I just stayed at the Stanford Inn while in Grande Prairie for business. I choose this hotel because the photos online looked decent (silly me for believing them) and as someone not familar with the area, it appeared to be a good location.
Well, I was certainly suprised to arrive on a dark Sunday night to one of the scariest looking hotels I have ever stayed at. I considered canceling my reservation then, and I wasn't even checked in!
I arrived and the front desk staff told me I would be on the ground floor, with exterior entrances. Not a very comfortable option for a single female in a strange town. I asked if I could be on the second floor with interior entrances, to which I was told yes, but there is an additional fee for the upgrade. Yikes! Ok, well I guess I will pay if that is the only way to get me off the ground floor. I honestly can say at that time, I was kind of scared.
I went to my room. It was filthy. The bathroom mirror clearly hadn't been cleaned as it was covered with water spots (from top to bottom) and there was still cleaning products left in my room from the housekeepers attempts at cleaning. This certainly makes me question what else was not cleaned. Like other travelers, I did not remove my shoes at any time and I wore all of my clothes to bed. The carpets were stained. The bed looked horrible. I actually pulled the sheets back and did a full inspection as to be sure there were no bugs hiding anywhere.
To top it off, the weather cooled down and I was in a room with no heat! I eventually went to the front desk and they moved me rooms. This one was much better. Instantly looked cleaner too....which makes me wonder how dirty the other room really was....
I must say, the staff were very kind and helpful when asking for directons or suggestions for dinner. They clearly did their best in a not-so-good situation, but there is only so much you can do with a product like that.
I will not be back to stay here and I will certainly NEVER recommed this to another traveller, unless you like dirty and super sketchy hotel accommodations and prefer to sleep with one eye open.