Riviera Hotel

Excellent location! Was here for New Year’s week and Robson street turned out to be quite the happening place with lights on the street and… if you love Korean, Japanese or Chinese food, you’ll be in heaven as 30+ restaurants are all within walking distance! The free shuttle bus to Capilano Suspension Bridge is just a few blocks away as are 7 – 11, Whole Foods, McDonald’s, Starbucks, ect. Free and strong Wi-​Fi, the underground parking garage or the street level parking lot behind the building is about $ 18 CAD a night. There is a $ 150 credit card hold required upon check in, so be aware of that. Otherwise, we loved the renovated 2 queen bed room with kitchen table, full kitchen (stove, microwave, refrigerator and oven… utensils and pots and pans included). Best price and location! Well worth it and was perfect for our family trip! Kind and helpful front desk staff… don’t miss Dinesty and Yogi to eat, just a few blocks away down the hill!

This place is excellent! Within walking distance of numerous shops and restaurants on Robson St. Just a few blocks from Denham and ask it has to offer. It is economical, clean, and quiet! It’s been newly remodeled and the rooms are cozy. There is secure parking in a locked garage and despite only a few rooms per floor, the rooms are large and spacious. For a downtown hotel, with such a great location… you can’t beat this deal. When in Vancouver, give this place your business.

During a business trip, my Wife and I were placed at your hotel for travel conveniences. Upon arrival with my Wife and her service dog, the gentleman operating the hotel front desk asked for a pet fee for the duration of our stay. The pet fee we were told was $ 200. Calmly, we provided proof of service certification and explained what an assistance dog is, just in case this was his first encounter with a service dog. Unfortunately, your employee did not oblige and we were forced to leave our service dog crated in our vehicle.
We understand USA ADA laws are different and often times do not apply internationally. However, under British Columbia’s Guide Animal Act Chapter 177, it clearly states:
«3. A person must not interfere with the exercise of a right or privilege under section 2 or charge a fee for a guide animal accompanying a person with a disability.»
After much frustration the evening before, humiliation ensues the morning after by having to regurgitate the events from the evening to a Supervisor and other hotel patrons. To increase our dissatisfaction, no resolution was offered or met to better the situation. As a result, we canceled the rest of our stay and decided to give business where it is much valued and respected.
Such a shame!

Expensive, paper-​thin walls, aging, dingy, cramped hallways. The only plus is the rooms were very large. Would be acceptable at ¼ or ¹⁄₅ the price. See the accompanying photos for the state of disrepair.

All I can say is thank God we got a ‘last minute deal’ on this room, because if we had paid the $ 380 they say the regular room rate is (family suite) I would be giving negative stars.
The hotel is clearly an old apartment building turned hotel. Think studio lofts, badly in need of a makeover. I’m not sure where the room is that is on the website, but I am attaching photos of our room, which was on the thrid floor.
Pros: The a/​c worked (there was a heat wave when we were there and this was much needed).
Lots of space.
The staff was marginally friendly.
Cons: There is ZERO noise protection from the loud guests arriving home from a night of dancing. It is approximately 3 feet from your room door to the one across the hall, and no attempt at insulating the door agaist hall noise. Expect to be woken up by this, or by any spark of noise in the hall.
While the flooring was clearly new, the rest of the room was not. In fact, I would be surprised if they had done anything other than replace the floors and (maybe) the beds when they bought this place. The nightstands had old fingernail polish on the tops, the kitched counters are gross, and the stove… I wouldn’t cook on it.
The Wi-​Fi SUCKS. Yes, they have it. Yes, they will give you the password if you ask for it. But you might as well just forget doing anything on your phone, tablet, or laptop. The wifi is incredibly slow when it does work, and the majority of our time there it didn’t work.
We arrived around 2:00 on a Tuesday afternoon, and told we could park in the lot behind the hotel. As we were unloading our trailer (we have a motorcycle with a trailer) and heading up to our room, a van came in and parked, the driver got out and promptly advised us that our bike and trailer would not be safe in that parking lot. Having no other choice we left it there, but certainly didn’t sleep well having to worry that our transportation was at risk. Fortunately, the only thing we found amiss the next morning was a bunch of doritos all over the trailer and ground. We are blaming that on birds.

