Club Intrawest

I stayed here at a discounted rate because I did the timeshare presentation. Came out to about $ 110 a night during peak season. I honestly wouldn’t pay more than that to stay here in a studio.
Here is my list of pro and cons:
Cons:
Dark hallways and a real 90s vibe throughout the space. I hear they are doing a renovation in 2017 and am sure they’ll fix this.
The studio rooms are depressingly small, dark, and no better than a mid-​priced hotel. Expect a mini fridge, microwave and toaster crammed into a closet called a kitchenette. (Note: the 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom units are totally different, roomy with real kitchens)
You’ll get lost in these two attached buildings with no connection except a bridge on lvl 3. Every hallway is winding one direction or another. Every amenity is in a different nook and corner. You can never find your way back because the signs are so poorly placed, lit and designed. Do I sound old? This building made me feel old.
The upper village doesn’t offer much to do, in comparison to the main village stroll a 10 min walk away. You’ll probably walk to the main village each day for a bite, a drink or to shop. So what’s the advantage of being in the upper village? Only the proximity to the ski slope itself. But if you’re not skiing, no real advantage at all.
The time share presentation will suck. Just know that the person is mostly telling you sales BS about how this location is the most desirable time share, and you’ll always be able to vacation anywhere you want, and this 35k+ investment will save you SO much money and blah blah blah. We just nodded and smiled. When they asked why we didn’t buy we only said «it’s not for us» and the poor young sales guy couldn’t come up with a reply.
I didn’t care for the mattress. I’m not usually picky but this one was a spring mattress and the whole thing shook if you made a move. I even woke up once thinking I felt an earthquake. I point this out because the sales guy showed us a fancy memory foam bed and pretended that all beds here were that nice. Lies!
Pros:
The front desk staff is stellar. Friendly, chatty, helpful and just genuinely seemed to care.
This place is good for families. There is an arcade room, a small grocery in the building, free DVDs and lots of kid’s movies, a movie theatre w occasional free popcorn, and a pool. That’s what kids need, yeah?
Amenities here are pretty good. I loved that there was an adult only lounge, pool, sauna and hot tub. It was a peaceful break and never crowded. I don’t think most people could find it though (see my rant about getting lost and poor signage above).
The bathtub in each room is huge. Nice for soaking.
And last but not least, after checkout you can stay and enjoy the amenities, lounges, saunas, etc. until 10pm. The wifi password is DAY. That was helpful as we stayed in Whistler until the evening.
Bottom line: It’s dark, dated, but family friendly and full of fairly good amenities. You have everything you need to entertain yourself for a day in the building… except for good lighting to see anything around you.

SCAM ALERT! Not sure about the property. Looks nice in the photos. Unfortunately, we won’t be visiting due to the deceptive timeshare scam that was pulled on my family at the Portland Ski and Snowboard show. After grinding on me for over 15 minutes, we were promised 3 days of lodging in Whistler for only $ 150 if we promised to take the 90 minute timeshare tour AFTER a day of skiing on our trip. When we called to book our vacation, we were told the program required a tour at 10:30AM or 1:00PM, NOT after skiing. Obviously, I’m not wasting one of 3 days of skiing with my family for a timeshare tour. When pressed about the promised after-​ski presentation, we were told we should have gotten it in writing. Oh, and our $ 150 fee is non-​refundable.
Follow up: The manager at the resort read my similar review on Trip Advisor and contacted us offering a refund of the $ 150 fee noted above. We accepted. At least we are not out $ 150, but trust is a hard thing to replace when conducting business in another country. We are now gladly paying market room rates to avoid any timeshare stress.

