Best Western Plus Leamington Hotel & Conference Centre

we took our grandkids the arcade was lacking but the playhouse was fun for them and the pool looked awesome but was closed the pond and grounds was an added bonus room for them to run they had me promise to return less

We booked a night here back in May once Ontario set a Covid reopening plan. We live in London, and have 3 small kids. We have a local Best Western but it just has a pool, which is open, and the leamington one seemed way better for our family to celebrate. We invited another family to come join us as well. 2 months later our trip came, and we were excited to make up for missed birthdays due to lockdown for our four and six year olds. Upon arrival, we checked in without issue. Front desk explained where to park, and confirmed that we did have a family suite as per our booking. Checking into the room was fine. It was boiling hot but the air conditioning seemed potent. But wait, it doesn’t go into the bedrooms and only comes into the sitting area of the suite and you need fans to circulate it. We change into our bathing suits and head down to the play area. What do we discover? The doors to the pool have signs on them that say “Windsor Essex is in the red zone. Pool closed no entry.” Not once during booking, not once in the two months since booking, not once at check in did anyone mention that the entire reason we drove the two hours was not even available. Not a single time. I go back to the desk and say “hey so Essex is long oit of red zone, is that sign on the door just not taken down yet?” “No, the pool is closed.” “Why?” “We don’t get inspected by the ministry until august and then once they approve it we have to hire a life guard” I tell them we are there to celebrate a birthday and my kids came to swim. Blank stares. I ask if there’s a beach nearby. Eric at the desk says to me “I think there’s one down the road but I haven’t been since I was a kid” I then have to ask for towels to take to the beach. Three times. I head back to the (no) “fun zone” to my four year old son who didn’t get a birthday party during lockdown wistfully staring through the giant pool windows and turns to me and says “I sure wish we could go in there.” Pools are full. Water’s on. My wife and I are great swimmers. Two other families in the hotel other than us and the family we came with. But no pool for us. The common areas are all open but not really open. Everything’s turned off. TVs in atrium and lobby. Fitness centre is closed. Restaurant in the lobby isn’t even open today (I’m reviewing from my room) and on other days is takeout only. We went to play on the playground and play games in the “arcade” and guess what? All but three of them are broken. Some just eat your money. Some the buttons are stuck. Some aren’t even plugged in. We end up trying to grab dinner and picnic at the public beach. All the restaurants are closed. Wendy’s it is. Public beach and splash pad are an absolute Sideshow because leamington is still basically on lockdown in stage 3 of re opening and there’s nothing else to do. Wendy’s on the beach with wasps everywhere was good enough for the kids thankfully. We come back to the hotel around 830 and guess what? We have one roll of toilet paper in our suite for 5 and she gone. And my kids need to poop and there’s no other bathrooms available. Great. I then hear from my friend that his ceiling is leaking and that Eric first offered him $40 off his bill. And then offered to change rooms when told that wasn’t cutting it. But that he can’t give any other discounts and that he’s the only staff member here and in his first week. Eric tried calling and texting his gm at home and no answer. It’s 9:30 and I have two kids who missed birthdays and were supposed to celebrate them today feeling hugely let down by this giant pool that they’re not allowed to use when other best westerns in our part of the province have theirs open and no one told us this one was closed and saved us a 4 hour round trip. I have another kid celebrating a birthday tomorrow and there’s nowhere to even eat a celebratory breakfast as a family when she would’ve gotten balloons and a celebration at home during a sit down family meal even. We have friends that we can’t socialize with because their kids are sleeping and they’re nowhere near us. And they’re sleeping in a room with a leaking ceiling because they’re refusing a $40 discount or dragging their sleeping kids out of bed as compensation. My wife wants to go home but we are two hours away and have a dog sitter sleeping over at our house already so here we are. Thanks best western leamington. less

A very nice hotel staff was very pleasant on arrival explained how to get to a room where to park and of course explained the Covid protocols that were still in place unfortunately We enjoyed our two days today and will definitely come back thanks Steve less

We decided to stay at this hotel because it is close to Point Pelee park. Gentleman at reception was very helpful and polite, explained all there is to know about the hotel. Parking is in a secure and well-lit area. Lobby was clean and maintained. Rooms were average, except for the litter of dead bugs in the balcony. You can't go out there since they're all over the place. No one bothered to clean it, maybe they assumed that guests will not go out there. Side entrance was left ajar by some guests who plan to enter without keycards, a breach in the security measures of the hotel. Anyone can just march in there from the side door without staff knowing it. No alcohol allowed in the area, you 'd have to go outside. No free breakfast, nor is there a hair dryer found in the room, which is supposed to be a default item in a hotel. May not return here and look someplace else. less

The hotel has many amenities (a large pool, indoor playground, rock climbing wall, pool tables, arcade games), but they were closed due to COVID. It seems that the maintenance of basic amenities was also being overlooked. Most rooms did not have ACs. We switched the room that we had booked to the last one with AC. When we arrived at the room, the door was kept open with some wet towels on the floor. I called the reception, and the receptionist showed up to check the door, and it turned out that the key card was not working. We were offered a physical key to the balcony door. The wet towels were not removed the next day we were leaving. The sink in the bathroom wasn't flushing properly (did not report). less