Yes this is not the Ritzs but that’s ok. the room was renovated, clean, Queen size beds, sm kitchen, dining area, sitting area. very spacious for 2 queen beds in the room. this room faced Rodson St, liked location, not to busy, plenty of restaurants, and stores. reminds me of So Ho in NYC and most of all it was safe to walk around.10 minutes from cruise terminal by car. front desk was very helpful so I definitely would come back. the price was right… plus this place and the Holiday Inn were the only places that offered queen beds…

The location is great. I got my room (1 bed) for about $ 110 before tax, so it’s a very decent price considering the location.
I have to say the room feels old. The kitchen is old, couch is old, any wood furniture (desk, coffee table, cabinets) feels old. The heat/​AC looks dusty so I didn’t bother turning it on. And then room, not to be racist, smells like Indians/​curry objectively speaking.
But I have to say, they have a nice TV in the room, the bedding is clean, and the WiFi is free. Hence the 3-​star rating.
We also parked at the hotel overnight, and it’s $ 25 + tax.

The hotels facilities were what you would expect for the price range, however the night staff, Hana, was rude and unaccommodating to our requests. For this reason I would not recommend the hotel.

Ok, first off, this is a five star «value» rating not a five star hotel. In other words: Five star hotels have pools etc. this does not. But for the price, it’s very good.
Bottom line: Unless price is no object or you HAVE to go dirt cheap, this is the best value in central Vancouver.
Re: Other reviews, I think all the rooms have been recently redecorated /​renovated. We looked at four different ones (counting «our room») and all had been. Noted none of the wear that others talked about.
I think this started life as an apartment building. All «rooms» are «suites» with full kitchens, bedroom, dining area and living room.
We stayed on a slow day (off season mid week) so the manager (maybe owner?) offered us various other rooms as upgrades ($ 10 for each bump up). For one night it wasn’t worth it, but for future reference he showed us several at our request. Started at the top (11^th floor) and worked our way down to our room (5^th).
Pretty much the same except for the views, the exception being a penthouse: It had a deck big enough to ride a bike on. I did notice some rooms had connecting doors available if one wanted to connect two suites.
Pros:
Large suites with full kitchens.
Views (even on 5^th floor, about halfway up, harbor and mountains). Very Large windows in living /​dining area.
Balconies. Not huge, big enough for a couple chairs. Or for one person to sunbathe.
Location. Nice part of town. Close to two large food stores (Whole Foods and Safeway). Lots of restaurants within walking distance, African fusion to Sushi with a pancake places for breakfast. Close to bus lines.
Quiet. Both inside and out. Green space next door meant (on our side) even traffic was pretty muted with windows open. The floor plan works so that you don’t share walls with other rooms much. Our main inside wall was a fire stair and outside walls were parking and green space, not sure if other side (inside wall elevator & outside walls building and street) might be noisier.
LED lights. Good for the environment. Nice and cool.
Wifi was good, included. Easy to set up. Ask at desk for password.
Staff seems very good.
24 front desk.
Parking (there is both a lot and a secure «basement» parking area) included. Security cameras at both.
Cons:
Floors are now a wood colored vinyl. Nice and clean. A bit hard without slippers,
The heating (contrary to a prior review there is heating) is a central system. You can’t control it from your room. Similar to an apartment I lived in for a few years, upper floors run cooler than lower floors. Most of the windows open (at least somewhat), but the one in the bedroom was sealed. With windows open our suite was ok, but not perfect temp wise.
Minor design /​redecorating SNAFUs, for example: The toilet lid hits a shelf in the bathroom. (I’m sending them some suggestions, given their attitude, these may get fixed soon)
There is only one elevator, it worked fine. If it takes the day off…
Mixed pro /​con trade offs:
It is in the city. Close to goodies, also pretty busy traffic. That 11^th floor deck is only about midway up the surrounding buildings, so don’t do anything you don’t want to share ;)
It is being upgraded. Makes it nicer, but until it’s done and the bugs are worked out there are some rough edges. See SNAFUs above.
And, finally a note to my fellow (USA) Americans: You know how we like to complain about lawyers suing everybody? Well, Canada doesn’t sue that much. Why am I mentioning this? Because, whether you are in Toronto or Vancouver, various things have not been made quite as idiot proof as we are used to. Some examples:
In the USA I haven’t seen a tub in a hotel that didn’t have a non skid surface AND a non skid mat to go in the tub. In Canada you get the mat, and the tub is nice and smooth. Great for a soak. My bottom has missed this for decades in the USA. Every hotel and BnB in Canada that I have stayed at had this.
If you want to turn on a stove, there is none of this push and wiggle and turn nonsense. You just turn the knob.
Now the positives to this are many. I watched the Canadian Air Force’s acrobatic jets fly through the middle of Toronto. I mean like, look down from the buildings close. And they race life size plastic moose on the street, while drinking. This is cool! But… From restaurants with head banging light fixtures to unexpected steps in stores these small details help to remind one that, despite appearances, Canada is not part of the USA.
They’re also (relative to Seattle) a tad weak on yielding to pedestrians, I think that’s because walkers up north are so much less likely to shoot them for failure to yield :)
So, please, use your brains my countryfolk, at least while in Canada.

