.com
You wont miss the United Club at “E” Gates. The United Club blue glass makes this particular United Club lounge highly noticeable and spottable. The United Club San Francisco E Gates is located immediately on the corner of the E Finger. As you round the corner, the front of the lounge and it’s blueness becomes every more prevalent.
During our visit, the lounge was open early in the morning as one of the first lounges open for the day at San Francisco International Airport. It also happens to be one the earliest to close thanks to it serving the smaller commuter flights in the “E” gates.
Accessing the United Club:
Thanks to complex lounge access rules in the United States where memberships are offered, it’s a little more challenging than most to access the United Club. Access to the United Club is permitted under the following circumstances:
- A boarding pass for travel in United Polaris or United Business Class (international) business class at departure, connecting and arrival airports along their eligible same-day routing.
- Customers traveling to and from Canada in United First are eligible for United Business access.
- Customers on premium transcontinental flights may only access United Club locations at the origin and destination of their premium transcontinental flight (only between New York/Newark and Los Angeles and New York/Newark and San Francisco).
- A boarding pass for travel in first class on a Star Alliance member airline, only at the departure airport for their international first class flight
- A boarding pass for travel in business class on a Star Alliance member airline, only at the departure airport for their international business class flight
- A valid Star Alliance Gold membership card and a same-day boarding pass for travel on an international flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline are needed to access United Club locations at departure, during connections and upon arrival, along the eligible same-day itinerary
- A same-day boarding pass showing Star Alliance Gold status, for travel on an international flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline is needed to access United Club locations at departure, during connections and upon arrival, along the eligible same-day itinerary
- A valid Star Alliance Gold membership card and a same-day boarding pass for travel on a flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline and departing from the same airport
- A same-day boarding pass showing Star Alliance Gold status, for travel on a flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline and departing from the same airport
- A boarding pass for same-day travel with a valid United Club membership number listed
- A valid United Club membership card and boarding pass for same-day travel
- A valid United Club membership number and boarding pass for same-day travel
- A valid mobile or paper United Club one-time pass and boarding pass for same-day travel
- A valid 15-digit one-time pass number and boarding pass for same-day travel
- Active duty military members with a valid military ID, boarding pass for travel within 24 hours on a United- or United Express-operated flight and one of the following: Dressed in uniform, Leave orders, Rest and recuperation papers
- A valid Air Canada Maple Leaf Club membership card and a boarding pass for a flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline and departing from the same airport
- Maple Leaf Club North America members can access United Club locations in the U.S. only.
- Maple Leaf Club Worldwide members can access all United Club locations.
In short, there are many ways to get in, if one can figure out the assortment of complicated access rules. Our access today was courtesy of the International Business Class ticket status of our United Ticket.
Inside the United Club SFO “E” Gates:
The United Club at SFO “E” Gates represents United’s most institutional lounge at the San Francisco International Airport. Given that the San Francisco “E” Gates represent many smaller commuter flights to nearby destinations, it’s probable that the matching lounge in this are represent a smaller, more higher turnover destination.
The main room in the United Club SFO “E” Gates lounge is visible immediately upon entry into the lounge.
Lounge Seating:
Immediately on entering the lounge, you find yourself in the tables and chairs area. The area ends at a wall featuring retro United Airlines plane photography, along with a computer upright stool area suitable for working.
The large rectangular lounge seating room is anchored with the usual United Club grey loungers. It has a very high density seating arrangements, with horizontal rows of seating that lead towards the windows.
At the end of the horizontal rows is the United Club bar. It’s adorned in modern light fixtures, which gives the space a modern and contemporary look that is up to date and functional.
Off to the left of the bar is the lounge’s second room. There is a small seating area with seats that are situated against large glass windows that are perfect for plane spotting.
Food an Beverage:
Lounge Dining:
The United Club’s aren’t usually known for their outstanding food and beverage. The lounge space at the United Club San Francisco “E” Gates offered the smallest food selection between the three lounge locations.
The United Club offered a cappuccino machine, some pre-packed cereals, Chobani yoghurt and fresh fruits for the breakfast hour.
The food products were the same at the United Club “E” Gates SFO. Unfortunately, the dining space here was a lot less generous than at the other United Club locations in San Francisco International Airport.
Lastly, the lounge also featured a wine and cocktail list as scanned from a QR code on the menu. The lounge offers alcoholic drinks during afternoon hours, which would have been after my visit on this date.
We would enjoy at stay at this lounge, prior to heading off on our United Airlines Business Class San Francisco – Vancouver international flight.
My Thoughts on United Club SFO “E” International Gates:
The United Club San Francisco “E” Gates is the smallest United Lounge at San Francisco International Airport. Although a nicely decorated facility, it’s also the smallest lounge of the group. There isn’t really any reason to visit this location over any other United Club unless you happen to be departing from the “E” Gates as the “F” and “G” lounges are much nicer.
If you travel through San Francisco International Airport, do you visit the United Club “E” Gates Lounge ?
United Airlines has a few unique lounges in it’s worldwide system. One of these oddities is the United Club Lounge in San Francisco “G” International Terminal. This lounge started off life as the United Airlines Global First Class lounge when United Airlines expanded into the International Terminal and operated a First Class Cabin. Since United Airlines opened a United Polaris Business Lounge in 2019, and removed all of it’s First Class cabins, United Airlines converted this space into a regular United Club while still keeping the same intimate feel to it. We would experience one of United Airlines’ most storied lounges in the system on our visit today.
