The Chateau Laurier Hotel (Hotels in Ottawa)

Member Name: sarajackson

Product:	Hotels in Ottawa
Date:	04/09/02 (13 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Location, Atmospheric Building, Good rates

Disadvantages: Some public areas a little tired, Quiet at weekends, Service sometimes rushed

This year we stayed at the Chateau Laurier Hotel for the first time. We had booked some 18 months earlier through a website based in the UK and managed to secure a room this far in advance for the brilliant rate of $129 for a standard Fairmont Room.

The Chateau Laurier from the outside is typical of the early 1900's Chateau style of Canadian Pacific/National Hotels with copper turreted roof. It is situated right next to the Rideau Canal locks just across from Parliament Hill. Its location is brilliant, and Ottawa being fairly compact anyway, most attractions are a short walk away. When we were there the copper roof was being repaired and this temporarily spoils the aesthetic image of the hotel, but it is still a striking building architecturally and one that fits in seamlessly with its neighbours the Parliament Buildings.

Once inside the Hotel, the lobby is large and ornate, with dark wood panelling, marble floor and a central ornamental fountain. The hotel differs from the style of other similar hotels like the Royal York or Hotel Vancouver, as the atmosphere inside is much cosier and dark. It also has various vestibules connected by wide marble floored corridors off from the lobby, instead of one huge expansive lobby. This also adds to it's intriguing style.

The day before our departure from the UK, we received a Suite Upgrade Certificate, as my husband is a member of the Fairmont President's Club. Determined not to miss out, I thought it would be worthwhile e-mailing the Chateau Laurier to see if we could use one during our stay. Much to my surprise they said yes!

When we checked in, our room request had been processed and we must have been given our key in record time. We went to find our room, which was on a high floor of the hotel. The corridors leading to the guest rooms do appear slightly dated, but it is hard not to dismiss this slight criticism as being part of the hotel's charm. A lot of ori
ginal features abound, including the rather old elevators, which nevertheless are very efficient. Our room was described as a Junior Suite, and consisted of a wide central lobby with bathroom off, and large walk in wardrobe. Inside the main room which had plain cream walls with a few small traditional framed prints was a sitting area with sofa and two armchairs in various patterned upholstery. The carpet was a light blue - probably not the most practical colour for a room of this size and one that had suffered from some kind of spillage just in front of the window. At the sitting area end of the room was a large mahogany TV/hospitality unit and at the far end was a desk area and the entrance to the bedroom, with another TV unit just outside that you could see from the bed. This main suite area which must have been more than 20ft long, and had two windows, which looked out towards the Canal but mostly offered a view of the opposite wing of the hotel. The bedroom was separated from the living area with French doors, and had a small closet, large bed with floral cover, regency striped valance and ottoman and mahogany round bedside tables. In the room original features were also apparent including the monogrammed door handles. The room was far in excess of what you would expect from a Junior Suite. We worked out that it exceeded the area of our home in the UK!! The room contained all the usual Fairmont amenities, such as coffee maker, hairdryer, minibar, two telephones etc, but similar to many of their hotels suffered from poor lighting. One petty gripe as well was that you could not actually see the TV from the sofa! The only full length mirror was on the back of the bathroom door, and as always the room would benefit from some kind of dressing table with mirror, or at the very least a full length mirror in the bedroom. The bathroom was very traditional in style, with good lighting.

The service at the Chateau Laurier was very good, in particular t
he very speedy check in. Our room was serviced before our return each day but the evening turndown service was very early, meaning we were always getting ready to go out, and had to arrange for it to be done later.

The Hotel has two main restaurants, Zoe's Lounge and Wilfrids. We ate on one evening in Zoe's Lounge which has a comprehensive drinks service including some very good cocktails (I recommend the Kir Royale!) and a meal service consisting of sandwiches, burgers, light meals etc. We found the food extremely good, and very reasonably priced. The service on the whole was good, but I was rather annoyed on our first visit to have an over-enthusiastic barman who insisted on taking away only half drunk drinks!!

We stayed at the hotel Friday to Monday and were perhaps stupidly surprised at how quiet is was. In Zoe's Lounge we were two of very few guests and it occurred to us why we had managed to get a Junior Suite Upgrade at such short notice. I guess the fact that the Hotel is busy during the working week, means that it is possible to get a really good deal at the weekend, but I couldn't help thinking the hotel lacked some of its character when it was so quiet.

Summary: