Bayshore Inn & Spa — Hotel in Alberta

If I could give this place -50 stars, I would. Whoever owns this property, this review is for you. I am shocked this alleged 3* "hotel" would even charge over $100 per night b/c it is actually worth $85.00 and should be a 1*. We stayed there Aug. 8-10th. I would like to first thank the older male hotel clerk who did not know how to check us in and made us wait for at least 15 minutes at 4:00 p.m. That check-in was so appalling I had to sit down. There were so few people checking in, how do you handle a rush? Clearly very poorly. You knew we were travelling from Calgary and you gave us a double bedroom we paid over $600 for to face a parking lot??!!! You then had the nerve to show my hubby a king room with a lake view requesting over $150 more per night to book that (claiming to be fully booked). The next day, we saw loads of empty rooms facing the lake (courtesy of your cleaners)...nice. We won't forget that. Booked or not, the thought and actions of your older male hotel clerk soured our first visit in years. Then the room - my GOD! 100% false advertising everyone. The online make it look spacious and relatively modern; the rooms are hideous, dated, old, and awful. It is extremely clear that whoever owns this hotel does not put any money back into it. Peeling paint, popcorn ceilings and particleboard is how I would describe this awful hotel. Cheap, ugly, and just downright hideous. Walls as thin as paper with AC that sounds like a freight train; why? A bathroom that cannot hold your personal items because of extremely poor planning and no upgraded rooms since 1980 along with beds as saggy, old and uncomfortable as they come. If I am paying over $300 a night, I expect the "hotel" to actually PROVIDE quality beds, quality linens, quality bathrooms with counter space and storage and look fabulous. The television is old and ugly as are the rooms and the ill- fitting particle board shelving throughout the whole place. Please save me the "we just renovated" nonsense as clearly you were either ripped-off or visually impaired to not see the CHEAP. Save your money and don't bother with Bayshore or any of the associated food places with this "hotel". Garbage in and garbage out - everything. I will never stay here again and I will tell everyone I know to NEVER book here. The Lakehouse Chophouse Fireside restaurant is also garbage food; honestly - wow...how do you stay open? A $17 appetizer like the cauliflower tacos should serve more than 2 tacos – really??!!! Not even grilled cauliflower but reheated – gross. The chicken burger on a brioche bun was soggy and gross, old key lime pie and disgusting apple pie smaller than the ice cream scoop was pathetic. When you can get better apple pie from the store, there is a problem! To the hotel owner, why aren’t you sourcing food from local farmers? Why can’t I have farmer’s eggs locally? Organic chicken and beef? Why does your food taste horrible? Everything is tasteless and you need to do a complete re-think as to why you keep getting horrible reviews. My advice is simply this – know your city clientele and their expectations and stop disappointing them. Get on board with the 100-mile food diet and make your good taste better than it is right now. Attract amazing chefs who grow their own herbs and know how to really cook. The nonsense you are serving at your restaurants and hotel is not...

My partner and I stayed here for a weekend and were generally disappointed. This place had 5-star resort pricing for what is essentially a motel. While the room seemed nice enough - large and clean with a balcony - we unfortunately found out at night just how thin the walls and how wide the gaps in the door frames are. The surrounding noise made sleep impossible, which defeats the entire purpose of overnight accommodations. In addition we had zero housekeeping over the weekend and no other services provided beyond check-in.

I have stayed at other motels in Waterton that appropriately advertise that they are motels and would recommend saving your money and staying at one of these instead. There was nothing special here to justify the major price discrepancy.

A note for context: we visited in August (high season) and were not in a lake front room. Given that the lake is walking distance from everywhere I still don't think this would have made the pricing more worth it, especially considering the even larger price jump for one of those rooms.

The primary reason this is not a single star review is the politeness of the front desk who were very accommodating and easy to talk to.

Update in Response to Owner: This previously 2 star review has been reduced to a 1 star review. Given that friendly staff was the only thing keeping this from a single star review, I believe the condescending response from the owner warrants lowering. To say that Waterton is just a different village and if I am going to compare it to the city or large resort towns then I have "missed the point" is rude and condescending and clearly shows that the owner didn't thoroughly read my review. I made it clear in my review that I was comparing the Bayshore to motels that are literally across the street from it, not to other towns. Again, I recommend you save your money and stay at one of these other motels instead as the Bayshore doesn't offer much more than being a few steps closer to the noisy lake shore and the owner is likely to question your judgement if you opt to...

Note: Please take a look at previous reviews, the owner responds to every negative review with excuses, negativity, condescending tone and takes absolutely no responsibility. Every problem is countered with the same response- “Its new! Just installed! I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

$0 refund and overcharged for $370+ standard room after voluntarily walking away shortly before check-in due to experiencing Covid-like symptoms. Was heading down to Waterton for the July long weekend, booked a $370 room on Expedia (taxes and extra charges included, pictures below) for Friday night. Shortly before check-in and during the drive, I started feeling flu-like symptoms. Concerned for my health and the safety of others at the hotel, I called the hotel to say I could not be able to come due to illness. I would have likely been turned away from the hotel anyways for failing the Covid questionnaire. It was a busy weekend but I took the time to check if they had extra rooms available for Friday night and I saw standard rooms available on the official Bayshore hotel website, Expedia, Bookings.com, Hotels.com, Agoda and Priceline; I knew they had rooms left. I selected for payment on hotel site on Expedia but was charged immediately while still in the car and also overcharged an extra $40+ (see image below for bank statement). Total charges on my credit card: $410+. I call the Bayshore manager to explain my situation and ask for a refund, he said he would speak to his manager and accounting. I was fully denied the refund as it was a "busy weekend" and they "had no rooms" despite me confirming their were rooms on multiple sites including the official bayshore site. Terrible service and respect for customers during covid-19,...