uOttawa Rideau Residence — Hotel in Ottawa

overall my experience as a student resident was good. you essentially get a double bed hotel room.

first, the pictures may be a lie. your room might differ. some (i heard only of one) units did have the furnishings as pictured, but my room was very sparse. it had a 6 inch FOAM mattress on a metal frame and a small, basic desk (essentially a desk-height coffee table), along with a square 2x2 ft drawer/closet combo thingy. no sheets, no covers, no pillows. i had to buy my own mattress because i couldn't stand the foam one, though some of my peers made do. some people got real mattresses, but they were the exception rather than the norm. maybe you'll get lucky. our room came with a mini fridge and TV.

i never heard anyone say they had pests, roaches, etc. and never saw any anywhere in the building. My room was very clean when i moved in. overall the building was tidy, save for the common kitchen.

the air conditioner and heater in our room worked well. my window opened, but one of my neighbour's did not. no problems with the water, tub, etc.

the common kitchen area was nice when the staff cleaned it once per week. as the week went on, the kitchen got dirty as people refused to clean up after themselves. nevertheless, there was usually plenty of room to cook, though the common fridges were often quite full.

there aren't enough clothes washing machines/dryers. its the wild west in the laundry room, and you will have to enter the gladiator ring and fight for your right to use one of the washers or dryers. much blood was spilled, many heroes made, and plenty of lives lost in the battles over the holy land of the washers and dryers. joking of course, but for a building of about 300 people there were only 6 dryers and 6 washers. not enough, and for some reason the staff use them to wash blankets. i have no idea why the staff didn't use commercial laundry, or what the blankets are even for, but i got into fisticuffs with staff when i removed their blankets and put my own stuff in. hey, i paid to use these machines (they aren't coin operated and are free per use - i mean simply through the rent fee.). I did send them a stern email at the end, so maybe they have stopped. Anyways, be prepared to get up early at 7am if you want to get your laundry reliably done, otherwise you might be riding up and down the elevator a few times or waiting in the common room for awhile while you wait for machines to free up. uOttawa, get more washers and dryers please.

staff otherwise were helpful and agreeable, the people at the front desk were often students themselves. my friend had plumbing issues but they were attended to promptly.

overall i enjoyed it, got to meet some ladies, make some friends, and i would definitely recommend it if you're in first year, or from out of town and don't want to travel to Ottawa to look for rentals--it was convenient in...

Awful in every sense of the word, and to have the audacity to let people stay at for the night is even more insulting. The room offered at hand was smelly, despite the clean floor. The beds were large, but looked incredibly cheap and felt uncomfortable to sleep on, and the bathroom as a whole was an insult to injury, with the water faucet not working properly, making noises and it just wasn't clean at all.

The free breakfast that they offered? Abysmal, even for a dormitory, it was beyond painful, the place was filled to the brim with so many problems, don't let the nice couch lounges fool you. Unintuitive sugar dispenser, annoying beeping noise, horrific pathfinding for items like cereal bowls and barely anything cooked proper, yikes.

No dedicated parking either, besides a closed underground one and a sketchy asphalt one nearby, this isn't hospitality, this is torture.

And the elevators? What is going on here?! Why is it so dingy and lacking any sort of cleanliness? Who's managing this place? Even students should be upset about...

Im a 1st year student. I originally lived at LeBlanc residence but the situation there was rather uncomfortable, so I moved to Rideau. Its so nice here in Rideau. The room actually has a functioning A.C. and heating system in your room unlike LeBlanc. The walls don't look like their about to collapse any second. The whole building and rooms are very clean. And the major upside, you get your own private washroom in your room itself! LeBlanc had those communal washrooms and boy those were something else. The laundry in Rideau is also free, and the building is very close to all the downtown Ottawa places - Byward market, Rideau Mall, and of course, the Parliament is straight down the street. I suppose the two downsides are the lack of human contact because its basically a renovated hotel; and the fact that its a moderate distance from the...