Kids win the day
Our family stayed here in the middle of August (2 adults, 3 kids (9,8,6)). I was underwhelmed by the hotel, but the kids thought it was great. They loved the pool and the slide. They could swim from inside to outside (not two pools as advertised). The advertised slide is more like a 'little tikes' slide on steroids, but the children played on it constantly. Definitely not for adults though.
The room fitted us all in (with a foldaway at no extra) but we found it overlooked a nightclub. This confused us by being noisy on thursday but silent on firday night. The room was OK clean but not bright. That is the overwhelming impression I have. It could do with a good brighten up.
We had a problem with the hair-dryer (it stopped) but the maintenance replacement was impressively quick. In fact service was always good. I had to call for more pool towels and a trolley full arrived in a few minutes.
The room rate (in common with all Niagara hotels) was about 40% higher on the friday night when the fireworks happened.
Car parking is inexpensive by surrounding values but I do not agree with hotel guests paying to park at their own hotel whatever the price It can be difficult to get a space during the evening time.
The walk to the falls was easy enough, as long as you are ready for Clifton Hill (note the hill bit isn't just for effect) and it's brashness. The walk from the other direction is a bit dull once past the casino and also has a steep hill. There are plenty of eating places around.
Overall I would say the HoJo was reasonable value (for Niagara). I've marked it up because the kids liked it so much which made my life easy, so bonus marks for that. If I was travelling just with my wife I would probably not choose to go back there.