Beautiful property, great location, extremely unfriendly staff, right down to the tall dark haired lady that we assumed is the manager. Pool area there was an employee that screamed at my kids for yelling as they were going down the water slide. Just has a different vibe after our 12^th time. We will take a break from whistler and head to the desert

PASSIVE AGRESSIVE SALES TACTICS!
So we went to Whistler for the weekend, we barely walked around when we were stopped by an Intrawest Sales Person. She said we could pay $ 20 deposit to «book a tour» about Intrawest & its properties, she said it would ONLY take 90 minutes. So we said ok.
The questionnaire had very PERSONAL questions such as HOUSEHOLD INCOME, address & phone number.
They start by being super friendly and asking if you want water, food, etc. They show you pictures & how much you would spend if you bought their share rather than staying at high-​end hotels. Then they get their sales manager to convince us how we NEED them, they «drop down» the prices but it’s a «one time only deal, if you leave you won’t get that deal» like we never heard that before…
We said «we need to think about it», as we all know, when someone says that, chances are they are not coming back so we needed to sign another paper saying we refused their deal. This is now 3 HOURS later when the marketing advisor tried to sell us a «one year membership» for $ 1800 by that time we were exhausted, uncomfortable and we just wanted to leave.
STAY AWAY FROM THEM! Say no to the 90 minute tour, no to the gift cards, nasty sales tactics. I much rather have the CHOICE to stay at a hotel & pay more than to be STUCK with shares and paying HIGH INTERESTS. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!
Ps: WE DID NOT GET A COPY OF THE PAPERS WE SIGNED

Let me start by saying I have been here twice in 10 years and neither time did I pay for my stay (both times my friends had timeshares that they were nice enough to share). I just finished my second stay and thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the hotel. Me, my husband and our two children had a two bedroom suite. The Jacuzzi tub in the master bedroom rocked! My kids could not get enough of the pool and water slide, though I must say the pool was a little cloudy of course it was filled with about a million kids. I was impressed with the workout room — much larger than most hotels — and also included a steam room (FAV of mine). For those travelling without kids there is a pool with two hot tubs that is for adults only. They also offer three movies a night at 6, 8 and 10 (go from G to PG/​R as the night goes on). The beds were very comfortable and room had just about everything you’d need (radio, dvd player, appliances, W/​D, dishwasher, cooking and serving utensils). A few ideas to improve the stay — if you are coming from the states go grocery shopping in the states or in Squamish (the town about 40 minutes down the road from Whistler). Buying food in Whistler costs a small fortune. We averaged about $ 100 per meal for pub style dining for two kids under 7 and two adults. When we did go to the store we dropped $ 16 for a six pack of beer and $ 4 for a 2 liter of coke. Also our room was directly above the gate to the parking garage. It didn’t really bother me until the last night there but then became extremely annoying. Would recommend the hotel to anyone who wants to have an apartment style place to stay while in Whistler.

This was our first stay at a Club Intrawest property. We used our Hilton Vacation Club points to trade in for a 3 night stay (Thursday to Sunday) in mid March. I had no problem booking this 1 bedroom unit only a month prior.
We arrived late in the evening and had a little difficulty finding the front entrance to the property as it was not well marked. However, the check-​in process was easy and the front desk support was super friendly and helpful. There is free parking in the underground garage accessible with a room key, although the parking spaces are tight and a bit tricky to get a regular sized SUV into, especially since everyone else also had similar cars.
Our room was fairly spacious with a decent sized kitchen (electric stove, dishwasher, full size fridge/​freezer, with a stacked washer/​dryer right off the kitchen). There were plates/​bowls/​cups for about 6 people and the basic cooking supplies. What was lacking were any condiments (except for salt/​pepper), cooking spray or cooking oil, spices, etc so that you have to purchase this or bring it yourself. It made a short stay not worth the hassle of cooking. There are, however BBQ grills on property (I have no idea if charcoal or propane), although we did not use them.
The bathroom was large with a jacuzzi tub and sink connected directly to the master bedroom (useful for us for hanging our wet ski gear and swim suits) and a smaller room with toilet, standup shower and second sink connecting through the master bedroom or hallway. The king sized bed was a little firm and saggy although not terrible but the pillow were flat and standard sized. The two sofas in the family room both folded out into twin sized sleepers, which were perfect for our two kids. We had to move one sideways to get them both open.
I didn’t find any major maintenance issues. Location was convenient (only the Fairmont was closer) but walk was more like 10 – 15 minutes if you have to carry ski gear. The onsite convenience store had most things we needed, but it is very pricey. I enjoyed small extras such as hot cocoa in the lobby and hot cider in the afternoons.
The hot tub and pool were nice and the kids loved the water slide! The arcade had a nice selection of 80’s and 90’s style games (free!) and air hockey and foozeball table.
Overall, I was satisfied with this property and would definitely consider a stay here again.

