Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth

Do not stay at this hotel if you care about receiving decent customer service. My wife and I stayed here for a medical conference that was being held at this property. We stayed four nights and wound up with a bill for over $2000 CDN, even after the piddling $50 CDN per night that the hotel was crediting all conference attendees to "make up for" the fact that the hotel's employees were on strike and most hotel services were eliminated or limited. The hotel is basically closed to the public. You can not currently make a reservation. Even so, when we asked for a late checkout because my wife was staying a few more hours than most conference attendees, to voluntarily do outreach for high school students, we were flatly (but politely) denied, even though we had previously been told on the phone that a note would be made on the reservation and that it should not be an issue. (The note was made, as it was found and read by both the original desk agent and later by a manager.) When it was clear that the desk agent was not going to be able to help me I asked to speak with a manager. The manager, who was also polite and professional, said that they were not allowing late checkout for anyone. I was not at all pleased with this answer. I noted that the hotel was basically closed. The manager said that they had 350 rooms to clean, and another conference coming in. I pointed out that they would not be able to clean 350 rooms with their very limited staff in the few extra hours we wanted to keep our room, but this did not sway the manager. I also asked why we had been told it would likely not be a problem if their policy was to not allow any late checkouts. The number of rooms they would need to clean and the fact that another conference was coming in was not new information that they had received in the five or six days between when we called and when we were asking for the small accommodation. The manager made a comment about not being able to offer it to some guests and not others. I pointed out that only a handful of surgeons were staying to do the voluntary outreach. Again, the manager was unmoved. I stated that in light of all the issues surrounding their lack of staff, and lack of services they were providing, that this would be a minor accommodation. To support my claim that things had been pretty bad during our stay, I pointed out that the banquet had run out of food the night before. The manager tried to blame that on the conference organizers. I stated that I was sure the conference organizers had told the catering department how many attendees there would be, and that it was the hotel and not the conference organizers who were to blame for the fact that there was not enough food for the number of guests in attendance. At this point I was quite angry and said that I would not be leaving the room at noon, and that they could send the police if they wanted to. Naturally my wife and I did not follow through on that threat. We checked out shortly before noon, with a desk agent who was very pleasant and helpful. I am writing this review shortly after noon, from the conference area where I will be waiting for my wife for about the next four hours. Since I mentioned the food, I'll expand on that. There was an opening reception that had two main dishes. One was "Montreal Smoked Meat." I have seen photos of this dish, and in those photos it looks like a tasty dish that I would enjoy. What was presented at this reception looked nothing like the photos I had seen. The meat was cut almost paper thin and it was slimy and greasy. I honestly would not have fed that meat to my dog, for fear it would make her sick. The other main dish consisted of the ingredients to make poutine. There was gravy and cheese curds, both of which were fine. But the french fries that were, of course, the main component of the poutine, were disgusting. It's hard to make bad french fries, but in this respect The Fairmont excelled! There was a formal closing banquet that was "black tie optional." About 1000 people attended this banquet. The hotel had set up two serving areas, allowing for a total of four serving lines (one on each side of the two stations) to serve 1000 people! The food at the banquet was fine. It was significantly better than the food served at the opening reception. In fact there was a sushi area, and my wife said the sushi was very good. Unfortunately, though, my wife was one of the lucky 50% or so of the banquet attendees who got to the sushi line before the sushi was all gone. It was never restocked! We saw that there was still a very long line of people waiting to get through the food serving line at the point the last of the sushi was taken. This was not a group of college athletes, who might eat more than the average person. This was a group of surgeons, with the average age probably being somewhere in the 40s or 50s, with many 60, 70, and 80 year olds present. My point is that if anything, the members of this group would eat less, not more, than the average person. Running out of one of the main food choices at the banquet was completely unacceptable. (They also ran out of desserts. Those were eventually partially, but not completely, restocked.) I am including a photo of the empty sushi serving area and also a photo of the letter we were provided at check-in, notifying us of the limited services. I recognize that there was not much the hotel could do about their striking employees, and that having to limit some of their services because of this unfortunate situation was beyond their control. However, in light of that, I feel very strongly that the hotel staff should have bent over backwards to try to accommodate guests when and where they could. They are, after all, in the hospitality industry. Allowing us to stay a few extra hours, in a room we had paid over $2000 CDN, for would have been an easy (and free) way for the staff to show that they cared about customer service and about making our experience better where they could. The fact that they flatly refused speaks volumes about how much they truly care about their customers.

With all the wonderful hotels to choose from in downtown Montreal I’m very disappointed to have stayed at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth. I know they are dealing with a labor dispute but if you can’t at least be polite to your guests nevermind basic service like fresh towels in the room then just close down. Every other hotel managed to come to an agreement with the union but this place decided to be cute and hold out. Wish we had just stayed at the fantastic Vogue Hotel and walked here for the conference. On top of it all I get accosted by the security guard at the main entrance on my 4 day. I guess I don’t look the part of a queen elizabeth guest.

The hotel was fantastic. We booked through the RBC Visa Infinite Offer: Best available rate guarantee (temporarily unavailable) - The offer provided for every third night free. Automatic room upgrade upon arrival, when available - I was upgraded to a room with a view, but the room was not larger. Complimentary in-room Wi-Fi, when available - The Wi-Fi is good. There is no limit on the number of devices. Complimentary breakfast for two - The breakfast at the hotel is a great buffet. They charge you the taxes and tip so it is not really free. $25 USD food or beverage credit - We used this at the bar for drinks and a snack of nuts. VIP Guest status - I am not sure what this means. They did give us a cake and two waters on our first day because we were celebrating our anniversary. Water is expensive to buy at the hotel, but you can get a bottle at a local drug store or the dollar store. Late check-out upon request, when available - We got a 2PM checkout, but you have to ask on the day that you are leaving. We loved the hotel and there are many good restaurants nearby.

The location was very convenient, but due to the strike there were no available amenities to justify the cost of the stay. No room service or cleaning, no restaurants, no pool or hot tub, and striking workers that made the exterior look unpleasant for the duration of the trip. Our business convention of 700 realtors probably took up many of the rooms during the event at which we were given the lousiest breakfast I’ve had even when compared to the free breakfasts given by many of the low end major hotel chains in the USA. What really made things worse was not being given a measly 2 hrs late checkout with a late flight even with useless ALL platinum status with the chain when it was obvious that they would unlikely even get to my room by 2pm with the lack of staff and most of my associates checking out the same day. To make matters worse, the hotel front desk told my co-worker that the hotel warned our brokerage that there was a strike and so negotiated a lower rate. Knowing that my brokerage has already set the hotel for next years Canadian convention a year in advance, I find it highly unlikely that the hotel was able to warn that a strike would be going on a year earlier and as such offer a discount because of it. With top tier status at a number of other hotel chains, the lack of disclosure and service was truly a disappointment for a hotel that could have avoided this honest review just by offering late checkout until 2pm.

Despite the ongoing strike at the Queen E the management staff are doing a fabulous job, and frankly we liked how quiet it was given they are only booking to 40% capacity. We were given an upgrade on arrival, as I think most people were, and they have included a hot buffet-style breakfast in the price while the strike is ongoing, which is a nice touch. There are no other food or beverage amenities open in the hotel right now, but with Place Ville Marie and the train station restaurants and amenities (including an SAQ) available without even going outside we did not feel the need for an on-site option. The pool is also not currently open, but the gym is and we had it to ourselves each day! Bravo, QE, to the management staff who are working very hard to keep the hotel going.