Departing ways from the Victorian hotel palaces that once defined the Canadian west, the owners of LA's Viceroy and Miami's Tides debut a new "urban retreat" hotel along Vancouver's Coal Harbor. Amongst a high-rise landscape of glassy residential towers, nearby chain hotels, and cruise ship pier; it's one of the hottest areas of the city despite being a bit of a walk to Vancouver's better shopping and nightlife areas. Newly planted trees and equally green doormen who hesitate to ask you for help with your baggage frame a techy facade of glass and steel. Not you're usual Kelly Wearstler-designed show palace; the lobby is a palette of natural wood accents and autumn colors with oversize lounge furnishings with a nod to green hospitality arranged around a 100% natural gas fireplace. The hotel's restaurant called Voya is a hotbed of Vancouver's popular-set mingling amongst an icy-blue supper-club style lounge with tufted banquette seating, Baker-style chairs and cubist-inspired walls that are a throw-back to the '60s. Once you've ingested all that fine Eurasian cuisine, it's off to the 24-hour gym or spa suite for a round cardio or on-demand facial located on the 2nd floor.

The Room:

Alas a Vancouver boutique hotel that doesn't feel the need to decorate their guest rooms like a Swedish dorm. Visitors arrive to a simple check-in by efficient staff and swift elevator ride to one of the hotel's 77 rooms arranged within the 14-story tower. A swing of the door and it's, "Hello browns and beige!" A stately space of Italian design meets Northwest granola culture translates itself through chocolate-brown foyer with built-in wardrobe of knotty wood veneer. Rooms are defined by floor-to-ceiling windows revealing neighborhood and harbor views, well insulated from the sounds of the nearby city. San Francisco-based designers Babey Moulton Jue & Booth, known for their work at the Ritz Carlton Toronto and Four Seasons Bora Bora, used uncharacteristically bold patterns for carpeting and wall furnishings. Finishes like veiny black marble define the main bathroom with its suspended basin sink and modern chrome water fixture with toiletries by Molton Brown. With only eight suites total, at the top end is the 1,600-square-foot penthouse known as the Halo suite with jetliner views of the skyline and shoreline.