This post is one chapter on our trip during the pandemic to Honolulu Oahu, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Marriott Bonvoy and further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA via United Airlines Business Class
- Coronavirus Testing for Travel: Getting Tested for Hawaii
- Fairmont Vancouver Airport, Canada
- United Airlines Business Class: Vancouver – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “F” Rotunda, USA
- United Airlines First Class: San Francisco – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, Honolulu, USA
- Tips for Walking Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Roy’s Waikiki Restaurant, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- On the Locals Beach at Waimea Bay Beach Park, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Snorkelling at Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Circling the East Coast to Waimanalo Bay Beach, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- How to Save on Hotel Parking in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- Marakume Udon, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- The Sheraton Waikiki – Kai Suite, Honolulu, USA
- The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort – Waikiki, Historic Garden Suite, Honolulu, USA
- United Club Lounge Honolulu, USA
- United Airlines First Class: Honolulu – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “G” International Terminal, USA
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “E” Concourse, USA
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: United Club Lounge, San Francisco International Airport – “G” International Terminal, California, United States of America
We arrived into San Francisco International Airport on United Airlines First Class: Honolulu – San Francisco. We had a four hour connection to use up prior to continuing onwards on United Airlines Business Class San Francisco – Vancouver, as a result of being on a deeply discounted business class ticket.
With MrsWT73 comfortably deposited at the American Express Centurion Lounge San Francisco, I set out to visit the best of what United Airlines had to offer in its lounge network at San Francisco International Airport.
Locating the United Club San Francisco:
The United Club “G” Gates International Concourse is located in the international terminal. The SFO International Terminal is easily accessed through a passageway between Gate F1 and G Gates on the secure side.
Map Courtesy of flysfo.com
The United Club G Gates is located immediately after the first set of moving escalators in the bright and spacious international concourse. It’s located on your right as you immediately get off the moving sidewalk.
While it’s a bit of a walk out to get to the “G” International Terminal from United Airlines domestic gates in the “E” and “F” Concourse, you’re possibly rewarded with less travellers willing to go the distance and a quieter lounge experience.
Accessing the United Club:
Thanks to complex lounge access rules in the United States where memberships are offered, it’s a little more challenging than most to access the United Club. Access to the United Club is permitted under the following circumstances:
- A boarding pass for travel in United Polaris or United Business Class (international) business class at departure, connecting and arrival airports along their eligible same-day routing.
- Customers traveling to and from Canada in United First are eligible for United Business access.
- Customers on premium transcontinental flights may only access United Club locations at the origin and destination of their premium transcontinental flight (only between New York/Newark and Los Angeles and New York/Newark and San Francisco).
- A boarding pass for travel in first class on a Star Alliance member airline, only at the departure airport for their international first class flight
- A boarding pass for travel in business class on a Star Alliance member airline, only at the departure airport for their international business class flight
- A valid Star Alliance Gold membership card and a same-day boarding pass for travel on an international flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline are needed to access United Club locations at departure, during connections and upon arrival, along the eligible same-day itinerary
- A same-day boarding pass showing Star Alliance Gold status, for travel on an international flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline is needed to access United Club locations at departure, during connections and upon arrival, along the eligible same-day itinerary
- A valid Star Alliance Gold membership card and a same-day boarding pass for travel on a flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline and departing from the same airport
- A same-day boarding pass showing Star Alliance Gold status, for travel on a flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline and departing from the same airport
- A boarding pass for same-day travel with a valid United Club membership number listed
- A valid United Club membership card and boarding pass for same-day travel
- A valid United Club membership number and boarding pass for same-day travel
- A valid mobile or paper United Club one-time pass and boarding pass for same-day travel
- A valid 15-digit one-time pass number and boarding pass for same-day travel
- Active duty military members with a valid military ID, boarding pass for travel within 24 hours on a United- or United Express-operated flight and one of the following: Dressed in uniform, Leave orders, Rest and recuperation papers
- A valid Air Canada Maple Leaf Club membership card and a boarding pass for a flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline and departing from the same airport
- Maple Leaf Club North America members can access United Club locations in the U.S. only.
- Maple Leaf Club Worldwide members can access all United Club locations.
In short, there are many ways to get in, if one can figure out the assortment of complicated access rules. Our access today was courtesy of the International Business Class ticket status of our United Ticket.
Inside the United Club SFO “G” International Terminal:
The United Club “G” Gates International Concourse started off life as the United Global International First Lounge. When United Airlines disposed of their First Class cabins, they converted this space to a United Club and built a new United Polaris Lounge in the space that was previously vacated by Singapore Airlines Silver Kris Lounge international terminal.
I took the elevators down one level after I was granted access at reception. The lounge is located across the level below the main international concourse. The lounge has a great first impression for a United Club. Most United Club’s that I have previously visited have a large institutional feeling to them. This particular location have a more boutique feel to it thanks to it’s compact footprint and high ceilings.
Although I arrived approximately 5 minutes after opening at 7 AM, the place was almost already at capacity.
Lounge Seating:
The lounge was rectangular in shape. It was split into two areas; a dining and a lounge area. The lounge area featured a small amount of lounge seating, that was oriented into small intimate seating spaces.
As a result of being in a smaller room, the lounge felt fuller than it actually was. Regardless, it was still a classy location and as a result, felt a lot more classy than a large lounge with rows and rows of endless seating.
In an elegant touch, the lounge offered large windows that fronted the side of the lounge with California shutters.
The level of the lounge offered some unique “at level” viewing of planes. It’s pretty unusual to have such an eye level view of aircraft from a lounge. This type of view is typically found on the concourse next to your gate.
In addition to the primary lounge room. there was also seating available in the back corners of the lounge away from the windows. There were a few nooks and crannies in the back, which allowed for a few additional lounge chair placements. It was better that it allowed some quieter locations at the back of the lounge, although it allowed less large open air views.
Food an Beverage:
Lounge Dining:
The United Club’s aren’t usually known for their outstanding food and beverage. Despite this, the United club offered a small space for dining.
The United Club San Francisco G International Terminal offered a small seating area. The seating area contained Pacific Rim art consistent of the international flights that would have been served from this lounge when it was the United Global First Class Lounge.
I didn’t see anyone actually using the lounge dining space the entire time I was there. This could perhaps be because the foods on offer were more snack oriented instead of meal oriented.
The lounge offered a reasonable amount of food for the breakfast hour. The lounge offered Chobani Yoghurt, Orange Juice, Milk and Cereals, Pre-Cooked Hard Boiled Eggs, and an assortment of Cherrios.
There were also some fresh fruits along with a surprising assortment of instant noodles.