If you plan to do a lot of shopping on Robson or want to stay in a safe part of town I would recommend this place. I like that you get to stay in a suite with awesome views of the mountains and city. It was nice to just chill on the balcony at night. The only thing that I don’t like is that there is no heating or air conditioning. The free parking was great, I can go in and out as a I please. There’s a Safeway within walking distance too. So you can cook your own meals and not dine out.

The Riviera was great and it’s in a really nice part of town. The spotty and sluggish wifi is my only complaint. Totally recommend staying here.
Almost forgot– if you’re on the 7^th floor or higher and on the north side of the building, be sure to look for, what appears to be, a discarded vibrator on the rooftop of the building next door;)

Now this place isn’t getting 4 stars for accomodations, class or amenities, but we have stayed at the Riviera MANY times and I personally love it. It’s like our little home away from home. Like the previous review, there is definitely nothing fancy or upscale about this place. It’s a dated hotel, there are some stains, the furniture is a little worn (although they did some decent upgrades the last time i was there with the TV and furniture) and yes the cigarette burns in the bathroom are there, but when you’re paying $ 100/​night for a pretty spacious suite with kitchenette AND free parking to stay on Robson, I have no complaints. It’s clean and comfortable and the parking garage downstairs is secure. Elevators are just about as slow as the Sandman Suites on Davie, but I’m ok with that. We’ve pulled up to this place at 7am before and they’ve been been kind enough to let us check in early. I mean you pay for half a day’s rate, but after driving 5 – 6 hours from Portland, it’s better than leaving all your stuff in the car while you try and kill half a day just to check in at 3pm.

This is one of the most affordable places you can find in Vancouver, and the location is great. The Riviera is on the north end of Robson where it’s less busy. There is FREE guest parking in an outside lot right behind the building and every room has a balcony. No, there is no AC, but we left all the windows and sliding glass balcony door open and when we returned for the night the room was nice and cool. The rooms have kitchenettes, which is nice if you’re planning on staying for awhile.
There’s nothing fancy or particularly nice about the rooms. The carpet is stained in some areas and there were plenty of cigarette burns on the bathroom sink and bathtub. But, it was clean and the beds were comfy. I’ve stayed in better places, and I’ve definitely stayed in worse. For the price and the location, it can’t be beat.