I do not disagree with your point, just trying to give you some possible context on why it happened and why it might occur more when dealing with european companies.

 

Fantastic review, thank you very much CanadaDH

It's great to read about up to date information on that elusive Gold lounge which I have yet to be able to visit due to the timing of my trips to Tremblant. Sounds quite nice and worth the extra price.

I am also glad to see that the hotel was flawless service-wise by executing well on all 4 of your pre-arrival requests plus the help they provided at check-out I hope they have turned the corner and now put a higher emphasis on providing a great customer experience.

Thank you for the info about the airport as well - very informative.

As a side note, I have redeemed Accor points at Fairmont Jasper last month upon check out. However I realized after the fact that it might not be efficient to use points at a Fairmont in Canada if we can just use LE certificates, unless we are worried about bumping against the $1k limit. So personally I will keep Accor points for non-Fairmont hotels in the future.

 

Good point about the LE certs and the use of points. But, as much as I try to push to use as many LE certs as I can on each stay, I try to not get too greedy with them. I travel with a good stack of them, and when I feel I've used as much as I can, I can use points for the balance, or switch to a regular Fairmont GC. Where I find I can't use too many certs, is on places like Lake Louise where my room rate can be over $1000/night. Even if I drop 10 certs on the front desk each day, there will still be a balance remaining to apply points to. I also pay close attention to the agents on duty, so I don't redeem too many certs with the same staff member. I'm also courteous, and go at a time when the front desk has no customers, and leave the certs for them to redeem at their convenience.

For the YTM airport, here's some more photos. I've not been in another airport quite like it.


Departure lounge

Departure lounge

Arriving plane and baggage cart waiting with luggage to load

Airport shuttle van and baggage trailer

Baggage claim

Pre-security

 

Thank you CanadaDH , I wish more airports were like this one

The Fairmont GCs purchased with 20% bonus twice a year are also the reason why I don't think I should redeem Accor points at non-Canada Fairmonts either. And no $1k limit on those GCs as far as I know, which makes it easier than LE certs.

 

I had booked an 8-night ski trip here, back before COVID was a thing, as I often book a year in advance. The trip still went ahead, but it was certainly a bit different from my usual trips.

The Province of Quebec is currently under many COVID restrictions, much like the rest of the world. Mask wearing is mandatory indoors everywhere in the province. Restaurants are restricted to takeout or delivery only. You cannot be outside after 8 PM. That said, the hotel was still operating, as was the ski hill. Therefore, I decided to forget about the Ontario stay-at-home-order, and trade one set of restrictions for another.

I had booked a Gold room, as I always do. The hotel contacted me a few weeks in advance, because the Gold lounge is considered an indoor gathering area and an indoor dining area, and neither of those are currently permitted in Quebec. They said they could offer me a couple of options. First, is to move to a regular Fairmont room, and they would reduce my room rate by $135/night. Second, I could keep the Gold room, and instead of lounge breakfast and appetizers, they would provide daily breakfast and evening appetizers by room service. I opted for the latter, still hopeful that restrictions might change.

About a week before the trip, the restrictions had been extended, and it was clear the lounge wasn't happening. Since meals were all going to be in the room, I sent an e-mail to the hotel, asking about suite options. I was fully expecting to pay more to get a suite, but to my surprise, they simply replied saying they updated my booking to a Fairmont Gold Suite. So, things were looking up! If I was going to have to eat in the room, and basically stay in the room a lot (mandatory beyond 8 PM each night), at least I was getting twice the space, and for no extra charge. That's the first upgrade I've ever had here. I guess occupancy wasn't high! However, looking out the room window, I could see lights on in more than 50% of the other guest rooms, so unless the hotel leaves a lot of lights on in empty rooms, they place wasn't totally dead.

We arrived around 6 PM. The bell staff took our luggage. Our skis were sent down to the ski valet. They still had valet parking available, and they put the car away.

