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The View from the Top

Penthouse rooms and luxury still have a place in Whistler
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Disclaimer: If you've never looked up on a stroll through the village and wondered what it's like in those top floor rooms with those big two-storey windows, then stop reading. But if you've watched Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, flipped through an issue of The Robb Report, or gazed longingly at a massive yacht anchored off an exotic beach, read on. There's little doubt that for many of us our curiosity gets the best of us when we see a feature somewhere about "Canada's Most Expensive Homes" or "The World's Most Expensive Hotel Rooms."

Pique decided to dip into that curiosity and visit a few of the luxurious and elegant spaces Whistler provides for the world's millionaires and billionaires, movie stars and musicians, kings and queens, moguls and mavericks. The one per cent we've heard so much about lately.

In recent years, Whistler's bread and butter has been regional visitors, people who love the experiences we provide, but watch every penny they spend. But it is still a resort that caters to the rich and famous even though global economic misfortunes have turned the fortunes of so many once upwardly mobile people upside down.

Whistler still pursues destination visitors and high-end clientele — it's in our DNA as one of the world's leading mountain resorts — and while things aren't like they used to be, there are signs that things are recovering. Luxury homes are being built on both sides of the valley, lots are being snapped up and developed.

And in the village, high-roller suites are being occupied once again, sometimes so consistently that it sometimes took weeks to find just a few unoccupied hours to fit in tours. Some tours were delayed by Christmas and the rooms are so busy that it will be spring — and Part II of this feature — before I'll be able to see them. Unless, of course, I win the lottery.

This isn't meant to be a comprehensive list of the only high-end accommodation in town, merely a starting point. In future issues we'll tour more hotel rooms, look at more homes and architecture and see Whistler from another side. It's not to glorify wealth (though it has its glorious side), but to recognize its importance in the Grand Scheme of Things — it exists and it's a vital part of this resort. It pays higher property taxes and hotel taxes that we use to make Whistler the vibrant place it is, with amenities no town of 10,000 permanent residents should be able to afford. It buys tickets to events like the Telus Winter Classic, then gets into bidding wars over auction items at those events that help pay for some of our amenities, underwrite our local charities and non-profits. Wealthy donors helped build the Jeff Harbers Adaptive Sports Centre, a key development for Whistler's Adaptive Sports Program.

Most of all, it's to satisfy our curiosity. I've always wanted to see what it's like behind the two-storey glass walls that overlook the village.

The Four Seasons: The new rich kid on the block

For decades, Four Seasons has been synonymous with luxury hotels and resorts around the world. It's also a Canadian success story that opened its first motel in 1961 in Toronto, eventually shifting to the luxury market by opening an elite hotel in London, England, in 1970.

In Whistler, the Four Seasons is one of the new kids on the block, opening its doors in 2004. By the time it opened it was already sold out, with all of the hotel suites getting snapped up in six hours for a reported $152 million. The Residences at Four Seasons followed suit — not a hotel, but private residences that could be rented out if the owner chose.

Louise Caparella, the assistant to the GM, was my guide through some of the high-roller suites. We started off in Room 704, one of the Four Seasons hotel "Premier" suites.

The room has a luxury feel right away — marble in the entranceway, a heavy wood door swinging out over stone floors. There are plush carpets, brightly stained wood accents, a selection of chairs and tables, a large flat-screen television, and a gas fireplace.

It's a room made for extended stays — laundry, a small kitchen with all the stainless steel basics. The bedroom has a branded, king-size Four Seasons mattress you can only get at a Four Seasons, although I didn't want to wrinkle the immaculate presentation by doing a test flop.

It was also bright inside, with tall windows occupying most of the exterior walls and two patios — one looking towards Blackcomb Mountain and a big one overlooking Lost Lake Park. There was a heater on the larger patio.

The bathroom is impressive with marble on all sides, a huge soaker tub, a glass-walled shower and a heated floor.

