We arrived at the Algonquin hotel in April of 2010. We had booked it after searching around on the internet. was very impressed with the location of the hotel. Centrally located in the heart of downtown Sault Ste. Marie in a historic building it was reasonably priced and within walking distance of almost everything to see in the city. Internet was priced normal as well, little bar in the hotel . only thing was no elevator so literally you gotta go with a proper backpack instead of a suitcase like i did lol. Other than that I will certainly highly recommend it (even though the new owners are in the process of renovating the rooms)

The staff was very friendly and helpful in giving directions to the sights to see while we where in town.

I would highly recommend staying there and am looking forward to going back again in the fall for the fall train color run.

The Algonquin is the worst possible place I could have stayed in Sault Ste Marie. I was meeting up with some friends in the city and going across to SSM, Michigan for a night of partying and leaving the next day. I found the Algonquin on a hostel website and booked it because it was cheap ($20-$30), and I am accustomed to staying in hostels. I arrived thinking I was on skid row. The building was old and dilapidated; the carpets and furniture filthy. I think it's the kind of place people rent by the hour and at the last minute because I arrived at the reception desk and they said "Oh yes, you're the guy with the reservation". When I climbed the steps up to my room on the 3rd floor, I couldn't help but feel drunk - the floor was slanted so much you could drop a marble and it would roll all the way to the other end of the building. I called my friend who lives in the city to bring me a sleeping bag when she came to pick me up because the sheets were far too filthy to sleep on. The bathroom was dirty and the room had only a few pieces of old, unmatched furniture. There was no TV, alarm clock or anything else. Door did not lock properly. The next day, I told another SSM friend I stayed in the Algonquin, and she responded "You stayed at our homeless shelter?" I wrote a bad review to the hosteling site and they promptly removed the hotel from their site.

I found the Algonquin through a Lonely Planet guidebook, which I normally trust. But I was sorely disappointed by the hotel. It is a HOSTEL, plain and simple, despite offering private rooms (ours had a private bath, we "splurged" for that). The room was tiny, cramped, and dirty; the beds entirely uncomfortable with some of the dirtiest looking linens I have ever seen. There were dead bugs littering the bathroom sink. The room offered no TV, not even an alarm clock, and certainly not a fan (it's hot in August!). I was scared as soon as we pulled up in the parking lot (location is questionable, and there were some sketchy looking characters milling around right in the front entryway so we had to practically step over them to get inside), and my sense of unease deepened when we walked in to discover the guy at the front desk watching scrambled pornography on his little TV. The place is dilapidated, dank, and run-down. The door to our room barely shut and was held in place by a weak little chain lock that wouldn't have stopped anyone from coming in if they had really wanted to. I could barely sleep I was so freaked out by this place. The only silver lining is that my boyfriend and I are able to laugh about our experience at the Algonquin now, but it was truly traumatizing at the time, and we would NEVER want to do it again.

Best place if all you want is a shower and a bed for notmuch.
I have stayed here a few times over the past few years and will be back. Staff are friendly, good people. Older property, no frills, but clean. Billed as a hostel but has private rooms -with a bath down the hall. I assume they may have rooms with a bath also(?) There is a quiet bar down in the basement with cheap swill, low ceilings and friendly folks. One time I encountered a wedding party with loud music playing in the rented first floor dancehall space but the desk clerk put us up on 3rd floor so there was no noise problem.
Location is good, not that much happens in The Sault.
A good deal compared to the competition.
I don't recommend trying to find anything cheaper - like the old motels out on hwy 17 east of The Sault -scary. I stayed at one where the old guy running the place said he hadn't changed the rates since 1960something -From the loooks of it, he hadn't changed the sheets or furniture either... The Algonquin is much cleaner and safer than that.