The service and quality in this hotel are so inconsistent, it's baffling. I stayed for six nights, and my daughter stayed for four nights in a separate room.
When I first checked in, I liked my room. However, my daughter's room, only a few doors away, had a toilet that didn't work, a coffee pot that didn't work, a stray piece of wire 2' long lying on the floor, a lamp that didn't work, and a drawer full of garbage (candy wrappers, empty coffee packages, etc). The staff forgot to give her the key to her mini-bar too.
The heat/AC unit in the room was ancient and unbelievably loud. When watching TV, we had to absolutely blast the sound to hear above the AC.We tried turning off the AC but within an hour, the temperature in the room had climbed to 27C. Considering it was a rainy, cool day outside, the heat inside was strange. We had to keep the AC on in both rooms all the time if we didn't want to melt in the heat, and believe me, after a while having that tractor-like cranking sound going became really irritating.
The food at this hotel really is not good. We had bad or so-so meals whether we ordered room service or went to the dining room. I ordered the same salad two days in a row but the salads I received bore zero resemblance to each other. The food mostly isn't disgusting or inedible (although the nachos, arguably, are inedible), but it is very expensive, so we expected better quality.
We went into the hotel dining room at lunch time on a Saturday and were the only people there. Nobody came to seat us, so eventually we seated ourselves. We could hear dishes clinking and other kitchen sounds but it took forever for someone to notice we were there and take our order. The lunch went downhill from there.
We ordered roasted chicken breast with baked potato, vegetables, and sliced fruit. Eventually our silent waitress came along and put down the plate with the chicken and potato. She walked away without offering sour cream, butter, or any of the usual dressings for the potato.The chicken was as dry as paper and had absolutely no flavour. Eventually I was able to flag down the waitress and ask why there were no vegetables or fruit. She went away and came back with the fruit. By the time she showed up with the vegetables, we had finished our meals. I said we no longer wanted them, and she rudely rolled her eyes at me. I asked why she hadn't brought the veggies, and first she said "they couldn't fix them on time". Then she launched into an inexplicable ramble about how body-builders like to have their protein first and veggies later and this was a healthy menu such as body-builders would like, and just rambled on incomprehensibly until I cut her off and asked her to just bring the bill. All she had to say was "oops, sorry, I forgot the veggies" and it would have been no big deal. Instead, she made up at least two stories of why it wasn't her fault, and gave us insolent attitude the whole time. She clearly hated her job.
On the other hand, the room service waiters were prompt and friendly, and went the extra mile by taking the lids off the food and pointing out the condiments, etc. The housekeeping staff were also friendly.
The staff did something very nice for me. They knew that I was there to recover from a surgery and sent me a "get well" fruit basket. I thought that was a lovely gesture.
However, I received exactly the opposite treatment in the Amerispa that is part of the hotel. The staff there were friendly enough as they charged me almost $800 for a couple of hours in the spa, but it didn't last long. I was taken into a room and asked to lie down on a table. I did so, and one end of the table collapsed out from under me, dropping me onto the floor (and in spas we don't wear clothes so there was a whole second level of indignity). I have spent hundreds of hours in spas right across this country, and nothing like that has ever happened to me! I was upset, but the attendant said nothing, just set the table back up. Nobody asked if I was ok. Nobody spoke to me in English at all. Nobody checked to see whether I was injured or scraped up. They obviously just wanted to fleece the tourists quickly and carelessly and not provide any "spa atmosphere" the way spas normally do.
We thought the rate for the room was reasonable, but we really felt nickel-and-dimed due to extra costs such as $10 a night for internet service (per room). Every place I've stayed in any province in Canada has provided free internet, so this was not a good surprise. There was an extra "floor charge" each time we asked for room service. They pushed their limo service, which charged double what a taxi costs. And when I remarked to the front desk staff that my bed was comfortable, she tried to sell me one!!
As I said, the contradictions between rooms, staff, and service make it difficult to sum up this hotel. It had elements of a really nice place, but over all, I wouldn't stay there agai read more