A bad hotel experience can spoil a good vacation. An uncomfortable bed, noisy neighbours and plumbing problems in the bathroom can make you feel miserable or just plain peeved and dampen an otherwise memorable experience.
Lamplighter Inn in London, Ontario is not that kind of hotel. The Best Western Plus hotel and conference centre does what a good hotel should do — provide you with a clean, comfortable night’s sleep — while you enjoy a musical at the nearby Stratford Festival or take in Sunfest, a world music and jazz experience in downtown Victoria Park that is exploding in popularity.
Let’s start with the name. Evoking Victorian England workers who lit up the gas lights in (the other) London’s streets, Lamplighter Inn adds to the appeal by its tasteful decor. Rich in dark sumptuous woods, its conference rooms — just off its recently renovated lobby — have been given proper English names such as Canterbury, Chelsea and Cambridge.
The bed in our King Suite was firm and — wonder of wonders! — its pillows fluffed up enough to nestle a human’s head, not that of a flat-headed fish. The room included a fridge so there was no need for frequent runs to the ice dispenser and, for a news junkie, the morning offered nirvana with a choice (or all) of three newspapers: The Toronto Star, National Post and London Free Press.
Unlike other places, the hotel restaurant, Shelley’s Tap and Grill, was affordable. Friendly staff served you filling meals and specials that come with a slice of corn bread.
The only downside of our return visit, and they’re minor points, was the rough feel of the towels (just throw a sheet of Bounce into the dryer) and the absence of recycling boxes in the room. In the hotel’s defence, though, it seems London as a whole has an aversion to blue boxes: I could not find a single one in White Oaks shopping mall either.
Perhaps the highlight of Lamplighter Inn is the large, light-filled atrium and swimming pool, water slide and pond filled with exotic fish. Our room overlooked the area which was filled with squeals of delight and peals of children’s laughter. It shut down promptly at 10 p.m. allowing you a quiet night’s sleep with only the rush of a waterfall to remind you of trips to Niagara Falls years ago.
“Can we live here?” one boy with water wings and a face-full of whirlpool foam asked his mom.
“Can we live here?” she repeated, laughing.
No, you can’t live at Lamplighter Inn. But while you stay here, you are living.
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