Montreal Travel Guide - Page 3
Tags: Montreal Hotel Reviews / Plateau Hotels / → All Tags
Hotel Godin :: Location, Location, Location
Hotel Godin is all about location. If you want to stay in a boutique hotel and have the Plateau right outside your hotel door, this is pretty much the only place to stay.
Walking up Ste-Laurent will take you first through Plateau Mont Royal's party district, full of trendy bars and restaurants, and then through a quiet area of beautiful parks and plenty of residential architecture. Staying on the edge of the Platueau is an obvious alternative to staying downtown, off Ste Catherine street, or staying in the middle of Old Town Montreal. However, you can most definitely hoof it from Hotel Godin to either of the aforementioned areas without an issue.
Ok, so we have established that Hotel Godin's location is top notch, but what about the hotel itself? As usual it really depends what you are after. We experienced great service--timely, thorough housekeeping, a concierge that knew where to send us, and friendly valets. We also enjoyed the sparsely decorated yet functional, decent sized rooms. On the other hand, Hotel Godin doesn't have a bar (yet), or a fully operational restaurant (they do serve a good breakfast daily), and the hotel charges $10.99 for daily WiFi Internet service (it is free in the lobby).
Without a bar or a restaurant, there is no hotel scene to speak of at Godin, but if you step outside your door you will find plenty to keep you occupied all the way until 3 AM.
Related Stories:
· Hotel Godin View [HotelChatter]
· Hotel Godin Reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Montreal Hotel Reviews [HotelChatter]
Tags: Montreal Hotel Reviews / Killer View / → All Tags
Killer View: Hotel Godin
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
Hotel Godin's room 428 provides guests a view of both down Sherbrooke and up Ste-Laurent--not bad at all. As the view hints at, it is the location of this boutique hotel that sets it apart from the old town boutique hotels--from Godin Plateau, Mile End, Downtown and Old Montreal are all easily reachable on foot. Le Plateau is just outside the hotel's front door.
Submit and tag your hotel photos in the HotelChatter photo pool
Related Stories:
· Hotel Godin Reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Hotel Deals / Montreal Hotels / → All Tags
Super Secret Hotel Deal: W Montreal for $59 a Night?
We got this email in our inbox about a deep discounted room rate at the W Montreal. But it looks a little "if it sounds to good to be true it probably is" to us, so we'll leave it up to you to tell us if it is the real deal.
Icon is allegedly offering a room for $59 at the hotel, compared with the usual $379 room rate. This of course doesn't include taxes and travel must be completed by September 14th. There's no way to book online either. You can send the Icon group an email at icontravel@icon-intl.com or call them at (866) 210-3032.
We skipped on over to their website just to see what was shaking and we found out that the company is a part of Omnicon, a group of advertising and marketing firms, that engage in something called corporate barter. We could take the time to explain how it works to you but we wouldn't want anything to get lost in translation.
If this deal skeeves you out, then check the hotel's website for their own special offers. Let us know how it goes out there in hotel deal land.
Related Stories:
· W Montreal reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Bad Rate / Hotel Deals / → All Tags
Bad Rate - Another Overpriced Romance Package
[Ed. Note: This is the Bad Rate in our Good Rate/Bad Rate Feature. This screenshot was taken on June 13, 2006 and rates are subject to change. Enjoy.]
In contrast to the good rate at the Omni Mont-Royal, boutique hotel Saint Sulpice offers a "Romantic Montreal" rate that's liable to create some finanical marital stress.
Boutique Hotel Le Saint Sulpice, in Montreal, wins lots of raves for its fine service, but their Romantic Montreal package is no bargain. Apparently they haven't noticed that the exchange rate has changed. For $400 Canadian (about $360 U.S. now), you can get a package deal of dubious value. It includes a horse-drawn carriage ride, a bottle of champagne, and continental breakfast.
If you decide to wander over to Expedia and reserve the room outright instead for a long weekend of July 7 through 10, it's an average of $240 per night, or around $275 Canadian.
