Prince of Wales Hotel — Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake

When you arrive at this hotel, you can’t help but be impressed with the beauty and history it offers. Entering the lobby, you were taken back in time. That’s about where the charm ended for me.

My check-in was not warm and welcoming. I was handed my keys and told to go down the hallway, exit the building, cross the driveway, enter another building and my room would be in there. I had a suitcase and backpack and asked if there were stairs and if so, was there an elevator. He was very dismissive and said maybe four stairs you’ll be fine. When I started to respond, he said I can get you a Bellman to carry your bags but he made me feel like I was causing trouble by making that request so I headed out.

Contrary to what I was told, there were two flights of stairs in order to get there. I figured out quickly that had I just gone down the sidewalk and entered from the second door, there would’ve been no stairs at all. I can’t imagine how senior citizens carrying bags would have made that long walk through multiple buildings and down long hallways with no signage, let alone the staircases.

Entering the room, which was not historic like the original building rather 1990s vintage knock off, the green carpet was filled with a powdered scent. I asked if I could be moved to a scent free room and the hotel was full.

I began to unpack, and went to lock the door and that’s when I discovered that the deadbolt wouldn’t work. I opened both windows which thankfully had screens and helped air out the room, but I was at ground level and had no security in or out of the room with the windows left open, which I needed to do.

I went into the bathroom and there was garbage on the floor and a bit of toilet paper on top of the toilet seat. Certainly not up to the standards of this property in my opinion.

We went to dinner and I left the windows open, trying to continue to arrow the room, and when I came back, the heavy drapes were closed, and all the lights were put back on (I had turned them off for safety purposes because the windows were open and people could see into the room). I called the front desk and asked if it could be added to my profile that I did not want turn down service the following night. The same gentleman who checked me in and told me there were no rooms to move, told me rather snippily I could simply hang the do not disturb sign on my door.

The sleep was not great given the open windows trying to arrow the room also allowed the heavy pot smokers smell to come into my room because they stood out in the parking lot. I backed onto at all hours of the night. By 5 AM, I got up because the smell was so strong.

The next night, there was no pot smoking, but because my view was looking onto the hotels, garbage disposal, my wake up call was the heavy loud beeping of the garbage truck backing up removing the garbage.

I was there for a conference, so not able to leave the hotel, had I been paying for this stay out of my own pocket, I would have insisted on an early check out and a refund.

Breakfast was fine both mornings, but the staff again were not 4 star or higher. They got the job done, but they did not do anything to make you feel welcome or valued.

Overall, this is not a property I would ever recommend and I certainly will never be back

EDIT - I can’t reply to the hotels response, but it does not surprise me in the least that somebody had a less than positive experience and the hotels response was to ask the guest to take another step and reach out to a front office manager rather than reaching out to the guest. Even better, they use a cut and paste and not a...

This is a wedding review and hence the 2 star rating yet 5 star room review. The rooms were beautiful and we had no issues with our stay the night of. My husband and I recently had a wedding at the Prince of Wales Hotel where we held our reception. Our ceremony was held at the Pillar & Post - where there were no issues and communication was easy and everything went as planned. With the PoW where do we begin.

Approximately 6-8 months prior to our wedding our coordinator changed. We spent weeks trying to coordinate with one coordinator who took time to respond and once transitioned we were constantly having to reconfirm details. She tried her best and while it was appreciated, there was often mis-documented information. We felt like we had to review every minute detail because there was no trust that what we had shared was in fact understood and noted of.

It took us WEEKS, to have our payments billed. Now, I don’t want people to take my money, but to have two payments that were meant to be billed 2.5 months a part changed to 2 weeks was ridiculous. Thousands of dollars billed within 2 weeks of each other. We chased the coordinators with emails trying to make sure service was billed as outlined in our contract only to receive promises that the work would be done which never was. It wasn’t until we complained endlessly or requested to speak to the manager, did something get done, and this was only with the new coordinator stepping in. Now a month after our wedding they have charged us another $68 without providing a bill or notice of billing. I have emailed earlier this week and have received no response.

On the day of the wedding our meals were not exactly as we had tasted. The vegetables of our main course were different, the flavour of our desert changed and the side biscotti was changed to a sugar cookie without our notice.

I believe they tried to “make it up” to us given the many issues by opening the bar up during dinner but for the stress of this all I’m not sure it was worth it.

Understandably, wedding season is busy. But this is the job.

I advise anyone who plans to have a wedding here to think carefully. If these things don’t bother you then no problem! However, if they do beware that these are issues you may run into.

The company is just not responsive or well coordinated enough for planning big events like weddings. Honestly, if you want a venue that is easy to communicate with and is responsive I would go elsewhere. In my opinion, any venue should make the planning experience as easy as possible. The delayed payments really...

Let me start with what was good…the Noble Restaurant and the Secret Garden Spa. Excellent service and attention given by front hostesses and waiter Gerard (Gerald?). We were there to celebrate a friend’s special birthday and the restaurant made sure we had excellent service, delicious food and a really special evening all around. They went above and beyond with the cake we brought, storing it for us and then plating it beautifully for our party. They made sure we had a perfect evening. We didn’t have time for the Tea Room but it looked lovely. Breakfast at the restaurant was delicious and some of the portions are big enough to share! The spa was also wonderful. It’s not a huge spa so book in advance but it’s worth it. The spa team is very good and we all enjoyed our facials and massages.

Now the not so good…front desk check-in / check-out staff and procedures and overall customer service. Having booked (and confirmed) 5 rooms months in advance we assumed it would be an easy stay. But this was not to be. From the moment we checked in chaos ensued! For some reason, the front desk staff seemed completely stumped by our presence. It was as if they were all in training?! There was confusion about how many were in our group, which rooms we booked and a general lack of awareness all around. Once we got sorted — after a long while — we were all mostly happy with our rooms. It’s definitely no more than a 4 star hotel — possibly a 3.5? It depends on the room, I guess. A few of the rooms were quite musty and could use a freshen up and new air conditioner units. The ac units were noisy and old and not very efficient. The highlight of the rooms was the Vintage Hotels robe!

After the stressful check in we were optimistic that the check out would go more smoothly. It didn’t. It was one mess up after another. Even a week later, our group was still trying to make sense of the charges. It looks like multiple incorrect charges went onto multiple invoices and credit cards. Our group has had to monitor their credit card statements as charges do not make sense. Repeated messages have been left with staff but not all issues have been resolved. The rest and relaxation gained from a stay there was completely cancelled out by the stress of check out and multiple follow ups with customer service.

My best suggestion would be to NOT skip The Prince of Wales for tea, lunch, dinner and spa. But if looking for an overnight stay, best look elsewhere. I know my group will not...