Carolyn Beach Inn & Restaurant — Hotel in Thessalon

Riders and Vacationers BEWARE! @Carolyn Beach Inn & Restaurant

Typically I do not post reviews be they positive, negative or indifferent, however I would be doing a disservice not only to myself and fellow riders, but to future travellers as well.

I have been booking at Carolyn Beach for over ten years as we do a yearly ride along the Northern Shore of Lake Superior. Carolyn Beach was always a favourite spot with us as there is nothing more rewarding than to dip your toes into Lake Huron after a full days ride. Never have I experienced what I did last Thursday evening.

On July 14th I called to book rooms for our group of motorcyclists for the night of August 5, 2021. The owner/manager was having difficulty understanding my email address even though I spelled it out for him three times, he informed me to book on their website. At his request, I did just that, however did not receive a confirmation. I phoned him back and he said the reservations were in the system and I should receive a confirmation. I emailed him the next day without response. I called him the following day to inquire and was told the reservation was good and he would send the confirmation in a few days. The confirmation never came, so I called, again he stated that everything was fine and that he was very busy but would get back to me, but not to worry as our reservation was fine. I attempted to call the night before our reservation as my husband had a bad feeling, however was not able to get through. I really didn’t think much of this as I’ve never had problems in the past ( not knowing the business was sold)

When we rolled up at 18:45, one of the riders in our group, who had been ahead, had gone to check in and was notified that we didn’t have any rooms. I was floored to say the least. We had just rode over 600 km and were tired. I went up to the sliding window to inquire as to what was going on and this man was the most ignorant, condescending human I had ever had the misfortune to encounter. He berated me, stating we did not have a reservation and to leave, slamming the window in my face. I put my hands on the window and slid it open stating a discussion and explanation was needed. He went to slam the window on me again and I reached my arm in to prevent him from slamming it shut again, telling him we needed to discuss this, as I made the reservations for 3 rooms, and how we spoke numerous times regarding our reservations. He just kept speaking rudely over me, then asked me what I wanted him to do, I told him to give us our rooms and that he could tell whoever he gave them to that he made an error. He again began berating me and at that point I did lose my cool. I was beyond myself. We were tired, it was late. He threatened to phone the police, which I welcomed him to do, which of course he didn’t, just an idle threat as he was the guilty party, not me. He gave one final slam of his sliding window, making sure he locked it that time. His behaviour was beyond reprehensible. My blood still boils thinking about him. Make no mistake, when reading reviews you will see that we are not the first party this has happened to. Some were given confirmation and he still didn’t honour their reservation. We had to add an extra 125 km to our ride for accommodations, unacceptable, as he is putting people in potential peril. Sadly we will never book at Carolyn Beach again, or at the very least until ownership changes hands. He is not a business man. The previous owners were wonderful people and built a fabulous business. With any luck the community of Thessalon will drive this shyster out of town. He...

We had an extremely unpleasant experience with pet fees at this inn. The owner is really shady about that and has one information on booking sites and then forces a different fee on you once you're there. We booked our stay via booking.com. When we booked our stay, the additional information section on booking.com said the pet fee is $15 per stay. We were booking for a week to use this place as a base exploring the region. At the check-in the owner said that he will charge the pet fee later. On the third day he calls us to pay for the pet and says it's $20 per DAY! We pointed out that this is not what is said on booking.com. But the owner said that stay = day. When we said that this is not mentioned anywhere, he said that he will call booking.com and cancel our stay all together. We contacted the customer service ourselves and they agreed that per stay means per stay and in our case it should have been $15 flat fee for the whole week. They owner still refused to acknowledge that, so booking.com had to issue a refund for us for the additional amount. It was a really unpleasant experience.

It's really sad because the place is good otherwise. It's quiet at night, the lake is gorgeous and having a lake view right from your room is so nice.

But the owner really kills it all. When we had to ask for a receipt for a pet fee that clearly stated pet fee (for booking.com to issue a refund), we we grated with "What now?" and "When are you leaving already?". So much for a customer service.

The food at their restaurant is mediocre and I don't really know how they got to the "where to eat" list they refer to in the ads we saw on the roads in the region. Upon arrival, we ordered burgers, chicken wrap and spaghetti with meatballs. The meatballs and the burgers were super dry, tasteless and inedible. The spaghetti themselves were ok, especially when you're hungry. The wrap was weird. Just chicken pieces and lettuce in a pile on top of the tortilla. It was impossible to make an actual wrap out of it all, there was too much of the chicken and lettuce pile. I know this sounds like a good thing, but if you think about it, when you order a wrap, you expect to get a wrap, not a pile of the wrap's stuffing on a tortilla.

Other than that, the place was clean, spacious enough. But the customer service and their fraudulent behaviour about the fee really killed it for us.

And before they say that there was no such customer, I have a photo of the pet fee receipt and the chat with booking.com customer service screenshots to prove and show to anyone who asks. If you're not aware, you can only chat with booking.com support about your active...

Enjoy the temper of the owner, being hung up on if you call, unclear communication, inflexible bookings, loud traffic all night, few amenities on site or in the town, few things in the area except traffic. Bad choice to book here, a loss of money to be treated like dirt. To avoid at all costs.

We booked here far in advance for our return trip but had to adjust our camping plans due to forecasts of a week of torrential rain. So we decided to move the reservation a few days ahead. We sent the request 3x on Booking while the hotel still had availability for our new dates. No answer except “owner to confirm change” for 14 hours, so we called to have a conversation. We figured maybe we could negotiate and arrange for 2 earlier nights at his place, as long as we didn’t have to hang out a week in the rain to meet the original date.

That idea went out of our minds when he picked up the phone. He yelled at us to talk to Booking.com about our booking, said all we had to do was send the request and he accepts it. When we said we’d done that, but his “settings” in Booking implied that he needed to approve our request, he said that we were a waste of his time and he hung up. We later messaged him on the platform asking him to clarify about the change, and after a number of hours without response, with a call to Booking.com for help, and still no response, we asked him to cancel and waive the fees. All while driving through mountains with spotty connection. The day after - (now the same day we had asked to reschedule to), he finally said no, he’s keeping our money.

The last month everything West of Sudbury has been getting too many people requesting too few beds, so this man is just taking away my money and someone else’s chance for a needed bed. We ended our whole vacation early because we couldn’t afford exploring while paying for rooms we won’t sleep in.

We’ve now driven through Thessalon, seen the motel just meters from the highway, the closed diner, the closed businesses in town.

I can’t imagine how many times this man’s greed and avarice have cost his community, but this is now a place I’ll avoid the rest of my life for the stress he put us through, and will advise my...