I went to Edmonton with some friends for a quick trip and listened to one girl's ideas in regards to almost the entire trip because she had been to Edmonton more times than me. We were on a tight budget and she'd said that she found a hotel on Whyte ave that was 'old and funky' and really cheap, so it sounded good.

Long story short, homeless people and hookers definitely go there to do drugs. It was dirty. We found a crackpipe under our bed. When we showed the crackpipe to the front desk clerk, she picked it up with her bare hands, said nothing, and walked away.

By the time we'd arrived, we were too tired and it was too late to find anywhere else....I did NOT sleep under the blankets...I just slept on top of the bed because I was so creeped out.

Oh yeah, your rooms don't come with bathrooms...or a shower.

To start with, I must say that I've never actually stayed the night in a room, but you have to expect when heading to the Strat that it is going to be DIRTY!
This is a classic piece of Edmonton history that people's parents and grandparent's can still talk about. The bar there is dirty and serves the best cheap beer in all of Edmonton. Think $8.95 for a pitcher. This is a place where you can walk in, not know anyone and sit down at a table, split a jug, and meet some very cool people. Being a girl, you never feel harrased or scared for your safety like at any night club in town. It seems wierd, but it's the happy vibe you get from everyone. Maybe there's something to do with having lights on too!
To top things off, where else can you go and get popcorn and pickled eggs at a bar? Or drink gladiators made with orange tang?

To stay at the Strat, you have to be prepared for the dirt involved and the people found in Edmonton area, but for a good night and a cheap place to stay, I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who's not squeemish or too prissy to have a good time and handle themselves in this sort of situation

Well, no one has written a review for this hotel, so thougth I would share my breif experience with it a few years ago.

A friend had advised this was a good budget place to stay in Edmonton if you wanted a budget hotel on Whyte Avenue. I knew it wouldn't be a great hotel, but they advised it wasn't too bad, just very old and no frills, and no different than staying in a hostel.

When we got into the room, we were stunned by how dirty it was. The tiles in the bathroom had a thick yellow scum in the grout (all the way to the ceiling). There was something on the bathroom mirror that resembled toothpaste spit. There were stains on the bed sheets (yes, those kinds of stains). The kicker was the window. It was broken so you couldn't close it all the way or lock it. Outside underneath the window was a staircase going right down to the ground. The ledge underneath the window was littered with cigarette butts and wine bottles. There was a lot of room under there....looks like someone was kind of living right under the window that you can't lock!

Not wanting to stay the night and find out who our "neighbour" was (especially knowing they would have full access to our room while we was sleeping)...we immediately left the room with our luggage in tow and advised we wanted our money back. We cited security (or lack thereof) as the reason. The lady at the desk gave us our money back, but not until after she tried to imply that perhaps we had quickly "used" the room to our advantage (we were there a total of 5 minutes and with all our luggage hardly look like a hooker & her john). It was kind of insulting, but I guess that's the kind of clientelle she was accustomed to dealing with.

To summarize...I never took a hotel recommendation from that friend again. We headed down to the Varscona Hotel and were lucky enough to get in there (The Varscona was perfect!).