Name: Empire Motel
Address: 3495 Skaha Lake Road, Penticton, Penticton, Penticton, V2A 6G6, Canada
Rating: 8

Air conditioning

Smoking areas

Smoke-free property

Heating

Garden

No elevators

Reception desk

General

Non-smoking rooms

Family room

Rooms

Luggage storage

Services and amenities

Vending machine

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet access

Internet

Barbecue grill(s)

Picnic area

Barbeque

Sun Deck

Recreation

Parking

Free Parking on Premises

Swimming pool

Seasonal outdoor swimming pool

Pool facilities

Pool and beach

Children's playground

Family/Kid Friendly

Kids

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Temperature control for staff

Personal protection equipment for staff

Extra decontamination measures

Personal protection equipment for guests

Contactless check-in and/or check-out

Additional measures against COVID-19

Health and Safety Measures

Location

At the mini-hotel

Skaha Beach

Penticton Airport

Kelowna International Airport

Empire Motel

Penticton

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

16-beds

17-beds

18-beds

19-beds

2-beds

20-beds

21-beds

22-beds

23-beds

24-beds

25-beds

26-beds

27-beds

28-beds

29-beds

3-beds

30-beds

31-beds

32-beds

33-beds

34-beds

35-beds

36-beds

37-beds

38-beds

39-beds

4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

Clean room, comfortable king bed, close to Skaha Beach.  Estelle was a gem and was obviously interested in ensuring her guests enjoy their stay.  We didn't use all amenities available but there was a tidy pool area, 4 bbq's and a few gazebos for guest use.  Our daughter lives nearby and Estelle remembered her from months ago when other family stayed at her motel.  The kind of personal touch you won't get at other places. Would have no issues returning here next time we come to town and need a hotel.

No like the chain hotels in all the best ways

This is not a 5 star hotel run by an invisible mega corporation. .Just regular people trying to make a go of things in a short summer season. 

It was great to be close to the beach and have a pool. It’s great for kids. Estelle was more than fair when I had to cancel because of the fire where I lived in the Shuswap and refunded me the balance of my booking. I can’t tell you what a stressful time this has been. The lobby was filled with people, late in the evening who had been evacuated from west Kelowna and she was handling them all in a kind and thoughtful manner. 

Wish I could have stayed longer

Overpriced rooms, dirty, old, and run down hotel. Beds are uncomfortable. Air conditioning unit is terribly loud. No hot water as they have the water system set on luke warm to safe them money. They charge extra fees for children over 12 to stay. They do not provide new towels or even enough for all guests in the room regardless of charging the fee for “extra guests”. They charge a damage deposit of $300 and they look for any way possible to keep it so they make more money. It’s sickening. They’re greedy, do not care about guests, and only care about making money. They absolutely rip people off and I’d never recommend any one to stay here.

Overpriced rooms, dirty, old, and run down hotel.

We had to leave our home in West Kelowna yesterday due to an evacuation order. 🔥😥 It’s a really stressful and unsettling time for so many people in our community and our hearts go out to everyone experiencing this challenging time. ❤️

Last night we drove towards Penticton to find accommodations and we booked the only place with a room that we found on hotels.com on our way. We booked two nights accommodation at the cost of almost $700 plus a $300 damage deposit. Not affordable by any means. 

Well, this situation only got worse for us. After one nights stay, the owners of Empire Motel Penticton informed us that they have a no pet policy. We missed this information in booking quickly under the circumstances. They then told us that we have to leave, with no refund for the second paid night and likely no return of the deposit regardless of the place being as perfect as we arrived. We informed them that we are evacuees, that we have no where to go and we need our funds returned…

They had absolutely NO COMPASSION, proceeded with their unethical behaviour and poor business practices that has left our family further stressed and caused us further mental and emotional harm during these unprecedented times. This motel with hearts everywhere truly has NO HEART.

Our message for everyone is to be cautious, there are businesses that are purely in it for profit like this one, are taking advantage of people in bad situations and truly DO NOT CARE about the circumstances our province or it’s residence are in.

Truly heartbreaking to experience during this time. 💔

BUYER BEWARE. DO NOT BOOK HERE.

We first came to this motel about twenty years ago.  It is a small property located conveniently close to Skaha Lake, with many amenities (convenience store, restaurant, ice cream stand) in the immediate vicinity.

As indicated in another review, the motel is under new ownership.  However, unlike the other review, our experience was quite different.  This was a motel that had seen over twenty years of use and was well worn and in need of some love and renovation.

Our two queen room had brand new beds, new black out drapes, new bathroom vanities, sinks and kitchen cupboards.  All the bedding and pillows are brand new.  New chairs have been purchased and the room was spotlessly clean.  We have been coming to the Okanagan for over thirty years and this hotel was by far one of the cleanest we have stayed at, no mean feat given the beach traffic that goes through each room during the summer.

