Hotel Review: Hampton Inn, Niagara Falls

Two bedroom family suite. Image from HERE

We were repeat visitors to The Hampton Inn by Hilton at the Falls for Easter weekend. Traveling with children presents unique challenges. When a very little person is tagging along, you've usually got an early bedtime on your hands. A traditional hotel room dictates a vewy, vewy quiet evening for Mom and Dad. For a  reasonable rate, the Hampton offers a two bedroom family suite. I don't know if it's true of all of these rooms, but for both of our stays the room has also had a balcony in an indoor atrium. This allowed us to put our daughter to bed and still have some time together.

The Hampton is located behind the Fallsview Indoor Waterpark Resort. They offer packages for waterpark passes and discounted dining at the resort restaurants. A hearty breakfast is included in the room rate, complete with eggs, omelets and sausage patties. The most pleasant surprise was the fresh fruit station. Fresh fruit? From a free breakfast buffet? It's true! There is otherwise no restaurant in the hotel, but the dining and attractions of Clifton Hill are just a few minutes walk away. Oh, and so are the Falls. It's just up the street from the Rainbow Bridge crossing to Niagara Falls, NY.

The staff is helpful and friendly, even when the request is kind of odd ball ("Where can we find a night light?") and little touches like chocolate Easter eggs for the kids at check in are greatly appreciated. As is the free coffee and tea available when you need a morning pick-me-up. Or an afternoon one. Because though my sleeping quarters were very comfortable, when your child decides 5:30 is the best time to start the day, multiple cups of coffee are the only way to survive. There is also a pool, hot tub and sauna in the indoor atrium. It's a bit noisy sitting on the balcony while the pool is in use, but the 10:00 pool closing time is strictly enforced.

The only thing that made me nervous about the room itself was the TVs on the dressers. For child safety, and since they're flat screens anyway, I'd feel more comfortable if they were wall mounted. Overall, the hotel is reasonably priced, clean, in a great location with free parking, near all the popular, family-friendly attractions of Niagara Falls. I know I'll be staying at The Hampton Inn by Hilton at the Falls for years to come, and highly recommend it to anyone visiting Niagara Falls.


This is not a sponsored post, no compensation has been received. All opinions expressed are my own.

Review of Hotel Marseilles, Miami Beach

The scenario: Two moms, husbands at home with the kids, four days of sleeping, eating, drinking and shopping.
The requirements: Warmer than here (which is Canada in the winter, so you know, pretty easy);  flight not too long; preferably in the same time zone because we both had to go to work the day after we returned and jetlag sucks.
The destination: South Beach, baby!

I had been to South Beach with The Husband back when he was The Boyfriend for a few days before a cruise and loved it, and it met all of our destination needs so we booked a cheap flight and set to picking a spot where we could recharge our batteries while someone else wiped runny noses. We didn't want to have a car, so we had to stay somewhere close to where we were going to spend the majority our time.

View from the room

When it comes to hotels, I'm not that picky. I want it clean and bug-free, I want it quiet, and I want it near the places I want to be. The Marseilles Miami Beach Hotel seemed to fit the bill. It's a little tired looking, but they are renovating, so they're aware things need fixing and they're working to fix them. The pool area is lovely, and the staff at the bar is very friendly. The food at the restaurant, Cafe Vincent, is OK. I wouldn't recommend it as a destination if you're staying at another hotel, but if you're already staying there it's passable.

The floor we stayed on had not yet been renovated. The room itself (Room 617), well... Let's start with the good:

• The beds were comfortable
• Housekeeping was prompt and the towels were adequately stocked
• The shampoo, soaps and lotions were nice
• The bathroom was tiny and dated, but clean

And now... the not so good:

• I usually remove hotel bed spreads just because, but the first night we were there we couldn't find the extra blankets and were both too tired to care. In the light of day we were horrified by the thought that those nasty, stained, smelly bed spreads had possibly touched our faces as we slept. *shudder* The next night we found the blankets in a closet and shoved the bedspreads as far under the bed as possible. 
• Broken tiles in the shower enclosure were replaced, but obviously with the remnants of a contractor's other job. It was almost comical, and something you'd expect in a cheap, roadside motel, not in a place that bills itself as a fine establishment half a block away from the Ritz.
• There was a coffee maker in the room, but nowhere to plug it in other than pulling a chair up to an outlet several feet away, and only one of the plugs in that outlet worked. 
• The windows were very old and only a single pane, so the noise from around South Beach just streamed in. They also didn't open, which was disappointing because I would have loved to let that salty air into the room at night.

Other than the filthy (and I do mean filthy) bed spreads, the room was serviceable. We saw the floors under renovation and it looks like a total gut job, right down to the studs. The location is fantastic, the pool and the beach area are lovely and the price was right - at least by South Beach standards. If you asked me if I'd stay there again, I'd say only if the renovations were complete and they'd had a bonfire with those horrible things on the beds. And changed the cleaning products used in the lobby, because the smell of them is just oppressive. But then the price will probably go up, so we'd be right back to a pretty firm no. If you have any questions about our stay, please feel free to email me.

Happy travels!

This is not a sponsored post, no compensation has been received. All opinions expressed are my own.