Canada Victoria Magnolia Hotel and Spa

[KRXNLS]

Just returned from a 2 night "Hotwire" stay.

This is a "boutique" hotel in an excellent location in terms of closeness to the harbour and to stores and restaurants. However the street itself is a downtown side street and is not very appealing.

Some of the rooms have good harbour views but our 4th floor room at the back did not. On check in the clerk quite loudly said this is a "Hotwire" booking and went to the back to see which room to give us giving the impression that this was a "Hotwire" room. We were not given a choice of one or 2 beds. The hotel was quite empty and we had paid very little less than the Magnolia's own "Special" rate so I felt this was not necessary.

Our room was spacious and very clean but it had a very, very tiny closet! OK for the 2 nights we were there but would have caused a problem had we been staying longer. The room was well furnished and had a very nice bathroom - although a liitle more light would have been useful- and Aveda toiletries were supplied.

Continental breakfast was included and when we checked in the clerk told us that it would be "quite a spread". In fact, it was just adequate and unappealing. The room used is an Asian Fusion restaurant for lunch and dinner and no effort was made to brighten it up for breakfast or to have any of the tables set up. One simply took a liitle food and carried it to a bare table!

We checked out the Fitness room which was quite small with only a few machines but we were offered passes to the local Y. Not nearly as convenient as a gym in the hotel.

There did not appear to be a business centre either (although we didn't ask) but there is Internet access in the rooms if you travel with a laptop.

Valet parking only $15.00 a day. Not unreasonable but the option to self-park would be nice.,

We go to Victoria quite often and have, on occasion, been lucky enough to get the Marriott on Priceline at a reasonable price. Otherwise we book direct at one of the 3 stars around the Inner Harbour and feel that either of those options is preferable to paying 4 star prices for the Magnolia.