Stayed at the Skyline over the Christmas Holidays. Scored a great deal through Travelzoo that included the Water Park so we were quite excited. We knew that it wasn't a 4 or 5 star by any means going into it and we're by no means fussy about where we stay for the most part BUT we definitely won't be wasting our time and money going back here! I've gotten some fantastic hotel deals in Niagara over the last few years for off season and will go back to one of those hotels before I'll ever go here again!
We got there to check in around 3 and it was a MADHOUSE in their cramped lobby. We had to sit there for well over an hour waiting for our room to be ready. They gave us our passes for the water park and said we were welcome to use the facilities there while we were waiting but we really didn't want to have to get our stuff out of the car (which we had to park across the road), go to the water park then come back to check in (across the road from the park) to then get our stuff out of the car to then go back to the park. It just seemed like a HUGE hassle and we were told that our room would be "next" to be ready. We seriously watched 'Cars' in the lobby almost the full way through while waiting. The first girl at the desk was friendly and tried to rush things along but her supervisor was very rude to her and, as well, to us. The guy who was standing there holding 40 room cards calling EVERYONE else's names it seemed BUT ours kept looking over at us saying "oh ya, you guys" and never really dealing with our wait...despite nobody else whose room keys he DID have being there or ready for THEIR rooms!
We then get our room which should have been immaculate for how long it took them to clean....the pillow cases on one of the beds were covered in hair, the bathroom was filthy (with hairs on the countertop) and the fridge was also not very well cleaned. Room was very small and there were more channels advertising the restaurants attached to the hotel than actual things on TV.
We unpacked and went to the indoor water park....it was a ZOO in there! Well over capacity in the wave pool for sure! It was like fish in a barrel! I used the hot tub while my husband and son enjoyed the slides and pool....they had fun but it took them about half an hour waiting in line every time they used a slide.
We went to try and have dinner in the hotels...we couldn't find the buffet that we had a voucher for, weren't allowed in the buffet at the casino because our son was only 16 and the security guard there said that that was the only buffet around. We later found out that there was another at one of the other hotels in the complex but we never did find that and, by this point, we'd wasted an hour looking. We were going to go to the Hard Rock but it was an hour wait and we were on a timeline. Tried to grab fast food at one of the places there but they were either already closed for the day (at 6:30 pm), out of food or crazily overpriced despite the fact that they were chain restaurants....pretty sure prices shouldn't be $3-5 higher than the prices at non-hotel attached ones. The $3.99 Taco Bell Special at a regular Taco Bell was $6 there...not that it mattered because they were closed already. We ended up going to the main street and grabbed something quick there so we could make it back to the hotel for the 8pm Hypnotist show.
The show, included in our package, was pretty good. We had some laughs so that was a bonus.
Went back to the room and tried to go to bed but, despite supposedly being off limits past 11, the common area outside our room was full of people drinking and yelling and screaming kids running around hollering. Nobody ever came around to enforce the supposed 'quiet time' after 11 rule. It finally quieted down around 1:30 pm. However, come 6am, it was again hopping....kids were running up and down the hall above us and banging on doors until the water park opened. Beds were ok...smallish and bedding, as stated earlier, wasn't the cleanest but they were comfortable.
We went for breakfast at Perkins...it was pricey but we did have 10% off from the hotel so it was fine. At this point we just wanted to eat and get out of there!
Got home from 'vacation' and couldn't find my camera...emailed the hotel to see if they'd found it. They emailed back to say that the person in charge of cleaning wasn't there but that they'd get back to me ASAP...still waiting.
All in all, definitely wasn't a relaxing vacation like we'd hoped nor worth the "great deal" we got! Will be going back to one of the Marriotts or, if we do decide to do the water park again, we'll be using one of the other two hotels attached to it and spending a little bit more. No 'deal' is worth that kind of hassle, time wasted or lack of sleep!
Room Tip: Aim for maybe the top floor so you're not too close to the courtyards and aim for rooms that are...
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
