Hotel Julie — Hotel in Stratford

My husband and I stayed in Flat Five for our anniversary, and we were not particularly impressed. Since we were only staying for one night, we didn’t bother providing a “report” of sorts to the concierge for the things we noticed, but we’ve decided we would not stay here again.

The first thing we noticed is that there were bits of debris scattered across the flooring that we were kicking around as we walked—it felt like it hadn’t been vacuumed.

We found a knife that was significantly dirty. If it had been put through the dishwasher, whoever emptied the clean dishes did not bother to check that everything came out clean. The knife had something either smeary or sticky on it. It looked like it needed to be cleaned with oil, perhaps. We didn’t check through all of the cutlery to see if anything else was dirty—one utensil was enough to turn us off. Husband texted a picture of the knife to concierge, and they thought we were another guest—we inadvertently found out that someone else seemed to be having what the concierge implied were “appalling” issues with their shower. Most of the glasses had water streaks and spots as well, but that knife made us wonder if what was on other dishes were actually just water stains or not. There wasn’t a garbage for the kitchen; there was just a recycling bin. We threw anything not recyclable in the bin that was in the bathroom. If you were to cook in there, it would definitely be inconvenient without a small and enclosed trash bin.

There was a handheld steamer in one of the closets, but there was water still inside it—concerning considering that steamers grow mould if they aren’t aired out and dried before storing. There should perhaps be instructions for guests on how to properly use it, or staff should maintain it so that people aren’t at risk for mould spores if they want to use it.

The bathroom was dirty. There was soap residue from someone else’s soap on the tub surround, and I wiped the toilet after seeing dark/coloured spots. The spots came off after rubbing with toilet paper, so it seemed that no one had wiped the seat before our arrival. We thankfully always travel with disinfectant wipes that came in handy. The tub is also a bit of a safety hazard. There is no extra step between the edge of the tub and the floor. You have to climb up and over the surround straight to the floor. My husband and I both slipped, but thankfully not enough to fall.

For the price of one night, we had an expectation that there wouldn’t be any reason for this place to be anything but impeccable, but the cleaning staff seem to definitely be missing the mark given the type of quality that is implied in this hotel’s marketing. The website sold us something that looked an awful lot better than what we experienced. Given that we’ve stayed in a Holiday Inn for infinitely less money that’s been impeccably clean, we didn’t find the standard at Hotel Julie to match the image it portrays. If we stay in Stratford again, we will consider...

Enjoyed our stay but there's a bit too much form over function going on.

First night we stayed in Suite 10 and it was way too dark for us. The whole moody vibe is fine but it would be nice if the guest has the option to dim the lights or not.

The whole idea of "staying in" was a bit ruined as both my wife and I found the lighting as inefficient and "oppressive" so we were quick to go out and enjoy the evening in Stratford. We did return and cook and it was nice even though low lighting was frustrating.

Kitchen is well equipped but Tip to owner: add a slotted spoon to the drawer :)

The bathroom was great but no counter space for the wife's toiletries, just a narrow window sill. A simple shelf could solve that. Not too practical; same with the hooks for the hand towels. They are brass and look nice but the (very plush) hand towels kept falling off onto the floor. Don't want to dry my face with something that fell on the floor next to the toilet!

No cable TV was a bit disappointing but not a huge issue. 32" TV not acceptable on a wall that will support much larger and it would make perching on the end of the bed to watch TV a bit less annoying.

We switched to Suite 5 the second night and it was a bit better lighting-wise as there is a brick wall to alleviate the dark burgundy paint. Lighting was still a problem though.... The lighting was installed ABOVE the kitchen shelving which leaves the countertop in darkness.

There is a cabinet under the sink that opens but one would never know it... A simple "press here" sticker would have saved us a trip to buy paper towels. Since the sink is there we would we would never have suspected that the cupboard opened at all.

Had to text for help for oven instructions; it was super clean so possibly never used before lol. Response was quick and great but just like the "secret cupboard", we feel that we should not have to text so much. We already had to do so earlier when our key code wasn't working.

The heart shaped tub was great, not jetted but no big deal. You have to step into it to reach the faucets to run the tub so that was a bit inconvenient.

We watched Staying Inn on Crave prior to our stay and thought it was great but can't help but think that if the demographic is upper income middle-aged folks who are in town to either stay in or watch a play or partake in the Stratford vibe, it somehow missed the mark. Turn on the lights lol

That said, we would still perhaps return to try out a brighter...

The room was gorgeous, but it was form over function for sure. The kitchen was fabulous (we didn’t cook, but it was nice to have and we did sit at the little bar end). The bathroom vanity was so tiny it was nearly impossible to get ready. Even my husband struggled due to how small it was. The marble was gorgeous, but it was clear they put aesthetic over practicality. The tub was also great and comfortable. Showering, however, was a bit of a nightmare as you had to climb into the massive, awkward tub with no doors or curtain so it was freezing and water got everywhere in the bathroom when you showered. If you have any sort of mobility issues whatsoever, there would be no way to shower.

The bed was SUPER soft. You sunk in like sand. I found this comfy, my husband hated it. It definitely made it really difficult to get out of the bed. If you love a super plush bed like I do, you’ll love it. The pillows were insanely good! Absolutely loved them. The headboard didn’t seem to be attached to anything and actually fell on us while we were sleeping! It was quite startling but didn’t hurt luckily. It took us a while to rebalance it.

The wifi was in and out. We tried watching a movie on a rainy night but the wifi stopped working half was through. It stopped working 4 times during the day and a half we were there (and barely in our room).

It wasn’t super clean- there were cobwebs on the chandelier, dust on the mouldings, the shower head had a ton of hard water build-up, and there was cat hair from a previous stay on the sofa and ottoman. Sinks, counters and the bed were very clean.

We got a text at 11:05am that if we wanted service to remove the do not disturb from the door by 11am. So, we missed that. We really could have used more towels - there were two each ad we were there two nights. So this should have been enough, but since the water got everywhere when showering we needed extras to dry the bathroom and clean up after ourselves. There were only 2 washcloths which meant having to reuse which is kind of gross… there was supposed to be a bath bar, but we didn’t have one. So we used body wash in the bath. Not a huge deal, but it was listed. I could have texted them, but given no one is on site this felt awkward to do over towels.

Keep in mind that there is no elevator or stair lift. If you have mobility issues, many flats will be inaccessible.

We loved the location. It was a quick 7 minute walk to downtown and about 3 minutes to the...