Add up the carriage ride,continental breakfast for two, and the bottle of basic champagne (no, it won't be a bottle of Dom Perignon), and something doesn't smell right. For the first night you're paying more for the package than you would a la carte, then you're still paying US $360 a night after that--with no more horse rides or champagne. Do it yourself and make your own romance for less. With the savings you can have a few candlelight dinners.
Related Stories:
· Le Saint Sulpice reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Good Rate / Hotel Deals / → All Tags
Good Rate - You Say Mont-Royal, I Say Montreal
[Ed. Note: Welcome to our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature where we look at hotel prices in the same city and decide which is better worth your hard-earned benjamins. The screenshot here was taken on June 13, 2006 and rates are subject to change. Enjoy.]
Americans are finding that their greenbacks are not worth such a premium in Canada these days, due to the strength of the loonie. Thankfully some nice hotel deals are showing up to make up for it.
Take, for example, this excellent $125 deal from July 2 on at the Omni Mont-Royal in Montreal. That's the kind of rate we saw when the dollar was worth 50 percent more than it is now, for an upscale hotel in a prime area. The rate also coincides with the annual jazz festival, which ends July 9, and it's a time when you can enjoy a good walking city without shivering.
This is a promotion running through TravelZoo, you you must enter the code "OMNIZOO" when booking.
Related Stories:
· Hotel Omni Mont Royal reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Hotels / → All Tags
A Little Off the Da Vinci Trail
A lot of freaks/fans are on Da Vinci Code pilgrimages, explorations to the hotels and locales of Robert Langdon's path.
In the spirit of these adventures, we took a look at the starting point of Saint-Sulpice...okay so we're talking Le Saint Sulpice Hotel...in Montreal, hardly a Parisian church.
But Montreal is about as French as you can get without jumping the pond, with the added benefit of really great fries with cheesy gravy.
Le Saint-Sulpice is situated in the old Montreal right next to Notre Dame, and has 108 suites, many with fireplaces and kitchenettes. The rooms, the restaurant, the spa, and even the staff all get killer reviews:
I would have to say the staff is the friendliest and most attentive staff i have ever experienced
So in our attempt to find something wrong with this seemingly perfect boutique hotel, we did find it a bit tacky that they touted the following as complimentary in their spa:
The use of a small and a large towel. The use of a t-shirt and shorts.
So there you have bit of tackiness in the luxurious Saint-Sulpice.
Related Stories:
· Saint Sulpice Hotel Reviews [Trip Advisor]
Tags: / → All Tags
Canadian LASIK Hotel
For years people have been trying to convince us that Canada is not only a perfectly acceptable place to get LASIK eye surgery, but also the country that pioneered the surgery. While these people are really trying to convince themselves, their arguments are usually along the lines of, "Canada has been doing LASIK waaay longer than the U.S." Yeah, yeah, why can't they just admit the truth? They are driving up to Canada to get LASIK for half the price. Look, your eyes, your choice. Our only rule is if you get LASIK any place that has a Cinnabon next door, don't tell us, ok?
In any event, if you are heading to Montreal during the warm months, Le Square Phillips Hotel has recently come onto our radar. We didn't visit this hotel last time we were north of the border, but we have realized the error of our ways and will do so next time.
Here is what one April guest had to say about the place:
My family came with me when I was having LASIK surgery. The LASIKMD office was an easy 15 minute walk away. The location was also great for public transportation, shopping and restaurants.
Our hotel room was large and included a complete kitchen. The bed was comfortable and even the pull out sofa was comfortable for the kids. The pool was small but perfect for my two kids to swim in for hours.
If you don't have family, or eye surgery to worry about, Phillips is almost directly across from the Montreal W, and just a couple blocks from the antics of St. Catherine Street.
