Staying In The Most Luxurious Hotel Suite In Niagara Falls - It was terrible

I grew up not far from Niagara Falls and when that was the only remotely interesting place to spend your time as a teenager I'm naturally quite familiar with the Splendor of the natural Falls and the gaudy developments that populate the surroundings a lot of those hotels that occupy this area are not always the best even those from reputable brands have suspiciously low reviews but the Hilton Niagara Falls I thought had always seemed to be different and perched on the 50th floor is a hotel suite unlike any other in the area so join me and Emmy today as we take a look at the most ostentatious way to spend a night at The Falls and if it's really worth the eye watering price associated [Music] this video is sponsored by Babel click the link in the description below to get 60 off your subscription the Hilton Niagara Falls opened in the year 2000 with a single 34-story Tower comprised of an impressive 516 rooms and a penthouse restaurant this was during an era of substantial growth for the city as a larger tourist Mecca in the Niagara region its location was strategic too as right across the street the government had planned the massive Fallsview Casino complex the Hilton was apparently very successful and five years later the hotel's owners embarked on a 165 million dollar expansion adding an additional 500 plus rooms within a 53-story tower higher than the iconic skylon Tower since then the property has seen a number of other Renovations and from my perspective the Hilton has always been the standout hotel in Niagara Falls since I am intimately familiar with the area I have of course been in and out of the Hilton on several occasions but I've never really had a lasting impression what I do remember though is when I learned about the presidential Suites there see the rooms at the Hilton are pretty standard as are most of the rooms across Niagara Falls there are some standouts and we'll talk about those later but the sweets at the top of the Hilton were always those cool pictures you would see shared around on Facebook and I remember joking with my friends in high school that we could one day split the cost and stay there for one night just to see what it's like well nine years later here we are down this liminal space hallway you'll find our room 50 50. what Hilton considers a three-bedroom presidential suite encompassing an impressive 1500 square feet upon first century there are two directions to go to your right you enter the spare bedroom or sitting area I guess it has a polo bed for the couch a large TV and an ensuite bathroom with huge windows that really make it feel luxurious and very unique this room also comes complete with a balcony the highest in all of Niagara Falls except despite being told this on the phone when booking this room the door is locked and the handle is just pretty much broken I was told by the front desk that the hotel has now discontinued the use of all of their balconies kind of annoying since this room was marketed to me as having one and I have seen people on it as recently as last year regardless passing through the foyer and into the primary space on your left you have the master bedroom there you have a desk a small closet and strangely a queen-size bed it is dressed up a little nicer with a fancy headboard but all the linens are the same as you would find across the hotel I presume the same goes for the mattress all of which feels okay and not overly comfortable but passable now when you consider the price point for this room I'm not sure if this ain't can be said the ensuite bathroom however is pretty nice with a double vanity a big jacuzzi tub and a truly enormous shower with a steam function the shower has a large rainfall head as well as side nozzles which really do make for a luxurious experience finally there's the primary living space with a six seat dining table which looks like it can be extended along with a wet bar and a fridge that really does not look like it belongs there further on is the living room with another desk of full couch set a faux fireplace and some other side seating of course all of this is complemented by the massive Windows all around the Suites from the outside you can see how massive this room is essentially occupying both the Northeast and Northwest corners of the 50th floor and that Vantage Point provides impressive views of Niagara Falls both the Horseshoe Falls and the American Falls during the summer you can also enjoy the very unique perspective of the nightly Fireworks shows here you can also enjoy the other sites of the city like the worst theme park in North America the slowly deteriorating marine land sign the abandoned concrete foundation of the never built Crown Plaza Hotel and who can forget the the endless parking lots if you do get tired of the falls or just too darn depressed from all the crap developments around it then with just a touch of the button you can close all the shades on your Windows though it will not sound happy about it there's also one more surprise about this room you may have thought that the master bedroom doesn't have a view but that's where you're wrong kind of with a flip of a switch this partition slides up revealing the wonderful view from your tub into your living room okay well obviously the intent here was to have a view of the falls but that doesn't really work here does it regardless this suite at first glance is pretty nice lots of space and a spectacular view but when you get a little closer things aren't so sweet a lot of touches in here are in pretty rough shape from the floors which have been immensely scratched up not to mention coming apart entirely to the main dining room which is in quite bad condition some areas in here are just not being cleaned altogether there was some hair left on one of the seats and even a cobweb on one of the lamps there were scratches everywhere and signs of light paint touch-ups that looked like they didn't even use painter tape and just sloppily got it on the floor the furniture within is really start starting to show its age and at a little over a decade without a renovation the interior styling looks more like a dated hair salon than an Ultra Luxury top Suite now that's all very subjective and perhaps a bit nitpicky maybe you really love the look of this room but what's a little more annoying to me and something that I don't