The lounge in San Francisco offered Illy Coffee’s, unlike our earlier visit to the United Club Lounge – Honolulu which had it’s coffee station completely shuttered. I enjoyed an Illy Coffee to go with my early morning wake up.
The main event of the lounge was a Jimmy Dean Sandwich; Sausage Egg and Cheese on a Muffin. This was a standard United Airlines staple, having enjoyed such a sandwich catered on board my United Airlines Island Hopper Honolulu – Majuro flight on the United Island hopper.
The lounge also featured a wine and cocktail list as scanned from a QR code on the menu. The lounge offers alcoholic drinks during afternoon hours, which would have been after my visit on this date.
We would enjoy at stay at this lounge, prior to heading off on our United Airlines Business Class San Francisco – Vancouver international flight.
My Thoughts on United Club SFO “G” International Gates:
The United Club San Francisco “G” International Gates is a United Lounge that offers a little bit of history, having previously been the United Airlines Global First Lounge. As a result of this designation, it’s got a bit of a smaller footprint and was designed to be a more inclusive space. While it can feel a little fuller as a result, I personally enjoyed the atmosphere of the place which had a past history of exclusivity.
If you travel through San Francisco International Airport, do you go the extra distance to the International Terminal to visit this space ?
An overnight flight back from Hawaii often requires scrunching yourself up in an uncomfortable seat until the morning flight. We were lucky to have found a deeply discounted business class fare that would allow us to return to the mainland in a fully flat bed. Our experience in a United Airlines Polaris Business Class Seat would have us travelling back home in style.
This post is one chapter on our trip during the pandemic to Honolulu Oahu, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Marriott Bonvoy and further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA via United Airlines Business Class
- Coronavirus Testing for Travel: Getting Tested for Hawaii
- Fairmont Vancouver Airport, Canada
- United Airlines Business Class: Vancouver – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “F” Rotunda, USA
- United Airlines First Class: San Francisco – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, Honolulu, USA
- Tips for Walking Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Roy’s Waikiki Restaurant, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- On the Locals Beach at Waimea Bay Beach Park, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Snorkelling at Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Circling the East Coast to Waimanalo Bay Beach, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- How to Save on Hotel Parking in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- Marakume Udon, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- The Sheraton Waikiki – Kai Suite, Honolulu, USA
- The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort – Waikiki, Historic Garden Suite, Honolulu, USA
- United Club Lounge Honolulu, USA
- United Airlines First Class: Honolulu – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “G” International Terminal, USA
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “E” Concourse, USA
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: United Airlines First Class B777-2 Polaris, Honolulu Daniel K. Inouye International Airport – San Francisco International Airport
This review is of our returning flight on United Airlines First Class Honolulu – San Francisco. For our inbound flight, please see our review of United Airlines First Class San Francisco – Honolulu. This was a paid flight which we credited to Air Canada’s Aeroplan frequent flier program.
After leaving the United Club Lounge – Honolulu, we headed downstairs to join the queue for boarding group one. There were at least 15 in the queue at boarding group one. United Airlines seems to have stacks of people in the first category.
When boarding got underway, we had the pleasure of double jet bridge boarding today. We climbed on board and I settled into 3L.
United Airlines
First Class (P)
HNL-SFO (Honolulu – San Francisco)
UA 1509
October 9, 2021
Booked: Boeing 777-200 (Polaris)
Flown: Boeing 777-200 (Polaris)
Departure: 10:17 PM
Arrival: 6:25 AM + 1
On Board United Airlines First Class (Polaris):
I located my seat in United Airlines First Class on their Boeing 777-200 aircraft. Today’s flight was operated by a Boeing 777-200 in their United Polaris Business class offering. Although the flight was not branded and marketed as Polaris Business, it featured their international business class seat and product.
United Airlines Polaris Business Class offers a 1 – 2 – 1 configuration in a full flat seat with every seat having direct aisle access. The United Polaris blue colouring is still pretty pleasing to the eye. The cabin is also private since the seats have high walls that prevent you from seeing into other cabins, unless you happen to be standing over top of them.
While seated in the seat, you’ve got access to a wide range of power. The power options include USB charging, North American and European power plugs. There is also a wired remote nearby for controlling the entertainment system.
Immediately next to the seat is a small space suitable for temporary storage of laptops or other items while travelling. There is also a small reading light over the shoulder.
While seated in the seat, there is a large television monitor for entertainment purposes. Underneath the monitor was a small spot for smart phones and perhaps a wallet.
A footstool was also located underneath the screen console. The console also offered USB connectivity with a mild charging function.
The seat functions were controlled through a thin sleeve of controls loaded on the side of the suite.
Pre Departure Services:
There was no pre-departure beverage service, which I thought was pretty weak for such a large carrier for a five hour flight. Waiting on the seat were a Saks Fifth Avenue pillow that was on the seat unwrapped, and a Saks Fifth Avenue blanket that was wrapped in plastic wrap.
The crew passed through the cabin to collect the plastic wraps of the blankets.
Amenity Kits:
A simple amenity kit was provided to travellers. It was provided in a zip loc styled plastic bag in quite a low rent touch. The kit contained ear plugs, an eye shade and and some Colgate toothpaste.
While the amenity kit wasn’t all to aspirational, it fell into the category of better than nothing.
Departing Honolulu:
Before we got underway, we had a public address from the Captain. The Captain announced a flight time of 4 hrs and 41 minutes from Honolulu to San Francisco.
I attempted to listen to the awesome Channel Nine which allows you to eavesdrop on the air traffic control tower to plane conversations but they didn’t have it activated.
As we taxied out to the coral runway, we passed several US Air Force F35 sitting under bright canopy lights at Pearl Harbour Hickam Air Force Base. It was pretty cool to see $78 million dollar sitting around waiting to go.
As we underwent a taxi, the in flight safety video played. The United Airlines in flight video featured safety features set across a variety of scenes, including golf courses.
In Flight Entertainment:
After the inflight video concluded, I played around with the in flight entertainment system. The United Airlines Polaris Business class offers a wide variety of movies, televisions and other things to watch. There were more than enough Hollywood movies to keep you entertained.