Entering the hotel, COVID precautions were high. You couldn't get in the door without a temperature check, and reminders about mask requirements at all times, unless in your own guest room. They also required you to sanitize hands on the way in. As expected, there were Plexiglas shields everywhere. Other than a couple of staff, the lobby was completely deserted. The bar and restaurants were closed, and you're not permitted to gather in the lobby (or anywhere indoors).

The outdoor pool and hot tubs were open, but only until 7:30, so you can be back in your room before curfew. There were capacity restrictions, and on weekends you needed to reserve a pool time. We used the pool 3 times during our stay, and we were the only people there, so we felt safe. One night, there were two other couples.

The Gold Suite is nothing special. The rooms there need a renovation, but it was comfortable. We had a television in each room, and as requested, they brought two additional clothes dressers into the room for us, along with a humidifier. Those are standing requests I have at this hotel.

There are only 2 Gold Suites in the hotel. We were in room 751, which had a nice view to the lake. I copied the poor floor plan off of the door, cleaned it up, and marked it up a bit to show the rooms better, and added room numbers.



Our welcome amenity was two bottles of cider and some maple products. Only wrapped items are offered for the moment.



The view was nice. I've always looked out to the village and ski hill before, so it was a nice change looking toward the lake.



It was a bit sad, walking past the Gold lounge each time we returned to the room. They have set it up for COVID distancing, by removing tables and adding sculptures and plants in their place. But, current restrictions have shut down even their modified lounge.




Around the hotel, they made a few changes. The ski valet is where it always was, but the ski rental has been moved from the small area by the valet, to an event meeting room down the hall. I guess since they aren't using the meeting rooms currently, they make for a good temporary ski rental place.



Other areas still operating, such as the pool and the Ricochet cafe (for takeout only), have additional lineup controls.





Outside, things looked much the same.




The village had people milling about, but there are certain higher traffic zones where masks are required, even outside. The area near the base of the lifts has been fenced off and is only accessible to skiers. If you didn't have a ski pass and weren't carrying your ski gear, you could not access that area. Otherwise, the village looked much like it always does. However, most stores are required to be closed, and restaurants can only offer takeout.



The resort has put restrictions on the number of skiers allowed on the hill each day. Tickets must be purchased in advance online. We have the Ikon season pass, so we were not subject to those access restrictions.

Skiing during the week was excellent. In addition to great conditions from 30 cm of snow the day we arrived, there were no lineups. Here are some photos of the ski lines, or lack thereof. Face coverings are required in the lift lines, and they have staff whose sole job is to enforce face covering requirements, however compliance was near perfect anyway. Furthermore, as you will see from these photos, you really didn't have much in the way of lines!





It was most definitely a different trip than earlier visits, but still thoroughly enjoyable. And I can't complain about the price. Back in the summer, I ended up cancelling the booking I made a year before, and rebooked on the Stay Close (BOGO) rate. Add the free upgrade in advance to the Gold Suite, and it was probably the cheapest trip I've ever had here in a very long time.

I also have to give the hotel compliments for having a great room service option. The menu was expanded a bit with the restaurants closed, and food quality was excellent. We also ended up eating for nearly free, because the hotel was rather generous in what they considered an appetizer that they were providing for free in lieu of the Gold lounge snacks. We ended up getting full dinners, and it proved to be great value and very convenient.

We're off to Lake Louise in 2 weeks, and then back here again at Tremblant for another 8 nights in March. I won't let COVID stop me from enjoying the outdoors and skiing as much as I can!

 

I just completed another 8-night stay here for a week of skiing, and I have no complaints. It still wasn’t a normal stay, with COVID restrictions continuing, but there is nothing I can fault the actual hotel for. In spite of the restrictions, they did a good job trying to provide as normal of a stay for guests as they were allowed to.

Quebec loves lockdowns, more than anywhere else in Canada. It’s becoming a national sport (or a national embarrassment, depending on your perspective). Since the start of the year, indoor dining is again prohibited across the province. There was also a 10 PM curfew in effect until Jan 16, which meant for the first two nights of our stay, we had to be in our rooms by 10, and the pools closed at 9:45 PM. The only eating available was In-Room Dining or takeout. The hotel kept Ricochet open for takeout, and the IRD menu was varied. They also had an additional daily special not on the menu. There were also many restaurants in the village that are convenient to picking up food and bringing it back to the room. But there were also a number of restaurants that just decided to close for the duration of the lockdown.

