The Gananoque Inn — Hotel in Ontario

TLDR: Not recommended.

The hotel was clearly a luxury hotel when it opened in the 1890s. It's definitely an "aging dowager" at this point, with a number of small repairs that need to be made and the kind of "heritage building exception" architecture that means if you have trouble with stairs, you need to book somewhere else. The "spa" part of "inn and spa" may or may not ever re-open.

Positives:

Located right on the water. Nice views, deck chairs.

In-house restaurants have very large, covered balconies that can seat 40+ people at a time, regardless of the weather - as a covid-cautious household, this was wonderful.

• We booked our room through a third-party website and, when we arrived, and found out that said site had been quite misleading about what was included in the room we'd booked, the staff did what they could to get us a room closer to our expectations despite the short notice, which we both really appreciated.

The negatives:

No bath mat or hand towels in our room when we got there; oversight not corrected by Housekeeping when they swung by the next morning. For something as basic as which bath linens are standard to include in a room, that was not great. There were what looked like coffee stains on some of the towels?

Someone needs to take some dish-soap or a magic eraser to the banisters in that place, because the white pillars are absolutely black with grim right where generations of people have been grabbing them for balance. Ew.

The in-house restaurants leave a lot to be desired: Service in the restaurant was unusually slow given how few people were in for breakfast on a given weekday morning. I had to put in an order twice. Nobody made sure water was on the table as a matter of course despite it being a very muggy, very hot July. The tables weren't reliably cleaned between guests. An overfilled glass spilled (not a huge spill, just slopped over the edge) by the staff wasn't cleaned up and no additional napkins or rags were provided for us to clean it up ourselves. The vegetarian options were very limited in a way that suggested thoughtlessness if not outright disdain. Given the cakey nature of the ground pepper, I suspect that the salt & pepper shakers on the balcony tables were just left outdoors in the humidity overnight. What was a la carte vs what was included with the hotel breakfast voucher was unclear - Would I have been charged for a second cup of coffee, had I ordered one? There were waitstaff circulating with a coffee carafe, offering refills, on Tuesday morning but not on Monday morning, so who knows. Watermark restaurant was closed during our stay, so can't speak to their alleged fine dining menu.

There was a twist of wire in my water glass. About a centimeter long. I found this out when it ended up in my mouth. I don't know whether this got there because it frozen into the bagged ice they use in the kitchen, vs if it landed in my glass before the water went in and nobody noticed, vs maybe it fell out of the balcony canopy. Under different circumstances I wouldn't even bring this up, since it's so obviously an accident. But at this point, it speaks to both the minor but consistent cleaning and maintenance problems and the more general distraction / overwhelm / inattentiveness of the staff.

Final Notes:

I do not recommend this hotel at this time.

My impression is that the place came under new management in the past 12-18 months (update: it was in 2017, so quite some time ago), and said new management vollun-told their entire family to work at the hotel, whether or not they had any hospitality industry experience, or wanted to.

Management needs to triple the house-keeping staff so that rooms can be turned over in an un-rushed manner and minor repairs can be made. Retrofitting an elevator would be great - especially for staff-members who have to haul a giant back-pack of linens up to the top floor every day. Developing more vegetarian-inclusive menus and giving your waitstaff some basic restaurant training would make a big difference in the overall experience...

The hotel was well located, beautiful view on the lake from the restaurants, comfortable beds in the Annex. Guests and Waiters are wearing masks and a hand sanitizing station is placed right at the entrance of the lobby.

However, a couple of things to mention in terms of cleanliness. The hotel is not properly cleaned, there are spider webs and spiders everywhere, especially in the restaurant's ceiling and in the rooms. We even noticed that table cloths in the restaurant were probably set the night before breakfast as there was pieces of the web that fell on the table cloth as we sat down for breakfast at 8am. Furthermore, the hall leading to the restaurant has not been cleaned, the carpet is filthy. This lack of cleanliness makes us wonder if the rooms and door knobs, etc., are properly cleaned and especially with Covid-19 protocols.

Additionally, breakfast time starting at 8am is pretty late considering families with kids who get up early and individuals who are early risers. The hotel should at least start breakfast at 7am if not from 6am.

Staff behind the glass panel at the lobby were not wearing masks and were not 6-feet apart. The trainee who welcomed me was a bit rude as I got there at 12pm and said the room isn't ready before 3pm (check-in time) without even checking my booking as I mentioned to her that I made a request to get the room earlier since I have a toddler who needs a place to nap. After checking, she said "oh yeah, your room's ready" (sigh). She didn't seem happy to be there and I didn't feel welcome but kind of bothering her in the middle of her day! She handed me a green card saying this is for room service to fill it out and give it to her. Confused, I asked why would I fill it out. She said, because of Covid protocols, they're not going to clean the rooms until after we leave unless we give them permission to.

Finally, during breakfast the first day, which was initially paid for 2 adults and 1 child, the waitress wanted to charge me for 2 pieces of toast bread with butter when I had paid a full kids (or adult) breakfast for him and my kid didn't eat it since he snacked in the room because breakfast didn't start before 8am! She apologized after checking my voucher.

I understand they are under staffed but this hotel which is a historical place should better be managed if they want repeated clients and good...

Let me start by saying that there is no longer a spa at this hotel. So don't reserve thinking that you will be able to get services.|Hotel is obviously under new management since our last stay here a few years back. This is a heritage hotel, so yes things are old. There is no elevator. Our room had been refurbished, and had the most amazing view of the St Lawrence from a very large veranda. Bed was comfortable. Room was clean.|Where shall I start with my issues?|One thing that makes a hotel great is the staff. I can say that the majority of the staff here have never worked in hospitality. Some were bordering on rude.|The Watermark restaurant, although online says it is open from Wednesday to Saturday evenings, it was not open at all when we were there. Muskie Jakes Tap and Grill is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food is mediocre at best. Some of the servers were excellent, others not so much. Unless breakfast is included in the room, don't bother. Expensive for what you get, and very poor quality. Hard to mess up pancakes, but I needed a steak knife to cut through. |Now here is my issue. Let me preface by saying that I am not accusing the hotel of anything. I did call regarding my issue and was completely brushed off. I logged onto the hotel WIFI, and within 24 hours I had several accounts compromised. I in no way accused the hotel of doing this. When I called, I questioned when the last time their routers were scanned and when the last time their passwords had been changed. I was completely brushed off by their front desk and IT person (sorry, I did not get names). I was told that it wasn't them...they have Bell. What a proper response would have been was they are sorry this happened to me, and they will look into if there had been any sort of breach and look at increasing security for their guests. The rude IT man even hung up on me. Very rude and aggressive individual.|The Gananoque area is beautiful, and I suggest everyone go there. Just stay away...