In addition to movies, there was also a flight screen which charted out the status of the flight.
We departed without any wait and got underway to San Francisco pretty quickly.
The Meal: Dinner Served all at Once.
After we arrived to a regular cruising altitude, the meal service started.
The choices for dinner were a Chicken Katsu with Steamed Rice and Brocolini or Pineapple Fried Rice. I went with the Chicken Katsu and a Bombay Sapphire Gin and Seagrams Tonic to go along with it.
The food was served promptly and presented all at once, which is always appreciated during a night time flight. They presented a double round of the drinks; which was a nice touch.
Green Salad with Balsamic Dressing, Chicken Katsu and Hawaiian Host Chocolates
In addition to the main course, there was a Green Salad with Balsamic Dressing, along with mixed nuts and a warmed roll served along side it on the tray. For dessert, there was a wrapped regional Hawaiian Host Aloha Macs and a small Dasani water on the tray.
The Chicken Katsu was pretty tasty and the gravy was a nice touch. While I don’t expect much from a late night meal, this one was right on the money. It was filling without being too heavy, light with the rice and the broccolini was an upscale touch when broccoli is usually expected. The Hawaiian Host was a nice regional touch. Dinner was also cleared promptly, concluding the meal service.
Lying Flat in United Polaris Seats:
After dinner service, I attempted two Relax and Sleep pills to make the most of the remaining 3 hours of flight time. I reclined the seat and attempted to rest.
The seat cavity was small for a side sleeper like myself. While the seat had a well designed foot / shoe compartment, the surface area is quite tiny for a large 6ft 2 inch person like myself.
As a side sleeper, I often found my knees bumping into the fuselage or the passageway wall that led to the aisle. The GE engines were louder than I remember; either that or I am older than I remember and as a result, it was harder for me to crash out and get any real sleep.
I also found that the Saks Fifth Avenue Blanket was quite linty and electrostatic-y. The pillow was quite comfortable but a bit soft for my tastes. Either way, it was an interesting way to remember Saks Fifth Avenue with lint spread all over your clothes.
Arriving into San Francisco:
I rested until the flight announcement that we were 20 minutes from landing at SFO. There was no second meal or snack service, unlike during our flight out.
We had an easy arrival into San Francisco International Airport. We killed off a four hour connection at the United Club Lounge San Francisco, prior to our United Airlines Business Class San Francisco – Vancouver flight.
After touching down at San Francisco, we navigated through the United Polaris cabin, getting off at door 2L
We were off before we knew it and into San Francisco terminal. We would later connect onwards to United Airlines Business Class San Fransisco – Vancouver for our final flight of the trip.
My Thoughts on United First Class (Polaris) from Hawaii to Mainland:
Overall, the United Airlines First Class (Polaris) is an excellent way to get too and from Hawaii. The ability to have a flat bed when most other carriers have a recliner seat is an advantage that is hard to pass up. Having access to plain but reasonable lounges throughout your journey is also an added bonus. The large highlight was the food catering, which was better than expected.
If you travel between the mainland and the Hawaiian Islands, do you actively search out flight with fully flat seats ?
Flights departing from Hawaii to the mainland United States typically leave in the late evening, making having access to some form of a lounge a necessity. Our United Airlines flight from Honolulu, USA to Vancouver, Canada would afford us access into United Clubs along the way. We would get the opportunity to visit their United Club Honolulu prior to the departure on our flight to San Francisco.
This post is one chapter on our trip during the pandemic to Honolulu Oahu, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Marriott Bonvoy and further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA via United Airlines Business Class
- Coronavirus Testing for Travel: Getting Tested for Hawaii
- Fairmont Vancouver Airport, Canada
- United Airlines Business Class: Vancouver – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “F” Rotunda, USA
- United Airlines First Class: San Francisco – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, Honolulu, USA
- Tips for Walking Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Roy’s Waikiki Restaurant, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- On the Locals Beach at Waimea Bay Beach Park, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Snorkelling at Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Circling the East Coast to Waimanalo Bay Beach, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- How to Save on Hotel Parking in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- Marakume Udon, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- The Sheraton Waikiki – Kai Suite, Honolulu, USA
- The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort – Waikiki, Historic Garden Suite, Honolulu, USA
- United Club Lounge Honolulu, USA
- United Airlines First Class: Honolulu – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “G” International Terminal, USA
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “E” Concourse, USA
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: United Club Lounge – HNL, Honolulu Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Hawaii, United States of America
All trips eventually come to an end. We departed The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort – Waikiki and took an Uber XL to the airport. We had leftover car accident traffic along the way, and the trip took almost 55 minutes at $70 USD.
Checking into United First Class:
We headed over to Terminal 2 at the Daniel Inouye Honolulu International Airport. It was pretty much the only check in area that had activity, with a 9:40 PM flight leaving for Los Angeles and our 10:25 PM flight leaving for San Francisco.
We tried to check in at the kiosk but with our two oddly sized Tommy Bahama Fold Up Beach Chairs, we had to get them check in by an agent in order to complete check in. United initially wanted to charge us $150 USD for the extra bag (on a chair worth $39.90 USD at Costco). However, we somehow managed to convince them to locate a little scrap cardboard so that the chairs could be wrapped and taped into one large package bag with a little packing tape. Thanks United for bearing with us, and for not charging us an extra fee on a first class fare!
We headed through a very long TSA Pre-Check Line. There was only one security checkpoint open tonight, which resulted in some very long lines. There were several evictions out of the TSA – Pre Check Line by Pre- Check eligible travellers partnered with spouses who were non TSA – Pre Check eligible.
Locating the United Club Honolulu:
United Airlines departs its mainland flights from G Gates. The “G” Gates are tucked away in another part of the airport concourse well off to the side.
Map Courtesy of Honolulu Airpory Authority
Once we were through onto the secure side, we had a walk down a deserted and locked up concourse. The busy days of HNL airport were temporarily shuttered as many restaurants and retail outlets did not bother to stay open. Even the DFS duty free inventory shelves were removed bare and permanently locked up. I passed by the Burger King where I had breakfast prior to setting out on The United Island Hopper a few months ago just before the start of the pandemic.
