Best Western St Catharines Hotel & Conference Centre — Hotel in St. Catharines

At best this is a two star hotel and I am giving a two star review for reasons to follow.

Stayed here on a Sunday night as my son and I planned a visit to a nearby beach and wanted to see Niagara Falls at night. So chose this hotel based on its location and the reviews.

Booked the room directly with the hotel and got a CAA discount. I was enticed to sign up for the rewards program (which I reluctantly did for an additional savings). I’m sure it’s a decision I will regret.

Check-in was efficient, and she answered all my questions. I noticed a sign that said the hot tub was closed for maintenance and asked about this. She said it would be closed for several days. I will discuss this in more detail later in my review.

The room was a bit dated, but clean, comfortable and your typical size hotel room. The beds, pillows and bedding were comfortable. The issues we had with the room was the a/c-heater unit was quite noisy and emitted an unpleasant odour so I shut it off when we went to sleep. Luckily it wasn’t so hot that we needed it. The mini-fridge was also very noisy so I adjusted it so it would not come on as often. When it did, it disturbed my sleep as I’m a fairly light sleeper. The other issue was the bathtub would not drain after a shower. The bathroom is quite small and dated, but was also very clean.

The rest of the hotel is also a bit dated(smelly hallways) but seems well kept. We did not have time to use the pools or fitness centre but they looked adequate. We had a good view of the mini-putt from our rear sliding door, as it’s in the centre courtyard, and it looked quite old and not well kept.

A hot/cold breakfast buffet was included in the rate and that’s another reason we chose this hotel. It was quite good actually. Had some hot items like scrambled eggs, home-fries and sausage, and then a waffle maker (with several toppings-I made a chocolate chip waffle which was good), some fruits, baked goods and cereals. The coffee was really good (mother Parker’s) and there were some juices which my son enjoyed.

The reason for the two star review are twofold. First, the price for a Sunday night stay was excessively exorbitant Even with the discounts, it was over $200 for the night, including tax and a ridiculous ‘facility fee’. This fee was just under $10 but that is per night. So for a longer stay that would add up. It serves no real purpose other than to gouge customers. I did know about it only because I read about it. Had I not asked, I’m sure I would not have been told. A hotel like this simply cannot justify this excessive room rate or additional fees, unless it’s near a major attraction, has extensive facilities or is on a body of water(beach) with a nice view. This hotel is in the middle of St. Catharine’s, just off the highway, and no offence to the citizens of this quaint little town, there’s not much to boast about here.

My other issue was the dishonesty of the front desk. When I called to book the room I specifically asked if all the facilities were open. This was a question I learned to ask during the lockdowns and has now become habit. I was assured that all the facilities were open. As mentioned, when I arrived there was a sign right at the front desk that said the hot tub was closed for maintenance. The lady that took my reservation was the same person that checked us in. If something is closed it should be disclosed. Especially when asked directly. Being dishonest like that is simply unacceptable.

So overall I would not recommend this hotel at the rates they are charging. If you can get a room here for a deeply discounted rate or using points, then maybe it’s worth it. I don’t think a room here should cost more than $150/night on a weekend or holiday and certainly much less on a Sunday or weekday. The dishonesty of the staff member also left a bad taste and is another reason I would unlikely ever return to this hotel. The Hampton across the street has better reviews, looks nicer from the exterior and was less expensive. Should have...

Not worth the money. Dirty facilities. Rude customer service. Disgruntled staff.

Summary: Paid $450 to be woken up all through the night by the exit door slamming and loud talking. The room was filthy. One specific staff member named Tena was extremely rude and unpleasant to interact with. Miranda was pleasant to speak to.

Details of my experience: I was initially trying to book as part of a wedding block. The bride and groom were told that a cancelled reservation would be put back into the wedding block but later were told that the system cannot accommodate that type of request so they felt very misled. I was supposed to take a cancellation where the guest paid $250 and instead, had to book a room at a regular rate (which is fine). The regular rate ended up being $450. However, I was told that it was an upgraded room. Upon arriving to the room, it did not look like an upgraded room at all. There were stains everywhere and mould all along the bathroom (top and bottom) tiles. The grout looked very unprofessional. Our room was right next to the stairway door, which is very heavy and slams shut every time someone uses it. We couldn't get a continuous night's sleep. It was very disruptive.