think can be excused are how many things in here that are just straight up broken now each bathroom has a TV in it and yeah that's a luxury feature that we can all appreciate however unlike the other larger TVs that have been updated elsewhere in the Suites all three of these bathroom TVs are presumably from 2010 and while they do turn on they won't play any visuals only this icon with the station sound in the foyer it's looking a little dark and that's because the shade is down blocking the window behind it the electronic controls for it broken as was the electronic fireplace beneath the living room TV and even the Wi-Fi for whatever reason just wouldn't work there's also just some weird quirks about this space like how there's three different climate controls for the entire Suite but each one of them is a different model of thermostat perhaps my expectations going into this were a little too high or something but honestly I was pretty let down by this room while it is nice at a glance and provides some very picturesque views the core of the experience I just don't think lives up to the price for a presidential suite in a city that's all about the experience and the wow factor I would have expected their top Suite to come with a little more luxury touches like some elevated toiletries maybe an espresso machine instead of a Keurig a few nice robes and maybe even some real flowers really if a guest is spending this much on a room per night a welcome gift or some sort of chocolate or bottle of champagne would be nice I mean at the end of the day that's a tiny fraction of the overall profit made from this occupancy but we didn't get any of that just fake flowers and overall the same room appointments as the rest of the hotel just expanded with some other Furniture alright so what about the hotel itself well the Hilton has three main dining options on site those being Brasa Corsa and Watermark the latter being the hotel's fine dining Venue at the top of the South Tower we decided to eat at Corsa and I thought it was pretty okay it was a prefix and all you can eat with food that I would compare to a cruise ship's main dining room food it certainly wasn't bad per se but nothing that will blow you away but I don't know if that's much consolation because the bill came out for two people to be a little over two hundred dollars which uh yeah it's just not worth it I've heard similar things from the other two establishments on site which also receive mediocre reviews additionally there is a brand new Lounge slash bar along with a Starbucks and two quick service eateries and gift shops if you're into fitness well the hotel just opened a new infinity pool not too long ago along with a new gym it's very scenic but during our stay every time we visited it was uncomfortably busy which is why I didn't get any footage of it what's also new is the OLG stage a massive Auditorium that was actually built on top of the former pool and parking garage it also happens to be the poster child for maybe the most Bland and uninspiring interior design I have ever seen it was like I was back in American Dream Mall it was awful so as you can see there have been a lot of changes to this hotel in recent years in some cases completely altering areas of the property like this space used to be the main lobby but now it has been partitioned off and turned into an extra space for an Eatery you could actually see how the interior design and architecture has changed initially the theme of this resort was supposed to be modeled around a Tuscan Village but now it's just modern weirdly though this former lobby area which is a main thoroughfare by the way isn't really taken care of as the spaces clearly decaying and suffering from some water damage they moved the entire Lobby slightly inwards and allocated a shockingly small sitting area for a hotel that has over a thousand rooms but if all of those amenities don't sound like your speed the Hilton is also directly attached to the Fallsview Casino across the street via an enclosed glass Bridge there you can find all kinds of shops and of course the casino if you're more interested in the Falls well its location is either good or bad depending on what you're looking for the skylon tower is very close as is Margaritaville yeah there isn't much in terms of nearby attractions unless you want to go indoor skydiving the iconic Clifton Hill is around a kilometer and a half away or about a 20 minute walk on the positive side you're very close to the crest of the Horseshoe Falls just a half a kilometer walk away and you get to use the fun incline railway which will cost you three dollars a person per trip I want to take a quick second and thank this video sponsor Babel Babel is the best place to learn a new language and is one of the Premier language learning apps with lessons designed by real language teachers for the last few months now I've been learning to speak French not only because I live in a country that's partially French speaking but because Montreal is one of my favorite cities to visit the predominant language there is French and I'd love to actually know how to speak the language Emmy and I have found their lessons to be super easy to comprehend and actually quite addictive over time you can set daily lessons and spread out your learning over your own schedule I've been at it for a little while now and every time I return I'm genuinely engaged with what I'm learning so if you want to learn a new language and try out Babble for yourself click my special link in the description below and get 60 off your own battle subscription and if it's not working for you there's also a 20-day money-back guarantee merci beaucoup to Babel for sponsoring this video and making it literally possible okay so the current state of the Hilton Niagara Falls feels a bit Frankenstein together and the tight passageways and dark hallways can be forgiven if this hote tell didn't nickel and dime you I'm sorry to say that is certainly not the case I think my jaw actually hit the floor when we were told what the price for valet was from Sunday to Thursday it's 85 a night plus tax and on Fridays and Saturdays it's a hundred dollars plus tax this is by far the most expensive valet service I have ever seen and I went to go look up what the prices and places like Los Angeles and Miami are like for some Ultra Luxury hotels and most of them are half this price even for the Four