Bonsor Recreation Complex

Positive experience: Ok place

Fantastic experience: Played squash there it was great. Staff are very friendly, specifically the lady on the front desk.

Fantastic experience: Great place for sport activities, especially kids friendly and easy access, close to metropolitan mall, great place to go with kids.

Positive experience: Big newly constructed state of the art facility, its super nice! Minus one star because the steam room was closed for maintenance. Get that star back when its fixed! lol

Fantastic experience: Everything you need is there. Lots of room. Good staf.

Positive experience: Busy. Hard to find parking.

Positive experience: Two good condition squash courts

Fantastic experience: Jenny is the best. She can answer all the questions as she is like a human science dictionary. Highly motivated in teaching and really spend her time to make sure you understanding all the concepts. Highly recommended!

Positive experience: Crowded. Dirty bathrooms. A man was in the changing room with us. I thought maybe it was just how this place works.

Negative experience: The five stars was only for past four years experience , but no include past two months. I played table tennis there for more than three years. Most of the staffers are very nice in the past, right now some of them are very unfriendly, like last week Friday night, a staffer(man) even try to push(even use hand) me and one of my friend out of Bonsor when we are watching our friends game outside the door, because we do not have spot but we already pay for the day pass. And in October 14th 3:30pm, when I still clean up with a old grandmother, a blue-shirt staffer said: “we should kick you out in 15 mins ago.” Every Friday night was an argue night in table tennis area in the pass month, they would come with the color glasses and think the Friday night Chinese table tennis players are trouble maker, even they mostly said it out last Friday. Due to that pressure, right now I have to choose other place to play for protecting dignity for myself as a Chinese table tennis player. I appreciate to the every nice staffers in the past years hope to see you all again! Meanwhile, if I saw the situation already fixed, then I will removed my review immediately.

Fantastic experience: The environment is good and the service is great

Positive experience: The pool is a bit small, but they can't do anything about that. The centre is maintained well and the staff are helpful.

Positive experience: Nice swimming pool for babies

Negative experience: So poorly run. Just terrible

Fantastic experience: Very nice facility with many classes and facilities. Noted fitness room, classes, kids activities. Snack bar too

Fantastic experience: Great facility, very well equipped. I have been using the weight room for the past three years during the designated 55+ Seniors time slot (Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:30-11:30am) and I can’t be more complimentary of the staff than the 5 stars allow. They are helpful, friendly and most of all very supportive of us all as we work to slow down the impacts of aging!

Fantastic experience: I and our volleyball team were going to Bonsor for about 24 years now. Altogether, there are 24 teams playing once a week. Organized to perfection, always ready for our 3 hour sessions, kept clean and safe. Very few times that a player was slightly injured (ankle sprain and such) Bonsor staff attended quickly and professionally. Front desk greets all incomers for all sports activities with a smile. Incomers are of all ages and all skill levels. This is not only how you promote sport and being active but also how you help being active and support everyone's health and well-being. Few times I went to similar profile different centers but none of them can match or come close to Bonsor. THANK YOU and BRAVO!

Fantastic experience: Been coming here for the past 15 years

Fantastic experience: Had a thrilling experience swimming there wid my husband. What a wonderful customer service

Negative experience: Took adult 1 swimming class here, the instructor Fiona is less teaching experience. Class is chill without too much teaching details. But they make the passing test very strict with full of details. You guys need more experienced teaching instructors

Positive experience: Unfortunately no steam room , but sauna did the trick.

Fantastic experience: My daughter recently attended swimming classes at Bonsor Recreation Complex, and I was incredibly satisfied with the experience. She gained the confidence to jump into the water and swim with the help of floaties, something she previously hesitated to do on her own. Before attending these classes, she needed me to accompany her in the water and was reluctant to swim by herself. The progress she made is a testament to the quality of the instruction and supportive environment. I highly recommend Bonsor Recreation Complex, especially for early ages, for their effective and encouraging swim programs.

