Southway Hotel, Ottawa

The main hotel is aesthetically pleasing and convenient to the Ottawa airport. That was what appealed to us when we booked the reservation early in August 07 and guaranteed the room with my credit card. The problems started with the reservations. About 5 days prior to our flight from Calgary to Ottawa, I called the hotel and sought confirmation that our room would be smoke-free and in a quiet location, as originally requested at time of booking. Southway Inn informed me I had no reservation. Nor could they explain what happened to all my information including C/Card that I had supplied when I booked the room 3 weeks earlier. They proceeded to take all my reservation information again and re-booked our room. I explained that I had severe allergies to cigarette smoke, that I was a light sleeper and therefore needed a smoke-free room in a quiet area of the hotel. I was assured this would be taken care of. On Sept 1/2007 we arrived at the Calgary airport only to learn that our flight had been delayed and we would not arrive at the hotel until after midnight on Sept 2nd. I promptly phoned Southway Inn to advise of the later than expected arrival time. I gave them my reservation number and sought confirmation that our room was guaranteed for late arrival. They assured me that it was. We arrived at Southway Inn about 12:30 am on Sept 2/2007 only to discover that the hotel was full and they only had one room left that had a double bed. Apparently whatever room we had been assigned had been re-assigned to someone else, despite the fact that we had been assured otherwise less that 8 hours earlier. The receptionist told us the rooms are given out on a first-come-first served basis and that the hotel was virtually full. The fact that I had guaranteed the room with my credit card was totally immaterial to him. We found him to be very abrupt and totally insensitive to the situation. He informed us that we could either take the room or find something elsewhere. Exhausted from the trip we did not have much choice but to take what was offered. The room he assigned was situated in the older section of the hotel, not in the modern looking tower unit. As we entered the corridor to the older section, the smell of smoke lingered in the hall. We arrived at Room 122 and noted on the door a sign "Non-smoking". While the room was aesthetically acceptable, it literally reeked of cigarette smoke. While the room appeared to have been renovated in recent years, the nicotine smell was characteristic of a room that had been smoked in for years. Apparently nothing had been done to eradicate the airborne toxins. We found nicotine stains around the light switches. Unfortunately we could not open windows to get fresh air as they were sealed units. The only alternative was to turn on the air-conditioner, an ancient and noisy box-type unit like the ones you would find in a $49/night motel dating back to the 1960's. My wife and I spent a totally sleepless night at the Southway Inn due to the noise of the air-conditioner and my severe allergies. When we were checking out, the receptionist was totally indifferent and refused to make any adjustments to our room charges. He did give us a Guest Evaluation Card. If the attitude displayed at the front desk was a reflection of the corporate culture of Southway Inn, we questioned whether anyone in management would ever see it, let alone respond back to us. We have never heard back from management so what does that say? Would I recommend it to others.....You be the judge! We travel extensively and I can say this was without a doubt one of our worst experiences. If we had checked into a $49/night hotel, we might have understood, but that was not the case here! Richard Bradford Alberta