We just returned from a weekend at the Best Western Cairn Croft in Niagara. It used to be our favourite family hotel in Niagara but we were left disappointed this trip and would not have booked if we had known it would be this chaotic.
This was our second stay there during the pandemic and we felt very comfortable the first time; however, they had a great promotion this past weekend (we were booked even before the promo existed) and I think they just booked way too many guests. When we booked, we were told the pool was being restricted to 10 people only, plus hot tub and we were comfortable with that.
CONS:
-Inconsistent pool rules: The rules changed every day and we couldn’t keep up with the constant changes. Our main reason for choosing this hotel was the pool and reserving took way too much energy.
-Not enough staff: We booked a swim spot for day 1 and then arrived to discover that 20 people were actually booked at the same time. It looked like someone had crossed out our reservation on the clipboard (that was left poolside) so that 10 different people could swim. Staff could have easily contacted us if there were questions because we booked with our room number. The hotel should know how many people they are expecting and should have known how busy it would be. Maybe have 1 staff designed to the pool area to manage the reservation, rules, and safety? Your other staff are too busy and were working tirelessly trying to manage the constant barrage of people.
Another example: We were swimming during our reserved slot when a random guest entered the pool with kids. I mentioned to the guest that there were already 10 people in the pool and today’s attendant was firm on that rule. The guest responded, “Why do I care, I’m checking out today anyway. ”. Off the kids went for a swim. Yes, I advised the attendant so they were aware of the general problem ( but it’s not my job to be pointing fingers).
-Too many hotel guests with current pool restrictions: Guests who arrived at 1pm were told there were no more swim times available for the rest of the day (we were told we couldn’t reserve until arrival).
PROS:
-The courtyard, pool, hot tub: this will keep us coming. The pool was warm, courtyard was tropical, and hot tub was ON and we were able to keep it to one family at a time.
-Staff was friendly and extremely hardworking, specifically Lynda and Jay. Thanks for trying to save our weekend.
We will be trying this hotel again but only because it’s been our favourite in the past and they previously did a good job with COVID precautions. less