Gyms are required to be closed, as are hot tubs. The hotel was able to make some changes to make things work. For example, they kept the actual gym locked, as required by law, but moved some weights and cardio equipment to a couple of ballrooms, set up some televisions, and allowed family bubbles to book a private room to workout.

The pool was allowed to remain open. Hot tubs are not permitted, but as long as they disable the jets, it apparently counts as a "pool", so the large outdoor hot tub was able to be used, but without bubbles! No reservations were needed, and it was never busy. The most people we ever saw in the tub at once was two other couples. Below you can see the main outdoor pool and the large hot tub open. The small cold plunge pool was also open. The smaller, hotter, hot tub was closed.




Below is the champagne bar, that was closed due to COVID, as bars can't be open. I do like the use of gondola cabins, with tables and cozy seating, as outdoor places to enjoy a drink.



At least the hotel fire pits were permitted.




I didn’t check it out, but apparently they also have some games rooms and movie rooms bookable by family bubbles. I guess that if you’re not having any conventions or business functions, it’s a good use of meeting rooms that would otherwise just be sitting empty.

Around the village, they had spaces set up outdoors for people to consume their take-out meals from the village restaurants.



Otherwise, the village looked normal.





Check-in was easy and smooth. Occupancy is clearly low, which was expected, due to the current COVID restrictions. We were given information on the current hotel services and the related hours of operation. We also given our ALL drink vouchers, to be used via in-room dining. Since I’m not a drinker, I had the hotel exchange the drink voucher, good for 2 drinks, for two separate vouchers, so my wife could order a drink on different days.

I had booked on Fairmont Gold about a year in advance, thinking that things would be different this year. Well, for the second year in a row, the Gold lounge was not legally permitted to operate. Instead, we were given an upgrade to a Gold Suite (the same one as last year), to provide some additional space, since we would not have access to the lounge. We were also given a cumulative daily credit of $100 to cover daily breakfast and other food.

Entering the room, the welcome amenity was waiting for us on one of the tables. It was a couple of local ciders and some maple products.

Daily housekeeping has returned, which was a plus. However, there is no evening turndown service, which I don’t really care about anyway. Most days, we asked not to have the room cleaned, since we’d rather not have people in the room if they don’t need to be there, and we just had them replenish supplies as needed.

The speed and quality of the in-room dining is impressive. I highly recommend all of their pizzas, and the fries and poutine are awesome. All meals were great. But, the speed was what really surprised me, and it’s likely a function of the low occupancy. Some mornings, we had a full breakfast table delivered to the room less than 10 minutes after calling. It’s as if the kitchen staff were just standing there waiting for our order, and then rushed it right up.

It is obvious that staffing is an issue; not just in the hotel, but in the area in general. Many of the hospitality staff in the area have left their professions during the repeated rounds of shutdowns (including my favourite ski boot fitter). Even before the current lockdown, the ski area had published rotating days when various stores in the village would be closed, in order to manage their limited staff. They were also unable to keep as many ski runs groomed every night during the week, again due to staffing challenges.

But, the skiing was still great (receiving 60 cm of fresh snow on Monday really helped with that), and I never stood in a lift line all week, if one wants to look for some positives in the ongoing merry-go-round of measures killing off our tourism sector.

On the day of checkout, in a first for me at any Accor property, the hotel had proactively removed the breakfast charges from my weekend days. It was refreshing not to have to ask about the Diamond breakfast benefit, or listen to an argument that one needs to book a specific rate to qualify for the free breakfast. With 3 of the 8 breakfasts removed, the $800 total hotel credit went that much further.

I appears that some renovations on the Gold floor are planned. When walking to our room, we passed a small block of about three rooms, where the wallpaper, lighting and paint was different from the rest of the hallway. My first thought was that they suffered some damage and couldn’t match the existing when doing a repair, so they went with something to contrast. But no. I was told that they have gutted these rooms, and are building some ‘showcase rooms’ with a new design. I don’t know when they will be complete, but a refresh of the room is certainly welcome. Unfortunately, it will probably come with a refresh of the price too, when it’s done.

