Like a Michelin star, but for hotels: 11 B.C. properties make inaugural list of honourees

(Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge/Facebook)

Eleven hotels in B.C. have been awarded Michelin keys, a designation that is the equivalent of a restaurant being honoured with a star by the prestigious guide.

On Thursday, the guide published the list of Canadian hotels given the top honours and explained the criteria for making the cut.

“Like the Michelin stars for restaurants, the Michelin keys are our most outstanding hotels,” the announcement said, adding the five things that go into the rating are “excellence in architecture and interior design, quality and consistency of service, overall personality and character, value for the price, and a significant contribution to the neighborhood or setting.”

Like the star system, there are also levels. Three starts signify a hotel at which guests have “extraordinary” stay, two correspond to an “exceptional” stay and one is awarded for a “very special” stay

Only one place in the province achieved three keys. Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge in Tofino was one of just two properties in the country to get the highest honour, the other being a remote resort on a tiny island off of the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Four B.C. hotels received two keys. Those were the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, the Four Seasons Resort Whistler, the Rosewood Hotel Georgia in downtown Vancouver and the Wickaninnish Inn in Tofino. 

The list of one-key properties included another Whistler destination, the Nita Lake Lodge. Three hotels in downtown Vancouver were also in this category; the Wedgewood Hotel, Loden Hotel and the Shangri-La Hotel. Two spots in the province’s capital -- the Fairmont Empress Hotel and the Magnolia Hotel & Spa – rounded out the list of B.C. hotels receiving the one-key honour.

More information about the Michelin rankings is available online.