Le Mount Stephen — Hotel in Montreal

I absolutely loved this hotel in the Golden Square Mile where I stayed for three nights. ||Officially opened in May 2017, Le Mount Stephen is a well-maintained restored historic mansion and the former home of the illustrious Lord Mount Stephen/George Stephen, a visionary Scottish businessman who served as President of the Bank of Montreal and as the first President of the Canadian Pacific Railway. So this hotel is one of a kind with a special significance. ||The welcome:||Upon arrival, I found a red-carpeted grand staircase. Thankfully a strapping young bellhop was ready to lug my luggage up the stairs. He and his colleagues always greeted me with a smile and a kind word while opening the heavy door, whenever I entered and exited the hotel. ||Check-in was warm and efficient. I found the lobby très chic et élégant. ||The room:||I had a lovely room with a comfy bed and lots of tech enhancements I thankfully had time to explore. There was mood lighting; a bathroom with a Toto washlet/bidet (including features like an auto open/close lid and a heated seat), something often found in hotels in Japan; and a giant rain shower with a great selection of mood lighting. The room also had windows in cute, creative squares as well as automated blinds and drapes. Of course, all the room amenities like high quality good-for-the-skin Gilchrist & Soames toiletries, bathrobes and slippers were available, or available upon request, as in the case of the reusable toothbrushes and dental floss. ||The location:||Le Mount Stephen on Drummond Street in the Golden Square Mile is in a central location. Crescent Street, St Catherine Street, Sherbrooke Street, etc are just around the corner. It is also easy to book an Uber. Many restaurants, malls (eg Timeout Market, Montreal Eaton Centre, Place Montreal Trust), art galleries and the Museum of Fine Arts are within walking distance. Having afternoon tea at the Ritz Carlton was easy too, as it was just a stone’s throw away. ||The staff: ||Both Zacharie and William at the concierge desk were wonderful. Zacharie was so very welcoming on my first day, and quickly arranged a private tour by car with Claudine Dumont for me. The Mile End Montréal (Walking) Food Tour was arranged too. I also appreciated that William set aside precious time to show me around the hotel, which enhanced my stay even more. I like these tours around hotels with history - it’s nice to know the story behind the building and the team that created and/or run the hotel. ||Other staff were lovely too, including those at Bar George and front desk manager Junor, who let me have the cute portable charging cable set with the hotel logo on it. The doormen and bellhops were friendly, assisting with luggage that seemed to weigh like a tonne and helping to open the vault-like door every time. Last but not least, kudos to the housekeeping team for keeping the room spotless and well-stocked. ||The restaurant:||My first dinner was at Bar George. I had read reviews that some people had difficulty getting a table. When I told Zacharie (concierge) that, he immediately reserved a seat for me…at the bar, where all the action was (just like when I walked in at the amazing Blue Water Cafe in Vancouver just a week before). ||Throughout my dinner, I was well taken care of by the servers, especially the staff at the bar, also called Zacharie (Canadians must like that name a lot). ||It was a really good dinner (kudos to the chefs in the kitchen), and it deserves a separate TA review, so watch this space. I even chatted with two other diners at the bar counter, and they were also glad they had chosen Bar George for their dinner! ||I tried the breakfast at Bar George just before checkout on my last day. It wasn’t a buffet but a substantial à la carte meal of sausage, bacon and eggs, including black pudding. It was the first time I actually enjoyed having black pudding, and that says a lot. All the same, I think dinner was a much more memorable experience. ||Le Mount Stephen stood out among all the other hotels during my recent stays in New York City, Toronto, Vancouver, Jasper, Banff and Quebec City, simply because it had everything I needed, and more. ||Highly...

We spent four nights at Le Mount Stephen to attend the Montreal Formula 1 Grand Prix. Overall, it wasn't a bad stay, but there are a few factors which impacted my assessment, as outlined below. First, the positives - the hotel is reasonably close to the Metro, has a nice looking lobby, the beds are comfortable, the furniture is nice and in good shape and the service is generally good. However, there are a number of negatives as well. Both the rain shower head as well as the handheld shower badly need to be properly cleaned, as the water sprays in 80 different directions none of which are where you are. The bathroom (which looks very nice) has a mirror that does not extend far enough to the two sinks (which are very low for some reason), so when standing at the sink, you cannot see yourself in the mirror and only the space between the sinks is where you can use the mirror. This is an odd design choice that makes no sense. The room itself is much smaller than expected based on the pictures and has only a few tiny square windows that do not let nearly enough light into the room. The TV is fairly small and has very few channels to begin with (no movie channels). Then, about 98% of those few channels are in French with only a few English language channels, so there is really nothing to watch. I get that we were in Montreal, but this is Canada after all, not France. The bar downstairs had parties/events almost every night (so was not accessible by hotel guests); had super loud music we could hear on the 6th floor and crowds in the entrance. The breakfast and brunch at Bar George were very good in terms of food quality. However, getting seated is another matter. We had to wait over 10 minutes and tell the hostess about 3 times that we were hotel guests before she agreed to seat us (restaurant had many empty tables). She kept saying "we are full" and "hotel guests only" and we kept on saying "we are hotel guests", she would then disappear into the restaurant only to come back later and tell us there was nothing available. Then this process repeated itself several times before she finally realized we were in fact hotel guests on my third attempt to explain that to her. No idea what was wrong with her or if she was on something. Finally, I want to cover the price. This hotel seems to normally charge around $300-$400 a night on weekends, which isn't bad for the allegedly 5-star property. I also realize that hotels raised prices due to it being the Grand Prix weekend. However, I ended up paying over $2K per night, which is simply price gauging and definitely nowhere near the quality of the stay that we...

We stayed at Le Mount Stephen a few weeks ago and were very excited after reading so many glowing reviews. The hotel is stunning, and the staff we met were friendly, but our upgraded two-story Sky Loft Suite With Terrace—at $1,000 a night—was a complete letdown and ruined our stay.

Yes, the room had luxury touches: a beautiful tub overlooking the city, high-tech controls, a great showerhead, and Toto toilet seats. But when the basics don’t work, none of that matters. The air conditioning barely functioned, leaving the room sweltering all night. We couldn’t sleep, which ruined the trip entirely. At this price point, a broken AC is simply unacceptable.

The refrigerator was also broken, so none of our drinks stayed cold. We requested ice multiple times, but the hotel ignored us—two phone calls and two trips to the front desk later, we finally got some. The remote-controlled fireplace didn’t work either; it just squeaked and failed to turn on.

We reported these issues repeatedly and were assured someone would come fix them. Nobody ever did. By day two, we gave up asking because it was clear management wasn’t going to address anything. Apologies mean little when nothing gets resolved.

The only redeeming features of the room were the tub and the terrace, but even those couldn’t make up for the sleepless nights. The first-floor nightclub makes excellent cocktails, but it’s loud and packed with non-hotel guests, making it hard to get seating. Breakfast in the same space, however, was excellent.

Special recognition goes to the housekeeper on the 10th floor—she noticed our AC wasn’t working and kindly offered us extra water to help. Her kindness stood out, but sadly, the rest of the stay didn’t match her effort.

Le Mount Stephen is a gorgeous property, but until management addresses these glaring issues in their upgraded rooms, I cannot recommend staying here. At $1,000 a night, guests should expect comfort, working amenities, and responsive service—not broken AC, ignored requests, and sleepless nights. If you encounter the same problems we did, ask for your money back and move to another hotel immediately, because chances are, no one will come to fix them.

These wonderful photos I am sharing are from when we arrived and were so thrilled. I wish the rest of our stay lived up to our...