Negative experience: Im sorry but it is time for the city to please invest in giving this Recreation Complex a new Look and upgrade to your facility, like the Gym and Specifically the Pool, I’m sorry it’s kinda old and run down. Other Complex areas are much more corner and Modern, Just look at the New Complex where the Canada Games pool used to be, it’s Beautiful. Bonsor Recreation Complex being in the heart of Metrotown should deserve a new Fresh Look, it’s looking a bit old now.

Positive experience: Been going to Bonsor for many years since I was little, conveniently located too, and swimming pools is so fun.

Negative experience: Hi Carol, I didn’t know if you were going to respond to the ambiguous and incomplete report I sent you. I hope you find that there is nothing in this report that clearly states, “you failed”, except one must deduce “Please register in: Crab” as “you failed”. I am writing not about Kenny the instructor, he is just doing what he is told to do - your playbook. The concern I have is with the lack of teaching experience from leadership. If your program cannot at least get perhaps the primary skill of dunking accomplished in 7 days, then the fault lies in the program not the instructor. No sense teaching a toddler to run, if the toddler cannot even walk yet. I also wonder if you have visited the site in person, especially when the classes end/start. It is a “zoo” according to one of your lifeguards. I am also sure that the Fire Marshall would not be too pleased about that single entry/exit way. No reason, when swimmers are finished that they cannot exit through the changing rooms – seems logical since the swimmers most often than not, are still wet. Rather than push quantity over quality, allow a gap for the instructors to properly convey feedback after each session as opposed to figuring out the next class among the “zoo” of individuals. I am here to express my personal hurt when my daughter is waiting for the instructor that is playing and she is sitting there all by herself. Your offer was disrespectful and would have been a waste of everyone’s time. I shared this with the preschool headmaster and she concurs. Again, I am not here to ask for $70 which by the way you never even attempted to offer. I know I would have done it if I were in your shoes as that is the politest action to take. You never truly heard what I was/am saying. You just wanted to defend yourself/your team/your upstairs management that there was nothing wrong with your instructor’s evaluation. Again, all you were concerned with on the call was to defend and not address the broken issues you have with your program and its process and procedures. I do not know if you have teaching in your resume/blood, but I do – been doing it for over 25 years. Each semester, I re-evaluate my materials and delivery after each class, and see if I need to tweak anything before the next class and/or the next semester. I am always looking to make it better. I am always looking to see how I can improve my delivery for them to achieve the objectives they paid to learn. Cardinal rule as an instructor, judge yourself before you defend yourself. Lastly, I pulled my older daughter after one class today - yes today - because I saw the same things about to happen after her first class.

Fantastic experience: Their 2nd floor banquet hall is superbly spacious!

Fantastic experience: Nice staff, clean bathrooms, water fountain, and free wifi!

Fantastic experience: It's such a nice, friendly community center.

Fantastic experience: Really good place for swimming lessons!!

Positive experience: It was a little crowded over the weekend. Some front desk workers are super friendly; some might need more training.

Positive experience: We go there mainly to swim lengths, and love it. The gym is good too. Can't believe it took us so long to find it!

Positive experience: Its ok. Staff is usually helpful. Installations are usually clean but place is not that big and I wish they hey had a steam room and more showers close or nearby. For the price you price its all rite.

Fantastic experience: A lively place in Burnaby full of activities from Gym, to variety of Dance, to Music instruments like Piano & Violin, Swimming pool, Arts Room, and what not.. Loved the place.

Fantastic experience: Thursday night dance party with life music. Super event.

Positive experience: Great staff but the facilities are long overdue for an upgrade.

Positive experience: Online booking reservation needs lot of improvement as slots get booked under 1 sec.

Fantastic experience: It's very good for For Exercise GYM , swimming and relaxing in the sauna

Positive experience: The staff are nice, the only thing is that the lighting in the gym is too bright to play badminton

Fantastic experience: I hope they have at least 2 hours twice a week for ladies swimming as it is only Monday 7:30 pm for 2 hours and every week we lose on Monday for public holiday the should give us another day as Tuesday or Wednesday please consider that we ladies have no other place to go in Burnaby just bonser Thanks

Negative experience: Terrible service and bad layout. Gym was insanely busy with meat heads talking to eachother instead of working out, classic public gym garbage.

