Le Place d'Armes Hotel & Suites

The room was exceptional, the staff very friendly. Very comfortable bed and clean room. Would definitely recommend!!

We recently stayed at Le Place d’Armes and appreciated its prime location — just a short walk to Notre Dame Basilica and the heart of Old Montreal. Breakfast was easy to access each morning, and the concierge was excellent, offering helpful suggestions and going out of their way to assist us. The décor was nice, though not something to rave about. However, there were a couple of downsides worth noting. Our room was uncomfortably warm, and the air conditioning didn’t cool it well. The toilet also didn’t flush efficiently, and on a few occasions, calls to the front desk went unanswered. Even with those hiccups, the walkable location and standout concierge made this a memorable stay. With a few improvements to comfort and responsiveness, it could easily be exceptional.

Recently my husband and I stayed at the Hotel Place d’Armes. This hotel has many things going for it; a beautiful old building that has been renovated in a somewhat contemporary style, very convenient to the Metro, Chinatown, Old Montreal, and has an unfailingly polite and attentive staff. This hotel is not inexpensive and frankly I was hoping for a better experience. While the front of the house staff was wonderful and helpful there seems to be a disconnect between them and the facility repair/upkeep department of the hotel. We had requested and were given a quiet room on an upper floor. It was a very nice room, but we soon found a couple of problems, two of which were kind of minor but the other potentially very serious. The most significant issue was that the shower valve; even at it’s coldest setting was delivering very hot water that was just shy of scalding hot. It clearly needed replacement/adjustment. Showering was very unpleasant, even barely tolerable, and this during a heat wave in Montreal. The minor issues: a TV remote that did not work and an in-house telephone whose handset was dead so making/receiving calls to/from the front desk was not possible. We reported these issues to the front desk on our first night there a few hours after check in. We were told these problems would be fixed immediately. But showering the following morning, it was quite apparent that this was not fixed. So we reported this again, and again was told it would be fixed. This was at approx. 8:30am. To be really clear; if the hot water temperature was any hotter it WOULD have been dangerous. Returning after a morning’s enjoyment of the city, we checked the water temperature again; it remained unchanged, though we were told it was fixed. It was NOT!. The phone handset had no replacement batteries in house, but the TV remote got fixed. (These last two issues are first world problems I know). Not the point. At noontime/1pm. heading out for lunch and other activities, we again reported excessively hot water. We were again assured it would get fixed. Returning in the early evening and went to shower before dinner and the water temperature remained unchanged, i.e. very hot. Leaving the hotel we reported this again, for the fourth time. The staff was puzzled, apologetic, and seemed quite concerned. Returning from dinner at around 11pm, we spoke to the manager on duty. He offered to switch us to another (much smaller) room. Not wanting to take up time in the morning we switched that night, moving all our clothes, etc. a total drag. Theo, the manager that evening, was most apologetic, offered us drinks at the bar and complimentary breakfasts for the remainder of our stay. In addition he waived the cost of one night’s stay. He acted honorably and in good will. Shout out to Theo. Hate to say it but this whole experience was not, as seasoned travelers, what we might have expected from a hotel of this purported caliber. If not for Theo acting in good faith the entire trip to Montreal would have been a total disaster instead of just compromised. Stay there again on another visit to Montreal? I’d be hard pressed to do that; a shame.

I had an amazing experience at this hotel. The property is absolutely beautiful and perfectly located. The staff is wonderful !!!

This hotel has many of the things I really love: historical charm, a lovely restaurant, and a central location. However, when I stayed last November I was surprised by the disappointing way the hotel handled a theft I experienced in their restaurant during a dinner with friends, while I was staying at their hotel for a local event. I sent a letter explaining my experience to the hotel and never received a reply. I'm including an excerpt here, underlining the poor customer service and lack of urgency that the hotel staff showed in dealing with the theft: Upon reporting the theft to one of the servers, I was dissuaded from reporting it to the authorities while I waited for a manager to view the security camera footage. As the manager did not appear and no more information was given to me, I ended up heading to the central police station well after midnight. My case was treated with a similar lack of urgency the following morning. I came down to the front desk at 8 AM to inquire about what the manager had been able to see on the camera. My credit cards were at that time being used around the city, and though I had been able to cancel most of them, I was particularly concerned about the two car keys which had also been in my purse. Specifically, I was concerned about my car (registered in and driven from the United States) being stolen using these keys, as my car was parked not far from the hotel, the site of the theft. Upon arriving at the desk, I was told that a manager had still not been in to see the camera. I therefore stood near the desk, as other guests checked in, and awaited more information. There was again no sense of urgency. The manager did not show, and so I left after 9:30 AM to go find something to eat with colleagues (as again, I had no money and no credit cards). Upon my return just before noon, I was informed that the manager had indeed arrived, but the front desk did not know whether he had yet viewed the footage. The front desk staff again inquired and were informed that the manager, viewing the footage, did see a young man stealing the purse and that he would share the footage with the police. The manager did not come out to speak with me. As I tried to figure out how to return to the United States, with no credit cards or money, and with a car for which I did not have a key, I sought some assistance from the front desk. I was informed that I should contact a serrurier/locksmith. Though I was aware that I might need to try to find a locksmith on a Sunday, I was hoping that the front desk would be proactive in helping me locate one. Only after another staff member suggested that the front desk assist me in calling locksmiths did the front desk staff volunteer to do so; the front desk ultimately gave me the numbers for some locksmiths I could call and suggested that I work things out with them directly. At checkout I was not offered any apology or any gesture to recognize the poor experience I had had during my stay. Even more importantly, there was no follow-up from the hotel after my departure; in order to confirm that the video footage had been shared with Montréal police, I had to contact the Montréal police with my case file number. I left the Hôtel Place d’Armes disappointed in my stay in what is otherwise a lovely and historic hotel. The lack of urgency and attention to my case gave the impression that I was staying in a large impersonal business hotel as opposed to a boutique hotel with local roots. I hope that this information is helpful to you.