We had a fabulous time skiing in Whistler. The Intrawest has the most amazing staff and the location could not be better — literally a 2 minute walk from the Blackcomb ski base.
Overall the units are comfortable and really good to use as a base for skiing, but they are not luxurious; some of the furniture and furnishings etc. do look new (and bathrooms have been retiled) but the cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom are a bit battered and look quite dated. The appliances need to be dragged into the 21^st century — stainless steel would be nice!
The bed was supremely comfortable and cosy with very soft/​comfortable sheets and a duvet. Additional pillows and blankets were available in the cupboards.
The biggest problem for us was the noise; we were in a unit overlooking the road and the snowploughs start at 1am… every 30 minutes you hear them driving around and ploughing the roads… even with earplugs this woke us up… next time we’ll ask for a unit away from the road and hopefully avoid this as we are light sleepers.
Overall, would definitely recommend and would come back…

I’m currently sitting in the lobby at 5am because the beds are so bad that I couldn’t sleep through the pain. My boyfriend finally got to sleep, otherwise I’d be seeing if we can change rooms or mattresses or something. In addition, from the amount of noise coming in from outside, they not only went the poor-man’s route on the mattresses, but the windows too. The only reason I’m giving it two stars is because the staff has so far been good. This place is awful. Without being able to sleep, I won’t be able to do much, if any, skiing either.

We stayed here back in 2006 and enjoyed it, so we decided to come back. We have a five star Hawaii timeshare we used to exchange in for a week. Since we love fall colors we come during the shoulder season, and were here just before the mountain shut down to prepare for the winter. Nice time to travel as the restaurants that stay open really want your business.
As to the resort, I have to say it seemed to have gone downhill. The living room furniture was horribly uncomfortable, as well as dirty. We saw couches downstairs in a parking stall, so perhaps they are swapping them out and we got an older room. The bed was awful, but we got a couple king comforters from housekeeping that made it bearable by putting them underneath the bottom sheet. Why they don’t have a couple foam rollers on hand is beyond me.
And other reviews were spot on about old appliances, and stuff bought at discount stores. The dishwasher was loud and sounded like a few gears were worn out, and the stove was ancient. The kitchen was just barely equipped, which is unusual in a ski lodge type resort where many people stay at their «home» and cook.
Very popular with families, and lots of little kids running in the hallways, fortunately not late at night lol.
The internet was free and solid, a big plus, but the tv selection was awful. Bring some dvd’s or a RGB or HDMI cable so you can hook up a notebook and watch Comedy Central :).
Staff was friendly, check in was smooth, and overall it was an ok experience, but it was not up to what our exchange company would consider 5 star. I would probably go to VRBO and find another option next time.

