Sherry Frontenac Oceanfront Hotel

It’s a friendly budget hotel, but the staff sometimes act as if a lower price means they can be rude or give bad service. We ran into that at breakfast, by the pool, and in the beachfront area. At breakfast, for instance, if you showed up to order eggs at 9:45, the kitchen staff might disappear or stress that the restaurant closes at 10 and refuse your order. By the beach, they only handed out umbrellas once every chair was full.

The staff were nice, and the pool view was lovely with the beach right there, but I wouldn’t stay again. My thermostat was broken, so I shivered all night. The elevator was out, and I had to haul my luggage up seven flights. There were odd stains in the room and bathroom, which didn’t look like the nicer room shown on the website. It’s definitely dated, though it might have been tolerable if the AC worked. Check-in took about 45 minutes even with only a couple of people ahead of me. It also seemed upper management wasn’t available to address other guests’ problems. You can see why the price is reasonable.

The resort fee at check-in was $300 on top of the room rate, which is insane. Check-in was supposed to be at 4 PM, but even then you might wait because housekeeping has to say the room is ready. I was given room 500, which had only hot water, then room 609, which had no AC. Neither issue was fixed. The hotel says breakfast is included, but it was toast, cold cuts, processed cheese, instant coffee, and bananas and apples if they hadn’t run out. They take the cost back at check-in, so it felt like a scam. With two people serving about 100 guests, breakfast was chaotic. Housekeeping didn’t clean every day. I asked the front desk and called housekeeping, but the room still wasn’t cleaned, so I had to chase the women on the floor. On day two, I asked for the manager at 9 AM and was told he wouldn’t arrive until 10. I left a message and never heard back. I asked again on day six, and the manager, August, eventually came. He offered drinks and said he’d sort it out the next day, then told me about himself when I didn’t care to hear it. Housekeeping let us use a vacuum to clean room 609 ourselves. The staff didn’t seem trained to a proper standard, and the front desk was disorganized, with clerks trying to help everyone at once instead of handling one issue at a time. On day three, a desk clerk and a guest argued, and the police came a few minutes later. Stevie, one of the guests, was extremely intoxicated and causing a scene. The rooms smelled musty and smoky, the carpet was dirty and worn, and there was only a fridge, no microwave. The elevators weren’t working on day six. I stayed because everything else nearby was sold out and this was the only reasonably priced hotel. I’ll never stay here again or recommend it.

My family stayed four nights and five days, and nobody cleaned our room once, even after we asked the front desk multiple times during both daytime and nighttime. We tried repeatedly to reach a manager, but staff said none was available or wouldn’t connect us. When I finally spoke to the manager on the fourth night, he casually said he’d been there all week and was available, which made it seem the staff had deliberately avoided helping us. I explained how bad the stay had been and asked about compensation, but he cut me off with, “Forget about all that, what can I do to put a smile on your face?” He brushed aside our concerns, said he’d try to get housekeeping to clean the room, then said he’d need to contact someone else about compensation. That made no sense coming from the manager. The staff across the hotel were rude, unhelpful, and poorly trained. Our room was below average and badly maintained, with no cleaning, fresh sheets, towels, or toiletries. There’s no parking, the breakfast is terrible, the TV didn’t work, and they add random fees for nothing. This was the most incompetent and unprofessional hotel experience I’ve had. Save your money and stress. A budget motel would treat guests with more respect and provide cleaner rooms and better service.