After we had passed through the outdoor walkway to get into the “G” Concourse, we arrived to an even more deserted concourse with closed facilities as a result of the pandemic.
We found the escalators that would take us up to the lounge level, which was located one level above the concourse. The United Club is located at the top of the escalators and immediately behind the escalators.
Accessing the United Club:
Thanks to complex lounge access rules in the United States where memberships are offered, it’s a little more challenging than most to access the United Club. Access to the United Club is permitted under the following circumstances:
- A boarding pass for travel in United Polaris or United Business Class (international) business class at departure, connecting and arrival airports along their eligible same-day routing.
- Customers traveling to and from Canada in United First are eligible for United Business access.
- Customers on premium transcontinental flights may only access United Club locations at the origin and destination of their premium transcontinental flight (only between New York/Newark and Los Angeles and New York/Newark and San Francisco).
- A boarding pass for travel in first class on a Star Alliance member airline, only at the departure airport for their international first class flight
- A boarding pass for travel in business class on a Star Alliance member airline, only at the departure airport for their international business class flight
- A valid Star Alliance Gold membership card and a same-day boarding pass for travel on an international flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline are needed to access United Club locations at departure, during connections and upon arrival, along the eligible same-day itinerary
- A same-day boarding pass showing Star Alliance Gold status, for travel on an international flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline is needed to access United Club locations at departure, during connections and upon arrival, along the eligible same-day itinerary
- A valid Star Alliance Gold membership card and a same-day boarding pass for travel on a flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline and departing from the same airport
- A same-day boarding pass showing Star Alliance Gold status, for travel on a flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline and departing from the same airport
- A boarding pass for same-day travel with a valid United Club membership number listed
- A valid United Club membership card and boarding pass for same-day travel
- A valid United Club membership number and boarding pass for same-day travel
- A valid mobile or paper United Club one-time pass and boarding pass for same-day travel
- A valid 15-digit one-time pass number and boarding pass for same-day travel
- Active duty military members with a valid military ID, boarding pass for travel within 24 hours on a United- or United Express-operated flight and one of the following: Dressed in uniform, Leave orders, Rest and recuperation papers
- A valid Air Canada Maple Leaf Club membership card and a boarding pass for a flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline and departing from the same airport
- Maple Leaf Club North America members can access United Club locations in the U.S. only.
- Maple Leaf Club Worldwide members can access all United Club locations.
Our lounge access today was courtesy of the International Business Class ticket status of our United Ticket from Honolulu, USA to Vancouver, Canada.
At the time of our visit, there was an additional requirement as a result of Safe Travels Oahu to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test taken within the last 48 hours. This was similar to restaurants operating within the Honolulu area. Our Canadian Vaccine Cards were accepted and verified without any issue. This has since been repealed at the time of writing.
Inside the United Club Honolulu:
The lounge is a large space that occupies a grand area above the “G” Concourse. Immediately after reception, the lounge flows to the left into a long rectangular shape. The lounge has large floor to ceiling windows along the right hand side of the lounge, although admittedly on our nighttime visit, there wasn’t much to see outside of these large windows.
After accessing the lounge, we located a place to seat. We were able to get one of the only remaining window seats thanks to a traveller that was headed to the gate early.
The décor is strictly United Club. It has been previously described it as a lounge decorated as if the “Golden Girls” had decorated a lounge. I would say that I’d have to agree that it’s got an old school feel to it, with a few recent upgrades.
While it may have been a little while since they’ve had rattan chairs in here, they have upgraded the space to include the grey United Chair Loungers and have added a pod of 4 of the yellow funky seventies chairs that are found in many other lounge spaces.
Most interesting, there is a collection of sea shells and coral remnants in two glass cases at the end of the lounge. It wins the prize for the most interesting artifact I’ve ever had the opportunity to see within an airline lounge; grand piano’s in the Asiana First Class Lounge Incheon not withstanding.
The lounge did offer views outside to the airfield operations. A window is always a great feature in a lounge and it would make this space a great deal brighter in the day time.
The wifi was fast and free and it was a better and more reliable connection that I had at The Royal Hawaiian Hotel.
Food and Beverage:
The United Club’s typically offer a variety of snacks. While there was some sandwiches and other snacks there, there wasn’t enough within the lounge itself to replace a meal.
It was during the pandemic when we visited. As a result, all the food on offer was prepared in individually wrapped containers. While the food in a United Club never typically wins the award for the most innovative, the items on offer actually looked quite interesting and tasty.
The United Club coffee and drink dispensers were also nearby. Unfortunately, much of it was closed as a result of the pandemic.
The lounge offered a bar with a view house selections available for free. Other wines were at cost.
I ended up sticking with water during our visit. It was served in a plastic cup, which was a bit of a low rent touch.
Sadly, with the state of the airport during our visit, there didn’t appear to be a lot of other outside food and beverage locations open as an alternative to the United Club. As a result, I recommend eating before arriving to the Honolulu International Airport.
We stayed in the lounge until T-60 or about ten minutes before boarding our United Airlines First Class Honolulu – San Francisco flight.
The Bottom Line: United Club Honolulu
The lounge is probably one of the larger lounges at Honolulu International Airport. With United having a large presence in Honolulu, with service to Guam and the mainland, they need to have a lounge at this location. Aside from a large footprint, the lounge is pretty standard United Club fare.
If you depart from Honolulu International Airport, is lounge access a key consideration when flying to the mainland ?
After several visits, we’d get the opportunity to test out one of the most historic hotels in Waikiki Beach: The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort. The Royal Hawaiian has been an anchor on the Waikiki Beach since 1927, and many who have visited the beach have seen it’s pink structure leading it to it’s nickname of “The Pink Palace”. On this visit, we would have a great suite upgrade courtesy of the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program that accented our stay.