Positive experience: Bonsor Community Center Great area next to Metrotown mall. The biggest thing that bug me is there is Women and Man Changer-Room ONLY! There is a lot of children do swimming lesson and go with there parent, Some parent will use the HandyCap changing room. Is suck when someone in a wheelchair is waiting for Handy Cap changing room. Bonsor Need to Make Swimming pool area BIGGER! MANS AND WOMENS AND FAMILY CHANGING rooms like two other pool in Burnaby, BC There is not a lot of shower in the Women changing room and Plus only 1 wheelchair shower! It not wheelchair accessible 1 set with no arm bars It really bad. I don't shower at pools. Yes I use a wheelchair and walker. Hopefully in further THINK OF ADDING FAMILY AND SPEACIAL NEED FAMILY TOGETHER FOR A CHANGING ROOM!

Positive experience: We have been to a few community centers and find Bonsor the best of all (except the pool is a bit too small but the square aqua pool still serves the purpose of doing aqua on your own when lanes are full/occupied.) We enjoy the various yoga classes all through the day/week (offer probably the best varieties among all Burnaby centers.) We like the system where some evening classes students have to pre-register first (fair to those who work all day and cannot just come earlier to physically line up for a spot. For those who can't stand by the phone/computer to register 48 hours in advance, they also have two evenings (Tue/Fri) when they do first-come-first-serve. So we find this systerm fair to everyone. We also like way the students in the first evening class, if wish to continue to do the next class, must clear their mats/tools to go out and line up with all the other students who just arrive to join the second evening class. We think the management has done a good job to manitain a fair chance for all. Users are also welcome to enjoy other facilities once register and paid for the class. It is a very convenient spot too, near Metrotowne for restaurants/grocery before or after.

Negative experience: Bonsor is one of the older rec centers in Burnaby. The pool, gym and change room facilities are all due for a facelift. But around metrotown, it is your only option for community programs. The young frontdesk clerks are generally friendly and helpful. The exception is this one older Indian lady who is hateful and racist.

Positive experience: the swimming kids program kinda mid just get a real swimming teacher/coach

Fantastic experience: Exceptional services. The new registration process is smooth and every one gets enrolled without waiting 2 hours in line on registration dates. Kids, seniors Programs we enrolled: Swimming , Piano, Dancing, Events

Negative experience: I visited the banquet hall on 28th January. It was an event organized by a diverse community association. I observed interference by the Bonsor Recreation management team while the event was ongoing. I understand the observations were the crowd limit in the hall. But suggestion either the management should communicate clearly well in advance or they need to make an alternative arrangement like providing more space to help the association complete their events successfully.

Positive experience: Usually love this place for the facility( use squash courts and basketball courts) but recently called to book a squash court. The lady gave me a time and I asked if there were others, she said one sec and put me on hold for 5 minutes. Then told me there isn’t and asked if I wanted to book the time slot, I said yes but was put on hold again for another 5 minutes. I eventually gave up and hung up lol. Shouldn’t take 10 minutes for a job that takes less than 10 seconds.

Positive experience: Very conveniently located and have a great range of activities. I guess for Mr the only draw back was that the pool area is small to what I have seen and am used to coming from Victoria.. Staff is super helpful.

Negative experience: The water in the shower is hotter than whirlpool. Seems dirty and outdated.

Positive experience: I love my community center. I can join Zumba, spin, yoga and swim in one place for a pretty good price! It is a bit run down. Hopefully they do the renovation soon

Positive experience: It is smaller than Edmonds with fewer facilities. But it's totally fine

Positive experience: Really nice and clean. Good area for parents to sit during lessons. Instructors are nice.

Positive experience: Good rec centre. Centrally located with lots of well priced programs for the family. Security is always nice and says hi when we visit :)

Negative experience: Immatured teacher, untactful partial and very judgemental . I am opting out from musical rascals sessions .

