Best Western Belleville - Review
“Don’t expect the Ritz Carlton, but the Best Western is an affordable stay in the gateway to Prince Edward County.”
After several months of not travelling, after carefully deciding how I would return to travel, I had my first pandemic stay earlier this month. Although not very exciting, myself and two university friends decided to head to Prince Edward County to go on some long bike rides, a perfect socially distant activity.
The socially distant holiday
I looked at redeeming Hotels.com gift cards (earned through RBC Rewards) at a hotel in Prince Edward County, that quickly became an expensive option, as many hotels were $300+ each night and many options were completely booked up.
It’s not cheap!
The logical choice was to stay in Belleville, which is only two hours away from Toronto and less than 4 hours from Montreal, where one of my friends was coming from. There are two Marriott options in Belleville, including the TownePlace Suites which I have stayed in the past and really enjoyed. That being said, when I saw that both hotels wanted peak pricing for a stay, I looked at other options.
Steep for a TownePlace…
The Ramada by Wyndham Belleville Harbourview Conference Centre is in a good location by the water, but it’s an older hotel. Rates are quite reasonable there, and it’s a good starting off point for biking into the county.
The brand new Country Inn and Suites, Belleville is also a good option, but it’s a bit more expensive for my taste.
That’s a lot for a 3 star hotel…
It appears as though the Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Belleville will open soon, which may make me consider that hotel, as I’m a Hilton Diamond member. Hotel rooms aren’t a bad cash deal, but at only 23,000 Hilton points a night, that’s an absolute steal! I’ll more than likely check out this hotel next time I’m there.
In the end, we decided to take the cheapest option, the Best Western Belleville. Although we could have paid 16K Best Western Rewards points per night, in the end, we had an average daily rate of $102 including tax, which is a great value. Furthermore, we split the cost and converted our RBC Rewards at a 100:$1 ratio into Best Western gift cards, which covered our whole stay at the hotel.
Location
Located right off the highway, it’s right near the mall and many chain restaurants. If you’re looking for a cheap stop by the highway, this is a good, clean option.
Checking In
As this was the first hotel that I’d stayed in since the pandemic hit, I was a little bit unsure what to expect. Ben at OMAAT had derided hotels for not living up to their promises with regards to COVID-19. As CNN put it, we have COVID-19 a little bit more under control here, but that could change quickly. I think that the Best Western Belleville was trying to adjust to the times, the clientele at the hotels didn’t abide by all social distancing rules. There were signs about social distancing, plexiglass at the check-in desk, breakfast delivered to your door and a 24-hour “cooling” period for the room, but it didn’t seem like the hotel enforced social distancing in their lobby, and the staff were not wearing masks.
The check in process wasn’t as smooth as I hoped. Although the lady on the phone confirmed I could use my gift cards when I arrived at the hotel, the hotel receptionist didn’t want to take them as she said this was a pre-paid stay. After sorting that out with the lady at the desk, she informed us that we were “upgraded” to a King Bed with a pull out couch. While being upgraded is nice (Like our massive suite in Istanbul), in this case we did not want the upgrade. Unfortunately, there were no more doubles, as the hotel was offering a 24 hour cooling period between guests. They did say that they would switch us the next day, which they did.
When we got to our room, it was a pretty standard 3 star hotel room. There was a king size bed with a pull-out couch that would have potentially been stylish in 1988.
There was a slightly more modern desk with a phone, but there was no stationary due to COVID-19.
They had a printed piece of paper with their “COVID cleaning”
The bathroom was a standard 3-star hotel bathroom, with individually wrapped toiletries.
There was a coffee machine, but no real cups, just plastic cups this time.
Don’t worry, Starbucks is nearby
There was a small TV with several channels, but as expected, it wasn’t showing the UFC that night.
When we moved to our other room the next day, it was similar, except smaller with only the two beds in the room.
Amenities
This hotel has a recently renovated breakfast area which is large and rather nice. Ordinarily, the breakfast buffet at the hotel has good reviews.
That being said, the breakfast buffet wasn’t offered due to COVID-19. Instead, there was an order form (which I somehow failed to take a picture of). The breakfast consisted of a wrap or egg, yogurt, a muffin, a piece of fruit and a drink of choice. There were condiments, plates, cutlery and a microwave set up on each floor for guest to use. Spoiler, the breakfast wasn’t good, but it did provide calories on our ride.
The hotel also has a pool, but I somehow missed taking a picture of that too. I was surprised that it was open, and although the hot tub was closed, there was a steady stream of traffic.
Overall Thoughts
While we didn’t expect the Best Western Belleville to be a luxury vacation, it wasn’t. It was a reasonably clean hotel at an amazing price point in a location that was the perfect starting point for a bike trip. We wouldn’t hesitate to book the hotel again, if it was under $125 a night for the same purpose.