Seasons Toronto one of the most luxurious hotels in one of the most densely packed cities in North America their valet is 50 six dollars a night that's twenty dollars less than what I paid to self Park but you know what I actually get why they're doing this Niagara Falls is incredibly dense and there really isn't any room for parking at all a hundred dollars it doesn't get better with breakfast either as I am an honors gold member and that entitles me to a welcome gift of a complimentary breakfast for two it was held in The Watermark Restaurant and we got a fabulous seat but we were then informed that our complimentary breakfast was only good for a few Bakery items or fifteen dollars off anything on the menu and of course the prices on the menu were jacked up to Oblivion so we opted for what was free and yeah they were very fine about the same quality as you'd get at a Fairfield Inn I did ask if it came with any drinks and I was told no I would have to pay five dollars for tea a 25 cent tea bag and water all of this was kind of insulting not only because we had the most expensive room in all of Dagger Falls probably but it's because they know they can get away with it like why is a cold cereal breakfast 18 what seriously what is the justification for that this is all to squeeze all the money they possibly can out of their tourist customers now you might be thinking maybe because this is technically attached to a casino maybe it's like Atlantic City where rooms are super cheap and everything else is expensive to compensate and they let the consumer decide yeah no even the lowest category room with no view comes in at 191 dollars a night if you want to see The Falls though you'll be paying at least 248 dollars I suppose that's not too bad but after paying parking and taxes that rate will easily surpass 300 I guess this is also a good time to reveal how much I paid for my presidential suite for one night the total cost was 1574 dollars with taxes yeah it's a lot and it's quite a bit more than their competitors presidential Suites like the Sheridan Fallsview which can come in at around one thousand one hundred dollars a night all in with tax there's also the Marriott on the falls with theirs at just a little over a thousand dollars so there's also an argument to be made that both of their Suites are not as nice as this one but considering the state of our room I guess that's more of an indictment on Niagara Falls as a whole with its lack of luxury accommodations alright so let's give this an actual rated score I call it Jake's is it any good score and it's based on five categories each out of ten for a potential perfect score of 50 out of 50. let's start with the location the Hilton is close to Horseshoe Falls and the most popular Casino in the area but it's also a little far from everything else it all depends on what you want but I'll give it a 7 out of 10. amenities are decent with a nice pool and fitness area along with an on-site Stadium nearby casino and a few mediocre restaurants and shops all of which are overpriced with very little complementary amenities it's a six out of ten and I think that's being generous our room had elevated features and some aspects that I would consider luxury Comforts maybe 2010 luxury but still the hotel as a whole cool well it feels very run-of-the-mill corporate hotel with no real Vision though the pool is nice for this hotel category so I'm giving it a 6 out of 10. service here unfortunately left a pretty bad impression most of our interactions with staff here were cold awkward and a bit uncomfortable we didn't get anything special for our room and nothing felt very premium especially compared to other Hilton properties it's a two out of ten value well it's rough this room is not worth the price and it's a two out of 10. that brings the total score to 23 out of 50. lining up with the also abysmal score that Disney's contemporary resort got so at the end of the day don't do this this was bad no this was terrible value for what we got I really only see two purposes for this type of room and the potential customer it might have it's clearly designed to cater to events and many wedding parties and honeymoon stays are held here from the beginning it was marketed as a room type that would cater well to corporate events or larger Gatherings and I assume that's what this Suite is used for ninety percent of the time the other person I see snagging this sweet is someone who wants the very best accommodation in Niagara Falls someone who has a nearly unlimited budget and wants the best possible room in a city with the best possible view I don't know why this is but this is probably that and you'll need to do what I did and jump through some hoops to even book it you'll need to call in get the email of the hotel manager send an email to them and wait for a phone call back it's convoluted and after this day it's just not worth your time but if you are looking to stay here there is another Presidential Suite on the other side of the tower that is slightly smaller but almost exactly the same I was told that that one is often a bit cheaper so save the money and do that but really at the end of the day I would rather spend a similar amount of money on a really well appointed room in a really nice hotel unfortunately that doesn't exist in Niagara Falls and I don't know if it ever will but in terms of staying here well you're probably better off not doing that my advice to you is either spend your time in Toronto or better yet get a nice hotel from the vintage collection in Niagara on the Lake and make the short drive down to the falls for the afternoon if you like this video and want to see me review another insane vacation product on the complete opposite end of the spectrum next month subscribe to this channel so you don't miss out my name is Jake and thank you very much for watching [Music] um

Channel: Bright Sun Travels

Views: 375,683

Keywords: niagara falls, ontario, niagara falls casino, niagara falls hotel, presidential suite, niagara falls hilton, niagara falls canada, fallsview hotel, niagara falls new york, maid of the mist, clifton hill niagara falls, boat ride, suite, hotel suite, suite tour, bad hotel, review, jake williams, big suite, hotel room, things to do in niagara falls canada, niagara falls fireworks, clean

Id: bjHuLWxcdmY

Length: 18min 51sec (1131 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 29 2023