Plush hour: Wedgewood Hotel & Spa

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This short article becomes part of a guide to Vancouver from Feet World Traveler

Wedgewood is rather a rarity in Vancouver. Among the couple of independent high-end hotels in the city (it is Vancouver’s only Relais & & Châteaux member), it was opened in 1984 by Greece-born businesswoman Eleni Skalbania, a previous owner of the Hotel Georgia. It stays family-owned and women-run today, with her 2 children, Elpie Marinakis and Marousa Dumaresq, at the helm.

Skalbania looked for to conjure the environment of a country-house hotel at Wedgewood, from setting up sophisticated, arched awnings to showing her individual collection of art and antiques, commissioning custom-made furnishings and selecting tails and leading hat-donning doormen. The moody, wood-panelled lobby and lounge, with thick patterned carpets, a fireplace and big chandelier, uses a dosage of old world beauty. In the heart of a city centre mainly specified by glimmering glass high-rise buildings, Wedgewood, I observed, has more in typical with a hotel like The Stafford in London than any of its regional equivalents.

The visitor spaces and suites likewise provide old-school high-end, each wisely provided and extremely comfy (though with a lot of brown and beige tones throughout, some might utilize an upgrade). My large, metre-high bed with a thick, heavy duvet and lots of, lots of pillows made me grateful to have actually landed at Wedgewood following a long-haul flight from London. Toiletries too lean timeless and originate from the Provençal purveyor L’Occitane.

Those in requirement of a much deeper tidy, a eucalyptus steam or a jet-lag-busting massage can head to the hotel’s day spa, which uses a variety of facials together with body treatments and visual services. The health club is remarkably modern-day and well geared up, with a lot of cardio and strength-training devices and a Peloton spin bike.

Visitors have plenty to do on their doorstep too. Wedgewood is ideal beside the Vancouver Art Gallery and is well situated for checking out the downtown peninsula on foot or by bike. (Location-wise, it’s likewise really simple to get to and from the airport: a 25-minute journey from YVR on the city, called the SkyTrain, to Vancouver City Centre station, and a five-minute walk from there.)

Nevertheless, visitors need to definitely make time to have a beverage at the hotel’s outstanding mixed drink bar, popular with both residents and travelers. The Bacchus Lounge, with its gentlemen’s club decoration, is a cosy area come winter season, while warmer weather condition brings the opening of its floor-to-ceiling windows and an unwinded, alfresco feel. The connected Bacchus dining establishment is likewise among the city’s finest and is under the province of executive chef Stefan Hartmann, who formerly ran the (now closed) one-Michelin-star Hartmanns in Berlin. Here timeless method is used to British Columbia’s wealth of fruit and vegetables, especially Pacific coast fish and seafood, from huge regional oysters to huge, buttery halibut. It’s not to be missed out on.

At a look:

• Great For: Traditionalists. Wedgewood is an old-school high-end hotel

• Not so great for: Hunters of modern-day style

• FYI: The connected dining establishment, Bacchus, is helmed by chef Stefan Hartmann, who relocated to Vancouver in 2014 following stints at Michelin-approved dining establishments in Europe, including his own– the eponymous Hartmanns in Berlin

• Spaces and suites: 83

• Medical Spa: Yes

• Health Club: Yes

• Double: From C$ 495 (about $370/ ₤ 292)

• Address: 845 Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1V1

• Site; Instructions

Niki Blasina was a visitor of Wedgewood Hotel & & Medical Spa

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