The English Bay Apt Hotel

A throwback to the seventies and not the cool John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever seventies but the weird AMC Gremlin, broken disco ball, «what the heck are we doing in Vietnam» kind of seventies.
Upon registering you are issued a metal key for the room. METAL key! For us, this opened the door to a huge room with two queen beds and a full size bed in a separate room as well as a full seventies style kitchen (no dishwasher or garbage disposal and funky metal counter-​tops by the sink). It was decorated in early garage sale making the 40 inch Toshiba flat screen look out of place.
Regardless of looks, I didn’t stick to anything nor have uninvited visitors while sleeping which is a big plus in my book! It’s actually quite clean! More on the plus side is it’s in a great location near the beach, is reasonably quiet and is surrounded by lots of cool little eateries and shops. A blast from the past!

This place feels like it’s recovering from a past life as a welfare hotel. Our room was clean and spacious, but the large, single-​pane window that overlooks Denman Street and part of Stanley Park was drafty and soiled. The halls have a smell of fresh adhesive. The room had a Chinese kitchen aroma.
The manager has an odd practice of charging $ 10 per day for underground parking, but he shorts you on a remainder of your 24-​hours on the day you check out. You find yourself wandering through stairways, garages, and sub-​basements, toting your luggage, to get from the garage to your room. No electronic locks, and the manual locks feel flimsy.
Used my credit card in only a few places where the card went out of my sight. This was one of them. A few days later, my card was used for an unauthorized online purchase in Burnaby. I’m left with the impression that my card info was «unprotected.»

We stayed here over the recent American Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
We found the cost to be fairly average for Vancouver. We got a suite that supposedly slept up to six. It had a small kitchen, dining area, sleeping area, living room-​type area, bathroom, and bedroom. Total were a queen bed, a double bed, and a twin bed. That would seem to sleep 5 to me, but there is room for a rollaway, so that could add one more. (And while some may find this offensive, I checked for bedbugs and found none.)
The suite suited our family of 4 very nicely. The room was clean and the daily cleanings were well done. The temperature of the rooms was generally comfortable and extra fans and space heaters are provided in the room. There is good closet space, plenty of towels, soap, and shampoo available in the room.
The front desk staff is friendly and helpful.
The views are fantastic! We stayed in a 4^th floor room (normally we’d ask for a lower floor.) I’m glad because I could sit at the desk in the evening with the drapes open and look at the view. There is free wi-​fi for hotel guests. There is paid parking in a locked garage for hotel guests. It is tight parking! And, to exit we had to make a run at the hill.
Having a fridge, oven, and microwave was very convenient. However, the racks are all covered and extra pans are in the oven, which was rather odd. We think they did it to make it easier to clean. The hot water in the shower took awhile to warm up. And then once warm, could get too hot. Changing water temperature required turning the shower off and on and adjusting the knob without the shower flowing, only the tub.
Our only major complaint is that with the single pane windows, it sounds like you are down on the street, the street noise is so loud and clear. This caused for extremely poor sleeping.