April 20, 2015
Shower power: What you can tell about a hotel from the quality of its bathrobe …
… the most gratifying good-robe hotel has been the brand new Skwachays (pronounced skwach-eyes), in East Vancouver, just a block from the infamous East Hastings. It’s an aboriginal-owned, and largely aboriginal-run hotel, with each room designed by a First Nations artist. There’s a welcome lounge while you wait for your room, with free coffee, tea and mix-your-own sodas. There’s a shop with work by the artists, and food is catered by a local aboriginal chef. And the chenille-like robe, white with Skwachays’ red logo, is soft and warm but also light, with weighted hems. It’s made in China, I see from the label, but it’s the best of the lot. And the rooms? They start at about $115 and top out around $230 for a suite. The rooms don’t have to be expensive, and neither do the robes; that’s the beauty of the system. Now we just have to figure out a way to get those robes up on the hotel websites in place of those stars. Read full article…