Parq was built as a design hotel that happens to hold a casino, and it shows in every clean line: a glass complex beside BC Place, wrapping a light modern floor in two towers, a run of good restaurants and a green park lifted six storeys into the air.
The floor is bright and well-spaced rather than cavernous, with room to move between the tables, a proper high-limit salon and a slot area that reads more like a lounge than an arcade. It's built for an elegant night out, not an all-night grind.
Being downtown, it fills with an even mix of locals and visitors and hums pleasantly on weekends without ever feeling frantic. When you want a sharper, quieter game, the high-limit salon is where to settle in.
You pick your temperament: the JW Marriott for polished big-brand calm, or the boutique DOUGLAS for warmer rooms in wood and greenery that feel very Pacific Northwest. Both rank among the best hotel rooms in Vancouver, casino or none.
Ask for a high floor toward the water or the mountains — the skyline does half the design work for you, and the double glazing keeps the stadium's big nights outside. Lower rooms lose the view and aren't worth settling for.
The restaurant line-up is a genuine reason to book, from a big brasserie to smaller, sharper rooms, and the sixth-floor rooftop park — lawns, trees and a bridge slung between the towers — is a signature no photo quite captures. There's a spa and a serious fitness floor besides.
You're a short stroll from the seawall, Yaletown and the stadium, so the hotel doubles as a base for the whole city. My only caveat is that weekend rates climb with the demand; midweek is where the value hides.
For a downtown property this good the value holds up, especially midweek, and part of what you're buying is a location you simply can't better — dead centre in Vancouver, minutes from the water.
It's a city-break hotel that happens to have a casino, and it's the stronger for it. Come for a weekend, leave the car in the valet and walk everywhere.
The most design-forward casino-hotel in Canada, and the brightest — as much a gallery-white city hotel as a gaming floor.