M
Joined: Jun 03, 2010
Posts: 12
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M
The New Waldorf Hotel - Vancouver
We arrived really early, at about 5:45pm, so we got in on opening night. It was pretty hectic - people seemed ecstatic to be there and awed by the renos. Amazing atmosphere. So here’s what I noticed about the renos:
The non-tiki upstairs pub was fully obliterated and two really nicely designed restaurants installed, lots of bamboo and style. You'll like it. The lobby was also spruced up nicely with a few new elegant Polynesian touches.
The upstairs hallways had been painted and carpeted – okay, but not great. I think flat paint or textured wall coverings look best on old walls. I liked the ceiling fixture treatments though, the big bamboo-ish looking boxes covering the fixtures added interest to the upstairs hallways.
The hotel rooms upstairs that were open for viewing had been painted, carpeted and bamboo detailing added to the outside window wall of the rooms. Very nice! The bathrooms in the rooms look about the same, i.e. nothing too new or fancy just yet.
The street-level lounge, formerly the Tahitian Lounge and now I think maybe referred to as The Tiki Lounge has had some of the original flooring (stone, carpet) removed from the lower level in front of the bar and replaced with wood or laminate, and the mural behind the upper-level music set-up area has been removed. However the result is an updated, sleeker look for the lounge.
The downstairs dining room, formerly the Polynesian Dining Room and now called The Cabaret, has had new golden-toned floral pattern carpeting installed (including the circular stairway up to the lounge), which looks good with all the original bamboo detailing. The big downstairs mural is intact, but for the opening was covered by curtains and a projection screen. The crane and bamboo design on the big crescent window were removed (they weren't original, they were decals applicated for a movie that was filmed there).
The former coffee shop, now the downstairs bar service area, looks good, but for some reason I cannot figure out the beautiful original mural behind the new bar has been mostly, but not completely, covered with mirrors. At least a foot of it still shows at the bottom of the mirrors. This looks bad. If the goal was to visually open up the narrow space, I wish they'd considered covering the entire mural with smoked glass: they would not only still get some of the room-expanding effect of reflected light, but vestiges of this exquisite original mural would still be somewhat visible AND fully protected from bar spillage. I hope they fix this.
The former Menehune banquet room is pretty well completely overhauled except for the entrance doors and carved tiki pillars. The rock fountain, swordfish, etc. were all taken out, but I think that's okay because the original ceiling and floor, etc. were already gone. Some people might miss those, but I don't think parts of it would work without the entire room being fairly intact. Anyways, the beautiful bamboo entrance doors are still there and, besides the columns, those were my favourite features in that area. And the giant vintage speakers are truly awesome. I think the room looks good for its new multi-purposes.
So do go check it out. I can't wait to see the new sunken patio they plan to open by summer. In the meantime you'll probably find lots of photos on the web(flckr, facebook, etc.), plus I heard that at local media are planning articles in the little while. Sorry for the long post, there was lots to see!
Best regards, MoonBeach
[ Edited by: MoonBeach 2011-01-14 15:19 ]
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