We spent three nights at the Chateau Champlain commencing Friday, 9/2 and we were greatly impressed.

We'd read accounts on this site and on tripadvisor.com about this hotel and our experience confirmed that they were accurate.

Varied experiences (some very minor, one potentially major) combined to result in that assessment of this hotel and its staff.

Before I go any further I beg your indulgence for the length of this, but I think they (the hotel's staff) deserve a complete account.

We arrived at approximately 3 PM after a drive from Ottawa, drove up to it's entrance (driveway is at the base of a flight of stairs). opened the tailgate of our wagon and awaited assistance with our (ton of) luggage.

We were greeted (from the top of the stqirs) by the doorman (little guy named Ronny).

"I'll be wit' you in less than a minute!"

Then, "I still have 15 seconds!"

Finally, "Here I am!"

Then (to the wife) "Don't tell me you're wit' him - ahh, too bad."

I counseled him - "Watch out, this stuff's very heavy."

"Don't worry, I'm very wiry!"

(Whereupon he takes everything at once

and climbs the stairs, my wife following.)

I then proceeded to "self-park" since I had no plans to use the car until departure.)

Rejoining the wife in the lobby I asked her if she took care of Ronny.

"I gave him 10 bucks."

"What!"

"Four heavy pieces - two bucks each and two for the monologue; oh yeah, American money."

"Mutter-grumble- mutter." (Later on I found out that Ronny is a hotel legend - he's been on the door, performing his act, for about 40 years. The guy's a riot.)

At the desk we found out that we'd not be upgraded ("Sorry, sir - we're sold out but you do get lounge privileges").

I figure I'd check later, but when I did, sure enough - they really were sold out according to Marriott.com.

The room we were assigned was somewhat spartan, faced an office building.

The next think you know my wife called me into the bathroom - "How do you empty the sink since there's no lever?"

(Still grumbling) - "Lemme see, there's got to be a lever of some sort." (But there's none.)

Put my hands into the sink full of water and tried to pry the stopper with my fingers (no grip or handle), but to no avail. So, I called down, told them the sink stopper didn't work/was non-existent and awaiting their engineer.

An hour later. no one showed up so I went down to the desk.

Told a clerk (Julie) the whole story (and added that I would have appreciated the upgrade.)

She said she recalled similar complaints about the sinks, said she'd see what she could do with regards to an upgrade to a condcierge level room but counseled that they were sold out, so she might not be able to do anything.

After about a minute and a half of keyboarding she came back and told me that she might be able to do something if I could accept a room on 33 - a smoking floor. She handed me a keycard for 3307, told me it was our's if we found it ok and told me we could return our old keys at our leisure - just call her and let her know, one way or the other.

Went back up, got the wife, we checked our room 3320, found that there wasn't very much tobacco odor residue (and there was a sink with a stopper controlled by a lever), called Julie and commenced to move our stuff (fortunately still packed).

(Later on, we found out that a great number of their standard rooms had sink stoppers that were scored in the middle. The idea was that you used a finger nail to "pop" open both halves - something we couldn't detect through a sinkful of soapy water.)

Now to the significant stuff.

Much, much later that day (actually evening) I woke up because the room had gotten quite warm. I noticed the A/C wasn't functioning and also that one light switch seemed to be inoperative - blown fuse, I thought.

Nothing I could do and didn't want to get involved with repair people so I simply went back to bed, kicked my half of the covers to the foot of the bed and went back to sleep.

Next morning, we awoke - my wife told me she was uncomfortable during the night but was too sleepy to get up. I checked the A/C- still no go and that light switch - still didn't work. The wife told me she wanted to try to grab a few more minutes of sleep, so I got first dibs on the bathroom.

Finished showering, left the bathroom (with door open) in order to get mirror to de-fog before shaving.

Then I noticed that the bedside clock was flashing "12:00". I then tried some light switches and none worked and the light in the bathroom was out.

Put on a robe, opened the door and saw that only emergency lighting was operating in the corridors.

Called the operator who told me that "they're working on it" but could tell me no more. Waited about a half-hour and called again, but this time asked for the front desk who told me there had been a local power outage (two or three buildings including the hotel and Windsor Station across the street (but not Place de Canada, the attached office building). They also told me that the elevators, (three of five) were operating via emergency power and were safe to use but would be pitch black inside. They also told us that the rest of the city, including the Metro, as far as they could determine was not affected by the outage.

So, with no other alternatives, we dressed and proceeded downstairs via elevator. (Luckily, I have a small, high-intensity flashlight on my keychain, so operating the elevator was no problem and we proceeded without incident to the lobby floor.)

