I just recently completed a 4 night stay at this property.
I had booked about 4 months out into a view room advertised as having harbour views. Checking in as a SPG Platinum, no upgrade was offered. The hotel indicated they were at 90% occupancy. I was placed on the SPG club lounge 6th floor and I was actually downgraded to a city view into an adjacent sixth floor building. I had arrived at 1:00 AM and had to be up the next day for 6:45 AM so I didn’t go back down to the front desk to attempt to get a better room, nor did I attempt to move mid stay. Strangely, my non SPG status traveling partner got the view room despite having his check in processed shortly after me.
The property seems to be an airline crew hotel and people are coming and going at all hours. The front desk appears really busy as high volume appears to be the order of the day here. The staff appeared to be quite stressed in comparison to usual properties at the front desk and in the hotel bar.
The property itself has been dressed up to new standards. The furniture and fixtures in the room are fresh and reasonably new. However, the hotel is quite an older hotel and it is evident as my room was quite dark in some places (north east facing), the closet armoire was really tiny as was the bathroom, which was miniscule. I also found the room a bit noisy and there was lots of door slamming noise coming in the hallway. This wouldn’t typically be an issue but because of the time zone St John’s is in, people seem to be arriving on the late flight circuit at midnight, or leaving on the early flight circuit at 4 AM.
The hotel has taxis available on a regular basis at the front door. There are restaurants about 10 minutes walk away down Duckworth street. The nearest convenience store is about a 2 block walk from the hotel. There don’t appear to be any coffee shops nearby if you are looking to take breakfast off the hotel property (ie Tim Hortons or Starbucks).
The hotel is really close to the Signal Hill trail and I took a careful run down the trail towards the point. I say careful as mis steps on the trail could be fatal as it plunges down to the harbour inlet in many places. Having said that, it is among the most spectacular walks around and has many great views.
I opted for Green Choice and welcome points. Although unusually no MAGC coupons were offered during the stay, the points posted without any issue about 12 hours after I checked out.
The SPG lounge located on the 6th floor had fantastic harbour views. It offered 2 hot evening snacks (spaghetti and samosas) and 2 hot breakfast items (scrambled eggs with ham). I didn’t spend much time here but it was pretty busy overall. The lounge had tinned soft drinks. I didn’t see anyone drinking alcohol, nor did I ask about any on the occasional time I was through.
In summary, it was a reasonable stay. I would probably return if there was no other option. The Courtyard Marriott down the road did not look all too appealing from the street and I did not check out the Delta Hotel which is the other major chain option in town. The advantages were that the room was in reasonably good condition. The disadvantages were that the rooms were quite small, the volume at the front desk seemed to be constant and frankly overwhelmed on occasion.