Courtyard by Marriott Niagara Falls USA

We flew into Niagara for work in winter and got stuck there for a couple of extra days because of the weather. Mrs Jackson was incredibly helpful about extending our rooms and was ready to do whatever she could to make the stay enjoyable. She gave us great food recommendations and arranged extra room service when we needed it. This is why I love Marriott. We had a lovely stay.

The staff were polite and seemed to be doing their best amid the renovation, but the stay didn’t feel worth the price. The hotel has potential, yet it’s caught between being under construction and charging full rates. The rooms and gym both felt very dated, and I hope they’re part of the remodeling. The room was okay at best, and next time I’d probably look elsewhere rather than pay that much for a less polished stay. Parking across the street costs extra, and the lot has no added security. They also say they aren’t responsible for anything that happens to your vehicle, so paying to park there didn’t sit well with me. The on-site Bistro was way overpriced. I went down for a simple coffee one morning and got a request to sign for a tip on top of an already expensive cup. I’m fine tipping for service, but that felt excessive.

At 6:20, I asked the attendant making food whether breakfast was open, since the lights were dim. She told me they opened at 6:30 and that she was making food for a special group, then said I could come back at 6:30. There was a set of bagged breakfasts, presumably for the construction workers. I understand if service wasn’t open yet, or if she was helping them while the hotel is being rebuilt, but there was a better way to answer without making a guest feel excluded. The hotel is in the middle of major construction, and I’d avoid it until that’s finished. Check-in was much harder than it should have been, and parking costs extra even though the lot was full of construction trucks. The room had a strange cleaner-like smell in the entryway, green stains all over the wallpaper behind the toilet, and a shower design that sent water across the bathroom floor. The towels were stiff as boards.

The hotel was very clean and our room was nice, but the bistro visit was awful. The food was horrible, and the bartender didn’t give us plates for the pizza. She brought up the bill about three times right after we got our food, even though nobody else was there, so I couldn’t understand why she kept asking us to pay. We stayed on New Year’s Eve for a concert at a nearby casino. The room amenities listed hairdryers, but there wasn’t one in our room. At the desk, someone checked other rooms and said none had hairdryers either. For the amount I paid, this was a disappointing stay and not the typical Marriott experience.