Oct 27

Oct 27 Shaw Club Hotel (Niagara) Review

As COVID-19 has affected many people’s travel plans it does mean that more Canadians are exploring their own backyard more than ever. To celebrate new jobs, I planned a surprise trip to the Shaw Club Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake, a short 2 hour drive from Toronto. Even though we only spent two days in the area, the Shaw Club Hotel and the area made it well worth the trip.

Booking

I was looking for a place to spend some quality time relaxing with my girlfriend. I usually look at Marriott Bonvoy hotels, as I get treated well as a Platinum Elite Member. This time, I decided to use hotels.com. As there are millions of properties on hotels.com to choose from, I was able to get a variety of different properties that are not accessible in a chain loyalty program. Furthermore, I had several hundred dollars of Hotels.com gift cards, so this would be a free trip. I wanted a relaxing trip away from the city without a long drive from Toronto so I primarily looked at the Muskoka’s, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Prince Edward County, while I’ve stayed in Prince Edward County multiple times (including my cycling trip this summer where I stayed at the Best Western in Belleville), I wanted to stay somewhere where I could walk from the hotel, which is what drew me to Niagara-on-the-Lake.

I choose the Shaw Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake for a few reasons. First of all, it’s located in town at the end of the main street and a short walk away from the waterfront.

In addition, the hotel was offering stay and dining packages through Hotels.com. This is another way that Points&Miles has helped me to reduce my expenses while travelling. Although the property didn’t include breakfast, I was able to get breakfast added for $14 each at the hotel front desk, well worth the price.

Overall, the hotel was rated well on TripAdvisor (but I’m here to provide an even more in-depth review!) While not a cheap hotel by any means, a hotel room on the weekend in the historic town of Niagara-on-the-Lake is going to cost at least $300 a night, so it was worth the extra money to get dinner included.

The Hotel

We checked in around 5 pm at the hotel, which has a cute ivy-covered brick facade. The Shaw Club Hotel was built in 1989 by adding onto a historic house on the Niagara-on-the-Lake Mainstreet. The lobby was clean and bright. In addition, COVID measures were in place (and all staff were wearing masks!)

We headed upstairs to our room. The hallways of the Shaw Club Hotel had cool lighting with little tables by the door to facilitate contactless room service.

We were given room 214 for our stay, a standard King Room (No upgrades to big suites here - unlike my last hotel, the Westin Whistler). The crown jewel of the room was a comfy king bed.

Beside the bed, there was a clock on only one side of the bed, unfortunately enough. At least there were plenty of plugs on that side.

There was a love seat in the corner of the odd-shaped room with the TV facing the bed. Some of the furniture was showing its age for a 4-star hotel.

There was a much appreciated Nespresso machine with several pods, including cute little Nespresso cups. In addition, instead of water bottles, there was a water jug and a filtered water machine on the floor. In a country like Canada where the water is generally good, this is sufficient in my opinion and better for the environment.

There were also robes in the room that were covered in plastic (I guess you save plastic water bottles but cover everything else in plastic.)

The bathroom was modern, with a lot of glass. There was a rainfall shower, which is always appreciated.

The bathroom had Judith Jackson Spa products, which don’t appear to be too fancy, unlike the Bodrum EDITION’s partnership with Le Labo. I think for a brand like this, it would make sense to partner with a local producer instead of an American brand.

Although some parts of the room were showing their age, it was a cute little room in Niagara-on-the-Lake, which is exactly what we wanted for a weekend away.

Amenities

The Shaw Club Hotel isn’t an amenity rich hotel. There isn’t a large pool or spa. There is a lounge area, but it was closed due to COVID-19. Parking is provided at the Shaw Club Hotel, including parking for two EV vehicles.

For those of you looking to cycle, the hotel also has Niagra rental bikes (ZoomBikeShare) on site.

Dining

Our stay at the Shaw Club Hotel included a 3-course meal at Zee’s Grill. When I made the booking, I made a dinner reservation at Zee’s Grill. Included with the hotels.com package was a selection of each course from the menu. The menu read as follows:

The most up to date menu can be found here. For appetizers, we had the beef carpaccio and the truffle gnocchi. The food was good, but as a sucker for truffle, I felt like there wasn’t enough in the dish.

For mains, we had the Surf N Turf and the Root Beer Braised Short Rib. Both meals were good (the potatoes were outstanding), but as someone who’s spent a lot of time out east, the Lobster was slightly disappointing.

And for dessert, we had a chocolate cake and sorbet, which were both on point.

Overall, the meal came out to $150, not including tax and tip, that was removed from our bill, which brought our room cost to about $200, a good deal for Niagara-on-the-Lake. Our meal was good, but not outstanding. We did find that the drinks we had with the meal were average. That being said, the Dining Package stay at the Shaw Club Hotel is still an outstanding value for Niagara-on-the-Lake.

We also had breakfast, which was an additional $14 each. The breakfast menu was as follows:

We were offered coffee when we sat down in addition to a Mimosa in order to celebrate our new jobs.

I choose the eggs benedict and my partner had the omelette of the day. Both were very good starts to the day. Also included with our breakfast was a coffee.

Chorizo Roasted Red Pepper omelette of the day

The Point.

Overall, we enjoyed our stay at the Shaw Club Hotel. If you’re looking to explore wine country and Niagara-on-the-Lake, the Shaw Club Hotel is perfect for a night or two away from the city.