Very modern room and lobby. Bathroom was very fancy and updated. Service was the only think that lacked a bit. Trendy location near shopping and restaurants.

Both mornings, coffee was out in the lobby. I asked the attached restaurant about it and they told me to go to the coffee shop next door.

A good stay and I will return.

I recently organized a meeting at the Opus Hotel, located in a more upscale area of Vancouver (Yaletown). It’s about 30 minutes by taxi from the airport but you can take the Skytrain directly to the hotel (just across the street) in about 20 minutes. The staff is very helpful, friendly, and eager to please.

The lobby is unimpressive and does injustice to the rest of the hotel – but I’ve learned over the years that you cannot trust the efficiency of a hotel by the lobby. The guest rooms are excellent – mine had a king bed, with full, deep bath, a large shower, couch, desk – and each room comes equipped with an iPad. A bathrobe & umbrella are available in the closet. And, of course, a mini bar.

The meeting rooms were adequate. There seems to be only 2 meeting rooms, which are separated by a floating wall. There is a window but no sky is visible because there’s a cement wall it beyond it. A pretty garden separates the window from the wall and breaks up the greyness of the cement.

The food for the meeting was excellent. We had poultry, beef & fish with some pasta sides – all were delicious. However, for some reason there is no poultry dishes on the menu for business meetings – we had to ask for it. The Opus helped us out with Kosher meals and gluten-free dishes.

Ask for a guest room beginning on the 4th floor and up. My original room was right above the lobby (2nd fl), where they have a DJ set up in the evenings for bar patrons. The bass is loud and the party goes on until about 12:00 or 1:00am – so if you want to stay awake, it’s not a problem. For those of us who enjoy sleeping – it’s a big problem. My colleague on the 3rd floor also felt the bass but it didn’t keep her awake. As well, guests who stood outside the hotel doors for a smoke were easily heard in my room, windows closed. I called the front desk around midnight and asked for a different room (truthfully, I demanded a new room – I was awake for 22 hours because of time difference & was quite cranky), which they prepared for me. It was on the 6th floor away from the street – I slept really well that night!

The downsides for the meeting portion were that 1) they didn’t have all the equipment ready for us that was on our requisition so I had to keep asking as I noticed what was missing; 2) our meeting was to start at noon but the food wasn’t set up prior to the start – so as my guests were filtering in for noon, they were still setting up the food. Ask them to set up 15 minutes before; 3) although I understand that the hotel wants to keep our room free of dirty dishes, I found that they kept coming in to clear them out rather than provide a tray or table where we can place them. The interruptions are distracting sometimes, particularly when sensitive discussions were taking place.

The upsides were that they quickly reconfigured part of the set-up at the last minute, moving phones and tables to accommodate my requests. It’s hard to set up a meeting when you can’t see the room and visualize what should go where.

I’d recommend the Opus for a meeting of 10-12 people, so long as you have the two rooms available. Sleep quarters for your guests should be restricted to floors 4 and up. As for vacationers, I suppose this hotel caters more to the 40 and under crowd by the looks of it. And they accept dogs - which could be a plus or a minus depending on how you look at it.

Admittedly, I hated the pink and purple furniture, cushions and chairs with silver bead curtains in the lobby. It looked like a 12 year-olds room without the Justin Beiber posters on the wall. But once inside the rest of the hotel, it was a nice place.

Smallish rooms but comfortable complete with iPad in the room for your use. Fridge included as well as room safe. Quiet in the halls. Nice paint in the rooms. But the bathroom had to be the biggest surprise - closest to the street with full windows. Two types of blinds - sun blinds and blackout blinds. Great rainfall shower. All the amenities and it was 10:45 pm when I discovered why the bathroom was built between the room and the street: to buffer the street noise from the nightclub and the people who hung outside the club until the wee hours of the morning. Bring earplugs - good ones. This is Yaletown.

It's plenty close to most of the happening spots in Vancouver - a few blocks from Granville and a few blocks from the water shuttles that will take you to Granville Island.

Uneventful except for the housekeeper who walked right in with me in my underwear. She claims she knocked but neither my wife nor I heard it. Cafe Artigiano is in the hotel with decent breakfast choices and decent coffee in the morning. Staff was accommodating.

A nice stay.

I recently completed my second stay at the Opus Hotel in Vancouver, BC. The Opus is a boutique hotel of the first order. I travel frequently on business and the experience at the Opus rivals any other place I have stayed. The rooms are well appointed, spotlessly clean, and well serviced by an excellent house keeping staff. The turndown service provides a carafe of cold fresh water and a freshly filled ice bucket. People are what make a good hotel and these folks are the best trained, most polite, most helpful, constantly cheerful, and friendliest group of people I have ever met in a hotel! There is an excellent restaurant on the premises and dozens of excellent eateries throughout the immediate area. The hotel is conveniently located across the street from a Skytrain (subway) station. If you fly into Vancouver take the train from the airport to the front door of the hotel. There is no need to rent a car with the excellent public transportation in this area. If you forgot your umbrella, no problem, ask for one at the front desk and it is yours for the duration of your stay. I have stayed in a number of boutique hotels in my life and this one rates as the number one experience. If you avoid boutiques and stay in the large chain hotels you don't know how wonderful these places can be. The next time you are in Vancouver plan to stay at the Opus!