On the lobby floor we encountered numerous Marriott managers and department heads, all carrying (from somewhere) those chemical light sticks (which they were beginning to place in elevator cabs).The first one we encountered told us that there'd been an outage, that Hydro-Quebec was working on it but that they'd been given no estimate as to when power was going to be restored. (Hydro-Quebec told them there would be a "progress report" issued, but not till much later in the day.)

We were asked if we were okay and if we noticed anyone on our floor (or on others when the elevator stopped at them) in distress. They said they had 1,000 flashlights on order (and more light sticks) for delivery ASAP and advised us that they'd set up a coffee urn and water bottles (and ice) in the lobby. They'd also placed light sticks in the public washrooms (to use them was challenging, but fortunately the ones in the adjacent building - Place De Canada were lit.)

They reiterated that all was normal in Montreal other than in the vicinity of the hotel.

So, we decided to make the best of it - returned to the room for rain gear (wouldn't you know it -- this was the day when the reminents of Katrina hit Montreal with driving rain) and struck out in search of a Tim Hortons.

To try to keep this account short (nigh-on impossible) we found a Hortons in the Place de Ville Marie complex, got over to the Chapters on Ste. Catherines, checked email at an internet place on Peel, gobbled a dog in Harvey's and headed back to the hote to see if anything new had developed.

Back in the Chateau Champlain lobby, we found out it hadn't, so we grabbed some coffee and settled down in a couple of plush chairs to decide on what we'd do next. It was at that point a gentleman wearing the traditional Marriott nameplate came over and introduced himself as Jacques Fortier, the Assistant GM. He began by effusively apologizing for the situation, explaining where things stood (which was "in place" but they expected to get a progess update at 6 PM). Told us they'd decided to play it safe - close the restaurants and dispose of any food which was perishable.

We told him that apologies were not required and we went on to discuss the kinds of things any FTer discusses when given the opportunity to do so with a Marriott Hotel manager. It was a pleasant conversation, we decided to go back up to the room and await developments (like the power coming back and/or the weather clearing up) so we bid Jacques a good day (actually wished him a better one) and headed back upstairs.

Back on floor 33 we ran into a room attendant who asked us if we wanted our room made up (seems we'd left a "do not disturb" tag on the door). I said (somewhat incredulously), you're servicing rooms, in the middle of this???"

"Yes," she replied - "The power will be back sooner or later and you'll want to shower so we want you to have fresh towels and sheets on the bed - it will be so much more comfortable for you."

"You're going to do that - in the dark?"

"Oh, we will manage - don't worry."

Anyway, we went back to our room, changed clothes (the weather had cleared up) and decided to hoof it over to "*Baton Rouge" (suggested by Jacques) a few blocks from the hotel (very close to Bell Centre and easily walkable from the hotel.

Just as we opened the room door, in came the room attendent with an armful of towels - we bid her a good evening and went downstairs where we encountered one of the managers/department heads handing out light sticks - they said they'd remain there for as long as necessary.

Just as we got to the front door, there was Jacques who came over and asked us where we were headed and offered directions (which were unneeded) and some **dining suggestions for the next night.

On the way back to the hotel, the wife looked up and said "The Marriott sign is lit!"

So, it was back to normal - the lobby was back in normal mode, everything and the room looked like a hotel room - everything back to normal - don't know how they did it (particularly the bathroom) in the dark.

BTW, (and we must have missed both earlier on - on the desk was a flashlight and a note addressed to all the guests with sincere (but I think were unneccessary) apologies by the hotel management.

PS - Late the next afternoon we had returned to the room after a day in old Montreal.

While watching the tube (the utter devistation in NOLA), suddenly, the TV went off and the lights went out! (And the emergency lights in the hallway came on.)

Already, (and no more than five minutes had elapsed), on duty in the lobby were Jacques and his staff with their flashlights and fistfuls of light sticks.
He came over, shaking his head and I said. "Now come on - fun's fun, but can't we do something else this time?"

He said that they (presumably Hydro Quebec) that power would be restored within the hour, but you could tell that Jacques wasn't confident.

Just then, back came the lights.

We went back to the room - got our stuff and went off to dinner at Orchid.

The Chateau Champlain is franchised - its staff is employed by the owners, but just the same, IMHO epitomize Marriott at its very best. ^ ^ ^



*Baton Rouge features a pub menu (but a very, very, extensive one). We had burgers but Jacques suggested ribs (had them the night before somewhere else). Excellent prices and service - we'll certainly go there again.

**One of Jacques' suggestions was Orchid, a chinese restaurant on Peel - we'd been there before, rate it on a level with Shun Lee Palace here in NYC (though the menu isn't quite as extensive). It is, however, a favorite (they pour a mean drink) and we certainly recommend it.