Arrived to the Inn about 2pm
We where greater by staff who where friendly at the beginning. Got to the room and found it dated but nice. Bathroom had hair left in the tub and old shampoo bottles left behind. The bathtub tap was dripping into the tub drain with a loud plop plop sound every second that could be heard with the bathroom door closed. Place a face clothe in the tub to stop the sound then later all we heard was a splash ing sound
Took the time to go to the front desk and asked for a new room. They where sold out. We asked for to be repaired and they stated they would have to shut off the water for the whole hotel to repair it. We complained twice over the weekend and could not get any satisfaction. It must have been leaking for sometime. In the middle of the night when all is quite and that's all you hear you just can't sleep

Very central hotel. No need to hire a car if you are visiting Niagara on the Lake and staying here.
If you are planning on using the hotel for purely sleeping & showering - then this is perfect for you. But if you are planning on spending time in your room or using hotel facilities - best you do not stay here.
The rooms are clean but dated & the restaurant is the same.
My partner & I used the room for sleeping - then used the Shaw hotel for spa treatments & dined at restaurants out which are all lovely and walking distance. We chose also to have after dinner drinks in other hotels then take the short walk back to ours.
Not a bad hotel but Niagara on the Lake is meant to be a romantic place so do not book if you are on a 'special' break away.

I think some of the commentators on the Gate House must have visited prior to rennovations. We were impressed by the rooms - spacious and well equipped though trying a little too hard to be boutiquey. Clean, large bathrooms. Staff could have been a bit friendlier but I think our receptionist had just started. Excellent location right in the middle of the shops and restaurants of NOTL and at the beginning of the equisite Parkway. So much nicer staying here that then tackiness of Niagara itself. The Ristorante Giordana served first rate Italian food and the breakfast, though modest was all you really needed.

I'll just cut to the point.

Positives - location, location, location
The Gate House definitely succeeds in being in the heart of it all on NOTL but that's about it.

Negatives:
1) Poor greeting - when we checked it we felt as though we were bothering them.

2) First Impression - the look of the building from the outside seems very nice and once we were in the foyer checking in, at first you think that it's very modern, but then you get the feeling that no effort was put into it and everything just seems to look cheap. I saw stained glass that was a nice touch near the bar area and then in passing I noticed that there was a broken pane that hadn't been fixed. I guess an omen of what was to come.

3) Stairs to the room - there are ONLY stairs and they do NOT offer to carry your luggage so you're paying $300 per night to carry your own luggage up a stuffy worn out and dated staircase.

4) There are only 10 rooms in this building so you expect it to be somewhat quaint but again, there are tacky pictures on each door which encompasses your room number and the hallway carpeting is awful, that combined with the cheap pictures just makes it look...well...cheap

5) We enter our room...there is red carpet throughout the room and the room is very sparse which we expected however we did not expect such a dated look. They have the whole 'Italian' theme completely wrong and they obviously had someone who did not know how to decorate create this 'environment'. I have several Italian friends and they do not shop at Ikea nor do they have heavy, stuffy carpeting throughout their homes - it's marble and hardwood (okay and a touch of plastic over the chairs which still would have been an improvement here).

6) Bathroom - did I mention marble? Yes, you'll find it in many Italian homes but NOT here. Cheap fixtures in desperate need of replacement and kind of scary over all.

7) We also noticed a sign saying to turn the temperature to 24 degrees 'because electrical costs have gone up' - is our use not covered in the $300 per night we are paying?? Again, giving a huge impression of 'cheap, cheap, cheap' and the feeling that they couldn't even have bothered.

8) Maid service left an envelope with hearts on it, her name and a 'thank you' on the desk in the room. I'm sorry but that's just a little forward and should not happen in a place charging $300 per night. I'm all for the tent card noting who cleans your room (and then you can choose to leave a tip under it - which we always do unless there is just cause not to) but to actually put an envelope in expectation of a tip? That's just tacky.

9) Don't lose the key (yes your KEY - no room CARDS here) you'll be chared $150

10) Parking - upon checking in with them, I asked if they wanted our license plate number and they said 'no' and I replied so we can just leave our car in the back? And they said 'yes'. SO they don't have reserved parking for guests. If you come back in the evening and the restaurant is full and so is the parking lot - you end up without a spot? NICE. It also gave the impression yet again that you were not cared about, I didn't feel secure leaving our Mercedes there.

11) When we came back to the hotel after our evening out we decided we couldn't stay there and checked out. The person at reception laughed, didn't ask why we were checking out and we were very happy to leave even though it cost us $300 to know that we will NEVER go back there again, not even to eat in their 4 diamond restaurant.

It was a very unpleasant experience.

TIP for the Gate House Management:

Either make it a nicer place or rename your establishment 'Motel 8'. This would at least give an honest impression, guests will know what they're getting into and won't be disappointed. For a Motel 8 - this wouldn't be bad but for a hotel in your price range - horrible.