What I didn’t like hearing, was they are considering adding some rooms from the 6th floor to Fairmont Gold. The low number of rooms in the Gold product is one of the things that makes Gold here so great, because the service level is high and the lounge is never crowded. That’s just an unconfirmed rumour from the bell staff, so we’ll have to wait and see what develops.

 

CanadaDH - Thank you for another great hotel report. 😊

 

Well, it's January, which means I'm in Mont Tremblant again! We stayed for 9 days, and I skied for 7 of them. This was my first stay back here since pandemic restrictions have been completely lifted. After a couple of years of forced closure of many activities, facilities and all but take-out dining, the place is open for business! Well, sort of.

Like many resort areas in Canada, Mont Tremblant is still suffering from a lack of labour. That did impact our visit a bit, but it was still an excellent trip.

We were booked on Fairmont Gold, as usual, and for the third consecutive year, the hotel was unable to offer Gold service. The past two years, it was because of government restrictions. This year, it was all about labour. The hotel said they need 8 full-time staff to run the Gold floor, and they just don't have them, which is why they stopped selling Fairmont Gold for this winter, sometime back in the summer, but after I had already booked. I know it's an easy thing to say, but if you can't find labour, then increase the wages you are offering until you get and keep the labour you need.

The labour challenges are certainly not limited to the hotel. Some activities in the resort were dropped this year, such as the evening tubing activities, as the resort doesn't have the staff to prepare the runs and staff the lifts each night (not that it's an activity we typically used). Additionally, many businesses in the village are struggling. On one night, we were planning to eat at La Forge. We arrived at the restaurant, and the host said they could only serve drinks, as they didn't have any kitchen staff to be able to serve food that night, and suggested some alternative restaurants. They weren't planning to be closed, but they just couldn't get the staff.

In spite of the staffing challenges, I heard on the day we arrived, the resort set a record for the most skiers on the mountain on a single day. So, the staff have left, but the customers have returned! That said, I never experienced any line-ups or crowds while skiing the entire week. We didn't ski on the Saturday we arrived, which matched up with a public holiday in the USA, so it was busy. But the rest of the week, I very rarely stood in a line, and never more than a minute or two.

Now back to the hotel... In place of Fairmont Gold service, they made an alternate offer. They offered daily breakfast via In-Room Dining or in Le Comptoir restaurant. Additionally, they upgraded us to a suite on the 7th floor, and added a $25 daily food credit, to make up for the lack of evening appetizers. I was happy with the offer. I'd really like the Gold lounge to re-open, and I've booked it for 2024, so we'll see if they have the staff by then.

Upon check-in, we were given the exact same suite as last year. I won't post any more photos of it, since it hasn't changed at all. It's still looking very dated, but as of April 1, the 7th floor renovation is supposed to happen, so for 2024, the dated rooms should all be upgraded.

The Welcome Amenity was waiting for us in the room on arrival.



We were provided with our Welcome Drink voucher, and the room also had our usual requests waiting for us, which include a humidifier and an extra clothes dresser.

I should mention that one of the areas where the staffing shortage became apparent was in housekeeping. It was clear that the staff were new, as they forgot a number of things. One day, they took the bathmat, but didn't replace it. Another day, they took the face cloths, but didn't replace them. Little things, which were easily rectified, but still shouldn't happen, and never happened in the past. I also don't know why they even bothered to take/change some of those items. On the desk, was this card...



We never requested fresh linens, so why didn't they even bother replacing them? If they're short on staff, maybe work a bit smarter!

I will say that Royal Service was very quick to respond to any requests. By sending a text message, all requests were answered promptly. Service was excellent in nearly every way, except for the housekeeping, and the fact that no Fairmont Gold product could be offered.

