Midtown Premium

My wife and I felt scared and unsafe here on our drive from Toronto to Prince George. We stayed in six motels during the trip, and this was the only place that felt dangerous. Street people were around everywhere, including inside the lobby, and seemed to be trespassing without anyone caring. I saw a man from the street wandering the property and peering through the ground-floor room windows. When I raised it with the receptionist, he said it was okay. There’s a large gate around the whole building, but they weren’t willing to close it, and I don’t know why. The place was disorganized and disgusting, and even a small pizza shop should have a better front desk. The website photos are very old and the rooms look nothing like them. I suspect the five-star rating is fake. The breakfast was a complete joke. If you’re looking for an unsafe place, this is it. Families and couples should stay away, since you, your family and your car aren’t safe here.

We arrived with our six-month-old, found there was no working water, and immediately left. The room looked old and poorly maintained, smelled of cigarette smoke, and the whole place felt sketchy. We demanded our money back. They said they would refund the deposit, even though there was already the ridiculous room charge of about $106 plus a deposit. If we’d seen it before booking through avion rewards, we wouldn’t have paid upfront. Thanks to Avion customer service for arranging our refund. We ended up paying about $70 more, used the IHG membership discount and stayed at the hotel inn express around the corner. As always, it had an amazing king-size bedroom for us, the best pillows, a complimentary crib, working amenities, great staff, safer parking and a full breakfast feast the next morning. We later heard this midtown inn / premium place had a terrible cockroach infestation and had to change ownership recently. They should close permanently until it can be completely revamped.

After a long day, the clean, comfortable room and relaxing atmosphere were great. The staff were friendly and quick to help whenever I needed anything, and the location is handy, close to everything. I had a really good stay at midtown premium. There were a couple of small annoyances: the Wi-Fi was slow sometimes, and breakfast could use better options. Those were minor compared with the rest of the stay.

The listing photos and description didn’t match the actual place, and I was disappointed by the stay. I hadn’t expected a roadside motel with outside entrances to the rooms, which didn’t feel comfortable or secure when coming back late. The stay cost far more than the quality justified. They also charged a $150 damage deposit on arrival, which luckily I got back, but it wasn’t mentioned in the Booking.com description. It got down to around 0°C during the night, but the heating was off. A big gap under the door let in cold air, and the small blanket wasn’t enough. I woke up cold and reported it to reception, but the heat still wasn’t on the following day. The room looked worse than the photos on Booking.com, the AC unit was broken, and several things needed repairs or maintenance. The toilet kept clogging, too. Breakfast was included, but it was poor quality, cold pancakes and packaged egg sandwiches.