Varscona Hotel On Whyte

First time here and love it!
Check in and parking fast and easy to navigate. The room was surprisingly well appointed, modern, clean, quiet and well appointed.
Very central location on Whyte Avenue, you can walk to all amenities, I will stay here again.

Varscona has old times charm. You can tell the building is old and the rooms could be updated.
Otherwise the little time I spent here was great. Clean room, a bit of an awkward set up in the bathroom but not horrible. If the door was open you couldn’t get out of the shower because you’d end up hitting the door or the toilet. Also the shower curtain is thin and I ended up getting water everywhere. (Oops)
We were on the sixth floor so we had no noise trouble from whyte ave, even on a Saturday.
It really is all about location considering how close it is to everything awesome on whyte.
My only complaint is that things aren’t exactly clear around here. We didn’t understand where to park to check in or where the breakfast was held. A bit more communication would be nice.
Otherwise our stay was good for what we spent in the hotel. :)

I loved my stay at Varscona during a recent trip to Edmonton. Not only is it super cozy with a fire waiting for you when you arrive, the staff is top notch and friendly… but I think everyone is friendly in Canada!
As soon as you walk into the lobby, it has a cabin feel to it. There are a bunch of couches and chairs there if you’re looking to meet up with some friends or just cozy up by the flames to enjoy a cup of coffee from the shop attached to the hotel. For guests wifi is complimentary and I actually saw a lot of people doing business and shopping in the common areas as well. It’s surround by windows, so you can definitely people watch or just watch the snow falling.
The hotel itself is on Whyte Avenue, so you’re walking distance to a lot of great shopping, restaurants, bars and more — super convenient.
The rooms were spacious and updated. I believe they just did a renovation recently giving the rooms a facelift. My guest room had a desk for working, a new flat screen television (with a lot of channels), a comfy bed and a pretty big bathroom compared to some of the hotels I’ve stayed in. If you’re not looking to leave your room for caffeine, each one is equipped with a Keurig with pods so you can brew by yourself and enjoy while watching French shows in bed.
If you’re looking to peruse the net, they offer complimentary wifi to all guests and it’s pretty fast as well. I was able to get on the iPad and iPhone at the same time without them trying to cut me off for bandwidth.
I’ll definitely book another stay here when I’m in town. I can’t wait to head back to Edmonton!

Terrible
I’ll just cut down to it.
Dropped off my dry cleaning on Monday, didn’t see it until Friday. The sink in the bathroom wouldn’t drain at all, the fan in the room pumping out heat was louder than send. And the shower knob would mysteriously auto rotate to go from the perfect temperature to scorching. I had to shower at my friends place.
Won’t ever stay here again

A friend and I decided to have a stay cation and so we booked at the Varscona. The final bill was only about $ 190 including all taxes. This also included a free wine tasting and a free breakfast.
The rooms were comfortable, although not overly spacious, we were pleased. The air conditioning worked fabulously and we revelled in the linen. It was like constantly having the cool side of the pillow! crisp white linen, downy feeling beds… what more could we ask for? Oh yeah, great service from the lobby to the bellhop!
I don’t want to tell on everyone, but the service was so good, the maid gave my friend a couple sample bottles of their moisturizer because she liked it so much!
The wine tasting was very nice, with cheeses, crackers and grapes as an accompaniment.

Comfortable room right on whyte. Close proximity to shops and restaurants and bars. The night life here on the weekends are intense, tons of ppl going to the bars. But I never felt unsafe at any point. We walked over to an Asian restaurant at 11pm, and everything went fine. The staff is very friendly and the breakfast buffet was really good. More breakfast options than your regular holiday inn express. The only con was that the parking structure (free parking for hotel guests) was about one building down and we had to park there and walk down with our suitcases to the hotel, kinda inconvenient.

This little hotel is divine. There are no big hotel chain rewards, but come here for an enjoyable getaway, or business trip stay over. Free valet parking. The furnishings are elegant and clean. The location cannot be beat with many choices of cool places to eat out. Fitness centre, free wine tasting from 5.30−6.30, and breakfast included. It’s boutiquey and cute, I loved it.

This is a tough one to review because I actually think the 3 ½ stars is spot on, but as you know we can’t give half stars.
The pros:
— Location, location, location. I’m pretty sure you are in the middle of everything hip.
— Free (working) Wi-​Fi
— A coffee shop in the lobby
— Super friendly staff. I mean, super!
— Nice shower products
— The rooms and hotel are clean.
However, it looks like Varscona was bought from an older hotel chain and while the lobby area is fine the rooms are pretty bare and maybe haven’t been remodeled recently. I don’t spend a ton of time in my room when I travel, but in the end I went with a three star rating just because the rooms are not only older, but also fairly minimal in a Best Western kind of way, which is totally fine, but not necessarily a four star place in my book.

I can’t comment on the stay at this hotel but I did attend an event there in one of the conference rooms. The layout of the room was long and wide and with the tables and chairs, it wasn’t ideal. It wasn’t poor, but it didn’t allow for more space between the front and walking towards the back where the refreshments were. I did like the coat rack in the room as that was convenient. The washrooms required a key and it was clean.
Compared to other hotels and conference facilities, this one was ok. I did like the location so I could make quick stops at a few stores before the event. There’s a Second Cup by the lobby which is great if you need a pick me up!

To make this short and sweet:
Great location. You’re right in the middle of everything.
Free wifi and it’s relatively quick.
Free valet parking.
Free cold breakfast or a $ 7 credit towards a hot one.
The bad?
Terrible exercise room.
Place hasn’t been updated since the 80s.
A rock solid place to stay while in Edmonton.

A great place to stay on Whyte Avenue — convenient location, a great front desk, and clean, spacious rooms. They are good here for making reservations for the same day (if something is available) and there is a Second Cup and Murrieta’s restaurant on the main floor. Staying here is not cheap, but you also get coupons for a free drink and breakfast at Murrieta’s.

Nice hotel in the middle of the action.
The Varscona on Whyte is one of my favorites in Edmonton. Clean, comfortable rooms and great service. Varscona has two sister hotels, the Mettera (just a couple of blocks up Whyte from the Varscona), and the Matrix, just off Jasper Avenue. The Varscona is the oldest of the three, and is probably due for a renovation, but it’s still A-​OK in my books. If you want to be impressed, try Mettera or Matrix instead, they are newer and a definitely nicer.

Note: it’s a slightly older hotel (and the furniture has not been upgraded recently), so if ‘new’ is important to you you should probably downgrade this review to a 3.
Otherwise, I found them to be a professional and accommodating hotel. I was generally pleased by the service and amenities, yet they do not nickel-​and-​dime you like more upscale hotels tend to do. I found the area outside a little bit noisy (i.e. lots of people yelling outside), but I was there near the start of the school year so it was likely just a bad time.

We enjoyed our stay at the Varscona. The hotel was clean, the rooms were fresh and it’s in a great area on Whyte Avenue. Just outside the front door is everything you need.
They even have a number of shops downstairs in the hotel and a pub. On Fridays they offer a free wine and cheese sampling. The valet service was very convenient and all of it was at a reasonable price.
I’ll be staying at the Varscona again; they know what they’re doing.