Conferences & Accommodation

Not good for the summer. The rooms have no air conditioning and only two very small windows (1x2ft) without screens. That means there is no breeze/​draft and you can’t keep them open at night. We did that once and our room got filled with insects. There is a ceiling fan, but it only has one low speed and is not adjustable. And there is no wireless, so bring an ethernet cable and dongle. Finally, customer service hasn’t been so great. If you ask for anything (ex: towel), you have to get it yourself and they give you some attitude. After my conference obligations were up, I abandoned the place two days early and found a nice place downtown at the same price.
With that said, the place is probably just fine for conferences when it isn’t so warm.
As far as the campus goes, the location is good and it is close to many fast food restaurants that cater to students. But don’t expect upscale dining or access to a grocery store. So if you have dietary restrictions it won’t be easy.

I had to come to UBC for a conference this summer, and booked early enough to get a dorm room at the UBC residences. While UBC is a lousy location vis-​a-​vis the airport or downtown, if you need to be at the university, it’s obviously very convenient. It’s also super-​cheap: I paid $ 30 a night for a single room, although the bathroom was communal.
The real bonus was the full buffet breakfast that was included with the room rate. I was able to stuff my face on pancakes, cereal, sausage, bacon, and the like every day, and skip lunch. I even ran into a kid who dropped a course I had taught the year before, and now worked there. Small world.
Free internet was also included while I was there, although the wireless was only in the central building of the complex. You can get internet in the rooms, apparently, but you have to bring your own network cable to connect with.