Best Western Plus Gateway to the Falls

Breakfast was a lovely start to the day. The buffet was fresh, well stocked, and had lots of variety, and the service was warm, attentive, and welcoming. Robin was amazing, helping guests with whatever they needed to make them happy. Thanks to the breakfast team for such a great experience. Five stars for the team and breakfast! 💕

The rooms were clean and the hotel was well cared for. Staff were friendly too. I took off a star because the pool and hot tub were closed under a health ordinance, apparently because they didn’t have the required approvals to operate. We picked this hotel for the hot tub, and no one told us at check-in that it was closed. Everything else was great.

We were in town for a U13 hockey tournament, and this used to be a great place to stay last year. The pool was closed, even though it was full and looked fine, and the kids had nothing to do. They weren’t allowed to play mini sticks or do activities in the halls, outside, or in the parking lot. We tried to have a propane fire and were told no. Do they understand that without the pool, the kids have nothing to do in this town? It sounds like the new owners or management don’t like kids. I would not recommend this place at all if you have kids. At checkout, we were also told we’d get a discount because the pool was broken and the TV didn’t work. I emailed, but still haven’t heard back.

Finding bed bugs crawling in the queen bed where my toddler was sleeping was extremely upsetting and sent our anxiety through the roof. We had to move our family of five, including three young kids, late at night, then spend hours cleaning and trying to debug our belongings when we got home. I don’t feel Best Western took this seriously. What about the guests coming after us? We were traveling home to the Lower Mainland from Alberta after Christmas with our family of five. Because of the weather and to give the kids a break, we stopped overnight in Clearwater. We checked in around 21:30. The front desk staff member was kind and efficient. We had a family room on the third floor, and around 23:00, while tucking in the kids, I found bed bugs in one of the queen beds where my toddler was lying. We gathered our things right away and went to the front desk. The staff member apologized and moved us to another room. If I hadn’t had the kids with me, I would have checked out. He said he could only take $20 off, but that I should speak to management in the morning because the bugs and the inconvenience of moving rooms so late deserved more compensation. At checkout, I asked for management and was told $20 off was the most they could offer. The woman I spoke to was flippant about it and shrugged when I said the room had bed bugs. Beyond the poor compensation, I didn’t feel my concern was acknowledged or treated as serious. It felt like this was a common problem and there was nothing they could do. As a hotel guest, I feel they could have handled it better.