I recently completed a 2 night stay last week and as a whole, I would consider the stay to be a disappointment. We booked through Amex FHR which provides the usual perks. Leading up to the stay, I was disappointed not to receive an email from the hotel confirming details and enquiring whether I had any additional requests. This is the first time that this has happened to me while staying at a Fairmont. I assumed that this was chain wide policy as a Plat? I normally use this as an opportunity to book dinner resos, arrange childcare, spa, etc. We arrived at approximately 2pm and were checked in after a short wait. The check-in agent put us in a deluxe room (which we had booked). I enquired as to if they were full as surely, the combination of being Accor Platinum and booking through FHR warranted some form of upgrade. After disappearing into the back, he comes back to state they would put us in a 1 bdrm suite. After providing us with all of the FHR info, room keys, etc, I asked about our Accor drink certs which he said we weren't eligible for as we booked through Amex FHR. I corrected him as that should not be the case and again, he disappeared into the back and came back confirming stating the stay was eligible.

Our suite was located on the 6th floor with views of the lake. It was a little bit on the small side and only had a queen bed which doesn't bode well when you have kids crawling in your bed in the middle of the night! After a quick visit to the pool, we returned and there was a card along with a small can of cider (250 ml) and 2 glasses. I'm not sure if this was supposed to be my Plat amenity which is noted in my profile as a cheese plate, but needless to say, I never received said cheese plate. My wife and I enjoyed our 3 or 4 sips of cider each. What a joke! Another annoying item of note, there were no waters in the room (not sure if this is normal), To be honest, I'm not even sure if we got turndown service. The second night we did receive turndown service and 2 waters. I will note that housekeeping did do a solid job besides this and were very friendly and engaging, particularly with our kids.

Now onto dining where the major fails occurred. We had breakfast included in our FHR rate (up to $91 per day I think?) which we could use for the buffet or the a la carte menu. The overall slowness at Le Comptoir was astounding. The first morning we are 2nd in line and it took at least 15 minutes to seat us despite the restaurant being less than 50% full. When we gave our name/room number, the girl started typing feverishly on her keyboard for literally 2 minutes only to state that there would be a bit of a wait. After getting our table, we sit for at least 10 minutes with no one acknowledging us. We are finally able to wave down a server as we wanted to order off the menu as I wanted to try the lobster omelet and one of the kids wanted plain pancakes vs chocolate chip at the buffet. We finally order only for the server to return another 10 minutes later stating that we should just get the buffet as everything we ordered would be available at the buffet. Not sure if this was driven by the kitchen or her not wanting to have to serve us vs most of her other customers just having the buffet, but needless to say, there was no lobster omelet to be had at the buffet.

We debated about what to do for dinner and decided upon Le Comptoir again which had a limited a la carte menu vs the fine dining at the other place that was open. My wife stopped by the concierge mid afternoon to make a reservation for 630 only to be told that they are not open. My wife who earlier had been told that it was states this, only to get in a big back and forth with said concierge who vehemently disagreed. Not until another concierge arrived and corrected her were we able to make the reservation. How can a concierge not even know what dining is available at their own hotel? Although I did receive a text confirmation that the reservation was in fact made, there was no reservation to be had when we arrived at the requested time. Luckily they still had a few tables one of which we were sat at. This is where the real fun begins. We wait patiently for 20 minutes until we get menus. When we finally order, we request that the kids meals come out with our salads. 50 minutes go by until we finally receive our food, well most of it. They bring out the salads at the same time as my wife's main along with the kids' meals. The fries that came with a couple of the meals were literally triple salted and were inedible with even the server wholeheartedly agreeing. My steak is nowhere to be found and does not appear until 30 minutes later! The whole time I am waiting there is no real concern or rush. The kitchen being backed up was apparently to be blame. I was literally lost for words. For anyone that dines with young kids (ours are 2 & 4), there is a limited window of opportunity before things start to go sideways as they start to get cranky. Our meal ended up being comped, but all of this should have never happened. We arrived at 630pm and didn't get out of there until closer to 9pm. Service was better at breakfast the next morning except when ordering eggs from the omelet station. I asked for 2 over easy fried eggs. When the cook/chef hands them to me, she apologizes that she broke the yolks, presumably early in the cooking process as there was no runny yolk whatsoever.. ummm, how about you attempt that again? Of course there was no offer to do so.

We spent some time throughout our stay at the pool which was nice but crowded. I didn't realize that it was 'construction' holidays in Quebec. If I had known, I probably wouldn't have come as the village was rather busy as well. The sandwiches at the market by the pool were quite tasty and the staff were quite engaging. I also did enjoy a massage at the spa. Despite being pricey, it was one of the better massages I have had in awhile.

As is customary when using the life experiences gift cards, I usually drop them off an hour or 2 in advance of checkout, so they can process them as it a little tedious. Upon checking out, I ask if they have been applied. Of course they haven't and are nowhere to be found. They are finally tracked down in the back office and I'm told they would just credit the folio now and apply them after the fact. As I'm dealing with this, my wife has taken the kids, stroller and 3 suitcases out to the car which the valet has retrieved directly outside the front door. Literally 3 employees watched her struggle with putting the kids in the car seats and bags in the trunk without any offers of assistance while I dealt with the checkout woes for items that should have been dealt with previously. My wife and I both agreed as we pulled out of the hotel that these final actions (or I guess inactions) were rather fitting and summed up the stay as a whole. Needless to say we will be in no rush to return.