West Edmonton Mall Inn — Hotel in West Jasper Place

Recently I received an email encouraging me to rebook with the West Edmonton Inn as my family booked adjoining rooms last year on our way to a family reunion. It reminded me to send the review that I'd intended to send last year but didn't as every time I thought of our experience, all the words that came to mind were swear words. First, our mini fridge wasn't cold enough to keep our perishable bits cold. We had no drinking water. I pulled back the covers and found a long black hair on the pillow. I thought perhaps that a hair fell from the maid's head as they were putting the bed together, which I could overlook, I guess... BUT there was a long black hair midway down between the fitted and flat sheet as well... Had the bed even been CHANGED?? I tried to call the front desk for 20 minutes only to get a constant busy signal which made me go personally to the front desk. The overworked and lovely front desk person was doing the best she could to allay the complaints that I witnessed from other unhappy guests, including lack of water, sketchy cleanliness and a poor continental breakfast offering. Trying to give you the benefit of the doubt, I waited until no one remained in the lobby as I didn't want to announce my displeasure in front of guests who were checking in as they may not have had the same experience as my family and I'm not at all malicious. When it was finally my turn, I told her that I wanted someone from housekeeping to come and remake our beds but she said they'd all gone home and that SHE could (reluctantly) come and change it herself when she got a minute or she could grab me some clean sheets and I COULD DO IT MYSELF! I asked her to send the sheets up with the maintenance person who should come check out our fridge but she told me that she was the ONLY employee on staff in the entire hotel and couldn't leave the desk. I asked her how she'd planned to remake my bed from there and she visibly slumped with frustration. I smiled at her, asked for the manager and was given a phone number but when I told the front desk employee that I would go to bat for her and tell management that they were abusing their guests AND employees and that I would not imply that she had been anything but as helpful as she could be given the circumstances, she looked panicked and said not to say anything negative as she really needed the job. I have always seen the benefit in shopping and vacationing locally. I try to invest my money with Canadian businesses and have stayed at the Fantasyland hotel several times over the years but we were trying to save a bit of money this time. Rest assured that we, nor any of the many people we have enlightened over the past year, will ever spend another dollar at The Inn. In fact, I can't say that we will ever plan to take in the Mall...

Believe the negative reviews. We booked for 2 nights. Check in took 45 minutes as there was a new system that they had minimal training on. While waiting, another guest approached the front desk as their room had dirty sheets. We should have left right then and there.

We got all checked in and the journey to the room was another red flag. The hallways were way overdue for a vacuum.

Upon getting into our room the first thought was and always is check the beds. So I peeled back the bedding later by layer since I had overheard the other guests' issue with their bedding I had concerns. I didn't find any stains. I did however find tons of black hair, within all layers of the bedding. Now, I like to give cleaning staff the benefit of the doubt. As humans, we shed. Still gross but the bedding appeared fresh and clean otherwise. So, I let it slide.

The rooms overall were beat up. Tired I would say.

My youngest child took a shower and the water pooled halfway up her shins. The tub would not drain. It was over an hour before it finally drained out. With this issue on top of the bedding and the mediocre overall cleanliness of the room, we decided we weren't going to stay there our second night. My daughter walked around in sock feet for 5 minutes and her socks were filthy. The floors were also way overdue for a good scrub. We requested to check out in the morning without penalty. The front desk refused this request and directed me to the Manager. The Manager was not onsite. They were at their obvious money maker property Fantasyland. So we had to wait for them to call us back. Guess what, no callback.

In the morning, I woke up with a bite in the middle of my back. I'm not saying bedbugs, but something bit me, and it drew blood.

My husband went down to the front desk and was advised that the manager would be there by 9 am. Okay, great, let's go for breakfast. That's got to be better right? Wrong. The breakfast room is on the 3rd floor. Pretty sure it was just a standard room they converted to the breakfast room. Very small and awkward set up. The breakfast selection was very minimal.

Maintenance showed up to our room in the morning to check the tub. Upon inspection he said he was going to have to get the "machine" in there as it wasn't just a surface issue.

Husband went back downstairs at 9. Still no manager. Once the manager did arrive he was as helpful as he could have been. They did end up letting us check out without penalty. But not without bouncing back and forth between the hotel reservations and Expedia. Another lesson learned there. Booking through 3rd party makes things much more difficult when an issue like this arises.

Anyways, if you aren't a stickler for cleanliness. This is your spot. Otherwise, save the headache, spend the extra money and...

Growing up my husband's family had spent their time at this hotel. We thought, hey let's chance it. They were offering very affordable rates, and with the west edmonton mall so close I thought it would be a wicked deal. We're we ever wrong, we got in late, check-in went well, we got to our room no problem. Granted if I wasn't careful with placement of our key cards they would demagnetize on the spot. With more than one trip downstairs. Our room was clean to the eye, and on floor 2. Floor 3 is where you go for continental breakfast, where the room is so crammed you're hovering in a line for pancakes, yogurt/Granola, cereal, juice, and the odd fruit. You also need to go to floor 3 for microwave access. The first morning we woke up my youngest found a FAT gob of gum on the headboard, noticeable to the eye when the room is fully lit. We were in a hurry to make appointments so we never made it to the front desk to complain, granted when we got back to the hotel and house keeping had gone thru I was like, "ok no problem they should get it this time." They did not, I went down to the main floor complained and they said that housekeeping is off and I should've made it a priority. Overall the hotel is loud, every door that opens and closes can be heard, the footsteps outside your door, traffic from the main road which is a given where we are... etc

Now let's get to location, I have 3 children under 5, there's a playground behind the hotel that can be accessed by damaged fencing behind the right side of the building. Granted you will need to walk around the homeless, needles, garbage, and other drug paraphernalia. The bus drop off is directly beside the hotel on the right side in the parking lot over. The first night the hotel had 2 police officers near the front entrance, with a crowd growing coming from the bus drop off. Our last morning there we thought we would take the kids over to the nearest mcdonalds that's on the same street not even a block away. The streets were overran with the homeless. Granted it may be an edmonton problem but this location specifically was lit for foottraffic, my assumption was the bus drop off.

It's affordable if you're willing to feel uncomfortable...