Review: Fairmont Vancouver Airport (YVR)

For the first hotel stay of my quick trip to Japan & Korea, I spent a night at the 386-room Fairmont Vancouver Airport. While I don’t usually stay at Accor properties, I had heard great things about this hotel, and figured I should check it out.

Well, I’m very happy I did. This is an incredible airport hotel, with an ideal location, stunning views (if you like planes), and solid food and beverage outlets. Airport hotels don’t get much better than this, and as an aviation geek, I would gladly vacation here. Unsurprisingly, the only catch is that this convenience and luxury comes at a cost, so it’s not a very budget friendly hotel. Still, if you can swing it, I’d highly recommend a stay here.

Booking the Fairmont Vancouver Airport

For my one night stay, a base room at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport was running 350 CAD (~247 USD) per night. However, I decided to book a Fairmont Gold room, which is the name of Fairmont’s rooms that offer club lounge access, at the rate of 485 CAD (~342 USD).

I booked this through the Accor STEP program, which offers a variety of extra perks, including a $100 credit once per stay, daily restaurant breakfast, a room upgrade (subject to availability), and early check-in and late check-out (subject to availability).

Now, let me of course acknowledge that this is pricey for an airport hotel. Furthermore, the upgrade to the club room probably wasn’t worth it for this quick stay, since I had restaurant breakfast and a $100 credit included on account of booking through Accor STEP. However, I primarily booked a club room because I wanted to review the experience, as I don’t remember the last time I stayed at a Fairmont.

Fairmont Vancouver Airport location

You can’t beat the location of the Fairmont Vancouver Airport, as it’s connected directly to the terminal. If you’re arriving from inside the airport, just go to the departures level, and at the back of the transborder check-in area (for flights to the United States), you’ll see the escalators leading up to the hotel.

Once on the upper level, you still have to walk a bit of a distance till you find yourself in the lobby.

Meanwhile if you’re not coming from inside the airport, the hotel has its own entrance separate from the terminal, on the roadway leading to departures. It’s pretty charming for an airport hotel, if you ask me!

When it comes to airport hotels, I simply can’t overstate how convenient it is to be able to stay at a hotel that’s either directly in the airport, or within walking distance. Airport shuttles often operate so inconsistently, so it’s a huge time saver.

Fairmont Vancouver Airport lobby & check-in

The Fairmont Vancouver Airport has a charming lobby. As you enter the hotel, reception is located to the left, while there’s lots of lobby seating to the right. I loved the flowers, plants, and art, in particular.

My check-in process was efficient, and the employee checking me in was friendly. She informed me that I had been upgraded from the Fairmont Gold Room that I had booked to a Fairmont Gold Runway View Room. As an aviation geek, that’s obviously the dream upgrade! With a key in hand, I headed to the elevators, and up to the top (14th) floor, where my room was located.

Fairmont Vancouver Airport runway view room

I was assigned room 1409, a Fairmont Gold Runway View Room. Once off the elevator, I turned left, and then my room was about halfway down the hallway, on the right.

These rooms are marketed as being 411 square feet (38 square meters), and they’re functionally designed. The room featured an entryway with the bathroom to the right, closet space to the left, and the rest of the room straight ahead.

The room boasted a comfortable king size bed with four plush pillows, and an all-around elegant design.

Across from the bed was a large console with the minibar, a luggage storage rack, a wall-mounted TV, and even a desk with a chair.

The minibar setup featured a Nespresso machine, some tea, and a variety of drinks and snacks for purchase.

I love how this hotel leans into its location at the airport, as there’s a telescope right by the window, along with a plane spotting guide… how fun!

The view from this room was a dream, as I saw the gate area, the runways, and the mountains in the distance. Honestly, a club room is partly worth it just for the views, given that club rooms are on the top floor. You almost feel like you’re in an air traffic control tower.

The bathroom was back near the entrance, and was quite impressive, especially for a non-suite. You could enter the bathroom through one of two doors, and it had a sink, a bathtub, a walk-in shower, and a toilet in a separate room.

Toiletries were the Rose 31 scent from Le Labo, and were in wall-mounted, reusable containers. Very nice!

There was also a vanity area near the entrance.

All-in-all, I was impressed by the room. Wi-Fi was fast and free, and there was even turndown service in the evening. For what it’s worth, the hotel first opened in 1999, and underwent a renovation in 2019. The room was beautifully updated, and perhaps the only real sign of the room’s age was the bathroom, which clearly belonged to an older property.

Fairmont Vancouver Airport gym, pool, and spa

The Fairmont Vancouver Airport has a 24/7 gym, located on the fourth floor, which is also where the lobby is (the sign in the elevator says it’s on the fifth floor, but then you have to take a staircase down).

The gym is solid, with a variety of cardio and strength training equipment. It’s not necessarily the most cutting edge equipment, but I appreciated the variety.

