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A Hotel Pool You Can Swim In When It's Below Zero

Where: Old Lodge Road, Jasper, AB, Canada, T0E1E0

Many parts of the U.S. are having mild winters but that doesn't mean it's hotel pool weather everywhere. Up in the snowy mountains of Alberta, Canada, you can swim all winter long--even if it's minus 40 outside.

We were skeptical when we first spotted this outdoor pool at The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge last week. It is heated, of course, but look at those mountains! And the snow surrounding the pool edge!

Lucky for us, it wasn't minus 40 as it has been recently in Jasper, but the temp was still hovering in the mid-30s. Of course, curiosity got the better of us and we dragged ourselves out of our snow boots and parka and into a swimsuit.

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For A Little While Longer, You Can Name Your Price At The Hotel Grand Pacific

Where: 463 Belleville St , Victoria, BC, Canada, V8V 1X3

It isn't often that a hotel lets you have a say in the price of your stay. But that's exactly what Victoria BC's Hotel Grand Pacific is offering for the next two weeks. Running through next Friday November 11, prospective guests can visit the PayWhatYouWantVictoria site, answer some survey questions, and enter a price that they feel best reflects the "worth" of a one-night stay at the waterfront hotel.

When we first heard about this, we immediately thought of when Radiohead released In Rainbows in 2007, becoming the first band to ever release a digital album without an actual price—customers chose how much they wanted to pay, and that was that. By doing so, the band was challenging the conventional record distribution process, and the aging music industry in general. But in this case, the motives are a little more complex.

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Get Comfortable While You Enjoy New Art At Le Centre Sheraton Montreal

Where: 1201 Boulevard Rene-Levesque , West Montreal, QC, Canada, H3B 2L7

Le Centre Sheraton Montreal has acquired the rights to 40 archival photographs from the city's nearby McCord Museum, and the photos are to be displayed exclusively in the hotel's meeting rooms. A recent $40 million renovation enabled the artsy purchase, as well as the addition of some swanky new banquet chairs.

Designed with fidgety, conference-bound business travelers in mind, these aerodynamically-configured chairs provide laptop storage space underneath the seat and a hook on the back of the chair (for backpacks, umbrellas, fruit cornucopias). In short, the hotel is doing away with beds completely, and now asking frazzled business travelers to get cozy in their banquet chairs for the duration of their stay.

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A Hotel With Its Own Train Station: The Westin Nova Scotian

Where: 1181 Hollis Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 2P6

See that classy red brick building in the center of the photo above? That's nothing other than the Westin Nova Scotian, well the back of it at least. This view is from the port, as we spent our brief tim in Halifax onboard a ship there—more on that tomorrow—and yet we want to talk about the Westin and trains.

If you arrive to Halifax by train, by VIA Rail Canada to be more specific, then you'll be pulling into a station right next to the Westin Nova Scotian. You can even see it in this picture; it's the lower, lighter red brick building between Pier 21 and the large hotel.

Although the Westin Nova Scotian isn't exactly located in the thick of things in Halifax, it is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the views over the harbor and the proximity to the rail station the waterfront boardwalk and the Farmers Market soon to open on the piers. Rates for the fall are looking good too. Think $250 CAD ($235 USD) per night, and yes they have a parking lot too for those of you who want to do the fall foliage drive.

[Photo: HotelChatter]

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Size Matters: Smaller is… More Intimate at Le Petit Hotel in Montreal

Where: 168 rue Saint-Paul Ouest, Montreal, Canada

Montreal’s buzziest new hotels have two things in common: Resurrected antique architecture and chill lounges.

le petit hôtel is l’example parfait. The 24-room boutique hotel lives in a lovely 19th-century building in Vieux-Montreal. Ease into the evening with a glass of Quebecois ice wine at the low-lit lounge and, as the hotel folks put it, "mingle, munch, and unwind."

As for the design? Also parfait. We’ve researched lots of boutique hotels, and some can seem forced in their “boutiquey-ness” – too cute, and conventionally unconventional. Here, though, we love the mischievous and inviting interior. Tang-orange color accents play against old stone throughout the hotel. A monochrome suite with a grey-slate wall is offset by, say, a single orange chair or vase. (It reminded us of the film Red Balloon where there’s just one pop of color in the muted black-and-white landscape.)

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Hotel Le Germain Calgary is Now Open, Fresh Air Guaranteed

Where: 899 Centre Street , Calgary, AB, Canada, T2G 1B8

We missed putting this on our list but the Hotel Le Germain Calgary just opened over the weekend.

A sister hotel to the Le Germain Toronto, Le Germain Montreal and a hotel in Quebec, the new hotel boasts 143 rooms and a prime location on Centre Street near the EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts, the Glenbow Museum, the Calgary Tower, the TELUS Convention Centre, Olympic Plaza and the Stephen Avenue pedestrian walk which has nine shopping centers and department stores, retro cinemas, along with restaurants, bars and even art galleries.

Inside the hotel the guestrooms, expect lots of natural light, "warm wood accents", rainfall showers in the bath and even the hottest hotel trend of peekaboo windows with frosted glass. More on the amenities:

Goose-down duvets, feather pillows and comfy chairs will make you feel pampered, relaxed and rejuvenated. Hôtel Le Germain Calgary rooms feature complimentary high speed and wireless Internet access as well as large work tables with ceiling mounted Artemide lamps and ergonomic chairs that make it just as easy to be productive as it is to relax, in style.

