Description: If you want to stay in a grande dame with a price to match, then The Empress is your hotel in Victoria. If, however, you are willing to stay a little outside the downtown area in a hotel that will meet all your needs and leave you enough money to enjoy all that Victoria has to offer, then the Blue Ridge is an excellent choice.
The Blue Ridge has rooms in four categories:
The Compact, is just that, with a separate shower room and toilet, it is a basic room; no coffeepot, but with a comfortable bed and a very economical price (in off-season, as low as C$39).
The Standard has a room divider to separate the bedroom from the entry. You will have a refrigerator and a coffeepot, table and chair, remote control TV, and, again, a comfortable bed.
The One Bedroom Suite is roomy; you have a totally separate bedroom and a parlor with a couch. Half of the rooms have a sleeper sofa.
We had a two-bedroom suite.
It is the former manager’s apartment, and had a full kitchen, living room with a sleeper sofa, and one bedroom with bunk beds and another with a queen-size bed. An additional bedroom can also be made available, meaning this suite can sleep up to about 10 people. We had a large window in the living room as well as a desk and coffee table. Our kitchen had a coffeepot, several packs of coffee, and was fully furnished with all the utensils you would need to cook and clean. Everything was very clean and well decorated.
For a budget hotel, the Blue Ridge has an amazing amount of amenities. There is an indoor pool with sauna. In the warm weather, the sides can open onto a patio so that you can get a tan while sitting around the pool. There is a laundry for guest use, and there is coffee available in the office 24 hours a day.
Now I may be a little prejudice about the staff, but Chris at the front desk can handle anything. For instance, while we were there, a little dog who had been lost by some customers a couple of days ago returned,(caught I am told by the ever handy Vaughn) and Chris took care of notifying the family and making sure that the little guy had water and food. Nothing seems to throw him off stride. (Did I forget to mention that he is my cousin?)
The Blue Ridge is a good choice even if you don’t have a car. The Pacific Coach Lines bus from Vancouver has a stop almost in front of the hotel. There is also regular bus service that runs on Douglas Street. If you want to shop, the Mayfair Mall is across the street.The hotel shares their office building with a small restaurant that serves an excellent breakfast.
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