GEC Granville

If you want a hassle-​free stress-​less stay: DON“T GET A ROOM HERE!!!
I stayed here with two coworkers for three nights. Every night the front desk had a problem with our payments. At check in there was an issue because our employer didn’t mark the box that said, room plus incidentals and marked the box that said «All charges.» Apparently the word ALL on their authorization forms means not the deposit. We had also only been authorized for 2 nights not 3 as planned so we straightened that out with our employer sending another authorization the following day. The second night, I was told that we had only been authorized for one night and we owed $ 341 per room plus $ 300 for the deposit, yet the day prior they said our original authorization was for two nights and it was fine. When asked why we had to pay so much she never gave us an answer. aAfter arguing with the night clerk and getting my boss on the phone after hours, once the clerk realized she had made an error, we didn’t even get a simple, «Sorry for the inconvenience.» All she said was, «I got it straightened out now.» Not to mention half way through our interaction she asked me to hold on a moment, picked up the phone and ducked behind the computer. I’m guessing it was a personal call because she immediately began speaking Spanish. On top of everything, there was an alarm going off that she had no clue how to silence. Even after I complained of it giving me a headache,
After all that, during check out, upon hearing the issue was still unresolved I came to find out the night clerk (the lady we had dealt with during the prior two encounters) was new and that they don’t even deal with payment until check out. So I am not sure what she was trying to do but I made sure that I kept all the receipts just in case they decided to charge us twice. As it turned out she was using one authorization form with one credit card number to pay for all the rooms for all the nights.
We ended up missing the whole morning of our conference due to their inability to read the paper work. Stop. and A THINK!!!
My employer said it best: «That hotel sucks. It’s one thing to have one idiot employed, but two?»
None of us were impressed with the entire experience. Our organization won’t be using that place again.

This past weekend I had a friend from out of town visit. Unfamiliar with Vancouver, he told me that he was thinking of staying at the Comfort Inn on Nelson and Granville, and when I told him it was right above a night club, he was all HELL NO*, and asked me about the GEC, a hotel he had found on Expedia. I had never heard of it, but based on the location, Drake and Granville, I told him that it would be quiet despite it being on Granville Street and only a few blocks away from the Comfort Inn and all the clubs. (*He was horrified when I sent him a picture of the hotel that I had taken when I walked past it shortly before his visit.)
I don’t know too much about the hotel, and I can’t seem to find a website when I google – all I can find are links to Expedia and hotel booking sites and to Trip Advisor, as well as a link to a «student hotel», which based on the address, seems to be the same place. I’m not sure what a «student hotel» is, but GEC is not the bed bugged infested hostel that comes to mind when I hear the words «student hotel»; it is actually a really nice hotel.
The hotel is right above the White Spot on Granville and Drake and used to be a Best Western (when my friend mentioned the location, I was confused as I had never heard of GEC, and was picturing the Best Western). The hotel is clean and VERY QUIET (which is of utmost importance to me), and affordable. I didn’t pay for the room, but my friend said that prices for a standard rom were between $ 89 and $ 125, which is damn good for Vancouver. And despite being «cheap», the room was really very nice. It wasn’t old and run down but very modern, the type of room you’d find in a new condo.
I don’t know anything about the amenities, but based on price, the quality of the room, and the fact that it was silent (this is the quietest hotel I have ever stayed at), I have to give this hotel 5 stars, and I am *extremely* picky about hotels. I highly recommend this hotel, and when I have friends from out of town visiting, I will be sure to tell them about GEC.