Adjacent to the gym is the pool (well, two pools, actually) and hot tub area, which can be accessed by guests between the hours of 7AM and 10PM.

The pool overlooks the check-in area, which kind of gave me a chuckle, since that’s not your typical pool view.

Next to the pool is a locker room area with a sauna, which guests are free to use as well.

The hotel also has a spa, open daily from 11AM until 7PM. I didn’t get any treatments, but you can find all the details here.

Fairmont Gold Lounge Vancouver Airport

I consider myself to be a bit of a hotel club lounge enthusiast, so I was happy to check out the Fairmont Gold Lounge, which is how Fairmont markets all of its club lounges. The lounge was located on the 14th floor, right as you exit the elevator.

The Fairmont Gold Lounge is open 24/7 — I appreciate when that’s the case, given that I keep a very strange schedule (especially when traveling). Even beyond that, the hours with service are impressive:

• The lounge serves continental breakfast from 4AM until 6AM
• The lounge serves standard breakfast from 6AM until 10AM
• The lounge serves evening canapés from 5PM until 7PM
• The lounge serves dessert from 8PM until 9:30PM
• The lounge has drinks available for purchase between 11AM and 10:30PM

The lounge is a nice-looking space, though not particularly large, so it gets busy during the evening happy hour. It has a combination of dining tables, communal tables, couches, and loungers. Much like my room, the lounge had incredible views of the airport, so that’s a real treat.

Throughout the day, the lounge offers access to coffee, tea, juice, soft drinks, and water, as well as some sweet and savory snacks.

Alcoholic drinks are also available for most of the day, though at an additional charge. I had thought that maybe Fairmont Gold Lounges were a step above the competition in that regard, but I guess North America brings out the worst in hotels.

The prices weren’t even particularly attractive (then again, they’re in CAD, and not USD).

I’d describe the evening canapés as being pretty good quality, but probably not a meal replacement. There were a variety of cold options, including sushi, crudités, cold cuts, cheese, salad, and chips. Hot options included things like spring rolls, shrimp gyoza, sweet and sour cauliflower, and crispy pork belly bao buns. The hot options were giving very strong Trader Joe’s vibes (which isn’t a dig… they have pretty good stuff!).

I’d note that during the evening happy hour, the buffet felt a bit like a feeding trough, based on the constant line at the buffet.

The dessert selection was limited to three individually plated options.

As a morning person, I adored how there was food in the lounge starting at 4AM. The selection included things like cereal, muffins, croissants, cold cuts, and yogurt parfaits.

At 6AM that selection was expanded, with all kinds of fresh fruit, smoked salmon, and hot dishes ranging from oatmeal, to orange cinnamon infused french toast, to scrambled eggs, to sausage and bacon, to roasted sweet potatoes with corn, onions, and peppers.

Fairmont Vancouver Airport Jetside Bar dinner

In the evening, I decided to have dinner at Jetside Bar, the lobby bar at the Fairmont. While it’s not the most modern space, it feels cozy thanks to the fireplaces on both sides. I also love the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the apron.

I enjoyed the vibe at the bar in the evening, as every table was taken, and there was even live music (nightly from 6:30PM until 10:30PM). What a treat for an airport hotel! I decided to order a dirty martini to drink, which was prepared just the way I like.

Jetside Bar has a pretty solid all-day dining menu, which you can find here. However, the bar is adjacent to Globe&YVR, which is the hotel’s signature restaurant, and you can also order off the menu there (you can find the dinner menu here). I decided to order the halibut, which was divine.

Fairmont Vancouver Airport Globe@YVR breakfast

Because of the rate that I booked, restaurant breakfast was included, so I decided to eat at Globe@YVR. Breakfast is served daily from 6AM until 11AM, and you can find the breakfast menu here. Much like the bar, this has apron views, though the restaurant design is otherwise unremarkable.

As a breakfast option, you can choose a selection from the buffet, and then also order a dish off the menu, so that’s what I did. The buffet selection was definitely on the basic side, with muffins, danishes, bread, cheese, cold cuts, cereal, yogurt, fruit, hardboiled eggs, etc.

Then from the menu I ordered the smoked salmon omelet, with sockeye, spring onion, boursin cheese, capers, and herbs. It’s not often I say that an omelet is so tasty as to be memorable, but this one was incredible.

Bottom line

The Fairmont Vancouver Airport is an exceptionally good airport hotel, with an ideal location, beautiful rooms, amazing views, a solid club lounge, a great restaurant and bar, and friendly service. Ultimately you pay a price for this quality and convenience, but I found it to be well worth it.

Reflecting on my experience, the only thing I’d say is that the club lounge access probably objectively wasn’t worth it, given that I had the hotel credit to spend, plus breakfast included. However, I wanted to check out the lounge, so I have no regrets. Also, as an aviation geek, you can’t beat the views from the top floor here.

What’s your take on the Fairmont Vancouver Airport?