Omni Mont-Royal - c'est bon! (Hotel Omni Mont-Royal (Montreal, Canada))

Member Name: bamamo

Product:	Hotel Omni Mont-Royal (Montreal, Canada)
Date:	23/04/09 (73 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good location, very clean and spacious rooms, very friendly staff, wide range of facilities

Disadvantages: Pricey extras eg room service, expensive if you can't get it on offer.

I recently ended up spending two nights in Montreal on either side of my onward travel plans. I'm not a particularly fussy traveller and besides a nice clean room and the availability of room service (which I prefer when travelling alone) I didn't really mind what the hotel was like as long as it fit my budget. Which, by the way, is "as cheap as possible without being a total seedy dive".

Luckily for me Expedia had the Omni Mont-Royal in their sale, which worked out significantly cheaper than lower-starred hotels in worse areas which had not been reviewed so favourably. Result! I just checked a few random dates and they still have it as a special deal :)

When I arrived from the airport (there is a flat rate of $38 for a taxi to downtown), the doorman opened the taxi door for me and brought my bags into the lobby. I could get used to this! Front desk staff were very friendly and the lobby was very swankily decorated.

My room - which the girl at front desk quite rightly described as "a quiet room with a beautiful view of the mountain" - was impressive in both cleanliness and size. I opted for a king bed rather than two queens, and but the room also had a writing desk, table, TV cabinet, CD player/alarm clock, phone and sofa. The bathroom was spacious with a bath tub and shower (very good water pressure and temperature control), toilet, bidet, sink, hairdryer and a variety of toiletries and extras you don't always get including weighing scales. I must admit, I was a little depressed to jump on those on my second night before I came back home - Quebecois food is GOOD!

One thing to note is that while you can get your complimentary morning newspaper delivered in English - either the Wall Street journal or a Montreal paper - I wasn't able to find any English television channels. Staff are all perfectly bilingual and very happy to speak English, but Quebec is a lot more French than I was prepared for!

On my second stay a week later, my room was a lot higher up - I believe on something like the 17th floor (of 31) - and on the other side of the hotel. It was a bit noisy when I first arrived, due to my across-the-hall neighbours and some drunks out on the street yelling, but it did settle down soon. I can't say the view was nearly as nice - the back of buildings doesn't really do it for me!

Other hotel amenities include gym and spa facilities, a bar/lounge, coffee shop, hair salon, laundry services and free wi-fi. I ordered room service before my departure to the airport which was a rude awakening as to the fact that this is a luxury hotel which I had got ridiculously cheap and really would not have been able to afford otherwise. No matter how good it was, it was ridiculously overpriced and I would urge you to eat out if possible!

If you want a conveniently-located hotel, then the Omni checks all the right boxes. It is located within Montreal's "Golden Square Mile" - which houses some of the best shopping on St Catherine Street as well as the main museums and art galleries.

I had to get a train the next morning and from the map I expected the station to be a lot further away - turns out it only took me 10 minutes even with a suitcase. It would seem Montreal is pretty easy to get around on foot. There are a lot of maps and signposts on street corners. Of course, it can get hellishly cold in winter, but that's what the underground city is for! Enter via most big office buildings/hotels and you can walk, eat and shop in warmth and safety day or night.

The airport is a 20 minute drive. There is parking for guests although this costs $17 a night. Taxis are always waiting outside which the lovely doorman will of course bring your bags to when it's time to leave! (I was embarrassed on my return home as my bags had got ruined in transit and were being held together by tape - not quite the clientele I expect they want to be seen leaving their glitzy gold doors!)

I was very impressed with the Mont-Royal and would definitely go back again should I end up in Montreal. Expedia are still running the offer I used, which has now been on for several months so hopefully they have struck up some kind of deal. This means rates start at £69 a night. For a four-star (five Canadian) downtown Montreal hotel, this is very reasonable, but because of the standard of the hotel I would happily pay a lot more to return.

Summary: A wonderful downtown Montreal hotel - and I feel worth the pricetag.