To be fair and upfront, I am NOT a club Intrawest participant, nor did I partake in any sales pitch or presentation… I am writing this review solely as a guest of my best friend who took me on vacation with him. My review is only based on the room, the property itself, and ammenities… nothing else.
I’d rate my overall experience as 3.5 — 4 stars.
Check In/​Check Out — From what I could tell from my friends dealings, it was pretty straight forward dealing with the front desk both in checking in and leaving. We were given extra room keys for our party and additional Wi-​Fi codes for our various electronic devices.
Parking — Ugh, this can be slightly difficult and frustrating at times. The two level parking garage feels both tight and narrow. For those with SUV’s or larger vehicles, spaces seem small, and place gets crowded pretty quickly. I noticed that many parking spaces were actually occupied by Club Intrawest storage and construction… valuable spaces were filled with either appliances, furniture, bedding, wood, or construction tools. Not good. There is also a bike cage here to lock up mountain bikes.
Pool/​Jacuzzi — Pool area seemed well kept and clean. Pool is heated, and two jacuzzi’s are available, but even with two, they got crowded in the early evening hours. Pool itself needs to be drained and resurfaced. While I was using it, I could feel the plaster (?)/​concrete (?) crumbling and becoming loose under my feet.
Arcade/​Gym — Gym is adequate with both free weights and machines. I wish I would have tried it out had I discovered it earlier in the week. The arcade is a cool and free distraction for the kids… all the games are free to play… but they are all dated. Most games are circa 80’s & 90’s…nothing new.
On property store — Generic and overpriced.
Room — We stayed in a double room with a common living room and kitchen. From what I could tell, it seems as if our room was recently remodeled (except the kitchen appliances). Carpet was clean, colors were rustic and cozy, décor was nice and had a ‘modern cabin’ feel to it. Nice patio/​deck overlooked the pool. The pullout bed/​couch was nice… well at least the couch part was… the pullout was uncomfortable, but then again, aren’t they all? The biggest issue within teh room were the appliances. Our dishwasher was cheap, generic, and well used (it need to be replaced). Refrigerator did it’s job, but also needed maintenance as items placed in the rear tended to freeze. Stereo worked just fine. I beleive we had a 42″ LG LED flatpanel TV in the common area, and the two rooms had smaller 26″(?) flat panels. Main bedroom had a safe and whirlpool bathtub. Other room had a large bathtub/​shower combination which was nice in size, but squeaky as all hell when you moved around in it (It wasn’t installed correctly). Washer/​Dryer was also well used, and washer didn’t drain correctly (needs to be repalced). These places should never buy the cheapest, generic appliances… spend a couple extra dollers and get the mid-​grade or just below mid-​grade, never the bottom of the barrel.
Grounds — I have to say, place looked well manicured and clean, but it was apparent in some areas that they were in the middle of either upgrades or a face-​lift.
Overall — I think it was a nice property and wouldn’t mind staying there again. Appliances needs to be changed out more regulary and replaced by some better quality ones. Staff was nice and an ease to work with. Parking kinda sucked. WiFi a nice bonus. It appears it is in the middle of a rennovation… for the better… but has a way to go still.

I had the most horrible experience with this business today. My family and I were enjoying a nice afternoon experiencing the family section of whistler north and were approached by a nice woman asking us if we wanted to tour Club Intrawest. We told her that we had already done that 3 years ago and owned a timeshare with Trading Places. She said that she had people in the same situation who toured Club Intrawest all of the time. She said that we would get a $ 150 gift card for the tour. I thought about it, walked with my wife, and agreed to go. I was very upfront about the fact that I was not going to buy as we already had a timeshare. That was a very enjoyable experience… it was downhill from there…
Once we arrived… the nice staff took our 5 kids to the arcade (they were great) and then we were introduced to Rob… the salesman. We sat down and he spent about 5 minutes asking us some details about who we were. Once he realized that we were not going to be buying that day he literally said, «I don’t want to waste 90 minutes of my day but if you want to go through this, I can.» He then proceeded to tell me and my wife that what we were doing was ethically wrong. He asked my wife how she would feel if she did her job and then was told by her clients that they never intended on paying her. He tried to soften what he was saying by letting us know that it wasn’t our fault… but then kept flipping his argument around to blame us… it took all of 10 minutes of this for me to be done.
I told him that I wasn’t interested in wasting his time or my time and that I was going to go… to which he replied, «That would be best but I don’t want you to think that I am trying to get you to leave.» I was done by that point. My wife and I got up collected our kids and were on our way out when the sales manager found outside with the $ 150 gift card we were promised and tried his best to smooth things over. To be fair he was a nice guy and said that the way that Rob treated us was wrong.
We ran into the original woman who asked us if we wanted to go on the tour and she asked us why we were done so soon. I told her the story and she was mad to say that least. I really did feel sorry for her… at the same time, I have never been made to feel that low by a salesman ever… even when buying a car. Stay away if you’re in the Whistler area… It’s not worth the $ 150 gift card.

