Our cruise returned to port too late to catch a morning or early afternoon flight back to Charlotte. The remaining options were a red-eye departing late that night or a very early flight the next morning. We opted for the 6:00 am flight the next morning, which meant we had to figure out one more night in a Vancouver hotel.
In deciding on a hotel location, we had to choose between convenience when disembarking the cruise or convenience when flying out the next morning. While the airport is relatively easy to get to from the city, it is probably not a fun trip at 3:30 am. So in the interest of sleep, we decided to stay close to the airport.
There are lots of options close to the airport and many of them offer free shuttles. But there is close to the airport and inside the airport. YVR actually has a Fairmont hotel within the airport itself. While shuttles from nearby hotels are great, taking an elevator down to the terminal from the hotel is even better.
Yes, it was a bit of a pain to deal with our luggage when we got off the cruise. There are several different options for your luggage if you aren’t checking into a nearby hotel – you can rent a car and take your luggage with you, you can take a day tour with a company that will store your luggage in the bus and drop you off at your hotel, or you can use one of a few luggage storage facilities near the port (including the Pan Pacific Hotel, which will hold your luggage for $5 a bag). After our car rental plan fell through, we decided that my husband and brother would take a cab to the hotel with all the luggage and meet up with the rest of us later at Science World.
While we were standing outside Canada Place with 11 people and our bags trying to figure out a plan, part of me wished we were just staying in the Pan Pacific again. It would have been so easy to check in to our room, drop the bags off, and be on our way. But that momentary discomfort was long forgotten when we got to the Fairmont late that afternoon.
The hotel is literally inside the airport. Arriving on the SkyTrain, we could see the hotel tower rising from behind the terminal. To get to the hotel lobby you walk through the airport check-in area and take an escalator up to a walkway that crosses over the airport below. It’s interesting that both of the hotels we stayed in (Pan Pacific and Fairmont Vancouver Airport) were accessed through other buildings and did not have lobby entrances straight from the outdoors.
I don’t have any other experiences with in-airport hotels but this one far exceeded my expectations. It is a really nice hotel. The rooms were fantastic, the beds comfortable (and they even offered rooms with 2 queen sized beds!), and the service great. Airplane noise was not an issue whatsoever. The exterior walls are completely soundproof.
The one unusual feature in our room was that the bathroom had a window opening to the bedroom with only plantation shutters for privacy. The design allows you to sit in the bathtub and watch the TV in the bedroom, which is a great feature for a couple or a solo traveller but not ideal for a family. The shutters did little to block light and noise so the setup was not ideal for privacy or for showering while the kids were sleeping. But this was just a minor inconvenience that did not impact our stay.
The high quality of the hotel was really just the icing on the cake. The main reason to stay here is the convenience, and for an early morning departure it simply can’t be beat. We were able to get probably an extra hour of sleep and just head downstairs when we needed to check in instead of taking a taxi from the city or a shuttle from another airport hotel. When you are taking an international flight with kids at 6:00 am, the value of this cannot be underestimated.
There was an issue with the baggage tag printing when we checked in so I was able to text the rest of my family (who had a later flight) to warn them of the long lines. They were each able to send one person down with the bags to check in while the rest of their family slept and then go back to the hotel room to relax until they had to go through security. That is absolutely incredible and makes for such a better travel experience.
The Fairmont Vancouver Airport is a win-win when you are taking a morning flight out of Vancouver (or arriving late!). It is a gorgeous hotel with an unbeatable location. The convenience simply cannot be beat, especially for families. I know our long trip home got off to a better start because we were able to sleep later and get to check-in within minutes of leaving the hotel.
