This is a fine small boutique hotel, but the standard rooms are very small by the standard that this type of hotel should be measured by. (This is a member of Preferred Hotels).
The bathroom was equally very small, and being on an outside wall in an Ottawa winter, very cold without a seperate heater.
The rooms look out over laneways between office buildings, or face busy Slater Street.
So that's the point, it was just fine, very clean, pleasant, but nothing special to justify the rave reviews. Perhaps the luxury suites deserve those accolades -- the basic room does not.
Also, any hotel of this calibre catering largely to business clients should not be charging $9.95 per day for an internet connection. That's insulting.

Stayed two weekend nights in January at ARC and was happy with our stay. We always like trendy boutique hotel, and in Ottawa this is the one hotel that fits the bill. The glass of sparkling wine while they check us in was a nice touch. The room was clean and well decorated, though a tad on the small side. The bed and linen were pretty comfortable during our stay (though we were partying thus drunk all weekend so our standard was not as discerning as usual).

The location is also great as it is walking distance to the convention centre/Rideau centre/market/parliament hill etc.

We got a fairly good deal directly from the hotel website. I guess not many people go to Ottawa on weekends during the snowy winter…

Bought a pre-pay room for 3 nights at ARC The Hotel. Nice, clean, spacious room, comfortable bed, friendly staff, great breakfast, quality toiletries and linens, plush towels.

Nice perk of free daily newspaper, and a bottled water, apple and chocolate in the evening, before bed.

Free breakfast was available to iprefer loyalty cardholders when I visited, so it's worth enrolling in iprefer (through the iprefer website), if you aren't already a member.

Convenient location, close to downtown and the highway.

It is located on Slater St, one of the two streets the buses are routed, so there is a fair amount of traffic at rush hour.

I've stayed at the Sheraton, Novotel and Marriott in Ottawa over the past 5 years. While all 4 hotels are nice hotels, if I was given a choice, next time I'm in Ottawa, I'd probably return to the ARC.

I purchased a package at ARC the Hotel through a WagJag Jaunt, otherwise would never have discovered this place. We stayed in one of the Luxury Suites which was exactly that. The room was huge & was very quiet/private, everything was clean and all the ammenities promised were there. We also ordered breakfast in bed, which was absolutely fantastic food (I am still raving about the waffles I ordered with the pistachio cream.... yummy!) The staff was also quite accommodating & friendly - the cordless phone in our room was not working & when we called down (on the other phone) they came right up to replace the battery.

Based on other reviews I'd say that the upgrade to a Luxury Suite was definitely money well spent. We will be back.

A note of caution though - I have heard from friends that the regular rooms are not as nice (small with uncomfortable beds).