Vancouver Boutique Hotel - St. Regis Hotel - Blog

Right To Play (www.rightoplay.ca) is an international humanitarian organization that uses sport and play programs to improve health, develop life skills, and foster peace for children and communities in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the world. Right To Play was begun as a charitable legacy of the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway and continues to enjoy great support from Olympic athletes as well as professionals in many sports like soccer and hockey. Recently, participating Right To Play NHL athletes including Joe Thornton, Zdeno Chara, and Daniel Alfredsson raised over $100,000 during the “NHL Donations for Minutes” weekend held February 27 to March 1.

This year, Right To Play is holding the first Red Ball Celebrity Golf Classic May 29th at Vancouver’s University Golf Course. The Red Ball Classic will gather together the greatest number of Canadian Olympic Athletes ever in one place to support a cause. Already twelve athletes, including seven Gold Medal winners, have committed to the event and more will be announced in the lead up the event.

This event will host the largest group of Canadian Olympians ever in one place to support a charitable cause and the St. Regis Hotel will proudly host them while they are here. During the weekend, we will be donating rooms for the Olympians who will be giving their time to make this event a success. We’re sure that they’ll enjoy their stays in our luxurious, boutique accommodations and that access to our business centre and the Steve Nash Sports Club will help them keep on track with all their work and training during the event. In addition, we will be offering special Right To Play rates for all the event attendees starting from $160 including full breakfast, complimentary internet, bottled water, local calls and faxes.

The St. Regis Hotel is proud to sponsor the Red Ball Celebrity Golf Classic and Right To Play.




One of the great pleasures of working in a hotel is watching the spontaneous connections which occur among the guests and staff, even though the time they spend together can be so short. Recently, we had an exchange between two guests which really warmed out hearts and we thought we would share it with you.

The St. Regis donated a room to the Looking Glass Foundation, a society which is focused on eating disorder education and awareness. They were hosting Dr. Blake Woodside, a renowned expert on the subject who was in Vancouver to speak at a fundraising dinner.

As he was in the St. Regis Hotel elevator about to leave for the dinner, he struck up conversation with another guest in the elevator. They asked him where he was going, and he explained his involvement with the Looking Glass Foundation for Eating Disorders.  The other guest spontaneously opened their wallet and gave Dr. Woodside the only money he had ($20.00) to donate to the cause!

It was a small act of kindness, but one which left an impression on us. 




Getting a visit from a CAA/AAA inspector is always a big moment for a hotel and much more so if it’s newly opened or renovated. The Diamond rating is a widely-used and recognized standard for grading hotel accommodations. Like many stressful tests in life, it’s always when you least expect it, or when you’re in the middle of a big project, that the CAA/AAA inspector will show up. While our Vancouver rep is a familiar face—the same person the St Regis’s GM dealt with for years at other hotels—the pressure was on. For months, we had communicated back and forth with the CAA to make sure that our renos aligned with their standards with the goal of getting a good rating, but now the moment of truth had arrived.

While the inspector was very familiar with our property prior to the renovations, we hoped that the new face of the hotel would be a revelation to him as it has been for so many visitors. We very proudly showed him the gorgeous new lobby area and business center—so far so good. The next step was a personal tour of the private guest areas with the GM. The tension among the staff was obvious—hotel staff take great pride and can be very particular about the kind of establishment they work in. Their tension was added to the GM’s as the outcome of the visit was awaited. 

Everyone wondered: will our stylish boutique hotel rooms; our green program; 32" flat screen TVs; our plug and play technology; our exquisite art work ($200,000 for a 65 room hotel); oversized safes; bathrobes, Italian body care products and makeup mirrors make the cut? The GM and the inspector met in the business center behind closed doors for the final verdict. Somehow, the entire staff found a reason to hang out in the lobby areas: Juan, for example, our AM front desk agent was to be found wiping fingerprints off the entrance door—after his shift had ended.

Meeting over, Jeremy the GM walked the inspector to the door and was immediately surrounded by the staff, all asking “so what’s our rating?” And he replied “I have shown many hotels to inspectors, never have I seen them speechless—I literally saw his jaw drop as he looked around the different room types trying to absorb the dramatic change from an antiquated hotel to a stylish New York-style boutique.”

The tension mounted: “what did he say?” Proudly the GM quoted the inspector: “the rooms and the bathrooms are definitely Four Diamonds. Stunning renos to this property.” Everyone was ecstatic. How often do you get the opportunity to showcase a brand new boutique hotel to a CAA/AAA inspector? This was the first time for our GM and what a kick he got out of it.

In addition, CAA/AAA has asked the St. Regis to consider being listed as a CAA/AAA Boutique Hotel—a new classification for them. The St. Regis will have until July to decide.