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This Week in Hotel Lust: Hastings House, British Columbia

Where: 160 UPPER GANGES ROAD, SALT SPRING ISLAND, BC, Canada, V8K2S2

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore. The grounds of Hastings House.

With the Winter Olympics just around the corner, we've been thinking about our neighbors-to-the-North quite a lot. Vancouver hotels are sure to be booked solid with an influx of skaters, skiers, and curlers coming to town, which led us to wonder what lust-worthy accommodations could be found for a retreat outside of the city.

One name consistently popped up during our search for a stellar resort: Hastings House. Though it's not of the same breed as, say, Paris' Hôtel de Crillon or Dubai's Burj Al Arab, it has earned praise from luxury arbiter Andrew Harper, among others. One writer deemed it one of the "1,000 Places To See Before You Die." That's a damn bold statement if ever we've heard one. Sprawling over 22-acres of Ganges Harbor on BC's Salt Spring Island, it may be called a "Country House Hotel," but these are certainly not rinky-dink pastoral lodgings.

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O Canada, Starwood is Offering Up to 40% Off in Honor of Thee

Le Royal Meridien King Edward, Toronto

No dogging on Canada. If it weren't for Canada, you wouldn't have the opportunity to score the discounts and deals we're about to share with you. So hold off the O Canada jokes for a hot minute (or at least til the end of the month).

In honor of Canada Day, Starwood Hotels across the great nation to the north are celebrating by offering a hot chunk of discounts. The sale is for a limited time only, though, and it ends on Canada Day (July 1st) so get over there and check out the rates ASAP.

We found the Le Meridien King Edward for a night in August priced at 129 CAD (about $111 USD) and Vancouver's Westin Grand was running as low as 160 CAD. Also, the Westin Resort in Whistler was down to an awesome 129 CAD as well. But: the Canada Day sale is only valid for stays through September 30th, so don't think you'll be scoring a cheapo ski vacay (also, that Westin is undergoing some renovations until December, so maybe it's not such an awesome deal after all).

You've got about 40 hours left to book. Go here.

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Montreal's New Westin Opens In Old Newspaper Headquarters

Where: 270 Saint-Antoine Ouest, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H270A3

You know you're in Montreal when a newly-opened Westin sticks a "Le" in front of its name. Please welcome to the Canadian hotel scene the Le Westin Montreal, a 454-room property housed in the historical building once belonging to The Montréal Gazette.

In homage to the former tenants, the hotel has named its restaurant "Gazette" and its bar "Le Reporter." As far as the rest of the hotel goes, it's a standard Westin with Heavenly beds in every room, a WestinWORKOUT fitness center, and even an indoor pool. Special attention has however been placed on the work spaces within the rooms, since Montreal is just as popular a destination for business as it is for leisure, and the Westin happens to be centrally located in the downtown district.

Rates for such a fresh and well-situated property are excellently low to start off; this summer is looking at rooms from $150 per night. For once we may be freed from the expensive appeal of Le Saint Sulpice, but for how long?

[Image: Le Westin Montreal]

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Movie Marketing Hotels: Titanic Theme at Ryan Mansion Inn

Where: 21 Rennies Mill Road , St. John's, NL, Canada

Here comes our annual winner in the cheesy-music-on-website hotel contest: the Ryan Mansion Inn in St John's, Newfoundland has a gentle instrumental rendition of the "My Heart Will Go On" Titanic theme song playing on its website, and what's worse, we totally can't find a mute button on the site.

You might well be wondering why a historic inn would be playing the Titanic music, but in fact it has some kind of reason for it.

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Fairmont Offers Serious Digital Detox for Crackberry Addicts

Where: Canada

Have you ever admitted to yourself that the only conceivable way you can let go of your Blackberry, Treo or iPhone is when your hands are cold and dead? For us PDA addicts, those babies are glued to our palms from the first e-mail check in the morning all the way to the last drunk text at night. It's a problem, actually.

Fairmont is here to help: the Fairmont Electronic Rehab package will take your PDA away and there is nothing you can do about it except enjoy your vacation. And probably cry a little bit.

According to the Calgary Herald, the package has launched in several hotels up North this summer - among them, Canadian faves like Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper and Whistler - and is meant to help guests to truly relax and recharge (duh) without their gadgets.

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Montreal Hotels Think It's Aboot Time For You to Learn French

Hey, stupid Americans: the French-Canadian folks are so sick of you traipsing around Montreal with your silly English language (and worthless U.S. dollars and ugly Abercrombie outfits) that they are offering to teach you how to speak French.

No, seriously:

A pair of Montreal hotels have partnered with Berlitz Canada to offer French lessons to guests. Hotel Nelligan and Le Place d'Armes Hotel & Suites - part of the Antonopoulos Group of boutique hotels and restaurants - are offering a package that includes five nights' accommodation and 18 hours of private French lessons designed for tourists.

Yeah, what's up now, Aloft Montreal? Let's see you give us a nice bed to sleep in AND teach us French. Yeah, we thought so.

The package starts at $3,494 CAD for two people; reservations can be made here.