This post is one chapter on our trip during the pandemic to Honolulu Oahu, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Marriott Bonvoy and further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA via United Airlines Business Class
- Coronavirus Testing for Travel: Getting Tested for Hawaii
- Fairmont Vancouver Airport, Canada
- United Airlines Business Class: Vancouver – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “F” Rotunda, USA
- United Airlines First Class: San Francisco – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, Honolulu, USA
- Tips for Walking Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Roy’s Waikiki Restaurant, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- On the Locals Beach at Waimea Bay Beach Park, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Snorkelling at Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Circling the East Coast to Waimanalo Bay Beach, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- How to Save on Hotel Parking in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- Marakume Udon, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- The Sheraton Waikiki – Kai Suite, Honolulu, USA
- The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort – Waikiki, Historic Garden Suite, Honolulu, USA
- United Club Lounge Honolulu, USA
- United Airlines First Class: Honolulu – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “G” International Terminal, USA
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “E” Concourse, USA
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: The Royal Hawaiian, A Luxury Collection Resort, Waikiki – Historic Garden Suite, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America.
“Waikiki Beach’s historic luxury option, The Royal Hawaiian offered peaceful old world luxury in a tranquil setting, at a substantially increased price point in exchange for personal space”
This review is of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, a Luxury Collection Resort – Waikiki. For other nearby hotel reviews, please see our review of the The Moana Surfrider by Westin, The Sheraton Waikiki and the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani.
Booking the Royal Hawaiian:
We booked the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, a Luxury Collection Resort, property to test it out because it was always sitting there on Waikiki Beach. It has a giant imposing pink 1920’s structure between all of the nineteen seventies mis mash of skyscraper towers. My acupuncturist, a Hawaii Travel Fanatic and a recent Marriott Bonvoy Platinum convert, always raved about this place; calling it her favourite hotel in Hawaii.
The Royal Hawaiian Resort operates under the Luxury Collection banner of the Marriott Bonvoy franchise. It is priced accordingly. It is typically among the most expensive of the Marriott Bonvoy hotels in Waikiki, behind the Ritz Carlton Residences Waikiki Beach.
Like many Marriott Bonvoy hotels in Hawaii, the Royal Hawaiian Waikiki remains a terrible value on a Marriott Bonvoy Points redemption as a Category 8. A standard night during our January stay was over 60,000 points for a base level Historic Room King. . As a result, we opted for a paid cash rate. The best rate we could locate for our stay at the Royal Hawaiian Resort was for $369 USD under Marriott Rewards flexible rate category.
As Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level members, we would also be entitled to the best available room, including select suites, courtesy access outside of the terms and conditions to the Mailani Tower Executive Lounge (when open), and a welcome amenity including breakfast, additional Marriott Bonvoy points or a local welcome gift.
The hotel has a number of Suites in the Marriott Suite Night Award program. During our visit the hotel offered Historic Garden Suites and a Historic Garden Junior Suite available in the Suite Night Award inventory pool. There were no rooms available in the newer Mailani Tower categories.
We would end up redeeming Marriott Bonvoy Suite Night Awards against a Historic Garden Suite, which cleared and was confirmed at the 5 day mark. This was a great deal and a fantastic way of turning a $369 USD room into a $754 USD room for free.
It’s always a great feeling getting a great value out of any loyalty program and this was no exemption.
Getting to the Royal Hawaiian:
The Royal Hawaiian, A Luxury Collection Resort is located located in central Waikiki in the centre of Waikiki Beach. Among Marriott properties, it’s sandwiched between The Moana Surfrider by Westin, and The Sheraton Waikiki at the other end of the beach.
As with the Sheraton Waikiki, the hotel couldn’t be any more convenient for spending a few days within Waikiki Beach and it’s probably the most convenient hotel property for those looking for a short stay in Waikiki Beach. About the only thing the hotel isn’t conveniently located near to is an area to park your car for free; something that can be said of almost every Waikiki Beach hotel.
In our case, we walked over with our luggage from The Sheraton Waikiki hotel where we had just spent the last four days. We had no issues navigating between the two properties, since they are immediately next to each other.
Checking into the Royal Hawaiian Hotel:
We rolled ourselves and our luggage over from the Sheraton Waikiki. We arrived at about 4:15 PM; the peak of hotel check in times. We were met at the porte cochère with out bags (all 8 of them) and they were promptly tagged by the bell staff prior to being transferred to the room.
We were also offered and received a carved bead lei, which was a nice luxury oriented touch that’s been absent from many of my recent Hawaii hotel visits. The last time we received a lei was at the Fairmont Kea Lani on Maui, Hawaii.
We walked up into the main lobby area of the hotel. The Royal Hawaiian lobby is a large open air space with older but elegant spaces. As a hotel that was designed in the late 1920’s, it has a unique feel to it unlike the institutional lobbies of many modern resort and business hotels.
After walking up the arrival stairs and found the check in. There were only two check in agents working, but we were handled promptly. The check in spaces were cleaned by the agents between guests. Consistent with the timings of our stay, we had our vaccination status through the Safe Travels Hawaii App verified to confirm our exemption from quarantine status.
We had a very friendly and proficient check in. As Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level members, we were offered breakfast as our complimentary welcome elite amenity.
During check in, we were also offered a choice of rooms. Our confirmed Marriott Bnvoy Suite Night Award had cleared us in to a Historic Garden Suite. We were offered choice to a regular Historic Room Ocean View, a slight downgrade at $345 USD a night, or sticking with our $754 USD suite which had no ocean view. We ended up sticking with our Historic Garden Suite. While it is such a small step to ask the guest if they have a preference in rooms, it’s easily my most favourite way of making a stay better.
We were also given a coupon for Royal Hawaiian Bakery; stamped as “Bonvoy Elite” that offered us a greater selection of goods than the average guest. During the check in process, we were asked if we were celebrating anything, we volunteered that it was in honour of our anniversary. On mention of this, we were promptly offered a coupon for a champagne at the Mai Bar, which was a nice touch.
Lastly, in order to accomodate a late evening departure, we were also provided a 4 PM Titanium Late Check out with out any haggling, courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Status. It is always appreciated to get a late checkout at a resort property, and the Royal Hawaiian is to be commended for accommodating this, without making any excuses about why they can’t deliver on a promised benefit.
