Maple Leaf Motel

When I read other people's positive reviews about the Maple Leaf Motel in Goderich, I feel like I'm in an alternate universe. On Friday, June 27, 2025, we arrived at our prebooking and we paid $224.97 for the overnight accommodation. Online it was promoted for $149. We were tired and since the motel had a 4.7 rating online, we felt certain it would be a pleasant overnight stay. We were completely wrong. In my opinion, the room was small with an overall shabby impression. There was only one semi-comfortable chair. There was one bedside table containing a lamp and a small plastic fan with some type of black residue on the blades. The baseboards were not clean. The kitchen area was tiny and the coffee pot and kettle were not clean. The mugs (no glasses) and coffee supplies looked haphazard. We never used anything in the kitchen. It was a hot 30 degrees C outside so we turned on the hard-to-reach (or read) air conditioner. It didn't appear to be working until we discovered that the baseboard heater was set for 75 degrees F. What happened to prepping the room for guests? The TV was pretty much useless. One remote contained enticing buttons like Netflix, Crave, Disney, etc. Unfortunately none of the buttons worked. I tried to contact the office by phone (as per the instructions) but the phone was dead. I went to the office and the attendant came to the room, fiddled with the black box, and handed me the other remote, stating there were a few channels. Shortly thereafter, we gave up and turned the TV off. We slept badly and quickly left before 8 the next morning. To state the obvious, we will not be returning to the Maple Leaf Motel in Goderich.

I'm not really sure why so many people call this motel "a gem". It's a motel. The owners are nice for sure but the rooms are like any other average motel. There is nothing special about it. The rooms are small, functional and clean. The linens are clean but dinghy; they have seen better days. It is located very close to town and to the lakeshore. It is just off the highway so it is very noisy with road traffic, especially in the morning. If you like to sleep in, this is not the place for you.

The booking was completed online through the motel website, for one night Sunday through Monday, one room with double bed. The charge was $111.87 for room #1. Pros: 1. Not crowded with a lot of vacancies according to those 2 cars in parking lot. 2. Clean room and bathroom; clean linen on the bed and towels in the bathroom. 3. Easy check in, even it happened earlier than 3:00 pm. 4. Even with the room located on the street side, we couldn’t complain about any noise due to the traffic. 5. Great lighting, mini fridge, coffee filter, TV (with some cable plan), Wi-Fi (working well) available in the room Cons: 1. Some paint touch ups are required in the unit. 2. The room is small. 3. Next room might be a laundry room or some kind of room where the owner keeps the motel stuff, because somebody just walked back and fort in that room constantly by midnight organizing objects and talking to a phone. Also slamming door could be heard very accurate.