Vancouver Island University Residences

My wife and I really enjoyed our stay here. The dorm residences are fairly new and it is in a pretty quiet area to the west of Nanaimo's downtown area. We had separate bedrooms with a conjoining bathroom and we each had a desk, closet, sink and chair. The rooms had good lighting and there was a fan to help with air circulation. They provided plenty of towels, Dove bath products and a Keurig cup to use with the coffee machine. During our stay there was some construction on campus and I had no issues with a back facing window but there was some early morning noise. The rooms were mostly clean too but there was some wear and tear which is expected considering these rooms serve as student dorms during the school year. The location for us was good because we used it as a base to explore the area and we did daily road trips to some very cool sights. The student residences are not near a whole lot but it is a short drive to lots of good restaurants and shops and it was easy to get in and out of the area. The common area was good with a large kitchen we used each day to prepare food for our road trips. The common area also had a TV and some couches to hang out in. There are some good walking paths around the university area and in August the blackberries were everywhere. It is a safe area and not that frequented in the summer. There are a lot of rabbits in the university area and we did see a few deer as well. This was perfect for our adventures on Vancouver Island, we got to spend some good time in Nanaimo and the price was right for us.

Rated as a three star on hotels.com Talks about brand new two bedroom suites. We booked it and paid in advance for our employees and when they got there it was old, worn, and dirty. The two bedroom suites they advertised were actually two bedroom cubicles with a bathroom sandwiched between them. It was so disgusting they told the front desk that it was too dirty and run down to stay there. The front desk response was “ tough luck”. - you paid hotels.com so no refund. I get that, but when I contacted hotels.com , they never replied and deleted the trip from my profile. We can never recommend this residence to anyone or hotels.com. they both suck.