Skwachàys Lodge Hotel and Gallery

Wow! Didn’t even stay. It took us forever to find the place and the streets all around the hotel were filled with drug addicts. We wanted to be near Gastown and walk around in the evening but clearly we would be taking our lives in to our hands to do so. We cancelled and were charged the full room rate but there was no way I was going to stay there, we cut our losses and left we are now comfortably checked into the Pinnacle Harbour front Hotel and it is beautiful!

Loved it!
Where to start:
1. The staff were friendly and fantastic.
2. The rooms are beautifully done. Ours was themed «The Moon» and we liked the big «rock» pillows and detailing on the ceiling and walls, and the unique platform our bed was on. Big giant puffy pillows. Mini fridge and microwave. Flatscreen TV. Ipod dock. All good. Love the wood table. Just every detail was perfect.
3. location: close to gastown, science world. downtown, seabus, skytrain, and all points. Close to grocery, restaurants, a pharmacy.
4. Love that we had a chance to stay at a hotel with a mission, and I wish them every success. Its a hotel/​residence, but it was not the least bit an issue. I did forget to see the 6^th floor deck. oops!
Room size is about average, even spacious, Ive stayed in far tinier hotel rooms, my family who joined us and stayed elsewhere had a far smaller room than us. It fit two adults, luggage, stroller and toddler just fine (no cribs, so plan accordingly for the small traveller in your group.)
I will say, for people unfamiliar with vancouver, the neighborhood can be… colorful. A bit alarming even, but we never had an issue. We used to live in the area, so I guess it doesn’t bother me much. (hint: the residents won’t bother you if you don’t bother them.). It’s safe. Our suite overlooked an inner courtyard, but again, quiet, and lovely.
This is now my preferred hotel for Vancouver. Highly recommend.

Great spot! So different. Really beautiful rooms decorated by native Canadian artists from different bands (tribe, clan if you are not familiar with terminology), and despite the neighborhood it was really pretty quiet. So many nearby restaurants, bars and pubs, hard to decide where to go!
Very nice amenities, comfortable beds, friendly service, and beautiful gallery as well.
Employees showed pride in the hotel… as well they should!

The hotel itself is super cute and the staff is really nice. I feel really bad for this review but it is very true to our experience. We stayed here for one night over Memorial Day Weekend. The biggest thing I was concerned about was the location/​neighborhood.
The building was fairly hidden and it looked like a hostel from the outside. You check in at the Art Gallery and you get back in your car to meet the front desk agent in the «alley» to get into the hotel parking lot through 2 garage doors. Once you’re parked, you walk out of the garage (not through stairs or anything butt where the car drives) and leave through the huge garage door then down the alley a few doors down to get into the «back door».
This set up was too much for me and there were a lot of «zombies» (druggies in the alley). It was a well lit alley but I still wouldn’t recommend this set up if staying here by your self or a bunch of girls.
During our stay, it was quite short but there was a lot of noise, I believe half of the building are tenants and half are hotel guests? Something like that but there seemed to be a lot of parties and noise going on in this property. It didn’t bother us as we knocked out from drinking but I can imagine the noise to be bothersome for others.

Very odd hotel experience. The room itself was very clean, but extremely small. That much is expected downtown, but there was a complete lack of service. We called down at 7 PM to request more pillows, left a voicemail. and never heard back. It didn’t feel like a real hotel, more like a little guest room in someone’s apartment building. It gets two stars for a great location, it’s only saving grace.

This is the last time I book a hotel without READING the reviews first. (I normally just look at the overall ratings, which DID NOT prepare me for this place.)
First of all, we couldn’t even find the place, because the entrance to the hotel is through this little hole-​in-​the-​wall gallery. When I called for directions, the person I spoke to on the phone assured me I was on the wrong side of Pender (E. Pender vs. W. Pender), even though I wasn’t. Then, when we finally got to the hotel and checked in at the desk, the person there tried to charge me the entire amount of our stay — including the $ 250+ that was pre-​paid through
. (Also, parking is extra, and their lot is super limited so be prepared for that.)
When we finally got to our room, we found that it was super small and very bare-​bones. The bed has just a regular metal frame, the TV is a giant tube set that hums loudly when you turn it on, and the windows and balcony were unusable because they looked directly into other people’s residences (all of which were within 30 feet of us). Housekeeping was awkward the next morning, as they don’t give you «do not disturb» signs to put out, so I had not one, but two people try to come into the room while I was getting dressed, and had to yell at them through the door that we were fine and didn’t need our bed made.
With that said, the room, though small, was clean, and was fine for just sleeping. If you’re planning to be out and about in downtown the whole time you stay here, I think this place is probably fine. But if you plan to spend any amount of time in your room (which we expected to do at least a bit of, since this was our anniversary weekend), I don’t recommend this place.

What an awesome place!
I just happened across this place on a travel web site. The price was very reasonable for it’s location, so I was skeptical. I have stayed in many different places in Vancouver and this is by far my favorite.
Everything is brand spankin new, so that was a real bonus for the price! It’s 3 blocks from the trendy gastown, across the street from an international shopping area with a huge variety of food court places, 3 blocks from the SkyTrain, an $ 8 cab ride from Canada Place (cruise terminal) and a $ 6 cab ride from the Amtrak station. Did I say it was a perfect location? Seriously!
Are their homeless people in the area? yes. Is that pretty much everywhere downtown except robson street in vancouver? yes. It’s urban life. Certainly does not deter from the bargain and the fabulousness of this place.
The Scoop: The place is about 1 year old. The web site was very confusing to me and I couldn’t quite pinpoint what exactly it was. I read other reviews and since it’s concept was so foreign to me, I worried that it might be a YMCA type homeless shelter/​hostel /​hotel like NY. It is nothing like that! This place has style and class and is GENIUS!
Style: It’s a center for Native American artists. Their art is displayed and sold in the lobby gallery. The gallery works are spectacular. The rooms are all brand new and very comfortable. We had a corner room and it was quite spacious.
The GENIUS: The center houses 25 artists. The top floor is the hotel. So, when you ride the elevator you are likely to meet one of the artists. I must say I was bummed that the elevator ride was so short! The artists we met were very talkative and informative. You can really «feel the love» in this place. It’s an artists community where boring folks like me get to mingle and be a part of a creative community! I understand why it’s called a «healing lodge»… the positive vibes in this place are abundant.
I say this is Genius because travelers like me get to stay at a great place, pay decent (if not discounted comparatively speaking) price, and support local artists all at the same time. Think about this! You can either give your money to folks like Paris Hilton or you can support local artists and a great community. This is a genius idea and I wish there was a place like this in every city!
Bravo Skwachays! I will always stay here when I visit Vancouver! Bravo!

Having just returned from a weekender in Vancovuer for what was apparently an «event» weekend that meant insanely high hotel rates throughout the city. However, this is where the Skwachàys Healing Lodge really saved my bacon, because they popped up with availability at the last minute for a much more reasonable rate than any number of shoddy hotels were offering. And this place is by no means shoddy (although it is very close to skid road). Simple, but very clean rooms, a cool art gallery, and a great Ronald McDonald house-​type service provided to Canadian aboriginal people. It’s the last part that makes this place a by definition «last minute» booking, because this place serves visiting patients first. That said, it was no problem for us, and the Gastown location was perfect for our purposes. The only drawbacks would be the sheets/​towels, which are scratchy (and slightly bleached-​smelling) and the lack of area parking. But these are minor drawbacks. I would definitely come back here.