There was only one other annoyance from the stay, and it was about the drink vouchers. Normally, we receive 2 separate vouchers, and if the hotel gives us a single voucher good for two drinks, they are happy to exchange it for two single drink vouchers, as I don't drink. This time, they said they're not supposed to do that, but would make an exception! Really? That's an inconvenience? And, why would that even be a policy. If the hotel really thinks about it, guests using the welcome drinks separately works out in there favour, as it encourages them to book a second meal to use them, rather than redeeming both drinks at once. Instead of making it sound like they're doing the guest a favour by exchanging the vouchers, they might want to think about doing it happily or even proactively.

We ate several meals at the hotel, and all were excellent. We had a couple of breakfasts in the room, but most in the main restaurant. We had a couple of meals in Axe bar, a couple of dinners in Le Comptoir, and one dinner in Choux Gras. Here are some photos...

This is breakfast by IRD the first morning. Meals were delivered to the room within about 15 minutes of ordering.



Here are some photos of Axe Lounge:




And here is Choux Gras, where I had my best meal of the trip:




Le Comptoir served both dinner and breakfast. The breakfast buffet was extensive, and there were also a-la-carte options. With the included breakfast, we could order anything, including mimosas!







The hotel also opened an outdoor location, called La Terrasse, which operated as an apres-ski bar, with access right on the ski run. You could ski in, take off your skis, and grab a snack or drink. The music was too loud for my taste, so we didn't try it.




I also can't complete this review without mention of some other great service by the hotel. My niece has temporarily moved to Quebec for school, and she came to join us for the last 4 days of the trip, and experience a Canadian ski trip. It turned out, therefore, to be a good thing that the hotel gave us a suite. I asked if they could bring up a rollaway bed, extra bathrobe and slippers, and they delivered right away. They didn't charge for the additional guest, and comped her breakfast every morning as well. I was fully expecting to pay for the additional person, but appreciate them not charging for it. It really made for a great stay. I suppose hotel did get the additional revenue from her joining us on 3 really nice dinners at the hotel, so maybe it was a good deal for both parties in the end. They get a gold star from me for that!

Here are some familiar photos from some of the public spaces around the hotel. Below is the main lobby.




Below are the outdoor pools. I was disappointed that the small upper hot tub was closed, and what used to be the cold plunge pool was replaced with hot water. I guess the upper tub was broken, and the hotel felt more people wanted the hot pool than the cold plunge, but I do like alternating between hot and cold after a day of skiing.




Here's the entrance to the hotel from the Ski-Out.



We sat out by these fire pits often.



And here are some photos from around the village.






It was another great trip. I'm happy to see things returning to normal, and hoping that the labour situation improves. And, I'm most excited to see the completion of the Gold floor renovation. The dated Gold rooms are one of the things that stick out as needing improvement, because everywhere else has been renovated/updated. Therefore, I'm looking forward to our 2024 return.

 

CanadaDH 25 CAD daily credit is very weak for replacement of the lounge, but I value a suite upgrade far more than the lounge so I would be ok with the final result. One other Fairmont where I stayed before had a similar reasoning in the past (Bermuda) regarding the valuation of this credit as lounge replacement, but in my opinion the lounge is far more than just food, it's having access to a higher level of service and yet hotels don't value it when giving these credits. At the same time they don't find staff because of low salaries, as you pointed out, so it's clear staff have a value which is being ignored - a bit illogical.

All in all I think I still prefer Westin Tremblant in light of your review. The one feature which could tip the scales to Fairmont would be the lounge because Westin does not have one, but since I have great success with very generous 2-bedroom suites at Westin then Fairmont needs to offer something that Westin does not before I go back to Fairmont again. That is the Gold lounge.

 

I was happy with the offer of the suite. The suite gave us double the space of the Gold Room.

