Arbutus Inn

Looks can be deceiving. I was pleasantly surprised with my stay here. Rooms are impeccable, service is top quality. Highly recommend a stay here. Value is great.

Don't stay here. The manager continually violated and broke my boundaries (entered room without consent more than a few times, overcharged per night with minimal exception when long-term accommodation intention was directly communicated, etc.) even while I spent over $6000/month to live here because people who were responsible for meeting my survival needs provided false and inaccurate information to me; other staff members continually harassed and disrespected me (despite paying for their literal paychecks between May 1st and August 15th, 2022).

To my knowledge, no accountability, acknowledgement, and/or consequences have been given for this grievous misstep that resulted in homelessness and multiple long-term injuries/emotional scars. Claudia and Lise deserve to be persecuted for taking obvious advantage of someone who made it extremely clear how dire immediate housing needs were at the time (especially since I proved it by pouring my entire life's savings into a situation that only caused me more harm and loss).

This is a great place to stay to visit around the city. It is close to everywhere we went sight seeing. The rooms are beautifully decorated and are neat. Thankyou for my stay.

Stayed there about a week ago. Older style Motor Inn but clean. The new king bed and the renovated bathroom are a big plus. I would stay there again if I travel to Victoria

Didn't stay in the hotel but used the car rental inside the lobby. Everything is very clean with good service and friendly staff

It's too good to stay at. Rooms are very nice. Staff is very accommodating. Every happing place is around 20 - 25 minutes drive only

5 stars for the cleanliness and other services but I am very upset with the behaviour of staff member. We were group of 8 people and booked two rooms. We were playing music at night having our dinner. Then, Receptionist guy come in the room. He didn’t ask for the permission to enter the room, which was totally unacceptable. Then he just threatened us if you guys are not going to stop the music your both rooms will be seized (in very bad manner). I agree the music volume was high, we co-operate with guy. But the thing is he should ask us for permission to enter the room. The second thing he should warn us first or tell us that your music is loud, please stop it.

I know we were also at fault to play the loud music. But that person should know about ethics and customer service.

The rooms are clean and comfortable. The reception services are good. The reception is small but all in all a good place for a good sleep. No restaurant on site

Clean. Big thing for me. Rates are reasonable. Didn't stay long so didn't have much contact with staff but those I did have contact with were excellent.

We just slept obe night here. Power was out when we arrived. Came back on around 2 am. Front staff very professional and apologetic about power outages, even though they had nothing to do with it.

Had a feeling it wouldn't turn out great. Asked if other guests mentioned bed bugs/silverfish, was told no.
Went to the room and pulled the covers back and silverfish were just sitting there. Management didn't seem to care nor were they fazed by the situation.
Overall cleanliness is low
Sheets stained
Would not recommend

Professional staff, extremely clean rooms, air conditioning Rickeys restaurant nextdoor and only 4 blocks to a great new blocks from a great new legion

Insects on floor. 150$ deposit (not 100) still has not been returned after 15 business days. Need to file a claim now. DO NOT SUGGEST

Hotel room was as advertised. I would have given it at least a 4 star, but there were a few issues. There were ants on the floor inside the room. We were here for 2 nights and three days, no room service.

Lastly our car was broken into in the parking lot and they don't have ample camera coverage in their lot to be of any use. We lost quite a bit of stuff. I would avoid the hotel because the area of town is not desirable, lots of homeless people, and not safe.

The reception was great. The room was not great at all. 4 people including 2 children couldn't sleep all night because of bedbugs. My little one has been crying all day. Not happy at all.

Was racist said we should have brought our tent. Not people or children friendly. Or kind to First Nations

Awesome value. Everything was spotlessly clean and the room was well stocked. The mini fridge even had a small freezer section. Set back from road so not noisy at all. Not right in inner harbour, but very central location.

Well, the rooms were ok, but in my uncles room they found a mouse trap and my cousins we're disgusted about it. My room was good, I liked it. (Just glad I wasn't in their room.)

Stayed here for five (5) nights, they put us in the lower level (sketchy and very musty smelling) and we were not very impressed. Rooms were overpriced for what was given. The bathroom was redone but poorly done. The shower floor felt as if you were to fall through and the sink tap would fall apart when used. As out of province travelers, they were not very accommodating with arrival and departure requests. The carpets have multiple stains and smells emitting from them. The only plus was the king bed and close location to the bus stops. Worst money I’ve spent in a while. Will not be staying here again.

