The Ontario Inn is named after the city of Ontario, Oregon. It is located right next to the Saint Alphonsus Medical Center. The Ontario Inn is a pet-friendly inn and invites all of its guests to bring their animals, whether they are dogs or cats. The property has a sizable yard to allow for visiting animals to spend free time outside and get their daily exercise. Over time, The Ontario Inn has taken in several stray cats and turned them into "office cats." The "office cats" can be found in the lobby and are considered the door greeters for when guests come to check-in for their stay. The Ontario Inn also owns a barbershop that guests are able to take advantage of if they would like.
The Ontario Inn is a single-story building that has a grand total of 22 rooms available for guests to rent. Depending on what each guest's needs are, visitors can rent rooms that come with either one queen-sized bed or a double room that comes with two twin-sized beds. Regardless of which room guests choose to stay in during their time at the inn, each room comes with several basic amenities. These amenities include small refrigerators, microwaves, a television hooked up with Direct TV with around 500 channels, breakfast, and access to the property-wide internet. A few of the guest accommodations even have full-sized refrigerators. This allows guests that have an extended amount of time reserved at The Ontario Inn to get a room that offers more refrigerator space.
Breakfast at The Ontario Inn is typically served from 7:00 to 11:00. Dishes tend to vary in the morning, although some of the more common items that have been done in the past include muffins, toast, bagels with cream cheese, protein bars, fruit, and yogurt. By way of beverages, guests usually have the option to choose drinks like milk, chocolate milk, and juice. Breakfast is offered in to-go bags for guests that would like to take their meal outside, on the road, or in their rooms. The owner of the inn, Susan, plans to implement a more continental-style breakfast in the future, although she is unsure whether that will happen, nor when they would begin doing that if they did.
Susan explains that while the location of the inn is within a moderately-sized city of over 10,000 residents, there are a number of outdoor-related activities that guests can do in the nearby area. Lake Owyhee can be found a little over an hour away, where people are able to fish and take part in more water-based recreational activities. There is also Lions Park, which is down the road from The Ontario Inn and offers more leisurely activities. Lions Park also has an outdoor splash pad and an indoor pool. The area around the park has many trees that provide shade from the sun during the day. Another attraction that Susan recommends to her guests is the Four Rivers Cultural Center and Museum, where guests can spend time learning about cultures from around the world. At the cultural center, music, art, and theatre from different cultures are played and performed. The Four Rivers Cultural Center also boasts a Japanese-styled garden that guests are able to walk around.
Susan also recommends several restaurants that can be found within the nearby area. The first one she recommends to anyone looking for a spot to eat lunch or dinner is called Matsy's Restaurant & Catering, which primarily serves American food. Another restaurant she mentions is The Plaza Inn, which is a breakfast café. Her third favorite restaurant to recommend to visitors is named El Erradero. At El Erradero, they specialize in serving Mexican dishes.
The Ontario Inn is owned by Susan, while several members of her family help maintain and run it. Susan explains that the goal of the property is to be a comfortable and friendly place for guests to stay. Everyone that works there does their best to help create a laid-back atmosphere that is inviting to their visitors.
The owner of the property explains that they don't have that many policies that guests need to be aware of, although there are a few. She mentions that one of the more important policies that guests should know about would be their pet policy. Pets, including both dogs and cats, are allowed to stay with their owners at the Ontario Inn for only 10 dollars per night, regardless of how many pets an owner brings. Another important policy that she mentions is that if guests decide to pay with cash for their reservation, there will be an added 50 dollar deposit to the price of the room. When the guest's stay is over, and after an inspection of the room to check for damages, the 50 dollars will be returned to the customer, provided nothing was damaged during their stay. Guests are allowed to smoke Cannabis so long as they are doing it in one of the acceptable rooms. Anyone that smokes inside a no-smoking room may receive a 100 dollar fee to clean the room.
Susan explains that the reason she has implemented a pet-friendly policy at her property is that she loves animals. She enjoys that she is able to create a space for her visitors to bring their pets and spend time with them while they are traveling or on vacation. The Ontario Inn has several pets of their own. One unique thing about the property is that they have their own "office cats" that can sometimes be found in the lobby and other common areas of the property. These cats were originally strays that needed a home, so Susan and her family took several of them in and made them "members of the staff." These cats will often come to the lobby to greet people who walk through the front doors. One cat that is most known for its friendliness and outgoing personality is Fluffy.
The Ontario Inn has received a number of reviews from the people who have stayed at the inn in the past. A commonly mentioned aspect of the property in many of the reviews includes praise for having a place to stay where pets are invited as well. One person who recently stayed at the inn writes, "It was a great place for a quick overnight stay while traveling. The room was clean. The greeting from the resident cat when I checked in made me happy."
The Ontario Inn has been under Susan and her families' ownership for the last 17 years. They acquired the property in 2004 when the previous owner needed to sell it. Susan tells how she and her family were already familiar with renting apartments and rooms for long terms due to previous experience in the lodging industry. One of the things she enjoys most about her profession in the lodging industry is meeting people from many different places. She and two of her brothers share the job of working at the front desk, so she gets to interact with guests often.
While they have owned the inn since 2004, the house itself is much older than that. The building that makes up The Ontario Inn was built in 1953, about 68 years ago. For the first few years of its life, it was run as a motel. From the late 50s to the 60s, it was used as a dormitory for students that were studying at the nearby college called Treasure Valley University. Sometime later, it was turned back into a motel for the public.
Susan plans to make several changes to the property, such as add certain features and fix the current amenities. Some of these changes include having the floors updated and replaced and installing new equipment and furniture to replace the ones that have fallen into disrepair. There are also plans to remodel the parking lot in the near future. The last large-scale change they made to the property was installing a new roof, which took place a few years previous.
1144 South West 4th Avenue
Ontario, Oregon 97914
United States
Bed and Breakfast
Susan
