Serene Getaway
The editorial desk

Our writers

Since 2018, Serene Getaway has sent a small team of hospitality writers across Canada to sleep in ordinary rooms and report what the stay actually felt like. Each byline carries its own voice — bright and sensory for some, warm and conversational for others — but every review begins with a real key card.

Oscar Andersson

Food & hospitality writer

Oscar always books the ordinary room, never the showcase suite, because that is the stay most travellers actually get. He writes with holiday excitement — vivid mornings, bright lobbies, the small sensory details that make a trip feel alive — and he is honest when something is merely fine.

When he is not on the road he is usually comparing breakfast spreads in his notebook or sketching the path from reception to the elevator, because those first ten minutes tell you more than a brochure ever will.

Articles by Oscar Andersson

Yara Vance

Family-travel reviewer

Yara writes candid, first-person reviews and is not afraid to point out the flaws — always with the same bright, enthusiastic eye she brings to what went right. She notices how public spaces hold a crowd, how a bathroom’s small practicalities land after a long drive, and whether staff still sound glad to see you at checkout.

Her Charlevoix notes for Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu capture both the grandeur and the human warmth that guests keep mentioning.

Articles by Yara Vance

Simon Reyes

Contributing travel journalist

Simon has stayed in hundreds of hotels and still gets excited walking into a good lobby. His voice is warm and personal — like a well-travelled friend telling you about a place they actually slept in — and he pays attention to how a property changes after dark.

At South Beach Casino & Resort he found the kind of welcome that makes Manitoba feel close even when the map says otherwise.

Articles by Simon Reyes