- Address: 6455 Fallsview Boulevard, Niagara Falls, ON L2G 3V9, Canada
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As a ultra frequent traveler, I have had the privilege of staying at all kinds of hotels all around the world, from the absolutely posh ones to the absolutely atrocious ones. The Four Points at Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada must surely rank as one of the most substandard ones i have ever encountered in terms of customer service, staff rudeness and a openly "I don't care about you as a customer, what can you do about it," attitude.
The staff including Managers Dana Albano, Joe Abbruscato and Joshua are openly Rude, Condescending, Insulting and Intimidating. It almost felt like they felt the right to intimidate us since we were a family of two small kids. They must have figured that we would be terrified and rightened and would not dare complain anymore and they did!
As a tourist destination hotel, this hotel, its staff and its management perhaps think that the likelihood of a status traveler staying at their hotel is slim (i am topmost tier in four hotel programs) and the likelihood of a tourist coming back to their location again very soon is very slim. So, why care?
I used to be a Platinum Member of the Starwood Preferred Guest Program for several years and I must say that although the program itself as well as the hotel that belong to SPG have shown diminishing standards through the years recently, this particular property takes the cake. What is
troubling is that this hotel's management recognizes that travelers from other countries including the USA, won't have the time, incentive or motivation to file complaints or follow up with social forum posts such as this one.
Upon checking in, the front desk clerk (there are several of those clerks), asked me for my identification and credit card and then offered me a Falls View room for an extra amount (i think it was $50 or $80). Since I had lost track of my premier status with Starwood, I asked if the room upgrade would be complimentary if I had still retained priority status with the chain. The clerk told me that she would ask her Manager - Joshua and act accordingly. She came back after 15 minutes and told me that I was no longer a tiered status member with the hotel chain and that the room would not be offered to me as a complimentary perk and by the way, that room was not even available for a fee (she said this as she came out of the Manager's office and did not even look at the screen. I was puzzled.
I asked whether she had forgotten to lock the room while she consulted with her Manager. She told me that any room can be grabbed by any clerk at any time and there were no guarantees. "This is what happens when you leave the room open for anyone to grab while you take your time to decide," she said with a measure of irritation. We were tired upon arrival and I decided to go with the room offered. She then asked us for our car information and told us that there was a fee for parking with the valet right outside and a lesser fee to park across the street by ourselves. I asked it they had no handicapped parking and if they did, whether that had a fee also. She initially told me that there was a fee,
but upon my insistence consulted with one of her colleagues and told me that she was wrong and YES, handicapped parking was free if we parked ourselves in the Valet lot which was nothing more than the parking right outside the hotel. After checking in to the room, I decided to contact Joshua and protest the treatment as a supposedly valued guest. Joshua was ruder than the front desk clerk and from the get go started yelling at me and I was thoroughly taken aback. We went over the events that transpired since I tried to check in and obviously this was difficult since Joshua was interrupting me and yelling at me at the same time, almost drowning me out.
Finally, he sneered at me and said, "you want all freebies do you? A freebie hotel night that you booked using Starwood Points, you wanted a freebie upgrade because you thought that you were GOLD status and a freebie handicap parking spot because you think you are handicapped?" Joshua was livid with rage. He continued, “Do you even want to pay for anything at all?” I countered back that I was indeed handicapped and I had the handicap tag and registration to prove it. The freebies that he was talking about was earned through hard work and money spent at other Starwood properties around the world and allowed me to enjoy the highest Platinum status for many years! I was thoroughly offended. At some point, Joshua ended the call by cutting me off, which was an extremely rude thing to do.
This is the worst hotel experience that I have ever had in my entire life. So much so that even if this obnoxious gentleman ever offers me a free room, I would not touch it with a barge pole. I was even seriously concerned for the safety of my family and myself with Joshua's belligerent attitude, given that it was his hotel and had access to my room. We slept with the deadbolt on, our cellphones on our side and left the hotel in a hurry at 7am next day morning. We were that much in fear for our lives and safety!!!
Do not stay at this hotel.at all costs!