The service from the Arbutus Inn team was amazing. A very special shout out to Claudio. My dad is so happy with his stay with you and you've been such a comfort and help in a very busy time. Thank you to you and your whole team. I can highly recommend the Arbutus Inn to anyone travelling to Victoria.

Pretty good experience. Staff were friendly and helpful. Biggest complaint is parking was pretty tight with the National car rental in the same space, a good 1/4 of the stalls at night would be occupied with that.

One minor other complaint I had was the bench right outside the main lobby door. Constantly people smoking there and not even a sign that says no smoking. Might be worth adding a sign. Or moving the bench so people can smoke further from the door.

Well appointed rooms, clean, with beautiful sheets, duvets, large tv, a small fridge and microwave. It has a bit of a boutique kind of atmosphere in the rooms with lovely furniture and warmly painted walls. The staff are helpful, exceding expectations, and always very friendly. It's also only a 20-25 minute walk to the harbour area, and the prices for the rooms are quite reasonable. It's not a five star hotel, but the experience has been five star and I would definitely return. Very comfortable and very pleasant.

The room was clean and the bed was comfortable. It was much less expensive than other hotels in Victoria. The staff was very friendly and helpful. It's not fancy, but a good place if you just need a place to sleep. The view was half cement and half the front bumper of a car

Basic hotel. No parking though, the lot is a rental car lot? ! The place was good enough to just sleep in, when your out around town doing all the things they offer a kitchenette, but nothing in it so you can’t really make any food. Kinda strange.

Good place for the price if all you need is a place to stay over night. It's pretty much what you can expect from a budget hotel. I felt safe, clean room, staff was friendly, and free outdoor parking. Even though it's outdoor parking it's directly in front of the building and it's very well litten up. The building is also used by a car rental company and plenty of the rental vehicles are outside as well which made me feel safe about outdoor parking since the rental company must have some sort of security watching their vehicles. 4/5 for a budget hotel, not bad at all. Checkout the prices online using a booking site as it's cheaper by about 10$ vs buying direct.

Price: quality ratio is pretty decent:)

However, the carpet at the main floor has a bit of resistance for wheeled luggages.

Overall a decent place to choose if you want a safe & secure place to stay for a bit:)

It is our second time we stay at this hotel, and we will come back. The hotel is clean, nicely renovated, and the servicewas was great!

Nice place. Didn't hassle me when smoking marijuana 30 feet from entrance. I am a very clean person and I treat ppl good so I appreciate the hospitality. I asked for more soap got some with courtesy.

Stayed for four nights and had no complaints. Rooms were clean and modern. Staff were helpful and kind. I also found the hotel generally pretty quiet. Great place to stay for the price.

Amazing value. Clean, thoroughly updated decorating, lovely bathroom. Very comfortable stay and felt safe taking my family here.

Decent hotel. Microwave did work the whole time. Since Covid, they are not cleaning rooms. It was giving discounts due to off season and covid, but it was not a significant amount, average among hotels along Douglas St. Seems to be contract construction workers mostly filling the rooms over the week that I stayed there.

The fragrant cleaning products used in the lobby of this inn are quite strong and affected our decision to inquire about rooms. The lobby is shared with a car rental business and there are frequently disgruntled or upset patrons in the lobby, which make the front desk area somewhat unappealing.
Be aware that there are no public washrooms available to patrons of either business and while there is always an inn attendant on duty, there are regular occasions when a manager has to be sought.
The location is not hard to navigate. Public transit is easily accessible nearby as are other merchants. If you are driving, pay attention in the sloped parking lot. Because of the car rental, there is a lot of traffic about the place.

Tackey little place. Was put in the back, which is where they park the rental trucks. Seemed like 6 am sharp all the trucks would start up.

This hotel is a true poor excuse for hospitality, I have booked it on booking.com then cancelled it within time, but got charged the full amount anyway despite having a confirmation that everything went well.
Furthermore upon contacting the hotel I was threatened and ridiculed for my refund which they were not supposed to charge anyway.
Dont book this place and find someplace else to stay.

My rating takes into account that this is a 2-star hotel so we did not go in expecting the Hilton. This place is very clean, beds

My husband and I stayed here for almost a week, and it was great. The hotel is clean, all the facilities work (great showers!) and the beds are comfortable. The staff were welcoming and genuinely considerate. I'd be happy to stay here again.

