Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth

An excellent hotel

By the time we arrived at the station in Montreal which is directly under the QEII Fairmont Hotel, we were not in good humour after our long 10 hour Amtrak rail ride from New York especially trying to navigate up escalators with our large amount of baggage. (This is not necessary as an elevator can be found on the very lowest level of the station on the Amtrak line which takes you directly up to the Fairmont. This however is very hard to find with little directions available)

Arriving at our room late in the night and very travel weary, we found no bath towels in the room. After trying housekeeping, reception and any other dept. possible, none of which replied, I went down to reception who advised someone would deal with the matter. After 20min nothing - so we both bathed using the small hand towels available and after yet another 10 mins the bath towels arrived.

Not being in the greatest of moods I scribbled a note to the Manager expecting that little would come of it, but in the morning there was a message on my phone, to call him to arrange a meeting. This we did and are pleased and impressed that he dealt with the original problem with great humour and professionalism. I was more than pleased to accept his apology but as we were about to leave, he asked if we would care to have a full breakfast on the hotel in view of our problem which naturally we kindly accepted. An excellent example of how to deal with a problem which turned frustration in a hotel, into a very pleasant stay

Definitely pricey especially if you eat or drink in the hotel restaurants and more probably more suitable to business,conventions, or perhaps John Lennon (see below) where someone else is picking up the tab rather than the family holiday maker, but so very convenient having the railway station right under the hotel after a rather prolonged journey from NY

Unique Quality: The Le Reine Elizabeth hotel is situated directly over the main railway Station which not only serves Canada on their VIA Rail service, but is also the terminal for the AMTRAC service Montreal to New York Pennsylvania Station. If coming into town by rail from the US you need to go up one set of escalators ( unless you are lucky enough to spy the elevator) and then seek out in the massive station area the small, well hidden corridor leading to the elevator on that level which takes you directly into the hotel reception area.

This railway station is part of the RÉSO or La Ville Souterraine, underground city where you can walk through and access large areas of the City without ever coming to the surface which is very useful in inclement weather. in the area of the underground station a number of food halls where you can get some great low cost meals. Montreal with its 32km of underground passagways has the largest underground city in the world and with the passageways not only having their own retail outlets, but also connections to many commercial premises above and below ground

The hotel location is very central and ideal for walking virtually anywhere in the city. If asking directions to the hotel use "Queen Elizabeth hotel", as the "Fairmont" doesnt always ring any bells with locals

John Lennon and Yoko Ono made this hotel even more famous in the late 60's with their " Bed-in " and from their suites in the hotel, they recorded "Give peace a chance"
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bed-In

• Opinion of Price: most expensive
• Related to: Trains, Business Travel
• Written September 23, 2011

Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth Photo: The Queen Elizabeth Hotel opposite The Keg & RBC

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