Comfort Inn Ottawa

In searching in the Ottawa area, we encountered many negative reviews for all major motels. We decided to try this top-ranked motel but concluded that we should ask to inspect the room first. The front desk associate, Suzanne, was fabulous and was a credit to this motel. She understood my concerns and offered to let me check any room and gave me a set of keys. The first room was nice but had a faint smell from the heater (typical of so many motel rooms). I reported this to her and she gave me another room, farther down the hall. The room was perfect, with no smell whatsoever. The room was clean, well organized, and comfortable. The lobby is bright and spacious, and breakfast was fine, with typical motel fare. We would definitely stay here again, but we would ask for a room on the parking lot side to minimize noise from the interstate. Suzanne was such a gem, she should be given a raise! We found Ottawa to be a pleasant small town, with an interesting old downtown area and many restaurants and even a brew pub. There is an Applebee's next door and a Starbucks across the street.

I have stayed here several times over the last 5 years, and this was by far the most disappointing stay. As usual, I booked one of the whirlpool suites...which I noticed immediately was not in the best shape based on torn carpet, dirty corners in the room, and a non-fitting faucet on the tub. That faucet ended up being one of the biggest issues as it appears to be a water-saving bathroom lavatory faucet meaning that it takes almost an hour for the tub to fill. It fills so slowly that by the time it has enough water to use, it has started to lose temperature. On an unrelated note, I stay in a lot of hotels...like, a lot a lot. This is the first time I have been threatened with additional charges for not returning my keys to the front desk (there is a sign on the counter--you will see it as you leave the breakfast area disappointedly carrying your cold biscuit with a little bit of watery gravy on it). The "new management" does not seem to be working out so great, which is sad for what was such a nice place.

Avoid!!! This hotel literally smelt like stale dog urine (or some other type if not dog) all throughout. Supposedly, this is a pet free hotel, but it smelt like an animal enclosure at the zoo. It was disgusting, and there was no escape from the odor. I used fabric spray and air freshener spray to attempt to cover it, but it didn’t do much good because the horrible odor was seeping into our room from the hall. We were given a room on the first floor, and as we walked through the hall, our stomachs turned because of the odor, and there are large stains in the hallway as well. The arm chair in our room was covered in stains that appeared to be dried milk. I went to the front desk and she said we were smelling the cleaner. There is no way! I am usually happy with Comfort Inns, but this one was a dump, and it was actually priced higher than other much nicer locations. Choice really needs to do something about this one.

They increased the rate from $90 a night to $199 for the car show in town and the hotel was awful. Very dirty, and we found a toenail in our bed and there was blood smeared on the wall. The air conditioner was barely working and it was so humid in our rooms that our bath towels were still wet 24 hours later. None of the ice machines worked, and the hot tub was out of order again this year. There were a lot of homeless or transient people coming in and out and the hotel staff kept letting them behind the front desk with them. It made for a very unsettling feeling. Someone was living on the second floor and there were bags of trash and clothing with shoes laying out in the hallway and the hallway constantly smelled like Curry as if they were cooking in their hotel room. The screen on the window was also torn and curled up.

Easy checkin after making reservation. Room was clean and AC had already been turned on for us. Friendly staff. Bed was great and breakfast was okay. We reserved a handicapped room and that was what we got. Plenty of towels and rooms were quiet.