Empire Inn

This summer I embarked upon a cross Canada road tripwith my dog. One of the many items I have been trying to cross off my bucket list. I found this hotel through my Wyndham Rewards membership. When I got to the hotel I had to walk past 3 very intoxicated people standing in the entrance - not a good sign. I was charged immediatly for my room prior to even getting a chance to look at it. To put it mildly the place is a dump and should not be part of the Wyndham Hotel group. Because I had my dog I and was on a budget was limited in my choices - normally I'd have just walked away. The room looked like it had been cleaned sometime last century. I could go on and on but all I can say is DO NOT STAY HERE!!

Central heat does not work, so rooms are equipped with little garage heaters, it's above freezing but still quite chilly. Prepayment of rooms is their policy, no refunds, my coworker got hospitalized and we paid three nights for her empty room anyway. I found the check-in service OK but my admin assistant complained to me about how rude the reservations desk had been when she dealt with them to try to cancel the 2nd room. Small TV with 5 channels. Otherwise just a regular motel style room, except priced like it was a good one, it should be classed as a discount room, maybe worth $40/night.

We acutally booked this hotel by mistake, thinking it was another hotel with a similar sounding name. When we couldn't get into the hotel we thought we booked at they checked by phone and said our room was waiting at the Canadian Inn Travel Lodge. When we drove down to the central old part of Brandon and arrived there in the dark at 8:10pm there were no lights on in any of the rooms and no cars in the parking lot. My wife and I decided by the looks of it from the outside that this was a big mistake. I went in to tell them we were going to cancel our reservation and keep on driving through to Winnipeg. The man and woman at the desk (or Middle East decent) were unapologetic and said I couldn't cancel because I was there and had booked online. I told them that we weren't staying, that they could have the $95.00 for the room and I turned to leave. They said "no, rooms are nice, come I show you." I replied "no way" and we left and went on into Winnipeg, a two hour drive. On first walking in the place smelled or stale beer. Drunks came down the stairs to the drink machine and back up while I was arguing with the desk people. The restaurant was closed but I saw that they serve only East Indian food. Carpets were worn and stained in the front lobby and the whole atmosphere just told me to "run and not look back!" On talking to friends and others who have had to stay there because there were no other rooms available in Brandon their advice was to never go near the place again. It appears to be a rent by the hour hotel and I dare say I would have had much more to write about I am sure, had we stayed the night. My wife and I were very willing to give up the $95 and get home again. I did get a refund from Expedia when I explained the situation. If this is the place you chose to stay at in Brandon, drive to a Wal-Mart lot somewhere and sleep in your car.

This place is a total wreck. As soon as you walk in you are greeted with a nasty smell I still cannot identify. The pool is boarded over completely and there the hot tub was not even filled up. The pool area was closed down, cold and dusty. The restaurant was not open in the morning, only for supper time. The room did not have a working heater and even the electric plug in heater did not work well at all. There was no shampoo provided only a bar of soap. The ice machines did not work on the 3rd and second floors. Only the first floor ice machine worked. The lounge was not staffed. You had to walk to the front desk to get someone to serve you a drink in the lounge. The stairway door knob was loose. (firehazard!!!!!!!!!!!!!) The website promises so much more than is actually available at this hotel. The staff did not even give us a discount even though we complained of false advertising. I mean why would I pay for a place that does not have a functioning pool area!!!!!!!!!! Save your money and stay somewhere that the owners actually show they are proud of their facility and are willing to put some money into it.

