We stayed at the Howard Johnson in Gravenhurst for a hockey tournament. There was a microwave and fridge in our room, as well as a coffee maker so we didn’t have to get up and ready before we had our morning coffee. The room was a good size, the sheets were clean, the beds were very comfortable, and the bathtub was clean!!(I’ve seen some pretty nasty ones in other hotels.) The hotel is located right in town close to everything. The staff was very helpful and knowledgeable about the areas attractions. I’m thinking about coming back in the summer to see what else this town has to offer.

This hotel is a dark, dirty, dump. It shoud be demolished and a new building erected.

While the outside is nice and brightly painted, the interrior is dark, smelly, and dingy.

The furniture in the room was damaged, and I've seen better sitting at the curb for garbage pickup.

The rooms smell, and even after emptying two containers of "Febreeze" spraying down the walls, floor/carpet, ceiling, furniture, beds, the room still stunk,

I'd recommend getting arrested and taken to jail, it would be brighter and cleaner than this dump.

My experience at the Howard Johnson in Gravenhurst has got to be - hands down - the WORST experience I have ever encountered! The staff there have no idea what they are doing and the owner is beyond RUDE and not hospitable.
I had called a month in advance to book with a wedding, so a certain amount amount of rooms were already blocked off for the guests of the wedding.
When I arrived at the hotel they asked why I didn't show up the night before for the wedding - I had only booked one night and they booked me the wrong night - which she fully admitted. "Not a problem" they said and just moved my reservation to the right day - the next night.
A few weeks later I get my credit card bill and they had charged me that same day for the room that they had booked me in for WRONG. So I was charged for 2 nights instead of the one night that I actually stayed.
When I called the hotel they had "no recollection" and said their policy stated if you missed your reservation you still had to pay - which would be fine, except it was their mistake.
For a full month I ARGUED with the owner about who was right about making the mistake. Finally I HAD to pay for the room,even though it was their mistake and the owner called me "a stupid idiot with no memory for anything" - and I quote that because I was on the line with him and my credit card at the same time. The credit card rep had to even yell at him to remind him how to treat people.

Needless to say, he wouldn't back down - what happened to "the customer is always right"
I would love to see this hotel go down....the price is high for the quality of the rooms - I wouldn't even pay $50 a night for the disgusting smell we had to endure with the room and the smoking on top of that.

Avoid at all costs and pay a little extra to stay at any other hotel in Gravenhurst.

I'll start with the positives - there is access to a microwave and larger size fridge in each room, there is free parking and an ample amount of it. The rooms are of a reasonable size, the beds are comfortable and seem fairly new, the sheets are clean, all seem to include a desk, 2 beds, TV and cable, small breakfast table and two chairs. There is also Wifi internet, that drops occasionally, but is overall decent in my experience.


The areas where things get a little sketchy for myself - this hotel is a smoking hotel. The first floor is smoking and the second floor non smoking. As an individual who does not smoke and does not subject themselves to being around cigarettes, this is a hard hotel to stay in. I can honestly smell the smoke, and the hotel staff cover it up with a freshener that made my allergic reaction worse. Even though I had a non-smoking room, the smoke smell permeates the building and comes up through the plumbing.


The room, while not incredibly dirty, was definitely not incredibly clean. When I checked in there was dirt chunks on the floor, a layer of dust on the hanger rack, and the walls are covered in an old seeming wallpaper with holes that have been filled in with polyfill and not finished. There are missing doorknobs on the vanity cupboards under the sink, and some electrical outlet covers are missing.


The doors do not latch properly, and I found myself having to check my door 3 or 4 times to make sure it was locked before I could go out. This also made it hard for me to feel comfortable leaving my things in my room, or wanting the staff to clean my room, for fear that the door would not be latched properly upon their departure.


There are no thermostats, so you cannot set the temperature of your room - you have to turn on the heater (each room has it's own heater that sits in the window) and when it gets too hot, you have to turn it off for awhile. When it gets cool you have to turn it back on.


The decor is drab, the bed covers are old, and the front reception area has a giant decorator rock in the middle of the floor, which makes it hard for more than about 5 people to be in that area comfortably. There's nowhere to sit with a group of people in a public area of the hotel, you have to go to your room - so not great for big groups if you need a spot to congregate. I am surprised to learn that this hotel was renovated 2 years ago, I could not tell.


If I was in a pinch, I'd be very happy this hotel was here to stay in. However, I would definitely not stay here as a first choice, or in a vacationing situation.


For people with allergies, or who do not smoke, I would not recommend this hotel.