Quality Inn — Hotel in Ottawa

DIRTY....third world dirty. If I could give no star, I would. We checked in, and already had red flags. I saw a sign on the desk that said the pool was closed, the one thing the kids were looking forward to. When I suggested to my husband that I was disappointed, concierge swiftly turned the sign around to show the pool hours, seemingly annoyed. When I questioned why a $200 hold would be on my card, same annoyed attitude, especially when he said it was Quality Inn policy, and I challenged him that it was not, as we had just stayed at a beautiful Quality Inn in Quebec , without a hold. Husband & kids had gone to get the luggage with a rickety outdated luggage cart. Asked several questions about times for breakfast, pool, etc, only to have him point at front desk signs (any decent hotel would either give you this information for your room on paper, or give you the information verbally without asking) Made our way to the room, and noticed immediately that the carpets just outside our room were filthy with food crumbs, clearly not cleaned despite it being 4:30pm. Walked into the room, and were in awe of the filth. Giant smears on the TV, sticky residue on the dresser, stains on the pillow cases & bedspread. Bathroom had mould growing along the caulking in the tub, and the toilet paper holder was hanging on by a thread, with many holes in the drywall beside it (clearly whoever was in charge of fixing it tried repeatedly to find the wall stud blind) I was immediately disgusted, and told my husband we were not staying here. Took our luggage back to the car, went to the front desk, and told the concierge that we wanted a refund, and that we would be leaving. As I started explaining why, I expected either an argument, or an apology & an offer to switch rooms. I got neither. What I did get was that the charge would stick until Monday because he wasn't authorized to reverse the charge, and that the manager had to do it when he was in. I immediately got the impression that culturally, this amount of cleanliness is absolutely up to standard in his opinion, and that we were just awful people not worth bothering with. Literally, run, don't walk, from this place and find...

I would give this place zero stars if I could. This hotel was an absolute trainwreck from start to finish.

First, the TV was mounted crooked and at an awkward angle, making it almost impossible to watch. To make things worse, they removed the actual TV remote and replaced it with a cheap, useless hotel remote that wouldn’t let us switch inputs. We had to keep calling the front desk to send someone up with a "master" remote just to switch to the correct HDMI port. Complete joke.

Then there was the mini-fridge fiasco—it was warm when we arrived. A technician came, pulled it out, turned the dial up, and told us to wait an hour. After nothing changed, we pulled the fridge out ourselves and discovered that it WASN’T EVEN PLUGGED IN. Unbelievable.

The bathroom was just as bad. The bathtub plug wouldn’t seal, so taking a bath was impossible. There was no sink plug at all. To top it off, the toilet paper holder was barely hanging onto the wall, attached with cheap plastic anchors that could fall out at any moment.

And then there was the so-called "continental breakfast"—mediocre at best. It featured powdered eggs that had the consistency of rubber and huge chunks of spicy turkey sausage that were dry, disgusting, and, best of all, guaranteed to give you the runs. I wouldn’t wish that breakfast on my worst enemy.

But the worst part? The noise. At 12:30 AM, I was rudely awakened by a loud tracker plowing snow right outside our window. Every time it passed, the driver slammed the bucket down on the pavement, making an unbearable crashing noise. This went on for over an hour and a half. Apparently, management thinks their guests enjoy being jolted awake in the middle of the night.

To add insult to injury, this hotel claims to have been "newly renovated"—which is a complete and utter lie. If these are their so-called "renovations," then they should be ashamed. The entire place screams cheap, careless, and poorly maintained.

Do yourself a favor and STAY FAR, FAR AWAY...

First, make sure you realize that this hotel requires you cancel a reservation 24 hours BEFORE YOUR STAY. They do not tell you this when you make the reservation over the phone. Any other Choice Hotel I have stayed at allow you to change or cancel up to 4pm- the day of the reservation. Anything can happen occasionally, i.e., inclement weather, plans change, rescheduled meetings etc. They will charge you period. This place is looking to get money any way, any how.

Next, the "FREE" wifi should be free as I had to tether from my phone to get any internet. Terrible, don't know if it's a lack of signal, not enough routers but it was never available. If you don't need wifi, then stay here.

Next the TV would not turn off. When I was ready for bed, I tried turning off the TV with the remote, and it would continuously turn back on. Then went to the actual TV to try and turn off, no luck. Then unplugged the TV. Success.

Final thought, the shower was practically cold no matter if you turned it to the warmest setting. I have stayed in countless Comfort Inn's, Quality Inn's, and other hotels forever due to work. No issues elsewhere. Always good service.

This place tried to blame my co-worker for breaking the plumbing. All he did was attempt to turn off the shower. He turned the faucet, and the water would not shut off. He called down to the front desk immediately, and let them know. He then told the front desk person again 20 minutes later when he checked out. She assured him they would handle the issue.

They then call me and tell me they will charge my companies credit card $250 plus tax for a plumber! Seriously?! When you initial, they can allegedly do whatever they like with your credit card details. Long story short, my boss will be disputing the charge, I will NEVER ever stay here again. Brutal. Try your luck if you are absolutely desperate,...