Five years since the last post. I guess this is truly the Fairmont that time (and Flyertalk) forgot?

We were intrigued by the log cabin design of the place, and how easy it was to get to (1 hr drive from Ottawa or 1.5 hrs from Montreal), so we did a 5 day stay there last month as a group of 7. We had 3 rooms, a Deluxe Luxury View Queen/Queen, Fairmont Luxury View Queen/Queen, and a Fairmont Luxury Queen. Deluxe means slightly larger, and Luxury means renovated (back in 2019) but they do seem to be showing some signs of wear already. I'd hate to see what a non-renovated room looks like these days. View means river view, but the hotel is somewhat set back from the river so you're mostly peering through trees and bushes so I wouldn't pay too much of a premium for those rooms. When booking earlier this year, we weren't able to get any suites or larger rooms. While we were there over a weekend, there were at least 3 weddings going on so that probably explained the lack of higher tier rooms. Not that there was much to upgrade to anyway, there are no Gold rooms or lounge, and few suites which just look like slightly larger rooms with the same decor anyway.

The grounds are quite nice, everything was maintained quite well although quite spread out and not as immaculate as other Fairmonts in Canada. It was quite pleasant to walk the trails by the river, or just hang out on a bench. There are two swimming pools, an indoor one that was huge but mostly deserted (it was cold!). You had to walk outdoors to get there, or there was a underground tunnel that connected to one of the arms of the cabin. The outdoor pool was much busier, but it was mostly for lounging and a lot smaller than the indoor one.

Food was good, but service was quite slow. Prices were very high, so we ended up eating in town most of our meals. The town is about a 15 minute walk through the woods or a 2 minute drive so we probably sampled the majority of the restaurants along the main street. There's not very much to choose from, a couple of pubs, a sushi place (Souche-i, very good but slow), a bistro (Le Bistro Montebello - very good, but also slow), a pizzeria, and a chocolatier in the visitor center. We were also able to order online and pickup from Le Bistro Montebello, and that shockingly was ready in 20 minutes which was way faster than dining in person.

Their main dinner option was an all-you-can-eat meat extravaganza served family style ($75/pp) but we had enough vegetarians that we decided it wasn't worth it. They also offer a Sunday brunch every other week ($85/pp) which I found offensively expensive, but we decided to try it as our one splurge meal of the stay. It was quite good, and offered a large variety of fairly unique items so I didn't feel so bad about the price afterwards.

Activities are the usual yoga, canoeing, paddleboarding, tennis/pickleball, golf, spa. I'd recommend the historical tour of the building, lots of great insights from the guide about the history, and we got to see some behind the scenes stuff. Birdwatching was also fun and with the same guide. Omega park was the highlight of the off-resort activities, I highly recommend that if you have kids (or love getting slobbered on by deer). We brought 10 lbs of carrots and it wasn't enough!

Overall it was fun and enjoyable, but probably a one-and-done.

Here are some pictures (spoilered to save space). Happy to answer any questions!