The list of features, includes HDTVs, down pillows and duvets, terry bathrobes, L'Occitane bath products, twice-daily (twice!) housekeeping with evening turndown, etc., etc.

The price? About $1,000 per night, with 10-night minimum stays during the high season. Two bedroom Premier units are also available.

From there, we ventured to Room 532, one of the Four Seasons' Presidential Suites. At 1,700 square feet it's larger my than house.

The look and feel was the same, but definitely a cut above. One amenity that caught my eye immediately was the library of leather-bound books. Then there's the fact that the main room had six types of chairs, plus couches and loungers laid out to create intimate spaces within the space. There were two fireplaces and a dining room area for entertaining, a lounge area, four elegant bathrooms with four patios, three bedrooms with televisions, a full kitchen.

I asked if the other Presidential Suite looked the same.

"They're all a bit different," said Caparella. "I think we all have our favourite rooms, and we have some guests that request the same rooms every time they come here."

While the look and feel is similar, and there's the same sense of quality about the fixtures, finishing and furnishings, the Residences at the Four Seasons is a bit different. The rooms are privately owned and were designed and decorated the same way as the hotel, although a lot of owners chose to do things a bit differently.

The unit I toured was four bedrooms plus a den, weighing in at 3,700 square feet. It was a one-floor unit, although there were a few split-level units available on the penthouse level with skylights, two-storey windows and sweeping staircases.

During the Christmas holidays this unit was booked at $9,600 per night, with a 10-night minimum. That's $96,000 before you even buy one lift ticket, and more than most people will spend on holidays in a lifetime.

But it was so inviting, from the leather benches in the foyer to the full-size gourmet kitchen with brand-name appliances like Viking and Subzero, next to the 12-seat dining room table, with a four-seat bar in the middle. There was a wine fridge and the pantry was bigger than the first room I lived in when I moved to Whistler.

Caparella said that occupants of rooms with kitchens can book chefs from their own restaurants to prepare meals, and demand for that kind of in-room gourmet experience is particularly high around Christmas and New Year's Eve.

This was luxury — four bedrooms, four-and-a-half bathrooms, four patios — one big enough to fit a dozen people... all very Four Seasons.

There was a den and media room with an oversized television, one of at least six televisions that I could count on my tour. There were four gas fireplaces. The ceilings were an airy 10-feet, lined with art — some prints — but most of it original.

The master bedroom was huge, but my favourite feature was double doors that opened onto the master bathroom and a soaker tub that could have fit Hugh Hefner and all seven of his girlfriends.

The hotel's amenities are part of what makes the experience luxurious, with a huge fitness facility, huge pool, two hot tubs, steam room and more.

The perks include things like free hot chocolate and tapas, and a ski concierge service that will take your gear to the slopes and store it for you every night.

Whistler had a reputation for luxury even before the Four Seasons Whistler was built, but without question it's the hotel that defines the term for the resort.

The timing wasn't perfect, with the financial crisis just a few years after the opening of the Four Seasons, but bookings were high over Christmas and signs are good that the luxury market is slowly coming back. One hotel is ready for when it does.

Fairmont Chateau Whistler: Whistler's White Knight

Once upon a time, the Canadian Pacific Railway was Canada's lifeblood, and everywhere the tracks passed the company built grand hotels that remain among the most iconic pieces of our urban landscape — the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City, the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, the Royal York in Toronto, the Banff Springs Hotel, the Jasper Park Lodge, the Chateau Lake Louise, the Empress Hotel in Victoria, the Hotel Vancouver.

The empire has changed, with bits and pieces sold off for various uses. Some hotels were closed and demolished, and others purchased and converted to other uses. Most have been conglomerated into the Canadian Pacific Hotels and Resorts chain, which included the Canadian National Hotels chain and Fairmont.

