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Pacific Shores Resort & Spa
Category: Event Planning & Services Hotels Hotels & Travel Hotels Hotels [Edit]
1600 Stroulger RoadNanoose Bay, BC V9P 9B7
(250) 468-7121
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
5 reviews for Pacific Shores Resort & Spa
5 reviews in English
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Review from Ken L.
According to the timeshare rating system, Pacific Shores is a gold crown resort. I call hot festering bull corn on this rating system. In short, here are the pros and cons of my stay:
Pros:
*Free Wifi, as long as you are in the right areas or else you have no connection.
*Outdoor Mineral Rock Hot Tub - nice and hot, relaxing however one of the jets continually make annoying "clogged up" noises. The front desk never has keys to the outside pools and you have to check out keys at the store desk.
*Excellent water views along the bay trails and free use of kayaks.
Cons
*Indoor Environment - Stuffy lobby and rooms due to no air conditioning and no form of ventilation. The rooms do not have any views or windows, only a sliding door at the end that do not provide any airflow. Not comfortable at all and it always feels like something is crawling on you; the worst feeling you can have at a hotel.
*Inside Pool and Hot Tub - hot tub is not even warm. They should call it the cold tub.
*The Landing Restaurant - you have to see my review. Not very happy about my experience there.
*Service -hit and miss service. When you ask one person, they will say there is an extra charge or they don't provide. Ask a different person and you will get accommodated and taken care of. Then the same two folks later will "flip the script" and turn Jeckyl and Hyde and surprise you. Very frustrating.
*Shower and provided toiletries fail to give you a "clean" feeling. Serious attention needed here to clean, regrout and recaulk the bathtub walls. Unacceptable.
Disappointed but the Hot Tub and the proximity to Parksville and destinations planned for the trip definitely helped. -
Review from Gabby S.
Vancouver, BC
8/27/2010
We needed an escape and even though there were consistently bad reviews on TripAdvisor and Expedia (interspersed with a couple of good ones), we decided that with lowered expectations, we wouldn't be disappointed. Also, on TripAdvisor, the management's defensive responses/retorts showed how they cared about their customer service.
We also wanted some spa treatments and the other Parksville "resort" seemed way too kid friendly so this was the more attractive choice.
We did the Just the Girls package but that will be reviewed separately.
Our rooms weren't ready until 5pm, 1 hour after check-in time. We had a 2 bedroom suite which was basically 2 adjoining rooms (one 1-bedroom and the other, a cave). The adjoining doors don't open flushed against the wall so it was annoying to have 2 doors jutting out into the hallway.
The 1-bedroom was nice with large windows and a balcony accessible from the bedroom and living area. We were put in the newest wing so there weren't any peachy decor as described in some of the reviews. It was brown and taupe with splashes of white/beige.
The bathroom had a shower and jacuzzi tub with 2 sinks and a toilet which could be partitioned off...with the shower. So I guess you could wash your hands in the kitchen if someone was in the tub. The kitchen came equipped with spices, dishes, pots and pans, flatware, etc. Just make sure you load and turn on the dishwasher when you check out.
The other bedroom was dark with a tunnel-like format. There was a balcony sandwiched/overshadowed by the neighbouring suites so you couldn't really see out to the sides but you could totally hear the conversations from all the balconies. Remember, there isn't any air conditioning so the only air flow comes from the opened balcony door. They provided only 1 fan in the 1-bedroom and I stole that because it was way too stuffy at night on our side.
The balcony was also the only light source besides the window in the bathroom. The architect(s) could have sacrificed some of the windows from the larger suite so that the smaller rooms could get a bit more light. I would have gone bonkers if I didn't have access to the living room with the large windows. Who wants to be in a cave?
The kitchen consisted of a small fridge, a toaster and a coffee maker. The bathroom also had a jacuzzi tub but seriously, couldn't they have mounted the door so it opened against the wall instead of the sink?
I also hated how the bed was pushed so close to the bathroom door. Can you guess which room I was stuck with?
There were envelopes for tips but don't mistake this for a hotel. You don't get daily cleaning services.
I had a feeling that the free kayaks were the shell ones similar to the ones at Deer Lake, BC. They were. We jogged along the water's edge and it was a 5 min jog from our condo to the 24 hour hot tub. I liked the outdoor cluster of hot tubs which was kept surprisingly hot. These were right by the indoor pool. I didn't even try the pool because of the kids and it wasn't sufficient for laps. Other than that, you could walk into the "woods". Oh, I did see a deer come on to the property.