The Room: A Historic Garden Suite
Suite, 1 King, Garden view, Historic Wing
We found our way up to room #363, the Queen Ka’polani Suite. The first thing that we noticed was that the doors to the hotel were intricately carved. It was a pretty neat feature to a hotel and something that I haven’t ever seen before outside of the doors of the Old Town of Zanzibar.
Immediately upon entering the Queen Kapi’olani Suite, there was a small hallway that led to an hexagon entry room. The entry way had dark hardwood floors. There was a small ensuite bathroom off the main hexagon entry way.
Immediately off the entrance way was an ensuite bathroom. It’s always nice to have a second bathroom, even if it is only a half powder bathroom.
Living / Dining Room:
One part of the room led to the formal living parlour. The living room contained a sofa, two occasional chairs and a dining table for 4 persons.
The living room parlour offered a combination living room and dining area. The dining area offered an old school round dining table with appropriately pink chairs.
The sitting area offered a large couch with two occassional chairs and an oval coffee table.
The sitting area was accented by a large television screen that was likely at least 60inches.
Surprisingly, there was also no real working wifi in the living room of the suite with a signal of less than 1 bar; a bit shocking when you’re paying a $42 Resort Fee on top of a room worth more than $750 USD a night. The situation was a a little better in the dining area of the living room parlour, with 2 out of 4 bars showing.
Also in the living area, there was also a small closet that offered a Keurig coffee maker; . The Keurig was a welcome change from the regular drip coffee machines we had found in the Sheraton Princess Kahulani and the Sheraton Waikiki. There was also a working fridge.
The Bedroom:
In the bedroom, the room was surprisingly pink, as might be expected. The room was anchored with a king size bed with a pink patterned wallpaper.
I made the mistake of leaving the air conditioner on throughout the night and I woke up at about 6:30 AM when it’s constant whirring noise became too much for me. I got up to switch it off and didn’t get back to sleep with it. It’s worth noting that the air condition was much louder than the variety in the Sheraton Waikiki where we left the AC on all the time and slept through it without any incident. If you like a quiet room like I do, make sure you allow some time for the AC to cool the room before you go to bed and switch the AC off.
There was a small desk with charging ports. This ended up being more of a cellphone, computer dump zone since it was more comfortable to work and spread out on the dining room table in the other room.
In terms of sleep quality, the sleep was good with Fette of India Sheets. The bedding was of really high quality for a hotel, and the mattress was comfortable.
In terms of room / hallway noise, it was pretty quiet. It was the most tranquil of our various hotel stays in Waikiki. However, I made the mistake of leaving the air conditioner on throughout the night and I woke up at about 6:30 AM when it’s constant whirring noise became too much for me.
I got up to switch it off and didn’t get back to sleep with it. It’s worth noting that the air condition was much louder than the variety in the Sheraton Waikiki where we left the AC on all the time and slept through it without any incident. If you like a quiet room like I do, make sure you allow some time for the AC to cool the room before you go to bed and switch the AC off.
Ensuite Bathroom:
Off the bedroom, there was an en suite bathroom. Given it’s era, it was historic in size. The tiny space offered a shower and a WC. Given the size of the bathroom, it wasn’t an area that we tended to spend a lot of time in.
The hotel has a bit of an odd layout. Most of the rooms face the gardens, with only the rooms in the top “L” facing the water. As a result, if you’re staying in the Historic Hotel, changes are you’ll have an garden facing view.
A Room with a View:
Most of the rooms in the historic wing of the hotel offer garden views that face into the courtyard. The view from the room was into the courtyard of the Royal Hawaiian Gardens. It was a nice view by Hawaii standards. There was no ocean view from this room, rather it was a view of greenery and green space which was a nice, if not tranquil, change
While I enjoyed the room and it’s spacious size, I did struggle a little bit to find a lot of value from the hotel and the higher price point. The hotel does offer accommodations at a much higher price point than it’s nearby competitors; generally by several hundred dollars per night.
In exchange for the higher price point, you get a lower overall volume and a quieter resort experience. It takes a dignified guest in order to appreciate this solitude. Dependent on what kind of consumer you are, will depend on whether this value is worth the extra dollars. Based on spending some time around the property, the Royal Hawaiian attracts a much older and wealthier clientele than the other Marriott properties in the area.
Around the Resort Property:
Outdoor Hotel Grounds:
The Royal Hawaiian has among the most beautiful and peaceful hotel grounds in Honolulu, Hawaii. When the sun it out, it is among the most peaceful places in Waikiki Beach. The grounds have palm trees located around well manicured lawns. When the sun is shining, it’s an absolute pleasure to be able to wander through these peaceful green spaces.
The gardens are an impressive part of the Royal Hawaiian hotel, adding a lot of feeling and soul to the property.
The Outdoor Pool:
The Outdoor Pool is accessed off the main lobby through an outdoor passageway. The passageway leads to a small sun deck area that was often within shade during our visit.
The outdoor pool and on property deck area at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel is among the smallest pools between the Moana Surfrider, Sheraton Waikiki and the Marriott Princess Kahulani. It was more of a plunge pool rather than a pool that was more suited to proper swimming.
While I always found the seating here to be quite occupied and full, the space didn’t have any outstanding views or other inspirational features to it. It’s primary quality was that it was steps from the hotel, and immediately adjacent to Waikiki Beach.
Although the pool is a needed feature of the hotel, it wasn’t a super inspiring location to spend a day hanging out in or around. Accordingly, we didn’t end up spending any time at the resort pool.
The Bathers Elevator:
Once of the most unique features of the property is the Bathers Elevator.
The Royal Hawaiian Hotel was built in the late 1920’s. The public hallways used to be full of guests in the finest cocktail wear and suits. The Bathers Elevator was a way for guests to travel to and from the beach areas of the hotel without adorning themselves in formal attire.
It’s always unique to seem some of these features from years past. It is probably the only hotel that I’ve ever been in that has it’s own elevator for the bathing area. History is always fascinating and the Bather’s Elevator is one of those features you don’t find in modern hotels.
