This was my second stay at the Howard Johnson in downtown vancouver. Upon arrival I checked into a room with 1 double bed for $59 plus tax. My room was on the 1st floor near the elevator and heard no noise. My room was well equipped with tv, wireless internet, phone, desk and lamps. Room and Bathroom was very clean and bed very comfortable. The location is on the southern part of downtown and a short walk to Granville Island Ferries, bars and restaurants on granville as well as short walk to anywhere in downtown. Staff are extremely freindly and in off season rate includes a full breakfast in the restaurant. Will definately be back.

This was my 3rd time staying at this hotel. I have never had problems with noise there personally, but it likely depends on the night of the week that you are staying.
If you are looking for a hotel in the downtown core where you can easily walk to everything, then it's a good choice. The hotel itself is nice, and the staff are very helpful.
The neighborhood isn't great, but I have never felt unsafe walking to or from the hotel.

I stayed here for 5 nights in the last week of Sep. Awesome location at a great price. Points any tourist would love to have knowledge about before booking a hotel...

1. Location - Extremely convenient right in the center of the downtown area. Bus stop right below the hotel. Train station about 10-15 mins walk from hotel. You could go by bus too. Also, there are many restaurants in the vicinity. The pizza joint bang opposite the hotel was particularly good. You even have Burger King, McDonalds, Subway and a few cheap Chinese restaurants closeby. Most of them are open till atleast 1 am and even later on weekends.

It costs abt CAD 25-30 to reach the hotel from the airport.

2. Rooms - Kind of small. But still good. Clean room and clean bathroom with hot water available 24/7. The windows open only at the top and if the AC is not on it can get very stuffy. The rooms facing the roadside are very noisy coz of the club/pub on the ground floor of the hotel. Many a time my sleep was disturbed due to the noise coming from below.

Tip: Request for rooms away from roadside.

3. Front office staff - Some of them were good but some were extremely curt.

4. Car Rentals - Hertz and Avis are located closeby. Book on the net to get the best deals.

Inspite of the negatives I would stil recommend this hotel due to its awesome location and price. But don't make an international call from your room. I was charged 15 CAD for a 2 min call to India. Would advise you to buy a long distance calling card from the supermarkets closeby and call whoever you want from the public phones.

My husband and I stayed in this hotel for 1 night in Oct 07 and were pleasantly surprised at how nice it is. The rooms are very nice and clean and they hotel is situated in a great location for seeing the city. We stayed here as the price was cheap (aprox £35 a room) and we definitely got value for money.
I would come back here if I was in Vancouver again.