Reservations About Reservations

The first week of our honeymoon was to be spent in Niagra Falls. We won a prize-package months ago at some lame wedding show giving us two free nights at the Ramada Coral Inn Resort in Niagra Falls, Ontario. We were excited to get there -- Jenn hadn't been to the Falls since she was much younger, and I had never seen them. We arrived at Ramada just after dark. The young man at the desk most cordially informed us that we were late for check in... According to their records, we should have arrived two days earlier... Another snag was actually seeing the room. According to our reservation, we were to have a large non-smoking suite with a hot tub. However, when we made our way up there (thank goodness we didn't lug our luggage), we found the room to be large enough, but the room was filled with the repungemnt odor of smoke. We zipped back down to the desk to tell him we would need a different room. He apologized and sent us on our way to a different room. Again, it was large with a hot tub, but the room smelled as if it had just been used for a smokers-only party. Again we returned to the desk, and repeated this process another four times! I'm not sure if they actually have a list of smoking and non-smoking rooms, but the poor guy got it wrong every time.

Finally, after we had had enough, I explained that the hotel was not suitable and that we would be cancelling our reservation. Fearing some kind of retribution from his boss in the morning, he offered us a discounted regular room. But upon inspection, Jenn found foreign hairs in the bed, and tons of grime everywhere. So we left and told the poor lad we'd be back in the morning to deal with his superiors.

We drove up and down the street in search of another room (it was now approaching midnight). We finally found a good place, a Travelodge with a nice Quebecoise lady working the front desk. She showed us to our room, and it was super! The next morning our travel agent promised to get this all sorted out for us.

So, this is our word of advice --- If ever you find yourself vacationing in Niagra Falls, don't stay at the Ramada Coral Inn Resort. It's filthy! Here's a picture so you don't get fooled:

The rest of our stay at Niagra Falls was great! We found a neat little place very close to the falls, and just out of the way of all the noise. It is the Crystal Inn, as pictured at the top of this entry. It's a wonderful little place. Family owned, huge rooms, $59/night with A/C, a balcony, free movies, and a fridge! This is a shameless plug, to be sure. But we really loved it there. If you ever stay in Niagra Falls, that's the place to go.