The Waikiki Beach at The Royal Hawaiian:
The Royal Hawaiian sits on a commanding stretch of the Waikiki Beach. Given that there is less attraction to the pool space, this stretch of Waikiki Beach becomes the main attraction.
The Royal Hawaiian offered paid lounge chairs immediately along the strip next to the hotel property. These chairs were attended to, and it seemed fairly easy to get a chair without an advance reservation.
We ended up just bringing our own folding lawn chairs from earlier in the trip and stacking them onto the beach for our own enjoyment.
This strip of Waikiki Beach remains slightly less busy than the other portions as a result of having no immediate road or foot access. There is still quite a few resort goers from the neighbouring Sheraton Waikiki and the Outrigger by Aston that enjoy this stretch, which is especially popular at sunset.
Food and Beverage:
Surf Lanai
Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Breakfast:
We enjoyed a breakfast at the hotels Surf Lanai restaurant. The restaurant also doubles as the Azure night time fine dining restaurant. The Surf Lanai restaurant location is outdoors and on the beach and arguably occupies the most outdoor space of breakfast dining of any Marriott Hotel in Waikiki Beach.
On arrival for breakfast, we were led through the interior dining room to a covered table area outside on a very long lanai that stretched a good portion of the hotel waterfront.
We had selected a Marriott Bonvoy Platinum / Titanium / Ambassador breakfast as our Marriott Bonvoy Elite welcome amenity. The continental breakfast amenity was included, with the option to upgrade to a larger breakfast for a small charge.
I find this to be the easiest way to get the most out of any breakfast benefit, aside from perhaps being able to get the breakfast for free. While, I long for the old glory days of the Starwood Preferred Guest program where full breakfast was included at most locations, the ability to upgrade at cost is probably the best of both worlds.
In addition to a printed menu, the breakfast and drink menu’s were also available on line through scanning of a QR code on your smartphone.
I enjoyed the Royal Hawaiian Palace pink pancakes, which was fabulous and a must try serving when staying at the Royal Hawaiian. The pink pancakes at the Royal Hawaiian are a social media sensation and, admittedly, look attractive and appealing to eat. I also enjoyed a morning coffee to wake me up.
MrsWT73 had the continental breakfast, which was fully included in the Marriott Bonvoy program. The continental breakfast included fruit, yoghurt and baked good with granola on the side. She enjoyed this with a breakfast champagne.
The coffee refills didn’t come all to quickly, nor did the usual 3 minute quality check. I suspect the hotel was short staffed. However, staff weren’t too far off if you needed them, which I suppose was better than being completely absent.
The Royal Hawaiian Bakery:
After breakfast, we went to the Royal Hawaiian Bakery. The Royal Hawaiian Bakery is located on the resort’s Coconut lanai overlooking the gardens of the hotel.
The Royal Hawaiian Bakery offered a number of exciting baked items that were available for take away. These included fresh baked banana bread, baked desserts and custom cakes.
The Royal Hawaiian Bakery was only open between the morning hours of 6 AM – 12 PM. As a result, in order to visit the bakery, you needed to visit in the morning. There wasn’t the ability to redeem your check in coupon in the evening for light snacks before dinner.
On arrival to the resort, we had received a coupon for a “special amenity” for redemption at the Royal Hawaiian bakery. The coupon was presented along with our welcome letter to the resort that described all of the hotel amenities.
Upon redeeming the coupon at the Royal Hawaiian Bakery, we were offered 3 items of any of the items to take away. This represented a maximum value of $18 USD. We ended up with two Ham and Cheese Croissants ($ 6 USD each) and one Blueberry Muffin ($2.50 each) for a value of $14.50 USD. The Hawaiian Bakery was essentially a free picnic lunch, provided you attended at the right time in the morning.
Mai Tai Bar:
When we arrived to the resort, we were asked if we were celebrating anything related to our stay. Although it was a little assembly line in nature, we did reactively volunteer that it was our wedding anniversary two weeks earlier. As a result, we were offered a coupon for the late celebration of our anniversary during our check in.
As a result, we would end up redeeming the coupon at the Mai Tai bar, which is located in an ocean front location next to the Surf Lanai restaurant.
The Mai Tai Bar offered outdoor seating along an outside bar. The outside bar was mostly institutional as opposed to exotic in nature. The menu of drinks was identical to that of Surf Lani / Azure Restaurant.
We ended up at the bar for a cocktail & champagne drink before we headed off down the road for dinner.
Mailani Tower Executive Lounge:
During normal times, there is an executive lounge in the lobby of the Mailani Tower. The Mailani Tower was an addition to the historic Royal Hawaiian property and is situated closer to the pool area. As expected, the rooms are at a slightly higher price point than the historic wing.
During our visit, the Executive Lounge that is typically at this location was closed as a result of the pandemic. While Marriott Bonvoy Elites were traditionally offered access to this space, it is not clear whether this will continue if and when they decide to reopen.
The usual terms and conditions of the Marriott Bonvoy program offer lounge access privileges for Marriott Elites to Sheratons and Marriott properties. It’s not clear whether Marriott Bonvoy Elite members will continue to be able to access this space through their elite privileges in the future.
If you are requiring lounge access privileges, it’s best to inquire with the hotel directly to see if lounge access is being offered or whether booking a Mailani Tower room is the best way to get access.
After our stay, we ended up heading home on United Airlines First Class Honolulu – San Francisco.
The Bottom Line: The Royal Hawaiian
The Royal Hawaiian Hotel, a Luxury Collection Resort, offered old world luxury in spacious historic surroundings. While this had the most spacious feel to our resort stays on Oahu, it also offered the highest price point. The hotel tries much harder than it’s competitors to offer an interactive experience, although I’m not sure whether it’s worth the higher price point in my humble view. I’m just as happy next door at the newer Sheraton Waikiki that delivered almost as much resort experience with slightly more people and noise. I don’t expect to return to this property unless a great rate presents itself or I happen to be in my sixties and seriously seeking solitude.
World Traveller 73 
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