Negative experience: Very rude staff working today at the smoothie bar. Usually it's Top notch customer service but today the lady was very mean and unaccommodating. This lady was short in height and with her words. She should learn about customer service or find a new job.

Positive experience: Nice location. Good swimming pool. Chlorine level is slightly high it seems as eyes are itching. Fun for kids. They have a schedule for women only. Likewise they should add one session every week for men only as well. Nice location and walkable distance to Metrotown skytrain stario. Overall a good experience.

Fantastic experience: Great staff and facilities. A lot of different activities for all ages.

Positive experience: Nice customer services from the staff and clean environment. Difficult to book though

Fantastic experience: Neighborhood friendly community sports centre. Swimming pool... affordable price

Negative experience: Is it possible for 84 spots to be filled in the first three seconds?!!!! I've been trying to register for drop-in volleyball on Friday nights for three weeks now, and it's been filling up within the first minute. Is this even feasible?! In my opinion, some people may be buying tickets for more than ten friends … Otherwise, it seems unlikely that 84 people could secure all the spots in just a few seconds. I strongly object to this system; it's not fair at all. Each account should be limited to purchasing only one ticket

Fantastic experience: Nice hot tub, relatively clean locker room, not too many people

Negative experience: Lousy booking system and rules for sport dropin... 5 courts (can load 4 players each court) only accept 20 ppl to register. So it always Full on the system. But every time almost half ppl no show, and no waiting list allowed... Hardly find enough team mates to play a sport game...

Fantastic experience: Facilities are very good. Maintenance, as well as just the number of things available on site, are very impressive. The basketball court was maintained very well.

Fantastic experience: My favorite place. I got at least 3 times a week for the hot tub/sauna. Have been going for a long time and I'll continue to keep on going for an even longer time. #BonsorGang

Negative experience: It pains me to write this because I grew up in this neighbourhood and have been a patron of the community centre for the past 3 decades; however the degradation of service and discriminatory treatments me and my family have received at Bonsor is concerning. Our kids are in their children's program and the instructors are wonderful, however the staffs at front counter and/or swimming pool weren't as good. The interactions from the younger staff/supervisors have been condescending or just flat out racist. Occasionally I see favouritism such as laxing rules for one race group and overly critical for another, or treating people like idiots based on the colour of their skin. Some staffs are not helpful at all or rude and just irresponsible. This is both frustrating and infuriating.

Negative experience: My friend Patrick came to this facility a few years back, I still see they don't allow baptisms within it's fine halls, very disappointing, do better

Fantastic experience: Great variety of activities for exercise including cardio, weights, yoga, spin, squash, table tennis, swimming at a low annual rate. Love it!!!!

Negative experience: No area is open to the public during lessons only the sauna and hot tub is open!

Positive experience: This recreation center is huge. First time playing tennis indoor, didn't know such a thing exists. I always play at a local park nearby. They have a swimming pool, yoga classes, and among other things.

Fantastic experience: Loved this place....it's good for both kids and adults...so many recreational activities.

Negative experience: People who like complaining should go here, because they will be surrounded by the same karma. Petty, selfish, predictable and ignorant is the recipe at this whole (pool and all). Show up and cry together, pity is not your friend but your vengeful self and partner is likely going to be here waiting, watching for their moment of weakness to be miserable.

Negative experience: Bought a three-month pass but can't seem to get into many drop-in classes. Don't get why I gotta book. Isn't the idea of a drop-in class to just rock up when the class is about to start? Seen some people hitting multiple classes in a day that you gotta book - doesn't seem right. No time to start ringing up to book classes from 10am on a workday. By the time the day's over, they're all booked out. Feels like a bit of false advertising to me.

Fantastic experience: Good pool, nothing fancy but place was clean, staff is friendly, and water temp is nice. Lockers are bring your own lock so be prepared if you need one.

Fantastic experience: Nice complex close to plenty of outdoor activities. Swimming, Gym and Martial Arts inside. Ball diamond, park for kids, skate park and hoops outdoors

Positive experience: Lots of options for fitness classes plus a pool. Lots of parking. Didn't give 5th star because there are only shared showers in the gendered changerooms. Many folks are uncomfortable or feel unsafe to use shared options.

