I also had some pretty specific desires for this trip - we'd stayed in several different hotels over the years, but none were along the riverfront or directly above the falls. What I wanted (the only thing I really wanted) was to look out my hotel room window, and see the Horsheshoe Falls thundering away directly below me. That sort of left us with only a few options for hotels, and most of them were of the expensive variety. In June, nobody had any special packages and because June is also "wedding month" in Ontario (meaning "honeymoon city" for Niagara Falls), the hotels were all busy and full. Some had a room available, but because of time of year, those rooms were being offered at $599 (1 room, for 2 people for 1 night). The cheapest hotel was $499.
So, we waited until late July and started pricing for August. Who knew? August seems to be conference month in Niagara Falls. A lot of associations and groups had booked conferences, so any available rooms were still the same price as they were in June.
We were pretty close to giving up, until we decided to try the first week of September (right after the Labour Day weekend). The hotel we got the $599 from was now $199, which including an all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast the next morning and a free winery tour (which we didn't want). What the hotel did have was a room on a high floor whose window looked down onto the Niagara Rapids and Horseshoe Falls, and you could see the falls on the US side, and the bridge between Canada and the US. Perfect. Just what I wanted ... well, I thought so at the time.



chair, a small sofa. The lamps in the room looked old (not antiques, just old and used) and the shades could not be made to sit straight on the lamps no matter what you did. One lamp had a broken shade which was pretty visible when you turned the light on in the evening. There was also very old air conditioner which looked pretty battered, but worked. A small bath. Just an ordinary room. I was amazed anyone would actually pay $500 for a room like that. At any time of year.
The first thing I did was head to the window to open the curtains and see the falls. As I got close enough to the window the carpet felt damp, and by the time I was close enough to open the curtains, the carpet was squishing water up between my bare toes. The air conditioner was coated along the top with water and dripping steadily onto the carpet. It was pretty annoying. We phoned the front desk several times to ask for someone to fix it, or to move us. They said they would send someone. They never did. Leaving the hotel to look for lunch, we ended up simply walking to the hotel next door where the restaurant was "Tony Roma's".


The one thing that was perfect in our hotel room was the view from the window. It really was breathtaking and I was excited to be able to watch the falls so close, from the comfort of my room. The other thing that was worth while was the breakfast the next morning at the Milestones Grills in the hotel. The grill is very nicely done with friendly staff, and good food ... and included every breakfast and semi-breakfast item anyone could want to eat.
The hotel wasn't really worth booking for a second night. It was too expensive for too little value. At least from our point of view. They never fixed the air conditioner and so it continued to leak onto the carpet. The legs of the sofa were saturated because it was sitting in that water. I couldn't stand at the window to enjoy the view because water was freezing. The other thing that bothered me about the carpet being wet was ... how long had it been going on, and how long had they simply ignored it? Carpets & constant saturation can equal mould spores.

The other thing we complained about was the
parking. We paid $25 to park in the hotel parking lot and couldn't get a space. The staff said it was people coming to the grill for dinner that were filling up the spaces (and hey, they don't pay to park there but we paid for a room, AND had to pay for parking ... all I can say is "what the hell"?) and that we should try later to get a space. WHAT???? I mean seriously? For the first time in my life I swore at the staff. My husband still had to use a walker and cane and they wanted us to drive around Niagara Falls to park somewhere until such time as the dinner crowd left? Something wrong with that if you ask me.
The next time we go to the falls, we won't be staying there. I don't recommend it, not unless there have been some serious changes in their mentality. Just because you can treat your paying clients like garbage doesn't mean you should. What goes around, comes around.
Best Western, here we come. (when we stayed there, it was a suite - quite large, better furnishings, kitchenette included, separate bedroom, $99 including breakfast, super friendly staff ... just no falls view).
More photos:
Map Location
Go to Google Maps for this.
No comments:
Post a Comment