We visited in early June 2013 as an exchange through Interval. As far as timeshares we have been at, this is in the upper half. Note that although they asked, we did not participate in the hard sell presentation, so we cannot comment on that.
Check-​in was excellent. Front desk staff was very pleasant and helpful. Having water at the entrance in coolers was a nice touch.
We got a two bedroom which was actually two adjoining rooms with a single main entrance. The studio had a microwave, dishes, and tiny dishwasher (never saw one of those before) and a TV. The adjoining one bedroom was more typical with a small but full kitchen, living room with two single sofabeds, and a bedroom.
Furnishings were typical, although the beds were very good (I think they were replacing them with new at the time). Linens were excellent with good fluff and much better than the thin ones we are used to elsewhere. Unfortunately, the pillows were old and probably should have been retired a decade ago.
It appeared that our unit had been renovated although the renovation was only skin deep. Many of the plug sockets were loose (from use — they should have replaced them). The bathroom fan needed replacement (motor bearing was worn resulting in loud noise after running a minute or two). The large Jacuzzi brand tub faucet leaked. The screen door’s screen needed replacement. The outdoor furniture was loose and, because of my ample weight, was scary to sit in. The dishwasher and stove were not replaced and it showed. They should also consider replacing the windows which were difficult to use. Based on the windows, I would guess the building dates back to the 1970’s — 80’s
We noticed that each room had a ceiling fan and there were portable fans in the closets. It was cool when we went, but in the summer, it may get hot without air conditioning.
The design was kind of odd — dishes not accessible from the kitchen, and lightswitch placement also odd.
Dishes were well used, and the cheap mixing bowls were probably purchased at Big Lots or other similar discount store. Other utensils were sparse but serviceable. There was a note saying we could call to get more if we needed, but we didn’t. There was ample detergent and dishwasher detergent, and salt and pepper were in shakers. Others in our party were aficionados of David’s Tea in the village, so they went there every morning instead of making coffee.
Flatscreen TV’s with built in DVD players were the smallest that we have seen in a timeshare for a while with different brands in different rooms (replaced at different times?). There was a small stereo which was NOT connected to an antenna, so we could not get the local stations we got in the car.
Wireless internet was free and worked with multiple devices. It was fast and free (unlike all of the other timeshares we have been to) although it did cut off a half a day prior to the scheduled checkout.
The common facilities were enjoyed with the typical amenities along with a movie viewing room where requested movies were shown three times a night. Two DVD’s could be checked out per visit. The Canadian national papers was available in the hallway — a first amongst timeshares, but it is as informative as USA Today in the US. When I am traveling, I want a local or regional newspaper for local flavor and as a resource for what to do. Note that the local newspaper is a free weekly which is available in the lobby,
There was sufficient parking although I do not thing there was full occupancy when we were there. I forgot to put the parking permit on my mirror and got a «Final» warning notice after a couple of days (access to the underground garage was by keycard, so I do not know who else would have gone in.
I just happened to read the visitor’s binder towards the end of our stay and noticed that we had to bring the garbage out or be charged (they require a credit card at checkin). Never found the bin, but when I asked an employee, he took the garbage bag for me. There were also tiered charges for late checkout and the pool towels had notices on them (lose one and get charged). I do not know if this is typical in Canada, but the enumeration of rules and penalty charges if you forget something kind of sours the experience.
Our unit (451AB) faced the front of the building and was the recipient of noise from the exterior door at the entrance below us and the adjacent Fairmont generated lots of noise from incoming buses (several each day) and numerous deliveries by tractor-​trailer rigs. Being away from the main (Lower) Village was probably good since there was minimal foot traffic and walking through the Upper Village was nice and quiet.
The hotel floor plan was kind of goofy (I’ve seen worse in China) with a bridge between buildings and our «fourth» floor unit just above street level. To get to the exercise room, viewing room, library and main restrooms was akin to touring the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, Calif.

