We recently spent a four-night stay at the River Edge Resort. The overall impression was positive, but there were some issues that surprised us.
Things to consider when planning a stay at the River Edge Resort: Some are rather minor but some people are detail-oriented, so it may help.
They use big fat keys and not credit card swipes to open the door to the room. Carrying the key was a pain.
The fine dining restaurant, Jacques Cartier, is closed and will not reopen this season (or perhaps ever).
The resort website doesn't even mention that they have two pools, one indoor and one outdoor, in addition to two large hot tubs (but few jets).
The exercise room is a treadmill, a bike, and two elliptical machines. All have seen some wear and tear.
We stayed on the fourth floor (the Concierge level) and had a two-level room with the second level being just a hot tub and TV. Nice, but a bit of wasted space. The room was small but comfortable. I've been in bigger rooms at a Holiday Inn Express. The room was generally clean and the furniture in good shape, although there was absolutely NO decor whatsoever.
The air conditioning unit worked well but was too noisy to leave on all night. The walls were thin but luckily we had good neighbors and had little sound bleed though.
There was no directory of services in the room so we had no idea what amenities were available. After asking for a restaurant list at the front desk, they had nothing to offer. We had NO idea what the concierge level benefits were, if there were any. I know we paid more, but I don't see exactly what we got for the extra buck. There were 2 robes in the closet and we received 2 bottles of water daily, but that’s it as far as any difference we could see.
The front desk staff was courteous but the entire place seemed populated by twenty-somethings that were on spring break - meaning that no one was particularly helpful and they made the minimum amounts of grunts and responses to get them by. It was a perfect example of the slacker generation.
The entire facility is barren of any décor whatsoever and empty walls are the norm.
The bed was billed as queen, but compared to the queen bed we sleep on 365 days a year, this was a large double bed at best. It was comfortable, but over-billed. The pillows were squishy but you got used to them in short order.
The gift shop is tiny and has little to offer. It seemed to be closed more than open.
Alex Bay is a quaint little town and there’s not a lot to it. There is some nightlife in the form of local bars. We were surprised at the lackluster attitude of every single server we encountered. They just didn’t seem to try very hard and spoke very little. Maybe it’s a local thing. The shops were the usual souvenir junk but amusing for an evening. Recommended restaurants include the Captain’s Landing, Cavariello’s, and The Riverhouse. It’s all pretty casual.
Overall, the resort was enjoyable and the complaints were the usual - it's all in the details. Why hotels can't take time to pay attention to the little things, is beyond my comprehension. The RE Resort may have been awarded a four-star rating year after year, but I'd give it a three-star rating in reality. It's obviously the nicest property on A-Bay, but certainly not as good as it could be with a little attention.