Positive experience: Played in a volleyball tournament. Was a good place to play. somewhat hot, and the seating isn’t the best for that event

Positive experience: Decent place, receptionists are the main reason why the rating is low. Swimming pool seems decent.

Positive experience: Good pool for lessons. No family change room though.

Fantastic experience: A beautiful community centre in the heart of the town. They have so many recreational options and they also have facilities for senior citizens!

Positive experience: Aging and it shows. High time the City erase it and build a modern recreation center catering to the added population since it's inception

Positive experience: Pool facilities are good. But the sauna is barely warmer than room temperature. I feel like you can't go wrong with raising the temperature. For people who find it too hot they can have shorter sessions. For the people who need it hotter it's unusable at the moment.

Positive experience: Staff are nice. Good facilities and hours. Can sometimes get quite busy though since it is in the heart of Burnaby and at Metrotown. Kids activities are good, but sometimes hard to get into as they fill up quick. Drop in programs are good, but the same, hard to get into because they are popular. Pool is dated and small. Mostly for lap swimming and lessons. Gym/weight room is good. Multiple items of the same equipment so generally something is always available.

Positive experience: Great old fashioned poor. None of these junk river pools here. They gotta get the diving boards back! But recently getting parking is havoc so it is a great disappointment!

Positive experience: I go to Bonsor every week for yoga classes and sometimes for a swim and to get into the hot tub. I like the infrastructure, spacious, well-maintained, and generally clean, but for yoga is very difficult to get a spot in the classes I want as you need to reserve 48 hrs ahead and if you don't remember to do it in the first hours it sells out, but many people don't show up in the end. The pool schedules are also complicated, lap swim is only open late at night and is usually too packed.

Negative experience: This recreation center is full of discrimination… March 10th around 10:30, I went to play basketball until I met a Staff at the door who denied access to 15 people including myself and we were regulars at late night basketball. The staffs only allow players that He selected to enter the facility & deny entry to other players. This form of discrimination needs to be addressed as it left us in the cold rain feeling neglected and excluded as we watch other players gain access. This is unfair & unacceptable to have a recreation center keeping us from doing what we love most. Playing basketball. Im extremely disappointed with the way the staff are treating the community… I wouldn’t recommend playing basketball this recreation center.

Positive experience: I’ve been coming to the community for a couple of weeks for Aquafit and yoga classes. I think in that point the facility is great. Employees are super friendly as well. However, today I had a very bad experience. When my class finished. I went to the hot tub to relax after the workout. I saw 3 guys all sweaty coming out from the sauna to the hot tub. That was disgusting and gross. I think it’s important that the facility let people know that after sauna rinse their body before hot tub.

Negative experience: We have eight players from different groups at play table tennis at 1pm to 3pm time slot. We spend quite some times to discuss how to rotate as new rules are took effect a couple of weeks earlier. Two players elected to move to 3pm slot after disagreement of how to rotate. The new rule damages the trust of the users.

Negative experience: Why l find the late night basketball have a lot of over 18 years old people in there, before said if the people over 18years old can not go inside to play the basketball can you guys fix that And after that teenagers can not play the basketball in there for late night basketball because one half court have some over 18years old people to play the game from 10:30 to end and other half court also have some adult play the basketball so the teenagers can only used small court to play, Before my friend was played there, but right now they not come because they said no court can let them played so that’s why they not come l wish you guys can fix this problem and give more chance to teenagers to play

Positive experience: The place is okay. I don't get the four and five stars reviews. Could be more clean and the sauna isn't hot. I just so far used the pool area. Only thing I like about the place is the location. Can go shopping after a swim or workout

Negative experience: Terrible place wont let me even play volleyball terrible communication worst community centre ever doesn’t even support the community. I jus wanted to play volleyball this community had ruined my dreams of being a volleyball player now i can never amount to anything. I feel personally hurt and attacked. They people who let you in are the worst people I’ve ever talk to hard to deal with and just terrible. I will never be coming this community centre again. 100% you should avoid and never return again.

