Grand Plaza Montreal, Montreal

I'm a US service member and took my family to Canada for the first time to stay at the Grand Plaza in Montreal. Reception at the border should have been an indicator of the trip to come.... Canadian border guards are very suspicious of US military personnel and treated me accordingly. Onto the hotel..... Location is good, central to a lot of things to do in Montreal. Parking is $18.00 a day, just keep this in mind and add it to the cost of your hotel. Bottom line on the hotel.... it's old and needs some renovation and improvements. Bathrooms are not modern or particularly clean. The staff was pleasant, but they couldn't overcome the hotel's deficiencies. My main problem with the hotel was the lack of air conditioning. Outside air temps hovered around 75-80 degrees, and the hotel was really uncomfortable inside the room. I asked the front desk about it, and they told me the heat was still on for the season and there was nothing they could do about it. They brought me a rotating fan. NOTE: individual room temperatures CANNOT be adjusted.... the plastic panel inside the room fell off when I tried to open it. I later found that while the numbers on the panel to adjust A/C will change, they are NOT connected to the room's temperature control. I was not pleased and expect more from a $100+ hotel room. We stayed here primarily for the location and the pool. We found that the hotel pool, while indoors, was not heated. Children would not enjoy the chilly water, and we didn't use the pool at all for this reason. Another strike against the Grand Plaza. One of the chairs in the room had a leg broken off so it leaned considerably to one side. Would a concerned/involved hotel manager let something like this go unchecked? Probably not, and this was my general feeling about the hotel. If you small children, note that there were windows without safety screens (or safety bolts) in our 14th floor room. While we wanted to open the window to get some cooler air, I did not because of the concern that a small child could squeeze out the window and fall if they weren't carefully watched. Not worth the risk. OVERALL SUMMARY: - Hotel room condition is a little seedy, run-down - Pool is not heated - Rooms are not climate controlled, can't adjust your own heat or A/C - Attitude towards Americans is typical Euro-snob If you're American (and used to American-style rooms and amenities), visit Montreal and stay in a known chain hotel. It will be worth the extra $$. Final note: We actually checked out of the hotel a day early to find another that had A/C. I asked the hotel front desk clerk for a refund for only the unused night because we were unhappy with the room. She refused, and so did Travelocity (due to their cancellation policy). Be careful booking with Yahoo because if you're unhappy with the hotel, you will likely lose your money.

This was the worst (and I stay in hotels to travel at least 10 per year) stay I have ever (and I stress EVER) had in my life. The service at the front desk was outstanding but the porter a rude son-of-a-dog; imagine that he called the elevator to go down and knew I was going up and scrambled on to close the door leaving me waiting in the hallway for it to go down and come back before I could get to my next floor. I reserved an Executive Suite, got bumped up to a Presidential because the owner's yappy-dog was next to the Exec. Suite and barked at every hallway movement. No rest in that sleep! So, the Presidential I was given was filthy and things were broken. If I were owner of that hotel, I would not even let a smoker get that smoking-suite because it reaked of wet ashes/butts. Okay, so now you can imagine that I am tired, a bit irritated and just want a room so that I don't have to feel like I'm in the Faulty Towers, I request very nicely (cause I don't want to sound like a complainer) another room that is non-smoking. I settled for a second Prez Suite but both phones were broken, the light fixture in the kitchen hanging from the ceiling, the whirlpool tub no longer whirling and the toilet ran as well as leaked. I didn't dare complain. I stayed there the night and simply stated on my way out that the hotel was in an unacceptable state and that not only would i never return but for the first time in my life, I would take the time to write a review to save others the suffering and disgust I felt there. Really, I washed the remote cause there was food stuff stuck between the keys on the keypad - the back taped with duck tape and only one battery - had to find another remote (which also only had one battery) to get one remote working. Used a facecloth to press the buttons. Yuck! Good luck if you decide to go there anyway!! n.b. Finally, remember that it is not customary for me to complain and I have left out a great deal of detail to make the story reasonably short and believable, because if I had told you everything, you'd claim this review as unbelievable.