To top it off, my guest and I thought that check out was at 12PM so around 11:15 we heard a knock at the door and were surprised when house cleaning told us it was actually 11AM. We said "no problem" and that we'd be out in a jiffy. We were leaving to head out anyway and had already been packing our stuff up so we were happy to oblige. Shortly after, we got a call from the front desk representative named, Tena, who rudely berated me on the phone and said I needed to get out of the room or I'd be charged for an extra day. I apologized and responded that we were already about to leave and we mistakingly thought the check out was at 11AM. Tena was extremely rude in her response and I asked if I had done something to have her speak to me this way. She responded that she was just fine and that she needed us to leave. This is such an exaggerated and dramatic response when we weren't trying to overstay and were about to leave anyway.

When I went to go check out, I alerted the front desk to the issues about the room to see if there was anything we could do about the noise and the dirty nature of the room. They responded that this was the nicest suite and the hallway we were in was the quietest one they have. I said that our experience did not align with what they were saying. As I was speaking, Tena interrupted me as I was speaking and used the most condescending and sarcastic tone saying, " No, no, go ahead. Please, continue what you were saying." The way Tena escalated the situation both over the phone and while I was at the front desk is absolutely appalling. She should not be working in a customer service position and made the whole situation even worst. I shared my experience with some other guests and they had very similar interactions happen with this representative. If this is the type of staff that is suitable for Best Western, it will certainly make me question booking at a Best Western moving forward.

Tena and Miranda at the Guest services desk me to call the guest services manager, Tami, if I had an issue, as they could not find a solution for me. I called Tami on Sunday to leave a message and it is now Tuesday and I haven't received any call...

Our friends were getting married near this hotel, so booked a group of rooms for their guests. The bride was informed that the rooms would be ready for 1:00pm, which was perfect seeing as the shuttle leaving from the hotel to the wedding venue was to leave at 2:30pm. My husband and I arrived at 1:30, thinking this left us enough time to put our stuff in our room and get dressed and ready for the wedding (we drove 2 hours to get there so we weren't wearing our finery in the car). Upon arrival we were told our room wasn't ready, and that they had NO idea when it WOULD be ready. They repeatedly said "Regular check in is at 4pm". Meanwhile there was actually a sign on the check-in counter saying that the shuttle to the wedding would be leaving at 2:30pm! We weren't the only wedding guests arriving to discover they weren't allowed to check in because their rooms weren't ready either. Myself and other women were forced to get dressed, do our make up and hair as best we could in the lobby bathroom. The men were getting changed either in the men's lobby bathroom or even in the car. We texted some friends who were also planning on staying at this Best Western, warning them that chances are their room wasn't going to be ready...they decided to bypass the hotel fiasco and drive directly to the wedding venue. After the wedding ceremony, when the bride and groom went off to get their photos taken, our friends who had bypassed the hotel decided to drive to the hotel to check in and put their luggage into their room; they arrived at 4:30pm and...you guessed it....their room STILL wasn't ready!!! I'm just flabbergasted at how anyone would run a hotel this way, having known months in advance about this group of rooms that needed to be ready early for wedding guests (including members of the wedding party). When the reception was over, the shuttle bus arrived at the hotel at 2am. Instead of being able to flop into bed, we had the 'pleasure' of having to check in, then lug our stuff up to our room at that time of night before we could go to sleep. When I woke up in the morning and went to take a shower, I discovered mold on the shower wall, around the caulking of the tub, a hair belonging to who knows whom...suffice it to say, to avoid potentially catching foot fungus from previous guests while I showered, instead I just decided not to risk showering there at all and do it as soon as I got home. My husband also chose not to step into the shower which seemed to be a stranger to the concept of bleach. In the end we paid for a hotel room that we had for a total of 9 hours, and in which we weren't even able to take a shower. I have nothing good to say about our experience...