Vine Ridge Resort — Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake

We rented the Acorn cottage for 3 nights. When we checked in we were told that someone would be by our cottage in about 20 mins to explain more about the resort, etc. No one ever stopped by despite letting staff know later that evening. I anticipated that someone would stop by the next day however no one showed up during our entire stay. When we entered the cottage, we immediately noticed an infestation of small ants around the sink, countertops and some cupboards. There was also a small ant trap by the sink. There was also food in one cupboard which we had to throw out which didn’t help ! We went to talk to staff to ask for more ant traps (this was on Saturday, our first day there). We were told that the traps were in the maintenance room and they could not access the room as it was locked and we had to wait until Monday when the maintenance guy came in! This explanation was just not acceptable and they had no other solution for us. We asked to speak to the Manager and were told she would not be in until Tuesday morning. The next morning we woke to more ants !! We went back to the office and a different staff person told us they could spray the cottage for us. We told them we had two kids and two dogs plus our belongings in the cottage and that they should have sprayed BEFORE we checked in as they clearly knew there was an ant problem! He also told us “we are in the country here so there are ants”. His explanation made us more angry and frustrated. There was no apology and no care to help us. We continued our stay having to clean up ants every morning and night and kept our food in our bins away from the kitchen at all times, which was an inconvenience. Also, this cottage comes with a queen bed, “double bed” and pull out couch. The double “bed” did not contain a mattress. Instead it was a piece of foam on top of wood/plywood. Had I known this I never would have booked this cottage. I was so embarrassed that our guests slept in that room. It was extremely uncomfortable! The only good thing about this place is the location, being close proximity to downtown Niagara on the Lake and the Falls. I would not stay here again. No assistance from staff and the Manager did not reach out to us to help with...

We are trying to get a bigger unit for our special needs Grandson and they are making it so hard that we can not afford the amount of money they want. We own two units, so we thought ok, we can trade up. Nope they want $70,000.00 on top of the units. We are just trying to do better for Nathanial, but it is like talking to a brick wall and now we are thinking really hard, we are not happy and cut our losses and leave. They give new owners breaks, not having to pay fees for three years, but no breaks for people that have been there since they started this resort. They want $ 8000.00 to move one of our units off of the lot, which to us is just crazy. Wish we had never got sucked into this resort. The resort is getting worse, acre kiddee pool flooded with mud. This happened five times last summer and already twice this summer. The roads where so bad with water, you could not walk, it was a big lake. And when we did get to walk the pot holes are so bad, you could trip and fall like my son in law did. Drainage was promised last October, 2017, never happened. The lies continue from the manager telling us lie after lie after lie. She is not a people person, IF she was working for me she would be gone. The employees are not qualified to do the jobs that are done, example salt water pool, dirty, cloudy and kids getting sick. It is a heated pool but never heated. ACRE POOL WAS ALL SLIMY AFTER THEY FINALLY GOT IT GOING. People beware when you buy or rent, not a good place but great out of park things to do. We are so upset with them that we are considering a LAWYER. PEOPLE PLEASE BEWARE, READ THE FINE PRINT, IF THERE IS ANY. WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND THIS PLACE...

We stayed at Vine Ridge Resort, Unit 341, for 5 nights. If you are looking at renting this cottage for the two pools, I STRONGLY urge you to reconsider. The cottage is small and basic. If you are travelling with small children, a travel crib would only fit in the second bedroom with bunk beds. The master bedroom is so small there is less than a foot of space on any side of the bed. Not much room to store luggage in the bedrooms so we ended up piling it in the living room. A little quirky that you have to turn the hot water on and off as needed and good luck getting more than 10 minutes of hot water in a shower.

The large wading pool/splash pad was flooded out the whole time we were there other than a small window of 3 hours mid-stay before it rained and flooded out again. Management and the host kept saying it was due to the large amount of rain recently and this “never happens” however the residents we spoke to said that it has happened quite frequently with the large wading pool. The small, salt water pool is great. The issue is that each family can only book one 30-minute time slot per day, even if the pool is not at capacity (10 people) for future time slots during that day. We travelled with 2 small kids and the whole reason we booked at Vine Ridge Resort and this cottage was for the pools. It was very disappointing, especially as some days the temperature was close to 40 degrees so there really isn’t much else to do with small children when it is that hot.

Would not stay again, and would not recommend. Host was completely unresponsive to concerns as it was not “his fault” even though he advertises the cottage as having access...