Well, this was such a disappointing experience...
Let’s start with the good:
1. The view: 5 stars. If you pay extra and get superior falls view room, the view is amazing. The room is modern and comfortable.
2. Location: 5 stars. Perfect location close to the Canadian horseshoe falls.
Now the bad.
1. The booking/check in process: 0 stars. I am a Hilton Honors member. I booked my room 6 or so months in advance for s special occasion: my son’s 13th birthday. We were two families, all relatives, heading for a weekend gateway. We decided Canadian side for the view. We also paid extra for superior falls view room. At 7AM, the day before the check-in day, I received an email from Hilton asking me to check in and select my actual room number. My friend could see the available rooms but. for some reason, I could only see the floor plan but could not see available rooms. I called the front desk and talked to the front desk rep. I explained that I was trying to check in but, for some reason, could not see available rooms. The front door rep looked at my reservation and manually assigned a room to me: 2805. When we arrived to check in the next day, the front desk rep told me that my card was declined when they tried to charge it in the AM so I lost my whole reservation, but hey, they have a city view room which has a small window with obstructed city view, old bathroom shower, no stand up glass shower, no jacuzzi (which is what we booked as part of the superior falls view room) that we could us or else we don’t have a room. As a compensation, a $35 hotel fee was waved and a parking fee of $60 was waved. My kid was very upset and crying and our getaway was ruined. I understand that my card number changed since I booked. It was the same card but the numbers changed a bit as AMEX gave me a new card. I understand that the hotel cannot keep reservation without a valid credit card. What I don’t understand is a flaw in Hilton’s booking and reservation process: why are you allowed to check in and why the front desk actually assigns you your actual room number the day before if your reservation is NOT secured. Hilton had so many chances to make it right for me: they could have flagged the invalid card before sending me an email asking me to check in. Instead of sending me an email asking me to check in, they should have sent me email indicating: We tried to check you in but your card is invalid. Please go to app and update your card or call the front desk as soon as possible or your reservation will be released by so and so time. Now, that would be a check in system that works. Having a check in system where you are asked to check in, select your room, even though your reservation is NOT secured and will be cancelled next morning makes zero sense. Hilton could also make it right when I called front desk and explained that, for some reason, the availability was not showing for me but was showing for my friend for a similar room (that we booked together). They should have known that availability is not showing because the card did not go through and asked me to double check my card. I would have fixed the issue before the reservation was cancelled the next morning. They could have but they didn’t, stranding me and my family in a foreign country without lodging with only option is to pay a lot of $$ for inferior city view room. Shame on you, Hilton.
2. Service: 0 stars. The young front desk employee Tori had a really bad attitude. Instead of being helpful and saying: I understand your concern, I will convey your comments regarding our reservation and check in system to my manager, she got this attitude treating me like a second class citizen. She was not only unhelpful but had a know-it-all, I am better than you and guess what, haha, you are just stuck with it, kind of attitude. I am a partner at a firm and work in a service industry and she needs to be sent back to customer service training. She is too immature to handle customers, particularly customers with complains.
3. Parking is not available/parking fee and VIP fee are unreasonably high: 0 stars. See photo. There are only two options: you pay CAD 60 and they take your car to a parking lot far far away. Then, once you checked out, you need to take a shuttle with all your bags to that parking lot. OR you pay CAD 80 and you get full proper Valley. That’s a rip off. I asked the two Valley guys if there is a third option where I can park my car myself and they told me that there was not such an option.
4. Food: 0 stars Breakfast was the most horrific breakfast I had in my life. Same for my husband. The line is was huge (see photos) and the layout was like at some poor quality cruiseship buffet. There where no cut fruits or pastries. The OJ had a foam 3 inches high. The scrambled eggs did not taste like eggs at all. The sausage did not taste like sausage. My husband and I did not eat anything. There was also a strictly enforceable 40 mins breakfast time limit. I had whole oranges, toast, and water. The only items and found edible.
Would not recommend this overpriced hotel with horrible service, ridiculously priced parking, and inedible breakfast, especially when they can check you in and then cancel your reservation without any warning.
