Best Western Dorchester Hotel

The front desk attendants were excellent: quick, courteous, accommodating. The ocean harbour view was gorgeous and the room was clean and modern. I’d return in a heartbeat. The hotel is located close to the old downtown shopping district: quaint and eclectic. less

Day 6 we set sail for Vancouver Island. We putted around Victoria seeing friends and the sights before heading off to Nanaimo for the evening. We made reservations and arrived fairly early. We had a hard time getting to the hotel. Apparently early Thursday evenings they have a street market where local businesses display their wares that closes Church Street off to vehicular traffic. We finally figured a way and made it to the hotel. It turned out you don’t need to go down Church. The hotel’s entrance and parking lot is off of Front St. They don’t have an exclusive parking lot. They make good of a public parking lot beside the hotel. The Hotel will give you a pass so that you don`t have to pay. Upon checking in, the staff was very good and made sure all of our needs were attended to. Our room was spectacular. We had a harbour view. I guess that`s why our room was over 200 dollars. The view of McGregor Park Marina (or whatever it`s called) was wonderful and we watched the life on the boats and planes taking off from the harbour. The room was very clean, spacious and had comfortable beds. Bonus points to be had – Their laundry facility is available for free. You just pay for the detergent. less

On the positive side: location is great, and staff were helpful and accommodating. Alas, that doesn’t offset the negatives: analog tv (!), lumpy bed and pillows, and dusty bedside clock 13 hours off current time. The rooms have been repainted but details don’t live up to the new colours. Would recommend you go to the Coast Bastion across the street instead. less

We enjoyed this historic waterfront hotel. Although we had been told the hotel was not wheelchair accessible, the attendant put us in a mini-suite, instead of the smaller room we had reserved, to better accommodate my husband's needs who is in a wheelchair. The location of the hotel was very picturesque and we enjoyed the restaurant also. less

We had a four hour layover in Nanaimo and no place to store our luggage. Eli at the Dorchester graciously took our bags, even though we were not guests (we were going to be staying that night at their sister hotel in Port Alberni). This was a real plus for us and allowed us to explore the pretty town of Nanaimo. Another terrific experience at a Best Western! less