Our group booked a block of 20 rooms. Upon Check-In, at 3:14pm, I gave the Desk Clerk my credit card, which was promptly run through for FULL payment, before check-out the followning day. A practice I have not seen before. After receiving my key, my young daughter and I proceeded to our room. Upon exiting the elevator we where welcomed to the 2nd floor by empty beer cases, beer bottles, empty pizza boxes and garbage bags outside many doors. Our journey began to our room. Opening the door to the room, we were greeted by spilled coffee on the countertop, and an empty liquor bottle on the floor, I cautioned my daughter to stay at the door as I went in for further inspection to which I found, lights on throughout the room, used towels on the bathroom floor, and bed area, as well as unmade beds and empty food bags and pop cans on the dresser. Back to the Front Desk, where I told the nice Desk Clerk that my room, (that I have already paid for) was filthy, to which she replied "we only have 2 maids" I said that I thought "check-in" was at 3:00pm to which she replied "check-in is at 2:00" I said, "and my room is not ready"? She again informed me that they only had 2 maids to clean the entire hotel, to which I informed her that "that is not my problem, I have already paid (in full) for a room, and I want a room"! She then turned to a gentleman, that I assume was the owner, or manager. He was not to quick to want to accomodate us, even suggesting we wait until the room was cleaned. The clerk, I am certain could read my expression and ask him if she could give us another room, to which he replied "only if it is the same kind of room". We where given another room, which was clean. We headed down to the pool area, which was colder then the outdoors, the heat lamps for the pool area were not on, the owner or manager said he would not put them on because it was to expensive to heat the area (we opened the door to the hallway to let some heat in as we watched our children), there was no lights inside the pool, nor was the water being circulated in the pool, which had a funny smell and taste, the Hot Tub, should have been called the "Lukewarm Tub". When the pool area ran out of towels, we went to the front desk to request more, to which we were told there wasn't any, they needed to be folded, and there was no one to fold them, because of course there are only 2 maids. After numerous requests for towels, they became available, but only one to every 2 people, or we were given hand towels to dry off with. Don't request anything from the front desk, it will not come to you. After finding there was no hairdryer in the room I called down for one, it never came. The owner-manager came to my room and asked who gave me the room I was in, to which I said "You did" well he had no record of me being in that room!?? After he took my information again (I had filled out a checkin form when I arrived) he left. Moments later he called my room, telling me that I had a key to another room??? I had no clue what he was talking about, but he kept accussing me of having this other key, after I became louder and more firm with him, he did seem to understand that I had only one key and that was for the room that I was occupying. As for the rest of the stay (which was only ONE night) the hotel ran out of hot water, my daughter ended up with a rash from the pool, our group was scattered all over the hotel, and we did not receive the discount we were told we would receive when we booked the rooms 5 months prior to our arrival. Many where not happy with the accomodation, but I am sure you will be able to read about their stay as well. Would we suggest this hotel to anyone, NOT IN MY LIFETIME! If you drive by this hotel, step on the gas and keep going, don't look back, just keep driving!!

I used to work as a front desk clerk, so i know what CUSTOMER SERVICE is. I've never in my life experienced such a rude front desk clerk. I called down to the front desk and asked to be transferred to another persons room in the hotel. His response was "well if you know the person you should know what room they are in" it was so stupid that it was funny. I could not believe that was his response. I told him that was the reason i was calling the front desk because that's what the front desk is for. He then said "but if you know that person you shouldn't have to call here and ask for it (which I wasn't I just wanted to be transferred) you should know what room they are in" I was literally stunned, said never mind and hung up. Then my cousin's son who is 9 years old got stuck in the elevator with two other boys for half an hour before the SAME front desk clerk called 911. BUT that was only after my cousin threatened to call them himself if he(front desk clerk)didn't call right then. He had no idea what to do AT ALL. When the fire department got there all they did was shut off then turn on the elevator i guess just to reset it and it worked. So in my opinion the front desk clerk was absolutely non caring and the rudest ever. I don't know if i'm allowed to say, but i swear he was the owner because it was full house that weekend and he was at the front desk all weekend working with other front desk clerks, to check you in and check you out.

This is the worst hotel I have ever stayed in. I mistook the Travelodge name to mean something decent but I was very wrong. Noisy drunks partying in the hall all night, calls to front desk to get some quiet were not effective. Its basically a sleazy hotel for drunks and people on welfare who want a night out. If you are that type, fine, stay there.

We arrived in the more run down area of downtown and when we drove up to the hotel there were a bunch of people from the bar waiting for a cab. Not a very good first impression. The first appearance you get of the hotel is that it is not very clean!!! Carpets are torn and very dirty. Checked in and as we waited for the elevator you could smell the beer from the bar area. Elevator was very scary and again dirty. We arrived on the 3rd floor and the initial appearance of the room was not bad but it was so hot you could not breath. Windows cannot be opened and you cannot regulate the air flow. I went down to the main desk and asked them how do we turn on the air. They said the air conditioning was not working. I told them that 2 adults and 2 children would not be able to stay in that room without something to cool it down. I asked if they had a fan and they said that the fans were being used in the bar area and they could not accomodate us. I went back upstairs and we then decided to leave. When I came down and told them we would be leaving they said the manager would give us a fan. We again said we were leaving. We suggest if you want a sleezy hotel - thats where you want to stay. I sure hope all Travelodge hotels are not like this one.

Absolutely the WORST experience of my daughter's and my life. Went to Brandon, Manitoba for the Canadian Midget Softball Championships July 28-Aug 2. The Travelodge was the worst, drunks on the steps of the hotel, drunks in the halls, a used condom found under my bed on the second day, a couple having sex in the hallway, drugs being distributed from a room and people pulling up to the hotel, going in and coming out, pot being smoked so heavy that it seeped under our door and my daughter had an asthma attack, parties most of the nights and no security (he was down the street at the bar they also owned). Four mother's of girls on the team tried to talk to the manager/owner and he was rude and unsympathetic.