Positive experience: Pool was fine, but dressing room was very small. No family changing room which was a big disappointment. It's hard enough to take a family swimming, not being able to carrel them in a room made it even more draining!

Fantastic experience: This complex was so good, the have yoga, meditation, zumba, swimming pool, gym, badminton, basketball, tennis and judo. Well maintained and one of the nicest community centre. Great prices but you can only go in Burnaby with their pass

Fantastic experience: I love this place! There's multiple floors, so it's fun to just explore and see what's out there. I'm here a few times a week to work out, I'm picky with what time of day I go, if you like an emptier gym, go in the evening, 6 - close. But if you go before 5 on a weekday, you will be surrounded by teens and may have trouble getting the machines in the weight room. The cardio room is always fun. Sometimes, it's nearly empty!! I've been going here for quite a while now, and I've never been mistreated or felt uncomfortable here, which is AWESOME as a young woman. People of all different lifestyles and abilities come here just to care for their body. There's a women only swim ince a week in the evenjngd, which is a really peaceful time. They played the entire new Taylor Swift album while I was there, which I thought was cute. The sauna room is good. The yoga classes here are also great, and teachers are so pleasant and down to earth! The staff at the front desk are friends too.

Positive experience: I wish I had taken the names of the two lifeguards that helped me on Dec 30th/22 around noon. Super helpful and knowledgeable as they had to assess my kids swim ability and they went into detail about the new swim lesson program. Lovely ladies! The facility is old. Definitely needs a new facelift, especially compared to their new facility, Christine Sinclair. The front desk clerks look annoyed and not engaging in any way if you ask for help.

Positive experience: Really good community centre. The building is a little older but it’s reasonably clean. The parking can be awful during busy times but move slowly as there are many pedestrians. Swimming: can watch your little ones from the bench seating available (but they are uncomfortable). Telus network connectivity is awful and free Wifi is slow. There is a warm kids pool and in the women’s chance room also a separate area to change with a door that closes (for those kids that like to run). Baby Sign and Song: took a class here with Nicole. She’s a fantastic instructor who brings her vibrant personality to each session. Combining songs, visual cues, books, toys - it was an awesome class for learning to use sign to communicate with my baby. As a parent herself she’s also hyper-aware of the kids’ safety - she called out some random guy who was taking pictures from the hallway (turned out he arrived late and wanted to take a pic of their grandchild).

Fantastic experience: Nice place to take your kids and yourself to do some activities for your health.

Positive experience: I've only used the squash courts here. They're great but booking them can be a hassle. Staff are nice here!

Negative experience: This place is a scam!!!!! They used to have a 10 min grace period policy to accommodate users who have personal emergencies and traffic uncertainties, then they reduced it to 5 min. Now they can't even stick to the 5 min policy written by themselves. I arrived at the centre 4 min late because of traffic condition, then the lady at front desk told me I'm not allowed to go in because it's been 5 min.... I had to teach her how to count 5 min but no success coz the time I spent explaining to her it's past 5 min, then the manager came out... I paid more than $400 dollars membership to use the facility but Bonsor actually is doing everything they can to set obstacles so that members can't use the facility for all kinds of reasons Bonsor comes up with. I am not renewing my membership again, this place is a scam!!!

Fantastic experience: I grew up going to this place for swimming when I was a kid and this place has always delivered in customer service and quality. It can be very hectic at different times of the day there, like when they have child registration for swimming it is nuts there, they could probably do better in that regard like maybe setting up times to come in and register for groups, or online registering. The swimming pool manager or supervisor (I think his name is Jason??) is what great quality service is all about. He knows many people by name that attend the pool, he takes his time to greet everyone, and he has a personality that makes people feel welcome. The cardio room is awesome - it is always clean, it’s bright, and has so many options. The gymnasium is humongous and it’s always kept in good order. They have so many different activities you can sign up for. One of my favorite community centres to go to when in Burnaby.

Fantastic experience: Old but functional , with a lot of options for exercise or having a meeting on the second floor. Also there is a coffee shop, with not bad options, specially for hungry kids.