Jaime

We've stayed at Ocean Pointe so many times and have always loved it, so this trip we were really excited to finally bring our dog (a tiny 9-pound, hypoallergenic, very well-behaved Havanese) along with us. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a pretty disappointing experience.

First – and this is a big one – the resort is marketed as dog friendly, but honestly, it really isn't. You can't bring your pet into any of outdoor patios for the food and beverage outlet. The excuse we were given was that accessing the patios required walking through the restaurant — but we found this hard to accept, because that was never an issue at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel, The Empress Hotel, or several other restaurants we visited during the same trip.

All of them were happy to have our business and had no problem with us carrying our small dog (or walking through) their dining areas to reach the outdoor spaces. So the not allowed reasoning at Ocean Pointe felt more like a policy choice than a genuine restriction. The only option Ocean Pointe offered us was to order takeout and eat outside with plastic dishes. For a resort of this caliber, that's just not good enough.

We had also booked and paid for a Club Room, but it appears that because we had a pet, our room was downgraded without any advance notice or explanation. We only figured this out after the fact — and honestly, a heads-up at the time of booking would have been the right thing to do. We shouldn't have had to discover this on our own.

We also paid $25 a night (totaling $100 for our stay) for the dog fee, which is supposed to cover extra cleaning – but our room and bedding (#408) actually smelled like wet dog when we arrived. That's not a great start, especially when you're paying a premium. To her credit, the lovely lady at checkout was wonderful and did adjust our bill upon checkout due to our unhappiness, and we genuinely appreciated that gesture. It just shouldn't have come to that.

Otherwise the good outdoor space and walking sidewalks through the Songhees neighborhood around the hotel are great for dogs. We truly hope Ocean Pointe takes this feedback to heart, because we've genuinely loved this property for years. We just can't recommend it the way we used to. 😕

Brewpub in Kelowna’s Brewery district that has a large dog friendly seasonal patio and casual menu.