A confusing hotel in Quebec City in a decent location but lacks service and has some room design flaws. However, the city is gorgeous and is worth a trip.

Booking

My volunteering work related to the healthcare industry once again required me to travel to Canada, this time to Quebec City. I ended up spending three nights here at the Hotel Chateau Laurier. While the trip was paid for by the volunteer organization, this review here represents my own experience and views.

This hotel appears to be part of a small chain of hotels and is not affiliated with any of the big chains, which means you are a bit limited to use anything other than cash to make a booking. I used their website to make my reservation, but it wasn’t until a few weeks later that I realized I never received a confirmation of my booking. I called the hotel and asked if I could get a confirmation, and the reservation specialist said it just wasn’t sent out yet. I’ll admit that’s a bit odd; it’s the first time I made a reservation with a hotel that doesn’t proactively send out a confirmation.

The hotel claims to have a rewards program but I honestly didn’t notice anything different when signing up for it. I believe I was supposed to have a room upgrade or a late checkout, but I’m pretty sure I never received either. The front staff never mentioned anything and I’ll admit I was a bit too tired to remember to ask about it.

Arrival and Initial Impressions

My flight into Quebec City landed around 9pm and the airport appeared to be dead. Clearing immigration was a breeze and I was out of the door a couple of minutes after landing. There is no viable public transportation option, so I had to Uber to the hotel.

Once I arrived, the agent assigned my room but didn’t emphasize the proper method of finding the correct room. The hotel is a bit of a maze, with the rooms clustered around elevator banks. The floors are not exactly connected either, so if you take the wrong elevator, expect to go back down to the lobby to get around.

Hotel staff also informed me that no restaurants were open at this time of the night and there was no room service, and so my only option is to eat from a vending machine or go outside to eat at a local restaurant. The hotel is adjacent to a quick-service Lebanese restaurant but I wouldn’t recommend it unless there were no other options thanks to their overuse of a microwave to heat up my food. While normally I would have considered eating at a full-service restaurant, I wanted to settle in and not stay up too late in an attempt to not be negatively impacted by jetlag.

The Room

Once I tracked down the room, it felt decent enough. I was assigned room 200. The room felt like it had an odd angle to it since it was wider by the entrance and narrow on the far side by the windows. The way it’s squeezed in here between the other rooms made it feel like my room stood out quite a bit in the hallway. Some rooms of this type online are advertised as having carpeted floors while others do not and it looks like I won the carpeted sweepstakes. While there were decorations along most of the walls, the wall with the TV felt especially empty.

The bathroom felt a little cramped. Perhaps it’s just a result of the awkwardly-shaped room, but it was noticeable. I can’t say I am a fan of the toilet paper roll hanging off the front of the bathroom vanity, as I may have bumped into it a couple of times. I also did not like that there was no door on the shower as I find it’s difficult to stay warm while showering and water tends to get everywhere on the floor. But the biggest problem of the bathroom isn’t one that was obvious until after I used the toilet. There is no soap. That dispenser mounted on the wall next to the mirror contains lotion. I had to instead use the shower gel pump in the shower to properly wash my hands…

I was hoping for some decent views outside the window, but my hopes were quickly dashed when I pulled back the curtains. It appeared to be an office building and a dumpster alongside it. I chose to spare you of the picture of the dumpster. Needless to say, I kept the shades drawn at all times.

The Confusing Aspects of the Hotel

I alluded to confusing aspects of this property and perhaps it can be summed up by illustrating the fire escape map in the room, which gives me some anxiety just looking at it while writing this post. My room is in the lower-righthand corner and there were a series of doors separating this section from the other sections. You might be able to pass from one section to another, but I wasn’t about to open up random doors to give it a try.

The elevator banks are arranged by letter to help you distinguish one section from another, but if you happen to forget which elevator bank to go to (or perhaps you end up drinking a bit too much), there isn’t anything that helps you figure out where to go.

As I mentioned earlier, the front desk didn’t emphasize that I had to seek out a specific elevator bank, just casually mentioning the room number and I went to the ‘B’ elevator bank since it’s right there at the lobby. The hotel has some signage up just past the ‘B’ elevator bank, but it honestly doesn’t help much. I feel it just ends up adding to the confusion as you stand there hoping something becomes clearer.

Now you might also think that the section letters (‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’) have some use beyond the elevator banks, but you would be mistaken. The conference rooms aren’t arranged in some logical manner, and at check out I mentioned I was in room ‘200 A’, and the person working there seemed genuinely confused at what room I in. She later clarified it’s because I stated the letter ‘A’ and said it’s completely meaningless.

The décor here also had me a bit perplexed. There were a number of display cases that made me think they were vending machines but instead housed meats. The etching on the glass suggested they would soon be available for sale… so perhaps it is a type of vending machine after all? I also found a real vending machine, from which I attempted to get some water, but it was broken–it accepted money but didn’t do anything when inputting the desired item. The front desk appeared apathetic about the fact the vending machine was broken.

Lastly, it’s my understanding that different portions of the hotel may have undergone renovation at different times. One of the other volunteers in my group noted his base room felt pretty swanky and fairly modern. His room was in the B section, so it sounds like that’s the one to choose if you end up here.

Service

I already mentioned parts of the service misses, but I wanted to elaborate on it a bit more. It felt like staff did not care most of the time. I’m not sure if this is a function of the training at the hotel or its location or perhaps even a language barrier, but it was noticeable. I wouldn’t say I was coming in with high expectations, but I was hoping for service that would be helpful with staff that appeared satisfied at their jobs.

Sometimes it did feel like it was a training issue. For example, check out it was a bit of a mess. The agent working the front desk did not know how to check someone out and looked at me for assistance. I’m not sure what I would know as a guest, or how I would be able to tell that some of the papers handed to me at check out was intended to be kept by the hotel, but I was given some attitude by the front desk agent and I wasn’t sure exactly why.

Exploring the City: A Photo Essay

I didn’t have too much time to explore Quebec, but the time I spent outdoors was perfectly enjoyable. Quebec is a city I would like to visit again and bring the rest of the family next time. A short walk from the hotel leads over to a beautiful outdoor area and Old Quebec City, which has a distinct European feel to it. It’s nice when you can feel like you’re in Europe without having to cross an ocean to get there. It’s worth an extended weekend getaway.

Recommendation: I’ll Gladly Return to Quebec City but at a Different Hotel

This one perhaps isn’t a shocker if you’ve read all of the above, but I feel there should be a better option in the city next time I return to Quebec City. If the service is lacking and the room itself felt a bit underwhelming, I feel that’s good enough of a reason to try another option. So what else would I consider? The last picture above is actually of the Fairmont, located in Old Quebec City, so it’s in a fantastic location though I’m sure it’s also priced accordingly. But I will say that the Hotel Chateau Laurier Quebec is itself in a good location with many good restaurants around it, and that by itself could be a valid reason to return here. I would just prefer to give another place a try next time.

Have you been to Quebec City? Where have you stayed and what have you done?