My husband and I recently stayed at the Westin Bayshore for a couple nights during the holidays. We are from Vancouver and often stay with family but it’s also such a busy time that it’s nice to have our own home base for a bit and the Westin Bayshore is a pretty comfortable hotel. We love its location on the waterfront. And the coolest thing is that it’s a hotel with bike rentals (you can book them for 2 hours a day) and this is ample time to ride to Stanley Park which is probably one of the best places to ride bike in the world.
And this is how we learned about the origin of the Lions Gate Bridge and its connection to the Guinness Family
Even in winter you can rent bikes at the Westin hotel. It was December when we rented and we popped by the concierge after breakfast and were the 2nd group to borrow the bikes. The bike path at Stanley park takes you along gorgeous water views-you can see downtown Vancouver and keep going by Prospect Point (I was just disappointed that that Rocky Point Ice Cream was not open in the wintertime). Somewhere along the path we ended up near a view of the Lion’s Gate Bridge and this is where we found a little plaque that explained how the Guinness family paid for the bridge. (The Guinness family was also connected to the British Properties and Park Royal Mall-a mall I grew up with and that we still visit today) We visited the Guinness factory on our Ireland trip a few years ago-my guys thought it might be more interesting than seeing a museum I wanted to see and we all had a really fabulous time. I think it’s neat how even a couple years later, remembering this museum while looking over at a bridge we so often travel by in Vancouver BC, we can see how our life decisions affect us in small and big ways all the time.
The Westin Bayshore also has a lovely outdoor pool
It also has an indoor pool, but why even bother when the outside pool is heated and delightfully warm in winter and has one of those adorable round little saunas nearby too. I appreciate really nice pools more and more lately-it’s a luxury I wouldn’t have in my house so it elevates a hotel stay. The only thing I didn’t like was that you could see it from where we ate breakfast so I didn’t want to swim during the breakfast time period and have a captive audience.
The Westin Bayshore also advertised an indoor entertainment area called Level Up for the winter break (if you look for next year it was here in 2023 and 2024 so maybe it might be a yearly thing?) It would be great for pre-teens especially because there are lots of video games, but it also had an indoor pickleball court and a curling game that my husband and I tried too.
Where to find deals on Westin Bayshore hotel in Vancouver?
For deals on the Westin Bayshore, I usually check offers on the Marriott site because I have Platinum Status and sometimes you can get parking and breakfast included. I recently worked on a promotion with Stay Vancouver Hotels and learned they also have deals on their site for the Westin Bayshore as well as other hotels we love in Vancouver. Also I usually search for a “Washington state locals rate” for Vancouver hotels and have found deals here in the past. And I think AAA might have discount rates for this hotel as well.
(PS. I love the H Tasting Lounge at this hotel too-they have creative afternoon teas, really delicious food and some of my favorite drinks in Vancouver as well. When we were there in December 2024, there was free parking included if you ate at the restaurant-make sure you check the website for details before you go.)
(PPS if you are Platinum level or higher for Marriott Bonvoy, there was no lounge here but we were able to choose breakfast for 2. I also had upgrade certificates from staying with Marriott a whole lot last year and I was not able to use them-I actually could not use ANY of my upgrades last year so I do not think that is a useful benefit from Marriott Bonvoy)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)