Brookstreet Hotel — Hotel in Ottawa

SUMMARY: this place is run like a Holiday Inn at best, but at least when you book a budget hotel you know what you’re going to get. Brookstreet is a scam, riddled with HIDDEN COSTS and a complete lack of service.

Our stay was so disappointing it was genuinely confusing. This is a budget venue and staff pretending to be a 4-star hotel. Any other 4-star hotel should be embarrassed that the Brookstreet Hotel is considered as such.

Reading reviews and realizing this was not an isolated experience, I wanted to avoid Brookstreet's consistently shameful response of, "we have passed it along to our Leadership Team for review" and asked to speak directly with management. I met with Zach, the Front Desk Manager, and have emailed him directly. I look forward to updating this review following his response.

I stayed here for business when it first opened. It has gone SIGNIFICANTLY downhill. There was NOTHING good about our stay. Here's what happened:

INTERNET: Terrible and a price gouge (CAD$10/day). It seems they purposely make their complimentary internet unusable to force you to pay. It's great to see in previous reviews they "passed along your experience to our IT Team for review" .......2 years ago. This terrible public-facing customer service is incredibly reflective of the Brookstreet experience. ROOM AMENITIES: None. There is no room service. There is nothing in the fridges except two bottles of water, which just seems like a poor business decision. Staff is almost proudly unhelpful, only offering, "we have a vending machine" in lieu of suggestions in the area. At a 4 star hotel??? Yikes. PARKING: Expensive and useless. CAD$16+ a night. THIS COST IS HIDDEN. I asked the manager to show me where on their website the charge is clearly stated - he couldn't. Parking in and out privileges are supposedly on your room card - this is wrong. We were double charged for parking. We couldn't get out of the garage, and the intercom for help didn't work. After searching for a number that wasn't a 1-888 one and calling the hotel, someone said they'd come help. 3 days later, we’re still waiting for them to show up. We eventually had to go and get the actual front desk manager - why, at any venue, especially one peddling a 4-star experience, is the Front Desk Manager reduced to dealing with customer parking? QUALITY OF STAY: Terrible. There are no fitted sheets??? Again, our confusion - why would anyone pay upwards of CAD$150 to sleep on an exposed mattress because the Brookstreet probably wanted to cut costs on purchasing complete sheet sets? This ruined our sleeping experience. Management’s response was useless; when asked why a 4-star venue had no fitted sheets, he said "I don’t know". STAFF: Laughable. Housekeeping woke us up at 9:15 trying to enter our room despite us clearly indicating we hadn't called anyone. After she tried to get in through the security chain a few times, she acknowledged she was in the "wrong room". The staff seemed as confused about the experience as we were and appeared entirely unfamiliar with policies, procedures, and general hospitality. How embarrassing for the “leadership team”, who purport to take pride in their work, that the organizational ethos they manage seems to be, “I can’t be bothered”.

Attention to detail is everything; as patrons (and leadership!) can clearly see, feedback has been consistently disregarded. Simple changes have the potential to exponentially improve the experience and it feels insulting to guests that this establishment clearly couldn't care less. If Brookstreet wants to claim 4-star venue status,...

It's about the money, no good if you're handicapped, and they double-charged.... I stayed at the Brookstreet Hotel for two nights in May 2023. The price quoted on the website was $259 per night for two Queen beds. The price quoted during the phone booking was $239 per night. The booking was fast and efficient. The doorman was polite. I did not see any staff helping guests with luggage, so you'll be wheeling your own. No one offered to help me as I pushed a wheelchair and luggage concurrently. They charge your credit card upon arrival, including an extra $200 "incidental" fee. This fee was not transparent and was a surprise upon checkin. Not okay. I had asked for a handicapped room when phoning and there were only King beds, which does not work for me and my elderly mother, so I took the two Queen beds. I was not sure how high the beds would be. They were high. I went downstairs and asked the hotel to send someone in the evening to help me get my mother (petite and partially paralyzed) into bed. They refused saying that she was a potential liability. So they lost my business 10 minutes after arrival. My money was good enough, but my elderly mother was not. Not okay. You must use the parking garage. I did not see handicapped parking and parked at the end of a row. I later saw three handicapped spots, one of which was so poorly marked that I drove past it the first time. The garage is awful. They charge you $13.95 to park in it, but should be paying you to park there. The room was clean. The beds were comfortable. All bedding and towels were white and clean. The view was good. We were the only two people wearing face masks. We did not eat there or use any facilities. The walls in the room were dinged, I had to keep pushing the tap handle for it to stop dripping, the low-flow water came out slowly when filling a glass, and the shampoo bottle neck was so narrow that I had to wait for liquid. The clock alarm was set by someone, both mornings, to go off at 6:00. There was an odd one-inch gap at the bottom of the entry door, which meant that sound from a one-minute commotion travelled into the room. They charged for the room, tax, another tax, and tax on top of that tax, parking, and more tax. They charged $239 and $259 for the room, when I was quoted $239. You'll pay an extra $100 per $500 because of the extra charges. Upon returning home, I saw that I was billed twice (the checkin charge and the checkout charge). I phoned. They said that someone would phone me during the day, although I was calling during the day. I sent an email. The charge cleared the next morning, and I received a message from the hotel later that day. I will not stay at the Brookstreet Hotel again and do not...

I've been coming to this hotel for 10 years. For the most part always had a great time. This time was just outstanding, so this review is long overdue, but it's because of the staff this time around that made a last impact.

Tatiana at the front desk took care of check in for the family pass, I even upgraded from junior suite (which we always get) to the master. Last time we had the master enjoyed it so much when it was available to upgrade we didn't mind spending the extra. Again, Tatiana took care of everything. We also got our reservation for Perspectives.

Our room. Master suite, clean we found a few things in room I called theybsent someone up right away.

We had some drinks at options bar which were very accommodating with my 3 kids while we waited for our resv for dinner. I wish I got the gentleman's name but he was amazing ... he noticed my sons sports sweater and we chatted sports for a bit. Super great guy! Again sorry we didn't get your name, but thanks for the tips for knee pads!

Our dinner: Edwardo is probably one of the best waiters I've ever had in all my travels snd hotels. My wife and I said we hope the same server as in summer (which was him) and low and behold it was. The food quality, portion etc was outstanding. He was very accommodating for our kids. Nothing was missed, we asked for certain things and it wasn't an issue like plan white buns for the kids. Wine and dinner were fantastic. I had the veal ribeye with duck confit potatoes, tallow, Yorkshire pudding. It was cooked and presented beautifully. My wife had the 6oz tenderloin which was perfect as well. Kids had ... pasta and chicken fingers. Which they ate it all. Again, thank you Edwardo for everything, we are coming back with friends this time!

I was pleased to know the kids side of the pool was open after being told during reservations it was closed. The kids were very happy! We had fun again for the game room. Although its smaller than years past, and added some more games than last year, I really hope they invest a bit more as families with kids will spend money. Please add more.

Check out. Tatiana again, took care of it all made sure bill was good.

Overall: this hotel is great. The staff make it. I highly recommend. I didn't even mention the multiple room service trips from the staff. Parking was easy, food and service great. Pool great! Looking forward to our next trip there! Hoping same staff are there.

Thanks again Tatina...