Before booking here, I read every single review about this hotel. Every one. My husband and I stayed here May 26, 27, 28 2012 for a Memorial Day vacation. Upon first entering the hotel from the back parking lot entrance, there is a very foul smell, as if a vagrant had peed everywhere mixed with fermenting garbage (they keep huge bins by the doors!!!) and ashtray smell of the cigarette butt receptacle. It was absolutely. horrific. The lobby also has a very strange smell to it that did not seem to follow us up to our room. The whole hotel seemed dated in its decor everywhere we went. We stayed on the 6th floor. The elevators were worn out looking and had broken floor tiles. The hallway itself did not smell wierd or anything out of the ordinary. We had an awful time opening the door every time we used it. My key would not work, my husband's did, most of the time. Found if you press the key against the door with one hand as you pull it out of the lock, it helps. On entering the room, it smelled very, very strongly of cigarette smoke. Running the air conditioning unit for about an hour seemed to help this. The AC in our room ran very cold. No problem to report, except maybe too cold?? The room was very large. Probably larger than any room in a budget-type hotel we've stayed at in the US. It was the "king room" option, even though we were told by the front desk the king and standard room options were the same thing. It had an area for the bed and a separate area for a desk and a dresser. The TV was very old, bad resolution. I know if you're on vacation, you're probably not going to use it but after being out all day, it helped us to relax before heading out for the evening. The remote was spotty. The quality control tag on the mattress read 10-01-03 and I took that to read October 01, 2003, meaning the mattress was 9 years old?!! It was hard as a rock to me. I'm under 120 pounds so I like a mattress where I can sink in. My husband is 230 and he loved it, said it was good support. Pillows were good, still brought 2 of our own. ASK FOR MORE BLANKETS!!! There is literally a top sheet, a very thin blanket and an even thinner bed cover. It's not even a comforter. It was 80 degrees F the first day so we had the AC on and I ended up freezing in the middle of the night with no real blankets to speak of. Inspected the bed thoroughly for bedbugs before getting in, found no signs whatsoever and no bites to report. Lamp on my side of the bed sparked damgerously when we turned it on so we turned it off (with more sparks) and never used it again. Shower head didn't seem to be restricted at all to me, but I have a similar one at home, so to each his own on that one! Hair dryer on the wall was very weak. They gave Neutrogena soap/shampoo toiletries. No holes to report in our towels or sheets, they were not stained either. The free wifi didn't seem slow to me, but we were not in the room much, therefore we didn't use it much. Use your Do Not Disturb Sign!!!!!!!! Day 2, Sunday the 27th, a maid opened the door of the room across the hall from us. She knocked, said "housekeeping", didn't wait and opened the door. This was about 9:30 AM and there were still guests in the room. I heard her say, "Oh, Sorry." Right after, I heard a man's voice in the hallway ask why she had opened the door so quickly and she replied, "I forgot." He asked her, "You forgot?" and she only replied again that she was sorry. There was not alot of noise at all. I guess we got lucky with that. The ice machines are down in the basement of the hotel, super inconvenient. They are located in the maid/laundry area of the hotel with no AC so it's a sauna down there when you do get it. The front desk staff was very helpful. They recommended several places to us to visit and I can't complain. They steered us in the right direction several times. This hotel has a nice location, we only took a cab once, everywhere else we walked or took Bixi bicycles. I took photos of our room, will try to upload them when I can, if it will let me.
- Le Nouvel Montreal
- Montreal Le Nouvel Hotel
