On our way from the Seattle area to Vancouver Island, my mother and I recently decided to overnight in the small town of Tsawwassen, British Columbia. There is a direct ferry service from Tsawwassen to the port of Swartz Bay on the island, and we thought that this would make it a good stopping over point for our drive. The location and the price were the major selling points for me when I was looking for rooms. We booked a non-smoking "comfort suite" room at the rate of $99 (Canadian) for just one night.


Appearance

The Coast Tsawwassen Inn is located on a major thoroughfare in town. It has the appearance of a purpose-built chain hotel, and there is nothing particularly distinctive about it. The lobby area was spacious and open, but as we arrived tired and anticipated an early morning, we were just eager to get to our room. We did notice however, that a sign near the check-in counter had our name on it congratulating my mother on being the "guest of the day." We found out what this meant when we checked in: a free upgrade and a little goodie bag of treats. My mother was absolutely tickled to have "won" something.

There was a sign in the lobby about a major upgrade to the hotel which was underway. I don't know the hotel's age, but there certainly seemed to be some areas that looked older than others. The elevator and the hallway that led to our third floor room were both notably more worn than our room.


Our room

The king suite we were given turned out to be at least three times the size of the apartment I rented during my student years. The kitchenette/living room/dining area alone was larger than the average hotel room. And the bedroom, with two queen sized beds, had room and to spare. The suite was fully carpeted throughout, except for the tiled bathroom and kitchenette.

The kitchenette was separated from the dining/living room area by a half wall flanked with a countertop. A sink, microwave, small refrigerator, four-burner electric stove, oven, coffee pot, electric kettle, teapot! and a full array of silverware, plates and stemware made the kitchen suitable for entertaining guests in the dining area. I could only have wished for a smidgen of real milk or even UHT to go with our coffee and tea in the morning.

The dining area was nearest the door, with an oblong dinner table and six chairs. A skylight above the living room area made the room bright in the morning. I somehow ended up on the pull-out couch once again. This one was not particularly comfortable to sleep on. All the furniture in our suite was nice but relatively unassuming; the sort of things you have to deliberately examine in order to retain any impression of them whatsoever. Both the living room and the bedroom had large tvs. The bedroom also had a writing table and sliding glass doors that led to a private balcony. Everything in our suite appeared new, from the furniture to the wall paper, carpet and painted trim.


Bath

Our bathroom alone was as large as several hotel rooms I've had over the years. There was a jacuzzi tub and shower stall, double sinks, two plush robes, plenty of white towels, some nice toiletries, including cotton balls and swabs, and, less pleasantly, a scale. The bath was tiled and perfectly clean. The hot water took a little while to show up, but it held out once it did and there was good water pressure.


Amenities

The hotel has an underground parking garage which is free for guests. Wireless internet access is also available at a charge of $9.95 per day. I asked for this service when we checked in and was told to ring the front desk from our room when I was ready to surf. I did so and found that the connection was a bit difficult to accomplish on my laptop. After a few fruitless attempts, with an employee talking me through a troubleshooting process, I was asked to come down to the lobby and see if it was a question of signal strength. I was less than thrilled with this option as I was already in my pajamas, but I threw my jeans on to give it a try. After a few more attempts in the lobby and more help from the sincere staff, I succeeded in connecting, at which point I took my laptop back up to our room to surf. Happily, when I paid for our room the following morning, I was informed that the wifi fee had been waived for the inconvenience. Naturally, I was pleased.


Service

We had a few questions which the very polite staff seemed happy to answer. One of the reasons I needed online access that night was to check on the ferry schedule the following day. When I had difficulty connecting, the woman who checked us in offered a good deal of information off the top of her head and also warned us about possible difficulties in returning from Vancouver Island. In general, I would say that the service during our brief stay was very professional.


Final Thoughts

For the equivalent of $76US, my mother and I enjoyed a brief but exceptionally nice stay at the Tsawwassen. I'm not sure what the standard rate is for the suite we were given, nor do I have any idea what the room we actually booked looked like. Obviously, we got lucky in our particular experience of this hotel, so it's a little difficult for me to give a general assessment of the price to value ratio. Still, I have to say that we were quite pleased with our stay at the Tsawwassen. My mother was simply thrilled to have "won" something. Though the location is a bit out of the way for anything other than the ferry, this suite would be great for a family or anyone who wanted to self-cater some meals. Based on our positive experience with the free upgrade and the very helpful staff, I would certainly stay at the Coast Tsawwassen if I ever needed lodging in this area again.



Recommended: Yes