Location was pretty good and thats all that was good. The experience dampened my montreal visit quite alot because when i travel i like to stay at reputable and good hotels. Thinking that a hilton hotel would be good, this was not the case at all. Upon making reservations with their direct number i was promised a newly renovated room on a higher floor facing the city. We got an old room on the 9th floor facing a wall! When i brought this up with the reception they told me that there were no other rooms available. Big Disappoinment! Being tired from a 6 hour drive, we decided to just go to sleep and deal with it again in the morning. Morning comes and we go to the reception to talk to them about our disappointing and not what was promised room. Sue mei, the receptionist on duty, doesnt even try to help. Instead, she looks puzzled after i explained that the room was not what was promised. She turns and calls the Manager, who doesnt come talk to me himself. Instead, im offered 2 cold breakfast coupons. Cold breakfast! In other words, jam and toast! As if to say, "sorry for the Crappy room so have some toast, fruit and jam on us" I called the hotel 3 times to make sure there would be a fridge in the room. Each time, they said YES. Ofcourse there was none and they offered one free of charge. To even offer "free of charge" was insulting when there was supposed to be one in the first place! The bathroom was small and didnt feel clean and sanitized at all. Each time you flush, the water rises. Without any toilet paper in it! A hotel staff comes to plunge it and doesnt even bother cleaning up afterwards. He couldnt even speak english which is crazy! This is Canada not France! Air conditioning seemed to be shutting off automatically in the evenigs which made it very hot and uncomfortable. Cleaning lady didnt change our towels or replenish toiletries everday of our 4 day stay. She only did once! This was the last weekend of summer for my kids. I wanted them to have a nice trip, which includes a nice hotel stay. This was very far from it. I will not return. Though have to point out that the valet attendant was the most friendly and hard working of all the stafff we encountered during our stay. I am referring to the Asian man. He was tall and lean. Cant remember his name but you cant miss him. Very nice and friendly.

We reserved on the internet, and because it was Doubletree, we assumed that it was as newly renovated and as good as Doubletrees in the States. Wrong. It was old, had only one person at the desk, and the parking lot was around the corner and scarey because the side street was deserted. I didn't want to walk to the underground lot because I didn't know what or who woul meet me. There was a German shepard standing guard in the lot. We checked out 1 hour after we found a Hyatt Regency on Jean-Manse. That was up to "modern" standards, and the priced was $152/night--not the $169 that the Doubletree charged.

Air Conditioning doesn't seem reliable. It shut off sometime during the night, and the itty-bitty windows don't open enough to do anything. They have a list of which floors the soda and ice machines are on. List is wrong, and soda machines only work on tokens, that you have to go down to the front desk to buy.

Three buddies and I came to Montreal for a little nightlife and fun. First off we travel often and are very easy going. We tend to have a great time anywhere we go and make the best of any situation. But this time it was impossible. Having stayed at more than one Crown Plaza in other cities we assumed since it�s a Crown plaza and it�s on Sherbroke St. It must be decent. Well where we ever wrong. The Crown Plaza is in the worst Location of all the downtown hotels. The location could not be any worse. While it is on a sherbrooke street, it is on Sherbrooke street EAST! Not Sherbrooke west, which is the real center of downtown. Sherbrooke EAST was indeed in the center of the nightlife BUT the wrong kind. To put it kindly and as politically correct as possible it was in the center of the �alternative� section of Montreal. There was no pot gold at the end of this rainbow. It was not the type of nightlife best suited for three guys looking to met woman. It cost us a $20 cab ride every time we wanted to go anywhere. The hotel itself was far worse than any Crown Plaza any of us had ever stayed at. I booked the so called �presidential suite� The only thing presidential about it was the price we paid. I truly feel cheated; I will never ever recommend this hotel to anyone! The whole Sherbrooke east is very misleading and should at least be pointed out to those that are comparing hotels.