Best Western Plus Emerald Isle Hotel — Hotel in Sidney

I booked two double rooms for two nights at this location and had the worst experience of my life. Before I even found a parking spot, the front desk lady (ironically named Karen) was acting very weird. As soon as she saw us drive onto the parking lot, she stepped out of the hotel and began following our vehicle while I was looking for a spot across the lot. She then went back inside and stared at us for a while, peaking her head out of the doorway, before locking the doors as we started heading towards the entrance. A considerate guest then opened the door for us. I provided my confirmation information and she proceeded to ask weird and personal questions, such as the full names and ages of every individual who will be staying in each room. I’ve stayed at many hotels and have never been treated like this. The max occupancy per each room was 4 individuals, but one of the rooms also had two infants in addition (5 & 4). Karen tried to play a game and said we had too much people for one of the rooms according to the fire code. Since it was late (just before midnight) and we couldn’t find another hotel, we agreed to have two people sleep in the van to meet these standards. Shockingly, she cancelled BOTH rooms (even though one of the rooms already adhered to the 4 person max occupancy and we agreed to have two ppl sleep in the van to meet the occupancy for the second room). I even informed her I came with two small children prior to this. I booked both rooms under a friends & family discounted rate so I believe she wanted to cancel these rooms to re-book them at a higher price due to great demand on Fri and Sat night. Myself, my family (with 2 infants), and my friend’s family were left out at midnight with nowhere to sleep. What this hotel did was horrible and illegal. I just checked the reviews and found that this location has also targeted two other groups/families in the past. I have worked in the hotel industry in a management position for over 30 years and have never seen any establishment with standards as low as this. I ask everyone looking for a hotel in the Victoria area to avoid booking with this location and to support families. The hotel should have media attention for this, to stop this practise and culture within Best Western Plus Emerald Isle.

Response to current GM: Catherine, I would like to address your inaccurate response. -Firstly, it is an absolute lie to label this as a “regular walk-through.” No Best Western Hotels train their employees to harass guests by running out to the parking lot to chase the guests’ vehicle. The front desk lady ran outside when she saw our vehicle driving past around 11pm to peer through the windows of the van. -Secondly, I’m sure you are aware of the other reviews which mention that the front desk lady “stalks” and “harasses” others in the parking lot. -Why was the door locked before we entered the building? Is that also apart of the policy to maintain a “peaceful and calm environment”? By locking the guests out? How about the other two groups you’re hotel has insulted and harassed? -Third, we did make very clear that we agreed to adhere to the fire code and max occupancy policies by having two people sleep elsewhere. Your poor reading and laughable comprehension skills may have caused you to miss this point. Further, the second room had no reason to be cancelled either way as it already adhered to these guidelines.

Ultimately, we made the whole situation clear at the front desk and agreed to follow your fire code and max occupancy. I’ve stayed at over 8 Best Western Hotels over 10 nights throughout this vacation, including 2 Best Western Prestige locations, and no one other hotel acted like this or stalked/harassed their guests. I will not even think about booking with this hotel in the future and I’m sure the same applies for any groups/families that have had the displeasure of booking with Best Western...

We had a very disappointing experience at this Best Western. When we checked in, the room was in unacceptable condition. There was blood and stains on the walls, garbage behind furniture, weird long winged flys and a dirty bathroom vanity. It was obvious the room had not been properly cleaned.

There was a staff member on duty, but after seeing how unhelpful he was when we asked for help with the broken TV, we didn’t even bother reporting the rest of the issues to him. He clearly didn’t care and wasn’t capable of resolving anything.

We followed up with Best Western afterward and were again met with a complete lack of empathy or responsibility. What they did do was read off a very obvious script to rectify it with a $25 credit (room was $370). We weren’t asking for a refund. We were simply hoping Best Western would make this right with a one night credit or some form of acknowledgment. Instead, we were ignored.

This experience showed us that cleanliness and basic customer service are not priorities at this location or with Best Western in general. We would not recommend this hotel.

And yes, they were provided photos of the room.

EDIT: photos were sent to best western corporate upon request & has been confirmed to have been attached to the ticket. Emerald Isle has also been sent them again as per BW customer relations lead no one from Emerald Isle has ever tried to contact me and I’ve never declined to speak with the general manager Emerald Isle claims they should’ve been given opportunity to clean our room (we checked in and 1700 with kids after a travel day ) & is taking no accountability and putting blame on the customer for a room that should’ve already been cleaned. The staff on duty was unable to troubleshoot our broken TV — what is he going to do about a dirty...

FRONT STAFF AND OWNER WERE NIGHTMARES!!! When we booked the hotel and subsequent emails with staff, this hotel was aware we were booking as a team to attend a provincial sports event. When we checked in, we were harassed as a "team" and made to feel like we were criminals before we even got our keys. It did not stop there, the front staff went out of thier way to stalk and harass our families so much that we felt like trespassers at the hotel.

Our families wanted to hang out in the parking lot during the day after our games, as there is NO COMMON area in the hotel and we wanted to take our noise outside. There was NO music playing, it was a group of adults hanging out (10 people) and the staff kicked them out of the parking lot.

The owner/manager lied to us about so many things, and when I asked for proof all she could say was a guest complained about our group. We made friends with quite a few other guests and asked them if they had any issues, and of course - they didn't even know a "team" was there.

WILL NOT RECOMMEND this hotel, and in fact makes me question using a BEST WESTERN facility at all in the future. To add to this - OWNER - I WAS NOT A PARENT WHO WAS INVOLVED with any altercations with authorities and for you to imply I was is unacceptable and slanderous - I suggest you check your facts before you write a reply to me.

Your condescending attitude towards your guests is what made this trip a...