Very cult like atmosphere. I was scared that someone would grab us on our way and lock is in a room. The video they make you watch was really disturbing like a weird religion. Stay away. Pyramid scheme all the way and I think they track you. Be very careful

I’m not a Club Intrawest member the following is a review of a sales experience my bf and I had today.
We were walking in the village and this male salesperson started talking to us and informed us for 1 – 1.5 hour of our time to listen to the whole story of Club Intrawest and a tour of the building and in return we would get $ 125 so okay we went and got coffee and juice and cookies. And then the whole story began and we started touring the building ~1.25 hours after the talk so okay we thought we would still make the 1.5 hours limit that was told to us. So after the tour 1.75 hours had passed — the building was decent parts were a bit old and swimming pools were under renovations so parts were closed. Then were were told about prices and such so get this we were presented with two papers of ‘registration’ one is if you pay now you get a discount and a week of stay for free anywhere in their premises and the other one is you pay later and both options were $ 3000+. When it was obvious we weren’t buying this $ 3000+ service/​investment while on a weekend day trip to Whistler the salesperson got a bit short with us and attitude was even a bit hostile stating he had places to go to too… and when asked if we could keep those pieces of paper for reference/​information we were told no and I couldn’t hear what he said the reason was… Anyway we still got the $ 125 and the juices but we ended up spending 2 hours there almost missed the last chance to ride up the hills and do some sight seeing!
Perhaps we were the first ones to say no with this salesperson’s presentation? Not sure…
So this salesperson shook our hands and left us stating the next person would get a survey of how he did but it wasn’t it was another chance to sell the service — at yet another cheaper version… and again we politely declined…
Then as we were walking out this lady with a kid showed up behind us and stated she was a member and how fabulous it was with points and everything and the option she bought her membership at… I kept wondering if she was part of the sales team…

Yeah this place has gone downhill in the years since I’ve been coming here.
When my parents bought into this place years ago it was the absolute best. Five stars back then. We loved it. Coming up here now as a 20-​something myself was slightly disappointing, but it’s still a great place to come.
The penny-​pinching is definitely evident. I don’t mind the shampoos that are built into the shower (in fact I prefer that), but the only allowing us one coffee or tea? Really?
Service was great. The people in the place next to us were having a party and we waited til past 10 to ring and they responded and shut it down politely which was nice. Everyone has always been really helpful here.
On Club Intrawest as a whole, obviously it has gone downhill a bit since the glory days of the early 2000s, but we have still used the points all over the world at the partner resorts and have always been impressed.

This hotel has gone down hill in the past few years. While it’s still a nice place to stay the customer service and penny pinching techniques are showing up in their daily routines. We had the RUDEST desk clerk I have ever dealt with. We make a yearly trek up to Whistler with some close friends. Every year we have had a blast, however last year they weren’t allowed to park on site, which they always have allowed before, a two bedroom unit should have two parking spots… anyway, they were told to park down on «D’ lot, assured the car would be safe and everything would be fine for the four days we were staying. On the last day they went to pick up their car only to receive a ticket. Since Whistler is an international vacation for us and we needed to head home we took it into the front desk and asked why they told us to park there. The lady was RUDE, refusing to help and saying that the ticket wasn’t her problem. She handed our guests the phone and suggested we «take care of it on our own». Thankfully we were able to get a hold of the PD who dropped the ticket, but they were very interested in why Club Intrawest was telling guests to park there. I guess we weren’t the only people with a ticket from Intrawest.
It’s sad — this used to be a great spot to go. We really enjoyed it until such a horrible experience last year. We receive the room as a Christmas gift every year and have thought multiple times about buying in ourselves however without some changes we won’t be interested.
On the positive side it is family friendly & fun. Our 3 year old LOVES the water slide!

Don’t stay here. Don’t buy into this time share or you’ll regret it!

Lousy beds — really. Room was in disrepair, door moldings falling off– a four foot piece of door molding would swing back and forth everytime we opened the door. The mini fridge did not work (wouldn’t make ice and defroster on the blink).
Clearly, Club Intrawest is not interested in keeping this a first rate property. Stay elsewhere if at all possible. Club Intrawest gives Whistler-​Blackcomb resort a bad name.

Very spacious suite. Nicely decorated. Good beds. Room was only serviced once in the week. Only short walk to Blackcomb lifts.