I stayed at this hotel August 31 and September 1, 2007. My extended family also stayed here because I had my wedding there on September 1. My grandmother had booked a suite, but the suite was so small, she changed to a regular room which turned out to be bigger. I booked a suite and had no problems with mine, other than that the room was chilly. My mother's room and the rooms of some of my relatives were freezing. The management of the hotel changed in early 2007. Mike Episcopo used to be the banquet manager, and he was awesome. However, he has moved on and the new banquet manager, Clayton Brant, is not helpful - if I could have changed my venue, I would have, but by the time I found out about the change, it was a little over a month before my wedding and it was too late to find somewhere else. In short, I think you are better off spending a few more dollars for another hotel.

Stay ANYWHERE else!! We stayed here because our conference was located there. The smell is overwhelming. The room was filthy, and not even new dirt - just years of grimy dirt. The carpet actually felt sticky it was so dirty. I screamed at my 6 yr old daughter because she reached under the bed and pulled out a small square package - I thought it was a condom wrapper - but it turned out to be a cheap earring package. They don't even clean under the beds or around the furniture. I called for housekeeping to come, but no one came. The plug in the bathtub was broken, so I called the front desk and they asked us to take a shower. The only good thing I can say about it, was the beds were comfortable. But I couldn't sleep because I was so grossed out by the room, and because the people in the next room were drinking heavily. The walls are so thin, we could even hear them throwing up. My husband never complains, but he wanted to make sure that I was going to complain and warn people not to stay there. I also wanted to mention that the area of the city was very scary.

For starters, we booked 2 rooms through Priceline a couple of months before we headed to Winnipeg (for the Rush concert!!!). When we got there we found out that Priceline had screwed up our order and only booked us 1 room. The hotel staff were professional and quick to help us by booking another room free of charge. The lobby and bar were beautiful, it all looked very promising. We had 1 room on the 3rd floor and 1 room on the 7th floor.... The 3rd floor room looked nice and clean, probably refurnished in recent years, but the room my wife and I stayed in probably hasn't changed in decades. We did not ask for a smoking room, but we got one. It smelled as if there was a cigarette constantly burning in there. I was sick to my stomach for days afterwards. But the absolute worst part of the whole trip was the bed and pillows. The pillows were some sort of deformed, LUMPY, ball of stuff that wouldn't go flat. I can't even begin to describe how uncomfortable the bed was. Consider this fair warning to anyone who reads this and checks into The Marlborough. If you use Priceline to bid on a room to get a cheaper rate, be prepared to get a stinky old room.

There was a great mix of people at this hotel, a lot of character and some characters. Super cheap breakfast. Nice pool and hottub. It is not super fancy, some upgrades and a facelift would be nice-but this is reflected in the price. The staff were helpful to upgrade us to a bigger room, when requested. The location is great. Didn't use the parking. Good valet service to the airport (allthough not for really early flights). Not as bad as the reviews told me it would be. The hotel was just fine for me and my family- kinda liked it actually!

As part of a business workshop, I was booked into the Marlborough. I looked online and thought it would be a nice heritage building and prepared myself for all that entails. So when the room walls were paper thin, I expected that. When I saw paint chipped on the wall corners and wallpaper torn, I expected that. An old room with workout equipment, again, expected. Others things, however, made it disappointing. My room was fairly spacious, a 'superior room' by their standards - 2 queen beds. The bathroom was small, but the heat and cold of the shower made using it a constant struggle to not freeze or scald myself. I have never taken such short showers. The carpet was the grossest thing - they were filthy! My first night I walked around in my socks and when I looked at them before retiring, they were almost black!! I had to go out the next day and buy slippers, just so I didn't have to wear my shoes in my room. The meeting facilities were okay. Again, realizing the age of the hotel... and construction work is out of the hotel's control. The first room was too warm, but we ended up moving due to sewer work right outside our window which prevented anyone from hearing the presenter. The second room (Marlborough Room) we moved to was on the 8th floor and in its day, must have been a beautiful mini ballroom. Now it is dingy, with severely wrinkled carpet (almost trip over the wrinkles) and poor - if any,- heat. The last of the 2 days I sat with my winter coat on for the class and many men in the class went and brought the fleece liners from their coats in order to be somewhat warm. On the positive side, there were adequate computer and electrical hook ups for equipment in both rooms. Also, the other huge ballroom on the 8th floor looked spectacular with a magnificent view (it was much too big for our purpose). The service at the cafe was brutal. It opened at 7am and our classes (minimum of 20 rooms booked just for this workshop) began at 8am. All candidates went to the cafe for breakfast. The first day, at 7:15 the cook walked in -- until then the first waitress just sort of wandered around, not even acknowledging the 3 tables of people with coffee or drinks. I was able to scarf down a fruit salad so I wouldn't be late. The second morning, the cafe opened at 7am, and again, tables filled up. Things again were VERY slow, so I ordered cold cereal and yogurt. This took 40 minutes to arrive!!! My dining companion ordered the same with toast and 40 mins later it arrived, with cold toast. We ended up walking the 2 blocks at 6:50 am to Tim Hortons to get food and coffee. What a mess that cafe service is --- lunch was no better, having to allow 90 minutes so we could get food at a restaurant in the same hotel??! The workout room is plain, old, but new equipment. Again, temperature control was non existant. I was running with the room temp at 25C!! And no fans or exchange to move the air at all! There was no water in the cooler, dirty hand towels left in the room and no clean ones to be found. Disappointing. The location is in downtown Winnipeg. A less than desirable location, other than it is close to the MTS Center - this was when the Briar was going on, so thankfully, many normal people on the streets. That being said, without the many tourists for that event, the people hanging around the outside of the hotel panhandling, I wouldn't have gone out after dark for anything. Sadly, the Fairmont and Radisson were within 2 blocks of the same area, though there didn't appear to be the same sketchy type of person hanging in the area. I would not stay here again and have said as much to the person who organized the stay. This is not to the standard I would expect on any workshop.