When we checked out and mentioned the late check-in, all we got was a superficial "awe". The night before, a woman who thought that her room came with a full kitchen and had called to confirm was met with, "who did you talk to?" "what was said?" "they wouldn't have...." repeatedly. It was like talking to a phone operator based in a 3rd world country. Nothing will be resolved because this agent or no one is held accountable. This front desk person was skilled at stalling and deferring. I really felt for that woman.
This resort is focused mainly on selling timeshares and there are about 3 huge billboards (major eyesores) on the property advertising such.
This resort is for you if you have kids who would be entertained, day in and day out, by the "beach", the little L-shaped pool and you have a slow pulse and/or you are looking for a really, really relaxing getaway. If I were in the mood to just cuddle up with a book, I would have enjoyed it more. I just think it's too expensive for what you're getting.
Also, the Landing Grill restaurant was the worst part. We already had an inkling of what was to come from our spa lunch but at the same time, we were hopeful that dinner would be much better. Yeah, dinner credit was included in our package but you really pay for the experience. -
Review from Tracy N.
9/21/2011
If we could give this 0 stars for service, we would. We were checking in for a wedding, which the resort obviously were informed of. We arrived at 1:30PM hoping we could check in earlier than 3PM. They said they would try to accommodate our request and call us when the room was ready. The woman suggested we get ready for the wedding in the gym bathroom. ????Really???? We ate at the not so great restaurant. We were asked to wait for about 10-15 minutes despite there only being 3 tables seated. We kept checking in with the front desk but they said it was not ready yet. We found a housekeeper in another room who told us our room was probably ready, but that the manager needed to check it. I was able to find out what room we were being placed in and asked the cleaners to please prioritize cleaning our room. We explained to them the situation, and they were very sweet. They said they had no idea that we were there for the wedding, and if they had known, they would have cleaned our room much earlier. They immediately went to clean the room. We were required to get a 2 bedroom suite because we were only staying one night. So, once they cleaned one of the rooms, they allowed us to get ready in it, while they prepped the other room. We got ready in about 20 minutes and made it to the wedding in time. My parents checked into the adjoining room when it was ready. Later in the evening at 10:30PM, we walked past the lobby and a woman at the front desk stopped us. She told us that we were checked into a room that wasn't ours and that we needed to move out. She explained that our two bedroom suite was only actually a one room suite, and that we had taken another room that wasn't ours. I said we had no idea but if it was possible, to just let us stay there, since someone obviously was not checking in that evening. She said we can't have something we didn't pay for, and that we must move out or they will lock us out! I explained that the wedding was still going on, and that we were not going to move out right then and there at 10:30PM and she said if we don't move out, we would be locked out of our room. The conversation got completely out of hand, and she was threatening us and stating we broke into the room. By this time, another front desk lady had chimed in arguing with us as well. I was mortified by the crazy woman, and the resort's terrible customer service. A kind elderly gentleman walked in angry that his key had been changed three times but still didn't work. He overheard what was going on, and stopped the front desk woman, and told them to listen to us. He tried to reason that we were paying clientele, and that they weren't understanding customer service. They told him it was none of his business. Wow, these people need to have a life lesson in courtesy and respect, and need to have some hotel management education!
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Review from Jason W.
7/10/2010
Spent a few days here and it was mostly enjoyable. The view of the bay was wonderful, and at low tide we could walk way out because it is so very shallow. Even at high tide it is only about waist deep for a long way out. Saw bald eagles, geese, and deer (be careful of the deer when driving).
For the most part, it was quiet and nice. However, we could hear the people downstairs talking, opening and closing drawers (over and over...), running water, etc. That was annoying, particularly early in the morning. There is also no air conditioning, and we happened to be there during a heat wave. I guess that most years it is usually cool there, so AC isn't needed. They did provide a fan, which we used.
The restaurant gets low marks in other Yelp reviews, so we didn't bother going. There is a shared jacuzzi, but with dozens of people competing for it we didn't bother with that either.
The furnishings were very pleasant to look at and the kitchen was stocked with spices and a knife set. The bathroom has a normal shower, jetted tub and pretty sinks. But the bed was hard and not fun to sleep on. Pillows were only so-so.
We spent most days visiting family in an adjacent resort, so we didn't use the indoor pool, though it looked nice. -
Review from Sarah O.
10/22/2009
Stayed here on a timeshare.. but we accidentally arrived a day early. The manager was so incredibly accommodating, we made out an arrangement where if we came in to do some kind of survey one morning, she wouldn't charge us for the extra night that wasn't covered on our timeshare reservation. Every morning we saw her and she was extremely kind, we enjoyed being here because of her. The rooms were decent and the resort is humongous, though there aren't much to do except take a stroll along the water most nights. You can also rent their kayaks for free everyday.. its a really shitty kayak but.. its free! Overall a nice enough place to stay, customer service is top notch.
