I cancelled my reservation less than 30 minutes after making it, but this Motel charged me anyways I made a reservation at the Richmond Plaza Motel, and thus gave them my credit card information. My reservation was made around 2 days in advance. After making my reservation, I changed my mind and called back within 20 or 30 minutes and cancelled my reservation. I never stayed at the Richmond Plaza Motel. After leaving Canada, and returning home...I decided to check my credit card account to make sure everything was okay. To my most unpleasant surprise, I was shocked to discover that the Richmond Plaza Motel had charged for one night's stay...even though I never stayed with the Richmond Plaza Motel, and almost immediately cancelled my reservation. I have yet to resolve this disagreement though I am fighting this false credit card charge through MasterCard.

Stayed at Richmond Plaza once; this small motel is tucked away behind an automotive garage at 238 Richmond Road (between Kirkwood and Churchill) in Westboro (just west of downtown Ottawa). There is a convenience store with fuel nearby and a large Loblaws grocery is also opening almost next door.Cost (as of Sept '03) is $C74 (+tax) for one queen bed, $C79 for two double beds. There is one larger room (room #20) for just under $C100 and a very limited quantity of small (one double bed) $C69 rooms.This property appears to be about fifty years old; the rooms have been renovated and each contain an air conditioner, a colour TV (Rogers cable), a minibar-sized 'fridge and a small microwave.The furniture appears to be of generally good quality and the beds are comfortable.Cash, credit and debit cards are all accepted but any attempt to make advance reservations without a credit card may end in the room being rented to someone else. The front-desk staff may also, at their discretion, charge a deposit of $5 per key and $20 per TV remote control (they keep these behind the desk and give them out with the keys).The washrooms do not have hairdryers (no GFI outlets to connect one) and the maids still place the old-style "sanitized" stripe on the toilet lids to indicate the rooms have been cleaned. It is possible to connect an electric razor at the side of the washroom light fixture.The washroom walls are greenish tile with black trim; room walls are painted concrete brick. There is a large picture window at the back of each room and a small translucent window up front in each washroom; none of these windows seem to open any more.Overall the rooms are quite clean, but indoor air quality can still be rather poor as many of the non-smoking rooms had been rented to smokers when no other rooms were vacant.There are 'phones in each room (Nortel M7100 digital system, less than five years old). While some staff will claim that travellers using laptops have had mixed results, it seems evident that this system is not compatible with any of them, period, as tests with a few different modems and computers all fail. There is an open outside 'phone line in the lobby but no free AC outlet handy there - so you're only online until your laptop battery goes dead. There's also no privacy at the lobby, a problem for business travellers.The kitchen sink/countertop, sofa and coffee table depicted on the hotel's website are not present in all rooms - most likely these are all offered in the largest room (#20).Location is on a road that has long since been bypassed; Richmond Road is no longer the main Ottawa-Perth-Kingston route so most well-known fast-food chains and name-brand hotels have also bypassed Westboro to locate near the newer roads like Carling or the 417 (Queensway).There is no restaurant, pool or fitness centre on-site. There are no pop or ice machines.There are a few restaurants within walking distance in Westboro village (the 300 block of Richmond Road) and a pub or two. There is very little fast food, although pizza can be had and there is an "Extreme PITA" which is closed Sunday.As a shopping district, Westboro is rather limited but is best known for a selection of sports dealers including Mountain Equipment Co-op.There is a bus on Richmond Road (OCtranspo #2) and transitway stop (Westboro) about 4-5 blocks away. There's also a small Canadian Tire store nearby.While Westboro is just far enough from downtown Ottawa to have once been a separate village (the late-1800's former town hall still stands next to the church hall) it is only about ten minutes from downtown Ottawa by car. It's less than ideal, but at the same time it's not way out in suburbia.Nearest 417/Queensway access is at Carling & Kirkwood, but Richmond becomes Wellington St and can be taken right to Somerset to go downtown. (Parliament Hill is located at the *other* end of Wellington, about 5-6km distant).Overall, the price is hard to match given the limited under-$100 alternatives in Ottawa (Montréal Road has quite a few inexpensive motels but is in no way a prestigious location, there are also a few on the old Hwy 16 or even way out Carling Ave but these are nowhere near downtown).If you have $C100 or more to spend on a night in Ottawa, you can certainly do far better elsewhere - but under $100 your Ottawa options are somewhat limited.This motel does offer you a reasonably central location if driving, clean rooms and free parking for cars. There are a limited number of rooms (30 or fewer total in this two-story motel); the property is often full on weekends even outside peak season.