Many months ago, my sister gave me for Christmas a one night stay at the Opus Hotel in Yaletown. It was a very thoughtful and expensive gift but I had no opportunity to cash in on it while I was living out by UBC.
Since the gift certificate was to expire at the end of December and since I’ve been exiled to the wastelands of suburbia, I booked a room and stayed downtown this past Saturday. It also helped that Adam’s farewell evening was also on Saturday. For once, I wouldn’t have to worry about making the long trek back to the suburbs after an evening out with friends.
I checked into the hotel around 3:30pm or so. I’ve been to the Opus before: once at the Elixir restaurant for dinner (pricey!) and also at the hotel bar for drinks. Some of you long-time readers might recognize the Opus bar as the last stop before Behennah and Woba drove off to Seattle at 2am on a whim.
I was give what turned out to be a “superior room“. The Opus is considered to be a boutique hotel, meaning it’s smaller than your average chain hotel, it’s supposed to offer higher levels of service, and of course, it’s going to cost you more. My room was unlike any other hotel room I’ve been in. Rather than your standard white walls, the room had a bluish colour theme to it.
The bathroom was the most interesting part of the room. In your standard hotel room, the bathroom usually has no windows. In my Opus hotel room, the only windows in the room are in the bathroom. The bathroom had floor to ceiling windows and was the only place you could go if you wanted to look outside and onto the street. Obviously you would need some privacy if you wanted to do your business and that’s where these two windows screens come in. One screen was like a partial light filter that obscured some of the view but could still let silhouttes show through. There was also another one that was completely opaque that gave you the most privacy. For the record, I felt comfortable enough to tinkle with only the partial screen down. The bathroom tiles were also heated to a temperature of your desire. There wasn’t a tub to soak in but the shower was shaped like a wedge that easily could have fit two people. There’s also no bathroom door. Two Japanese style sliding doors serve as the only way to separate the bathroom from the rest of the room.
The rest of the room was nicely appointed and the queen sized bed was quite comfy. There was an in-room safe, ironing board, iron, TV, hair dryer, and umbrella. Also available was this oxygen canister that you could take O2 from at $8 per hit. How trendy! Room service can be had at all hours of the day and night. I quickly flipped through the menu where I discovered a BLT sandwich with fries would have set me back $15 not including the $3.50 delivery fee plus taxes and gratuities. Local calls were $1.25 per call and there was a high-speed internet port at the desk ($16 for 24 hours of access).
When I returned to my room after the evening out I discovered they also have a turn down service. A card displaying tomorrow’s weather forecast was placed on the bedside table as was two chocolates on the bed.
They do treat you nice at the Opus and everything is very cosmopolitan and modern. This does come at a price, starting at around $200 a night. If you have the cash, I’d recommend the hotel for sure but for those on a budget, there are better values out there.
P.S. When I returned to my hotel room at around 2am, there were tons of people still out on the street downtown in their costumes. It’s weird, but it appears that to women in their 20s, “dressing up” for Halloween means wearing anything plus a tiny, short skirt and knee high boots. Where was I when that memo got sent out?