Fairmont Chateau Laurier

Really disappointed in this hotel. Spent a fortune to stay here for a week. First room smelled so bad I couldn't stay there. Such a shame as the room looked gorgeous. They moved me to a very small room, much smaller than the room I had paid for. The room door was open when i got there. I touched the curtains and the hook came straight out of the wall. Bathroom door wouldn't close. Slept there the first night. Moved to a different room the next day. Again much smaller than the first room but I thought it will do. I just wanted to unpack and have a cup of tea. The kettle wouldn't work. They brought me a different one. I rinsed it out in the sink and loads of black gunk came out. I don't understand. I thought this was a luxury hotel?

My wife and I recently stayed two nights at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier. We had stayed there as well last year. Although I like the hotel and would stay again, I wanted to write a review about my experience reserving a room. I had checked the hotel's website and decided on a room with a refundable rate. We often have to cancel trips, so a refundable rate is essential. I had exited the hotel's website for some reason and somehow got an Expedia website for the hotel when I logged back on. Their (and others) have websites that look similar to the hotel's. I somehow thought I was getting a refundable room (I wasn't). After discovering my error, I contacted Expedia about the mistake, but they would not let me change my reservation. Only the hotel could do that, I was told. The hotel said it was ok with them if I cancelled the Expedia reservation. Expedia then told me that I would have to pay a one night cancellation fee to do that. Fortunately, I was able to make the trip. However, I ended up paying significantly more than the going rate at the hotel. For some reason, Expedia added significant fees onto the price of the room. The lesson is that websites that might appear to be for a hotel might not be the hotel's website.

a beautiful building right in front of parliament and walking distance from many of the sites and attractions. Check-in was acceptable as was the room although even when switching the AC to ‘off’ it wouldn’t stop. At breakfast service was so-so and the ‘closed’ sign was still showing at 07.30 when we left. Worst was the valet, at 08.00 on a Saturday morning with no one waiting, it took 30 mins to get our car and the overnight charge is excessive.

Stay was certainly not flawless but in light of the relatively reasonable pricing, I'm erring on the side of a five star rating. The hotel was busy over the dual US/Canadian Labor Day weekend. I had a queen bed room and while it wasn't awful, it wasn't particularly luxurious either. The worst parts of staying were the lack of soundproofing coming from the hallway combined with a very bizarre experience of waking up each morning to the bathroom smelling quite awful. It's hard to explain - some kind of unpleasant oniony smell. When the connecting door between the bathroom and main room was open, the smell permeated into the room. I had real difficulty getting availability for the massage treatments. It wasn't customer-centric that treatments aren't offered on Mondays at all and there is such limited availability to be able to book on any other day. Getting more therapists would be a good idea. Breakfast was a hot mess. They were seemingly understaffed, it takes real skill to somehow be understaffed for buffet service. Thankfully on two out of my three mornings I had really great servers, Phil and Jeremy. Medicocre service from a woman on the second day. The front desk gave incorrect information on arrival about when to switch restaurants for breakfast also which was an unnecessary inconvenience. Afternoon tea in and of itself, including service was good. It was spoiled a bit by young children running rampant at the neighboring table. Checkout was thorough and unrushed despite the line of people waiting behind me - much appreciated, but probably could have benefited from more staff over the holiday weekend at both check in and check out. While I wouldn't say definitely don't stay here, I would recommend keeping expectations somewhat low.

Beautiful accomodations at a classic hotel. Staff was OUTSTANDING from the valet at the front door, to the check in reception provided by Phil and the Concierge. Room was clean, spacious and very comfortable. Highly recommended!