The owner was very kind and helpful.  The pool required a repair during our stay and she discounted the price of our room as well as completed the necessary repair quickly and effectively.  This is one of the nicer outdoor pools left in Penticton so it is really the best of both worlds, with the beach only a block away.

Highly recommended from a long time visitor.

Cute, Clean and Comfortable

The owner is most personable and bent over backward to ensure a pleasant stay. I was in one of the adequately furnished kitchen rooms (number 27) at a reasonable price and I won't hesitate to stay over again circumstances permitting. Indeed, it's been quite a while since coming across such pleasant and helpful people. The bed was comfortable with good clean linen, everything about the stay was better than expected. Had i known about their inexpensive monthly rate i might have been inclined to arrange my stay to take advantage of it but maybe next time. Overall I am beyond satisfied and believe you will be too. 

Best place I've stayed in for the price and service.

We loved our stay here. We originally booked just 2 nights but stayed another night & were easily accommodated. Great full sized fridge. Many useful utensils. Great to have the BBQ's available, plus the seating area by the pool. Will stay again.

Friendly, family oriented cozy!!

We have stayed at the Empire Motel every summer for twenty years. For the past few years, my partner and I have occupied one room (with a kitchen), our sons have occupied a second room (with mini fridge and microwave) .

We were very satisfied with the service and the accommodations this year. The owner, Estelle,  her front desk staff and the housekeeping staff were friendly and accommodating. Although room cleaning is limited, fresh towels and toiletries were readily available daily.

The barbecues were equipped with brushes and were fueled. No issues re lighting them. 

Wagons, with locks, were available for transporting stuff (and small children) to the beach. 

The WIFI was very reliable and easy to access. 

There were a couple of notable improvements to our room. The bathroom faucet and (handheld) shower head were both new.  The vertical blinds have been replaced with blackout drapes. This makes a big difference in the morning. 

This is an old-time motel that has been well maintained over many years. It is not luxurious but it is clean and comfortable family accommodation, steps away from Skaha Beach. 


Ckean, Comfortable Family Accommodation 

Simply, this motel has changed owners (in January), and do not stay here.

My family has stayed at this hotel for over thirty years. It has always been a pleasure to stay. Is it a 5 star hotel, no. But the rooms have always been clean, the service has always been kind, and the location great. The only thing that remains the same is the location. 

The rooms were not cleaned during our stay, when we asked for our rooms to be cleaned the women was confused as to why we would want that. We had to explain WHY we needed more toilet paper and then had to ask several times before actually getting some.

We spoke to one family who didn’t have any for 3 days and has to use water after toileting.

We had to go to the office to ask for towels.

Eventually it was explained that they were short staffed. And this is fine - had it been communicated kindly and at the beginning of our stay. Instead we were rudely told it was “on the front door of the office”. Apparently, a “help wanted” sign, is enough to tell guests they won’t be getting regular, basic, services.

Then, after being a few minutes late from getting out of our rooms. The owner (Estelle) came and YELLED at us about being late for check out. When we tried to explain how her behaviour was unacceptable and how unhappy we had been with the stay she yelled at us to get off the property. Then another woman came storming towards us to tell us we had ten minutes to get off the property. After asking, we learned this woman is the guest services manager! We asked to tell her our concerns and she claimed she knew them already and we needed to leave. She began to tell us what she knew and started at check out. I then said “no, this begins from check in. Please here our side of this situation”. After somewhat letting us tell her our complaints she told us we were at a 2 star motel and their policy is that we have to be off the property at check out. In all the years we have stayed there, and of all the different types of lodging I have stayed at all over the world, I have NEVER heard of this type of policy. We asked to see it in writing and she left to go get it for us. After several minutes of waiting (about 15 minutes) we went into the office and she had not printed anything for us. Because there wasn’t one. I asked to a copy of the policies we signed at check in, there was no policy. She admitted this and tried to say it was because we booked in January. But we signed our contract at the beginning of our stay…. It was a lot of talk, and a lot of “I can appreciate our communication was lacking” but not ONCE did we get an apology.

Just know, that they do not provide services. Most of the amenities they used to offer are gone. If you use more than one pack of coffee for a whole family you have to pay for more. This is more like a fishing cabin now. (Actually, we even had to go buy a cheap pot because they didn’t even have that in the “fully stocked kitchen”). Don’t expect cleaning services during your stay. Bring your own toilet paper. And please, if you don’t want to be screamed at by multiple people, be off the property by 10:59am.

Unfortunately, I HAVE to give this place a 1 star, otherwise it would be zero.

All Empires must fall.

The best part about this property is the friendly staff. The courtyard with its BBQs, a pool, and lots of shady tress is awesome. There's even a little playhouse for the little ones. This is a comfortable place for families.
I highly recommend staying here.

Empire Motel

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