I had a gift of a spa treatment and while I was having my pedicure the young girls doing the work gossiped with each other rather than paying attention to their clients. This is a constant problem with checkout girls at the supermarkets but I did not expect it at an expensive spa.
My recommendation to the hotel would be to give training in manners and speach to the staff.
and tell them to stop saying `grab`! It is rude and unseemly.

Christmas is a slow time of year and this past one was no exception. Secondary hotel, Westin Fairways, offers accomodation for pets, which is where our room originally was in. We asked for an upgrade and got a one bedroom suite in the main hotel overlooking the entrance. Easily 700 sq ft, our room featured two bathrooms, a deep soaker tub, seperate shower with two shower heads, pillow top king bed with a matress that felt like sleeping on a cloud. Fireplace (electric), full kitchen, pull out couch with queen size mattress, walk out huge covered deck that wrapped around to the bedroom. Two flat panel 42" TVs (living room and bedroom), two very large walk in closets, and granite floors in main hallway. Wow factor is huge for the room. Make sure you join Starwoods Preferred Guest program to be upgraded to a floor that is exclusive for SPG guests.

Hotel restaurant was pricey but really good food. Our food credit was eaten all up at breakfast but it was fantastic. View of the valley was a nice touch. Other ammenities included a pool and hottub and fitness centrer that you had to go outside to access so we didn't use those.

There is no covered or underground parking. Valet is available but we didn't use it. Short walk from parking to hotel.

The big down side is that a resort fee is charged to your room, $15 per day. Yikes. More hotels charge this. We would stay again but only if we got the same on line deal with the credit. Regular price is way over the top.

Golf course is a very hard course to play. It's built purposely to be scenic but very difficult to play well on. Bring lots of balls. GPS satellite mapping system in the golf carts is very cool. As is the preorder food system as you approach hole #9.

In a SPG promotion, I "earned" two nights at any SPG resort that needed to be used by December 21st. By the time I realized it, my first resort 5 choices were sold out.... Serves me right for waiting until last minute.

The Westin Bear Mountain was available.... Short of walking around downtown Victoria one afternoon on a cruise, I had never been to Vancouver Island.... So I booked it.

I know this is a golf resort, but going in mid December it felt like this was a ski resort... They did a great job of decorating for the holidays.

I checked in and the front lobby staff was very friendly. They took the time to tell me all about the resort, provided me with maps and suggestions of things to do and places to eat while I was visiting.

They also offered me 500 SPG points in exchange for forgoing housekeeping services. I haven't had that offered before but did think it was a good idea.

As an SPG Plat, I was upgraded to a very nice suite. It was essentially a one bedroom condo.... (See Photos)

The kitchen area was nice, but for some reason they cut costs here... standard to low end appliances and fake granite counter tops..... It was fine.. but felt out of place because everything else in the hotel was so nice.

The living room was great... Fake fireplace was nice and a 50 inch flat screen was nice...I'm not electronics expert, but half the channels were not only non HD, they were fuzzy...

On the first night we noticed that there was no wifi at all.... Then, the second morning I saw an employee who was pushing a desktop computer on a cart and asked him why they didn't put in Wifi... he said there was wifi and would look into it..... and sure enough.. when we returned, there was wifi in the building.

The property has alot going for it. It appears it is part of a larger "planned community" that is still a work in progress.

I would go back in the future and really enjoyed my weekend getaway!

Following a lovely Christmas staff party held at the hotel, we retired to a room initially booked to prevent the need to drive. After experiencing our beautiful suite, the luxurious Heavenly bed and amazing views looking over the golf course and mountain, we recommend this hotel to anyone visiting the Victoria area, or to locals just wanting a special night of dining and hotel luxury. The hotel is elegant and at this time of year is beautifully decorated for Christmas. The staff are friendly, professional and very helpful. Breakfast at Bella Montagna was a perfect ending to our stay. We will definitely book again!!