It was good & comfy & had working air conditioners unfortunately I didn't get the front desk clerks name (no name tag either) he was friendly & personable and was pleasant to talk too

Very nice hotel reasonable price, great bed and pillows. Nice shower, tv, fridge and microwave. Clean, nice place well situated.

I would like to give this place full stars. Considering the fact that that this is an older and inexpensive hotel near downtown, it was clean, and the staff was friendly and even offered to carry our bags up the stairs (no elevator). Our stay was restful and enjoyable.

However, my biggest concern was the amount of electrical cords plugged into a single socket designed for just two cords. In addition, I am sure most fire codes do not allow cords to be daisy chained together. It is likely true that Victoria also requires plugs of appliances such as the AC and fridge go straight into the wall and that sockets should not be extended to have more than they are designed for.

For this reason I would deem this building a fire concern, especially since it is an older building.

I would not recommend staying here even if it was for free. This place just needs to be shut down for good. Honestly, spend a little more money and stay somewhere cleaner and more comfortable.

Horrible. We were traveling after selling our house in order to find where we wanted to live. We stayed at another hotel, which was wonderful but expensive. We got a great deal for 12 days. We decided Victoria was for us and have a amazing apartment for the first on hillside. We decided to try a slightly cheaper hotel considering we are staying until the first in hotels. We checked in and got a room but the tv did not work so got a another room, which is extremely dirty. I had to clean before letting my kids touch anything.the next day we are told to leave the door open for the carpets being ripped up. We were told nothing about this until a lady rudely told us to leave it open in the morning.not only that, we had to use a different staircase. When I asked why we were not informed ahead of time, the woman at the desk was rude about it and said a note was slid under the door which did not happen. I took the screen off my window so my kids could look out and we gave a poor homeless woman $5 that was going through the garbage.they called us and accused us of smoking. I have never in my life stayed in a hotel that makes you feel like a criminal and would rather spend the $275 a night at a hotel that doesn't treat people like this. Good luck if you decide to stay here!

Very classy and clean and staff always helpful.i still give them a 5 even though they had no disabled rooms.

Clean, upgrading being done. Good choice for economical long stay. The friendly staff at the front desk were accommodating.

What can I say bout the Arbutus Inn? First of all the rooms are very small and outdated.

The rooms also have a residual odors of mustiness. The first floor rooms are rather dark, dreary and that general area is rather noisy due to the housekeeping staff room being located there and the laundry room being parallel to it. The other 2 floors are not as noisy and some of the suite rooms are more up to date, with marble counter tops, kitchens, and minimal fowl residual odors.

The location of the hotel is decent considering it is right beside one of Victoria's busiest streets, Douglas and it's a few minutes away from Downtown. The picturesque neighborhood of Gorge water way, is only a 2 minute drive behind the Arbutus Inn.

Now let's get discuss the negative aspects of the Inn, for starters some of the Housekeeping department workers provide sub par standards. Expect to find hairs on the washroom floors and crumbs under the beds and behind the bedside tables.

When it comes to work attire, apparently the Housekeeping management (Claudio) does not like to adhere to the "Work Safe BC" standards for example allowing their staff to wear sandals, above the knee shorts, and spaghetti strap tank tops. If you end up getting hired there, expect no medical benefits but the salary is fair, at $14 an hour.

However, since it is a smaller hotel (there are approximately 75 rooms) you'll have a rather short work hours, with a minimum of 5.5 hours. Another down side, is the housekeeping management treatment of their supervisor, who happens to be a middle age woman who they run ragged doing their laundry.

Over all the Arbutus Inn is a rather small dingy hotel. If you do not care for quality regarding your hotel accommodation than this is the place for you.

Extremely disrespectful midnight staff. Had a terrible experience. We stayed at this hotel on Friday for a very overpriced amount. The next day we missed the ferry and had nowhere to stay. Since our bags were still at Arbutus Inn we came back to the hotel, but they had no rooms available. So we asked the staff to let us stay in the lobby for a couple hours till we could catch the first bus to the ferry terminal. The guy was really disrespectful, aggressive and abusive. He scared me so went I ran away from him my phone fell out of my pocket and broke the screen. On top of that my fiance and I had to sleep on the sidewalk at a bus stop freezing to death with creepy people passing by us. Terrible experience that could have easily been avoided if we could have just stayed in the lobby waiting for the bus. Outrageous and unhumane.