I have backpacked and traveled alone my entire life - in some very questionable areas in many different countries, and I have never felt unsafe. I felt UNSAFE in this hotel.
This hotel houses a lot of people with serious mental health and addiction issues who swarm and bombard you in the lobby, in the elevator, and in hallways. They are very persistent and return within seconds of the initial ‘no’. They loiter in the rear of building and also in the foyer, both which wreak of urine. I feel horrible for their situation, however I cannot tolerate the persistent and unacceptable hounding after we say no. It is very uncomfortable and I felt very uneasy. Also, whenever I exited the building, people would run and try and grab the door to enter because access after 9PM is via card only… so just an FYI.
There are security guards on site 24/7 that patrol hallways and building, but it seems rather useless especially given what happened to us and our friend on two different floors. Perhaps they need additional guards.
We decided to go for a drink the first night we arrived, so we walked down the street to Waterhouse. In the 200m walk to the bar, we were again swarmed and asked several times for money, smokes, booze. Ps - that bar only accepts cash and their patrons were literally doing lines of coke off their hands as we stood behind them drinking our beverages.
We stayed for three nights on business - not our choosing of hotel - and we spent the first night AWAKE, with ZERO sleep, in bed listening to the drunken chaos across the hall. Slamming doors, breaking items, yelling, screaming, etc. I had called the front desk but no one answered and didn’t feel safe leaving my room to go down stairs and advise them. Our friends staying a few floors below us said that he experienced something similar and that he was afraid and almost called the police. Someone allegedly did end up calling the Police because I was told people were arrested and evicted that night….and that someone allegedly chugged two containers of hand sanitiser and went nuts after that. The second night was uneventful, with the exception of the usual begging and loitering in lobby and around building, and screaming from outside the building we heard through the windows. Last night as I was walking down the hallway back to the room, I noticed a door strike and latch set on a room were damaged and there was wood from a frame all over the ground, so someone forced open the room door …. Very scary and uneasy considering we were two rooms down.
When I explained our first night experience the following morning to the front desk, Tony and Ashley, were more than helpful and relocated us upon my request. I had spoken with a cleaner that day as well about something unrelated, and she was also very pleasant. The staff who work here are wonderful, and I gave service 5 stars, however the building and clientele experience is a big 0.. or, 1 because I couldn’t select zero. The rooms are dated, the carpet needs a good steam cleaning, the bathrooms look like Frankenstein repairs and everything is just old and run down. They need to renovate and dump some money into this building and rooms. The rooms are unbearably stifling hot (it was -20 outside) so opening the windows was helpful.
Location is OK, view from hotel is epic, but our experience was absolutely horrific and i have never been so happy to return home. thunder bay was not at all a good experience.
Stay anywhere else if you value security and feeling safe.