Holiday Inn Midtown
The Holiday Inn Montreal Midtown is located on Sherbooke Avenue, close to the McGill University and the subway station McGill and only three blocks from cathedral. It is a 19 floor high rise building which has just finished a renovation, but no refurbishment, before I stayed there. The building is an uninspired and average building, which could also be an office building. Next door is the
Courtyard by Marriott Downtown and a new Hilton Garden Inn.
One enters the building through a revolving door. The entrance to the parking is right hand side from the main entrance and there are also waiting a few cabs for guests during the day. The lobby is long but small which only a few lounge chairs in the rear part. At the first half of the lounge is a small coffee bar, where coffee and muffins, bagels and other food items are available for purchase all day. On the other side is the bar and the restaurant of the hotel, where in the morning breakfast is served.
An escalator is available to reach the mezzanine level , where the business center and meeting rooms are located. In addition, a few meeting and conference rooms are also located on the ground floor next to the check in area. The usual equipment is available.
The check in desk is located in the rear part of the building, opposite the elevators. The desk is not that big, it could be staffed with tree persons and has a separate Priority Club Check In Desk.
The pool is located on the first floor together with the gym, sauna and steam room. Of the later two facilities there is one for each gender in the locker room for the pool / gym. Not the nicest location, but you can cool down on one of the few sun chairs placed around the pool. Of course, showers and towels are available.
The pool is one level down and could be reached by a staircase.
The gym is small and the machines are not state of the art, average but okay for a normal performed workout. But the gym is not the biggest one and it becomes really fast crowded, especially during peak hours in the morning or afternoon.
The hotel offers a very small lounge on the highest floor. It is not really anything special and of the seize of a usual room. The room is equipped with a sofa, lounge chairs, a tables and an internet PC. In the morning coffee and bagels are available. I have never seen anybody sitting there for breakfast, but the PC was used quite often by other guests.
The hotel has one restaurant, the Ace Bar & Grill, which is open to the lobby and located between entrance and check in desks. It serves Canadian / American Dishes and is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There is also the Ace Deli and Bar, which is closer to the entrance.
As usual for a Holiday Inn, WiFi is available for free throughout the hotel.
Stays: 01 June 2009
visited on Montreal with United 2009
direct link to hotel:
Holiday Inn Montreal-Midtown
Arrival Date: 01 June 2009
Departure Date: 03 June 2009
Room type booked: 2 Double Beds Corporate Floor Room
Rate Plan: Corporate Rate
Room Number: 1401
Room Rate: 134.30 CAD (excl. taxes)
Status of PC: Platinum
I arrived in the hotel in the early afternoon and had to wait a couple of minutes, while the only agent on duty was busy checking in other guests. A few times, another agent approached the desk and looked for some papers, but obviously she was busy doing other things and could not help his colleague. It might be not her duties to check in or check out guests, but coming and ignoring a waiting guest never seems to be a good idea. Thumbs
down. I therefore waited until the agent became available.
Nevertheless, it than was a quick and easy check in process. The keycard and the registration form were already prepared, so I only had to sign and show my ID. I was given two vouchers, one for each day for breakfast and like in the most cases I had to ask for the opening hours of the gym and pool after check in. And I was not told, that WiFi was not working in the hotel on that afternoon.
The way to the nearby elevators and to my room was explained and soon I was on the way to my room.
After one had opened the door to the room, one is standing in a small corridor with the sink and the wardrobe on the left side, like in man hotels either the sink nor the wardrobe were separated from the corridor by a door. A hairdryer was placed close to the sink and bathroom amenities were available as well, Nothing fancy, just the usual Holiday Inn stuff. Two small and two medium sized towels were hanging on a rack at the sink. On the other side of the corridor was the bathroom with bath and toilet.
On the rack in the bathroom were three large towels placed.
Towels were changed daily, although one did not place them in the bath. Sometimes, I ask myself, why the hotels have all those fancy stickers about pollution and saving the environment, if they did not care and change towels daily anyway.
The room was facing the backyard and the rear part of the Courtyard and Hilton Garden Inn Hotel, but the view was okay, no other high rises were blocking my view towards the neighborhood next to the hotel.
Opposite the bed was a sideboard with the TV on it and a fridge next to it. Between sideboard and window was a small table, which was way to small to work on. Since I had booked a business room, this room was from my point of view not fulfilling the needs of a business traveler. At least the internet was free and the WiFi signal was good after the WiFi was available again in the evening.
The corridor at the entrance had tiles, while the room has a carpet. There were some loose tiles at the wall where corridor and room met. Also a few scratches and stain in the carpet and on the wall were visible.
The interior was the usual one is expecting in Holiday Inn hotels. However, they did not refurbish the room as the hotel was renovated. The mattress of the bed was way too soft.
There are for sure nicer hotels in Montreal and in comparison to the nearby Courtyard and esp. the new Hilton Garden Inn, the rates could be seen as too high.
Breakfast was served in the restaurant. The voucher could be exchanged to a tea or coffee and a bagel or a muffin or a yoghurt or fruit or some other small things. I am not sure – got different answers – if the voucher could be used a credit to an item from the breakfast menu and how much the voucher was worth if doing so. Staff in the restaurant places you in a different area of the restaurant and you got a separate menu, which was in worse condition with stains and some ripped parts. In so far, room for improvement.
The lounge on the top floor serves yoghurts, coffee and muffins during the morning hours. I have not experienced difficulties in getting access to this small lounge and take some items with me to my room for a second breakfast.
Check out was okay, the folio was prepared and I got the usual informational folio in my last night at this hotel. I was not asked how satisfied I was with my stay, but was wished a good trip.
Overall an okay stay. The hotel is conveniently located, but the rooms are dated, though the hotel has been renovated. Staff is okay but not overwhelming friendly. They are doing their job, nothing more. The room-rate included breakfast in the restaurant is a joke and not worth any extra money. The pool is big and one of the good things of the hotel, although the gym is a bit of the small side. If I return to this property? Depending on rates and the nearby competitors, I might return. But I can get the nearby
Hilton Garden Inn for the same or rate or even a few bucks more, I might give them a try.
The hotel seems to be well recognized by German tourist doing one of the East Canada Round trips organized by a tour operator. I have heard a lot of German in the hotel.
