The Charles Hotel — Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake

AVOID THE CHARLES HOTEL AT ALL COSTS! TERRIBLE STAY!

Starting with the Pros-

1. Location is great: a 3 minute walk to downtown, right on the golf course, basically on Lake Ontario. The upper patio/terrace area was beautiful and had amazing greenery and flowers! There is a garden in the back that was pretty to look at.
2. Anna working at the restaurant is fabulous- personable and friendly.

Now onto the Cons-

1. When you walk in, the hotel REEKS of must and mold. It smells awful, especially in the restaurant area. It honestly made me gag.
2. Our room priced at $250 a night (room 12, I believe it is a basic room) and it felt like a prison cell. It was painted a dark grey with very little natural light. There was 1 foot of space on either side of the bed, and maybe 5 feet of space in front of the bed. Its truly a crime to pay that much to feel like you are in solitary confinement.
3. Our TV sound didn't work
4. Our TV remote stopped working
5. Our keycard deactivated 3 or 4 times throughout our 3 day stay. Had to go to the front desk to get it reset. (One of the times, a new employee who was not properly trained did not know how to reset the keycard. We had to explain to her how we saw the other receptionist do it. Poor girl- she was clearly frazzled from not being properly trained by management)
6. No closet or drawers for clothes
7. You cannot adjust the temperature of your room. It was 89 degrees Fahrenheit, and our room was set to a toasty 74.
8. Our bed had NO FITTED SHEET! Just a mattress topper with a loose sheet on top of it (not even tucked in). It was disgusting- we would basically wake up every morning on a bare mattress because there was no fitted sheet.
9. Our alarm clock went off every morning at 6am (we stayed 3 nights). We unplugged it, but it somehow kept going off.
10. Now the worst: within the first 30 minutes of our arrival, I went to take a shower (there was also no shower door, which was odd to see as someone from the United States). I kept the bathroom door open, and 5 minutes into my shower, the SMOKE ALARMS started going off! They stopped and started again 4 times. Not sure if it was from the steam that triggered the smoke alarm that was above the bed? I hopped out of the shower (with conditioner in my hair), and called the front desk. The lady said she was going to send maintenance up. Shockingly, they never came. Waited around to get back into the shower because I didn't want maintenance to show up while I was washing the conditioner out of my hair, obviously they never showed. Went down to the front desk later that night, and they said they forgot to send maintenance up. When we talked to the front desk about this and how odd it was, they implied that they thought we were lying, and how they couldn't understand how steam would trigger a smoke alarm (Yeah, we were just as boggled about the situation, too). It was extremely disrespectful. After this discussion, maintenance still NEVER CAME.
11. Bugs. Every. Where.

I was extremely dissatisfied with our stay. Please, find somewhere else to stay, and do not book the Charles Hotel, there are so many other options in the area. I understand that they want to keep the old Victorian charm, but there are MAJOR upgrades and renovations that need to be done. Ex) better TVs, fixing water damage in the ceilings, getting rid of the mold and must smell, etc.

Management, please take this review and make changes- please do not respond how you respond to every other review "We are sorry, contact this number to...

Restaurant: 10/10 excellent dinner tasting menu with wine pairing. Excellent service our server was extremely knowledgable on both wines and meals.

Bar: 10/10 excellent service and wines by the glass are good and local.

Room 7: 8/10 steep stairs lead to room. Very spacious and full of character. Bathroom lovely but beams mean you have to bow to get to toilet / sink but full of character so it didn’t bother us - great soaker tub. It was a cold bathroom though - we kept forgetting to ask reception how to moderate the temperature so that’s on us. I didn’t find the pillows comfortable but the bed was. The room is very quiet - so it feels like a sanctuary. Agree with other reviews though as parts do look a little tired. But I think overall you’d be happy to book this room if only for the character and soaker tub.

Reception: Friendly until you have a problem. We didn’t understand how the breakfast worked thinking we had this included in our stay. This wasn’t helped by breakfast server who told us the day before that it was included up to $14 then we pay anything over (she was wrong as this isn’t the case).

Receptionist on check-out struggled to explain breakfast charge or I struggled to understand it. The hotel needs to train staff better as the bill WAS correct. Simply said - when you book and opt for the enhancement it secures the flat rate of $14 only (otherwise you would pay more) but that’s it’s not included in the room rate and will be added to your bill. When you choose the enhancement it shows on your confirmation - but also it says enhance your stay in the same email for things you’ve already enhanced so it’s all very confusing.

Seriously; there is no need for tears and there certainly wasn’t in this case. As a women I cannot stand it when another women uses emotion to make her point when words fail her. If she felt that way she should have called for a manager who may be could have explained the bill to us (which again I stress WAS correct on their part so there was nothing to cry about). There was also the breakfast server hiding around the corner listening and making comment to someone who I could not see - this infuriated me at the time and did not help the situation or the girl trying to explain the bill to us. I am not gossip! Help your colleague or go get a manager to help her. The server was the same women who had confused us the day before with her breakfast explanation which we now know was wrong and to be honest led to the whole debacle. My recommendation would be to put on the breakfast menu *residents who have opted to enhance their package please refer to your room confirmation. I am a customer - a nice one - who simply did not understand the information being given to me! I was not rude. I was persistent in wanting to understand the charge and annoyed to not be understanding the explanation being given.

Overall 3/5 as I have been made to feel like a monster because the little girl cried. Seriously, it’s just a charge explain it! Or better still put it in the room rate so your staff don’t have too. If the customer is not understanding your explanation call a manager. I won’t be back. Shame - it had been perfect until then.

Don’t we all miss the days when things...

In August, I was part of a wedding coordinated by Niagara’s Finest Hotels and had an extremely disappointing experience. If you are considering hosting your wedding or event with this group, I would strongly advise against it.

As a bridesmaid, we expected professional services to deliver a smooth, timely event as promised in the contract. Instead, the experience was disorganized and unprofessional from start to finish.

On the wedding day, the venue was to begin table setup at 2pm, but the event coordinator, Kyle, was no where to be found until 4pm. As a result, linens were not on the table until his arrival, leaving the wedding party to set up tables and linens ourselves just 30 minutes before the ceremony. Instead of preparing with the bride and groom, we were scrambling to do tasks the venue was contracted to handle.

Service during the reception was equally poor, especially given the venue's reputation as an established winery and restaurant. Despite full wine service being in the contract, wine was only offered once during the 3-hour dinner. The open bar, scheduled from 9pm–12am, did not open until after 10:30pm, cutting the bar service time in half.

To add to the lack of accommodation - as someone who is pregnant, I was not offered any non-alcoholic options during dinner and had to repeatedly ask for water refills. When the bar finally opened, I was told to wait 20 minutes for water because they had “run out of glasses.”

When these issues were raised, management showed no accountability or empathy. The sales manager, Jodi, offered no meaningful apology and eventually stopped responding to emails.

A wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime milestone and a significant financial investment. Niagara’s Finest Hotels failed to deliver even the basics of professionalism and reliability. I urge anyone considering them to look elsewhere to avoid the same...