The best hotel at Mont Tremblant is neither the Fairmont nor the Westin. It's the Quintessance, and it doesn't even cost more than Fairmont Gold. The suites there are excellent, as is the service. I've stayed there in the summer, but for winter, is all about the skiing for me (I do have a season ski pass, after all). The Quintessance is on the lake (every room is a suite and with a lake view), but that means a shuttle ride to get to the hill. And I'm always on the hill. I even hit the #1 spot on the leaderboard one day on the new Tremblant app that tracks the number of runs, speed, vertical elevation skied, etc. I think I clocked 35 lifts and 15,000 vertical meters in one day. In the winter, I want ski-in/ski-out, full stop. The other area where the Fairmont beats the Quintessance and all other hotels in the village, are the outdoor pools. The Westin does have a pool, but it's rather cramped. A couple of years ago, I had relatives staying at the Westin while we were there, and they came over to the Fairmont to use the pools with us every day.

 

Westin is all-around a lesser hotel than Fairmont, but I find it's far better value for me, having top tier in both Marriott and Accor hotel chains. I pay far less for a room at Westin and end up with more than at Fairmont.

Quintessance is a notch above Fairmont and Westin but it's not a hotel chain so for me regardless of the season, the benefits would be even worse than what I get at Fairmont. It's not often I stay at independent hotels if I have options with hotel chains.

You are quite an intense skiier and make good use of your time in Tremblant

 

Finally, after being closed for four years, it looks like Fairmont Gold is set to reopen at Fairmont Tremblant. With several false starts, where I was allowed to actually book Fairmont Gold for each and every one of the past four years, only to find the product closed (for a variety of reasons, both understandable and not), it looks like their long-awaited renovation will actually be complete. And, in a departure from the past, where Gold was only open from around Christmas until end of ski season in April, they are planning to open Fairmont Gold in October.

They've updated the Gold Lounge. I like that they left the wood and fireplace, but gave it a refresh and new furniture, but otherwise kept the layout and ski lodge feel to it.



And finally gone are the yellow carpets in the Gold rooms!


I just hope they actually reopen it this winter!

As far as I know they floor layout remains the same. I mocked up a floor plan below. All rooms, including the two suites, are still only a single King bed configuration. For families requiring two beds, I understand a select few of the rooms have adjoining doors.

 

The renovations are now complete! The Fairmont Gold floor is fully renovated, and the outdoor pool terrace, which was closed all summer and fall while they rebuilt all pools, is also complete. I'm not due to arrive until January, but the hotel provided the following photos of the updates.

Gold Rooms have been updated to the following style. Gone are the yellow carpets!



The layout of the floor remains unchanged, where all 28 rooms and suites have only a King bed. Anyone wanting two Queen beds, will need to book two rooms (they do have adjoining rooms). They will provide a rollaway bed in a Gold Suite.

One change to Fairmont Gold is the splitting of the Fairmont Gold Room category into two categories... a Fairmont Gold Room and a Fairmont Gold View Room, where the View Rooms basically view the village, otherwise, there's no difference between the two categories.

No change to the size or location of the lounge, but it's been updated.



The entire pool area has been expanded, and pushed closer to the ski hill. They have a large swimming pool, a large hot tub, and a smaller cold plunge.



The regular pool is on the left, the cold plunge on the right, and a glimpse of the hot tub in the foreground...



This is the smaller cold plunge pool...



Pools as viewed from the ski hill...




As expected, and most unfortunate, prices have jumped dramatically. I booked exactly 365 days in advance for my upcoming stay next month, and have watched them slowly creep up. After Fairmont Gold opened last month, and they announced the reopening of the pool a week later, I've just been watching the jump almost daily. Just to show you what I mean, I booked for $413 + tax per night, which is actually 20% less than what I paid the winter before. It felt like a steal when I booked it, and prices promptly jumped by 25% the following week.

But as of today, prices for the same room and dates are now $1,162 + tax per night. I'm doubly glad I booked two rooms at that advance rate!

Looking out further in the winter, prices are a more reasonable $700 - $800, which is still much higher than historic rates, but better than rates closer in. The moral of the story is, plan your trips well in advance for the best deals!

Oh, and for the first time ever, Fairmont Gold at CMT is now open year-round. Historically, it was only available during ski season.

 

I'm back from another ski trip at the Fairmont Tremblant, and there were many changes. This hotel has seen a number of upgrades over recent years, with upgrades to all restaurants and common areas. Over the past year, the hotel completed more renovations, and this time the changes were focused on Fairmont Gold and the outdoor pool area.