The Fairmont Chateau Whistler was mostly bought out by a Japanese pharmaceutical company, but continues to be operated through the CP chain. It opened its doors in 1989, along with the Fairmont Chateau Golf Course, and expanded a few years later. It's still Whistler's largest hotel with 550 rooms. Most are guest rooms, but their one and two-bedroom suites (about 1,200 square feet) are available as well as two one-bedroom penthouse rooms with two-storey glass walls that look down 12-storeys to the pool area and base of Blackcomb.

All told there are 55 Fairmont Gold rooms, which have their own reception area with après ski cocktails and snacks and where you can check your email on a complimentary laptop or tablet. They also offer a hot breakfast in the morning.

But back to the penthouse rooms, which have a large living-dining room on the main floor and an impossibly large loft-style room up a wooden staircase. Guests staying in these rooms (and the list of dignitaries is long) have a separate check-in area on the eighth floor, and a separate elevator.

There's nothing not to like about these rooms, with their thick carpets, plush couches and chairs and wood furnishings, plus art, which is switched out to match the season. During my tour the Christmas tree was up, almost 10-feet tall but somehow looking much smaller with the huge windows and vaulted ceiling.

There's a small marble-appointed bathroom on the main floor and upstairs a large bathroom with a separate shower and soaker tub, large enough to swing a wet cat.

The penthouse rooms are often booked out by regulars, and it's not hard to see why, although that kind of room and view doesn't come cheap — about $1,500 a night during the high season. While that may seem cheap compared to the Four Seasons, keep in mind that, while the couch pulls out, it's just one bed.

The Pan Pacific: So nice they did it twice

The Pan Pacific's niche isn't luxury, necessarily, but it's just one of the experiences that the hotels — Mountainside and the new Village Centre — can offer to visitors.

The Mountainside hotel is the older of the two buildings, and the larger two bedroom penthouse units topped out at $1,300 per night during Christmas with its large screen televisions, a dining area, a living room and more. The highlights are the windows — two-storey windows arched at the top with floor-to-peak windows that overlook the base of the mountain, and all the events that take place there from weekly Fire and Ice shows to the Crankworx slopestyle.

General Manager Jim Douglas said his hotel caters to destination visitors, with an average stay of 8.1 days. Every room has a kitchenette, fireplace and amenities for people who come for extended stays, and some suites have washers and dryers for laundry.

The Village Centre location is the newer building of the two, and is one of the top-ranked properties on Trip Advisor. It also made the Condé Nast Gold List for 2012.

They have a full range of suite options available — studios, one and two-bedrooms suites, suites with dens and a few named suites.

The biggest of all the suites is the Blackcomb Suite, which measures about 1,800 square feet with three bedrooms, three large patios, three big and well-appointed bathrooms, a full executive kitchen, three HDTVs, a living room and a dining room. There are two gas fireplaces, including one in the master bedroom, and a whole lot more. The main patio is particularly awesome with room for 10 people to hang out and a lot of sun shining in that direction. Even on a grey day in December it's a bright space with large windows on all sides. During the high season the room is $2,000 per day.

Both hotels have pools, hot tubs and fitness rooms, and guests from one hotel can use the amenities in both — including a lounge where guests at the Village Centre location can get a complimentary breakfast, or meet after skiing to have a beer and enjoy some free appetizers.

"We look at it like one hotel, with two towers — 250 steps apart," said Douglas. "The Village side has a few more amenities and is a little more all-inclusive. This would be like the club floor or president's floor of another hotel."

These are just the high-roller suites from three top hotels in Whistler. It's hardly a comprehensive list without the Hilton or Westin, that big round suite in the Crystal Lodge, the high-end suites at Nita Lake Lodge, the funky rooms in the Adara or the very unique rooms in the renovated Sundial, to name just a few. Pique hopes to tour these in the coming weeks for a follow-up feature.

We also hope to feature and tour some of the incredibly beautiful and unique homes in this community, designed by some of the top architects in the world as a way of celebrating these unique properties. The luxury market is real and it's important to Whistler from an economic and jobs point of view.

And because we're all curious to know what the view's like from the top.



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