Photo of Phillips Staffers via TripAdvisor
Related Stories:
· Hotels in Montreal [HotelChatter]
· Trump International Hotel Reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Miscellaneous / → All Tags
2005 Awards: Best Hotel Scene
HotelChatter 2005 Award :: Best Hotel Scene
Yeah, yeah, it isn't Vegas, or New York, and most of the year you have to use an underground labyrinth to walk around the city without freezing your face off, however, Montreal has a great hotel scene.
From the hipsters in the Plateau to the hockey mullet heads downtown--Montreal knows hotels. Hoteliers here aren't afraid to try new things, and it shows.
Tags: Hotel Deals / → All Tags
Sleep In John Lennon's Bed
25 years ago this week John Lennon was gunned down outside his Manhattan apartment.
In memory of Lennon, every year on December 8th, 2 dozen red and white roses are left outside the suite door of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, where over thirty years ago Lennon and Yoko Ono staged their "Bed-in for Peace".
These days fans, pacifists, and Beatles freaks can stay in the "John and Yoko" suite, organize their own bed-ins, or curse Yoko all night long with the special John and Yoko Package. The package includes a night in the John Lennon Suite and, of course, breakfast in bed.
The Lennon suite is full of framed bed-in pictures and a color photo of John and Yoko surrounded by eight gold 45s.
This offer is valid until May 31, 2006.
Related Stories:
· John Lennon and Yoko Ono Bed-in [About]
· Fairmount Queen Elizabeth Hotel [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Hotels / → All Tags
Romancing The Bonaparte
Yeah, long time readers know we are constantly on the lookout for cool digs in Montreal.
Recently, we were introduced to The Bonaparte Inn--a quiet 30 room inn above a highly touted Montreal restaurant, is located between Old Town and Downtown (closer to Old Town) and is definitely a place for old school romantics.
A recent guest said:
The Bonaparte was a comfy place to sleep. It was beautiful, clean and the staff was wonderful. My FI proposed to me in our room and the staff helped him pull it off by delivering champagne and the ring. The setting is romantic but it is close enough to the heart of Montreal.
L'amour est dans l'air.
Related Stories:
· Auberge Bonaparte [Fodors]
· Bonaparte Hotel Reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Miscellaneous / → All Tags
Temporary Hotel Design
Montreal architecture students Lee Ferguson and Jonathan Whittaker have concocted a 26-room "temporary" concept hotel called "The Ten Year Hotel." The theory is when it gets old you can change the design, or scrap it all together. Here is how the design students explain it:
This project is a temporary approach to hotel design. Temporality refers to the condition of being temporal and bounded by time. In what we deemed to be a changing part of Saint Laurent Boulevard, in which the conditions that exist now very likely will not be the conditions that exist five years from now, our site response has been to consruct a highly functional but ultimately temporary hotel complex.
Discarded shipping containers serve as self sufficient rooms and are suspended from the steel beams that support the structure.
There is also some sort of sunken bar/concert area that allows passersby to experience the hotel.
We have so many questions. Will this ever get built? What about heating? Is this just pre-fab strip mall bullshit, or does this concept have legs?
Sounds like a cool idea to us.
Related Stories:
· Ten Year Hotel [Lee Feguson]
· Fabfiles [Fabprefab]
Tags: Hotel News / → All Tags
Montreal Hotel Workers To Strike
Close to 3,000 workers at 15 Montreal hotels are planning to strike Friday if they don't get a new labor pact.
Workers represented by Quebec's Confederation of National Trade unions voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to the strike.
The timing is particularly crucial since the city is hosting their annual comedy, and strikes are not funny.
The 15 hotels that could be affected by the strike include the Hyatt Regency and the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Queen Elizabeth.
A tentative agreement was struck between the union and with the Sheraton and and the Hilton in the suburb of Laval.
Last week at a one-day strike at the Queen Elizabeth, management personal were stuck picking up the slack. Let's hope they can work this one out.
Related Stories:
· Montreal Hotel Workers Set to Begin Strike Friday [USA Today]
Hotels In: Africa | Asia | Australia | Caribbean | Europe | North America | South America
Our Publications:
Jaunted | HotelChatter | VegasChatter
