Recently, we spent 2 nights at the Hilton Niagara Falls. I bought the “special” package on Travel Zoo. A site I had never used before. However, I have used many travel sites and had always been satisfied with my purchases. Some show all costs up front (like Expedia) and some don’t show all the taxes and fees until just before one pays by credit card. So, that, once you have paid for the travel package on line, no more costs are billed.

We assumed the great rate was a result of the deal being offered off season (a particularly cold March and April) and mid week. I have travelled to Las Vegas about twenty or more times over the past 38 years and know that casino hotels offer better deals mid week.

So, I thought we would take a little “stay-cation” and have a mini honeymoon. Well, we drove to Niagara Falls. The weather was as awful as predicted. We were surprised, however, to see the lobby of the hotel enclosed on the street side by scaffolding.

We entered a driveway and a parking attendant greeted us. We said we were checking in and he handed us a tear off section of a parking chit. The attendant exchanged pleasantries but mentioned nothing about parking fees. In fact the casino portion of the hotel across the street had large clear signs declaring $5 for self parking and $20 for valet parking. There were no signs to be found at any time on this side of the street, in the driveway or the parking levels declaring a charge for the parking (we later learned that parking fees are a new charge).

We wandered through some back tunnels to the desk. Another cheerful employee greeted us. I gave him our names, credit card and specifically said, I had “prepaid everything.” The clerk did not correct me to say anything about charges.

We settled in our room which looked lovely. It looked like it had already been renovated. We weren’t thrilled with the glowing red Casino sign between the US and Canadian falls but as our views were otherwise unobstructed, we were pleased.

The first night, en route to the casino, we made reservations at the Brazilian restaurant for dinner. An interesting new experience. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a drink after dinner at the top of the building so we wandered back over to the casino. The little (second floor?) lounge there had the falls view obliterated by steam. That night from our room we could see clearly the steam was not mist from the falls but steam or smoke from a very low building between the multi-plex car park and the casino tower. Later that night and by the next day the steam/smoke obliterated our view of the horseshoe falls. Not even the coloured lights could be seen through the steam/smoke.

Also, that first night my husband had cramps that continued for the next day and night. He had eaten small (quail?) eggs and sausage at the Brazilian restaurant. Otherwise, we had eaten the same things all day.

The lousy weather the next day continued as forecast so we stayed indoors at the casino and at a nearby mall and were pretty happy except for my husbands cramps and the view of the falls concealed by the steam/smoke gushing from the small brown building.

The morning of our check out I was stunned to see a bill totaling $131 for taxes and parking for our two day stay. We paid and checked out. All the staff were as pleasant as always. But, we will never stay at Hilton Niagara Falls again and we will never use Travel Zoo again.

We recently were visiting Lexington Kentucky to visit family for the holidays. Booked a reservation for one night on Wednesday, December 26, 2018 as that this is were we spent our honeymoon 29 years ago. Due to issues relating to may 82 year old mother-in-law we need to cancel the day before the stay. The customer service agent said they would make an exception and not charge our credit card for the stay. When we returned home our credit card has been charged for $168. We made multiple attempts to have the transaction removed and no one returned our calls, my husband spoke with the manager and he stated that we were out of luck and that we understood the terms of the agreement, despite being told we would not be charged. My husband asked to speak to someone at a higher level and he stated that there was not anyone higher than him. If we had know we were going to be charged, we would have stayed the evening and made arrangements for my mother-in-law!!! Very frustrated!!! Please contact us to discuss further. My husband is a frequent business traveler and will not use the Hilton brand again in light of the customer service provided.