Sea Edge Beachside Hotel — Hotel in Parksville

WARNING FALSE ADVERTISING & Unprofessional

Stayed at this motel in 2023 — it was dog-friendly, right on the beach, and had a casual vibe.

The beach and allowing dogs was the only reason we booked this place for our family trip this August, reserving a cabin and two rooms in June.

The day before arrival, I called to cancel one room (which was fine) and casually mentioned we had dogs — only to be told they no longer allow pets. This was a new policy change.

The guy offered no help and just said it was a good thing I told him we had dogs because they wouldnt of been allowed. I said I’d call back after speaking with my family and looking into other options for one or all of the rooms.

I saw on their it says that they do allow pets. When I called back and mentioned this, he casually said they hadn’t updated the site yet.

He then offered a transfer to their other property (The Coast Hotel) — not sure why he didn’t offer this on the first call and only did so after I pointed out they said they allow pets on their website.

He seemed confused about how many bedrooms were included in the cabin, telling me there were two beds in one room. He was trying to offer two hotel room one with two beds instead of three (since our booking had two separate beds in the cabin plus one bed in the other room). When I asked him to email me the details so I could review them (he was hard to understand) and check with my family, he refused and even laughed — saying he could only send me an email with the details after I booked the new rooms….. I explained I didn’t want a confirmation email, I just a him to type a summary of the prices and room info or even a screenshot. He refused! I said he needed three sepeerate rooms and the price he gave was $400 more expensive than our original booking for the same number of bedrooms, at hotel that was not on the beach — it was next to a highway. He also tried to tell me he was giving me a discount and that it wouldn’t cost more than our original stay. He acted like i was confused what we booked orgional and that I didnt seem to understand what he was offering I had to break down the room counts, prices, and the price difference to show him it was more expensive. He finally agreed to call his manager — only to come back with an offer that was still $100 more expensive. They couldn’t even honor our original price, even though the issue was their mistake. We ended up canceling the whole family trip.

I really do not think I was rude, or said anything that was rude only clearly expressing how frustrating this was.

I spent hours scrambling during my workday to find alternatives between these his calls and my work meetings.

It was handled so rude and unprofessionally, especially since the problem was from their end and their false advertisment. The whole ordeal left a bad taste in my mouth. If I hadn’t called to cancel the first room, we would’ve shown up from Vancouver with pets and potentially been denied check-in.

It’s unacceptable for a hotel to advertise pet-friendliness and then change the policy without notifying confirmed guests or updating their website — especially when the result is added cost, less desirable accommodations, and...

I had stayed at this motel in July for 1 night under the Air B and B and loved it. It was peaceful and where as we had neighbours on both sides, (one side had a family with young children.) Both were quiet and respectful of the space. Yes the place does need some repairs and painting but I saw that they were working on it so I was fine with that. |Because of my experience in July, I took my older mother there for 2 days in August for some R and R due to some hard stuff going on in our family. |Sadly that experience was very different. |Lets start with the positives|Location: Great location with the beach steps away and the boardwalk for walking, riding or jogging|Free mini golf,|A nice big grassy field in front with fire pits, volleyball net and swings. Lots of space for kids and families to roam around. |Kitchenette; A full size fridge and very well stocked with appliances. |Comfy beds|Sadly, there were many CONS: |Inside, our room had a broken patio door latch but I could use my thumb to lock it. When I went to report it the next morning, I was informed that there was a lock at the bottom to use. We should have been informed of that when we checked in. The bathmat was disintegrating and did not stick to the bottom of the tub and bits were coming off. I reported that the next day and was informed that “they would find me a new one if they had one”. We did receive a brand new one later that day. On one of the beds, the bedskirt was thrashed. It looked like a cat had ripped it apart. |Boundaries: When we arrived, we had a family on one side that had a lot of people including young children and they spilled into our area a bit. The chairs were set up in a way that some people were looking directly at us whether we were inside or out. We chose to eat inside with the curtains closed as we did not want to be continually stared at. |Later we had gone off and when we came back, the young children had left stuff on our picnic table and the adults allowed the children to ride their bikes on the cement patios right outside the patio door. The kids would stop in front of our door and stare at us. I don’t blame the children as they were young but no one stopped that behaviour. I love that the motel is family friendly and there is lots of room for the kids to roam. But that does not mean right outside our door in our patio area. Not sure that management could have done anything about that. |Noise: We did go out later as the family had left for a while, but the other neighbours were very loud outside and smoking on the patio as well. Smoking anything is supposed to be 3 meters away. The smell drove us back inside. They woke us up around 1am both with loud voices in the next room and there was yelling and screaming in the parking lot along with horn honking and a motorcycle reving for a good few minutes. As there is no staff after midnight, they couldn’t have dealt with the situation anyway. |Thankfully, we were leaving the next day otherwise we would have checked out early. We didn’t get a lot of sleep. I would have loved to return to this place next year but after our latest stay, it has left a very bad taste in my mouth....

My family and I have been coming here for 50+ years and were very disappointed this year. We dealt with the construction noise from 7am-7pm everyday, we asked the front desk lady when they were going to stop for the day and were told “go ask them yourself.” not to mention on the confirmation email it said to enjoy their new lounge however, it was closed because of the construction. This is a full on construction site my family found razor blades and nails scattered throughout the property. We were assured last year that this year no construction would be going on as it was annoying then as well. Also, their rooms have changed with how many people you can sleep (this is not reflected on their site nor did they let us know prior). Larger units only sleep 4 and the smaller units sleep 2 (vs sleeping 6 and 4 respectively last year). Everytime we brought problems to management we were dismissed with “yes mam, sorry mam” without anything being done. It was very disappointing and I hope the owners take into account the unpleasant experience my whole family had (I am sure they have had numerous complaints from also speaking to other regulara). I would also suggest getting your front desk people (especially the lady there on July 30 and 31) extra training as their hospitality was deplorable. Honestly ridiculous to charge premium rates with a construction site going on (which really takes away from the peacefulness of the beach and area). Housekeeping signs here on your doors mean nothing, we haven't once had housekeeping come to our room despite having the “please make up room” sign hung everyday. Between my family we spent $15,400 for 5 days and we feel robbed. The rooms were not cleaned prior to check in to hotel standards as we found an old coffee filter in the coffee maker and a pair of used rolled up underwear in a corner (ewwww! 🤮🤢)

SEA EDGE DO BETTER

I will so be emailing the head of this hotel and providing videos of the noise and screenshots of their website that still hasn't changed (despite...