Firstly, it is nice to see Fairmont Gold reopen after several years. My last stay on Fairmont Gold was just before the COVID pandemic shut things down, and since then, the hotel remained open in the years to follow, but they kept Fairmont Gold closed. The first couple of years, it was due to Quebec health regulations. Last year it was closed because the hotel (and area businesses in general) couldn't get enough staff to run it. Finally, it's again open! But not only open, it's renovated, and now open year-round, instead of just during the busy ski season.

There were three of us on this visit, so we booked two rooms, and were given two really nice rooms, side-by-side. Here are some photos of the rooms, and gone are the old yellow carpets! The room layout is much improved with some thoughtful features. Finally, there is a large dresser for storing lots of clothes. Even a nice padded bench for putting on ski boots was very welcome. Electrical outlets, USB ports and light switches were all integrated into both sides of the headboard of the bed.




The nook with refrigerator and coffee maker is in the same place as before.



We also had a nice sitting area with pull-out sofa bed and large window over the ski hill.




We were given the largest (non-suite) room on the floor, containing the extra sitting area. Below are photos of the second room. It still had a nice sitting area by the window, but not the larger sofa bed that we had in the primary room.




The bathroom has also been updated, with a glass shower instead of the old tub.





Even the hallways to the guest rooms were updated.



All of the staff on Fairmont Gold were new, as many of the legacy staff had moved on during the COVID pandemic, but they were all very professional. A few of the staff mentioned they had just transferred up here from Fairmont Gold at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal.

The Fairmont Gold lounge also received a makeover, with new carpets, paint, furniture and appliances in the kitchen area. The changes started with the Gold Concierge desk, which has now been moved outside but right in front of the Gold Lounge, right off the elevators.



The overall size and shape of the lounge remains the same, but with the addition of a seating area where the Concierge desk used to be, by the lounge washroom.



New seating accommodating various group sizes were added throughout the space.








The tables included this card of "lounge etiquette", along with information on the services. Basically, breakfast from 7 to 10 AM, Afternoon Tea from 2 to 4 PM, Appetizers and hors-d'oeuvres from 5 to 7 PM, and Dessert from 8 to 10 PM. It's open all day from 7 AM until 10 PM.



The food area was also updated.








And here is an example of the evening dessert service.






The hotel also removed the old outdoor pool completely back in the spring, and rebuilt it over the summer. It looks like they are mostly finished, but with a few landscaping updates to be done in the coming spring.

They have a outdoor pool and a cold plunge pool on the lower deck by the entrance to the indoor pool. The colour of the lights kept changing.





The hot tub has been moved to an upper deck on the edge of the ski hill.




Here are some pool photos during the day.







Part of the rebuild of the pool deck, also meant a rebuild of the ski-out, and the loss of the trees along the edge of the ski-out. New landscaping is planned for the spring. The wooden fences shown below are clearly temporary, and built to get them through the current winter season. The area with the missing glass panels at the edge of the pool, will be filled in with trees, gardens and other landscaping after the winter season. The entire pool deck, including ski-out walkway, has underground heating.





The gym remains the same as before.



They also moved La Terrasse Apr�s Ski bar. Last year, it was located off of Le Comptoir restaurant patio, accessed from the Nansen ski run. It is now right off of the ski-out entrance to the hotel. They had DJ, fire pits, and a Veuve Clicquot champagne bar.

We used our ALL drink vouchers for some Veuve Clicquot, as the vouchers were good for anything on the menu of any restaurant, for up to $50 each. We all felt that was fairly generous.





We had lunch in the Axe bar one day, and the food was excellent.




Our last night of the say, we had an excellent dinner at Choux Gras.




The lobby remains the same as last year.



Other common spaces and restaurants remain unchanged, so I won't post new photos of those, since there are many images from reviews of the past couple of years.

Overall, it was a great stay, and it was nice to be back.

 

Wow, that place really seems to have upped their game. didn’t they have a change of ownership? Also, that Gold floor food room and selection is one of the best I have ever seen