Fairmont Tremblant
May 5, 2019, 11:24 am
Here are the current rates for the same week I booked for March 2020. $490/night for a base room and $759 for the Gold floor. Not great.
My rates... $369/night on the Gold floor, flexible, no deposit, booked right off the hotel website. Booked it 15 months in advance, but so worth it. Even the Gold 1 Bed Suite was $469 at the time, which is still less than the base room today. I never book that here, since we have the Gold lounge for space.
Rates here fluctuate. Book early. Check back often.
Last edited by CanadaDH; May 5, 2019 at 11:38 am
May 5, 2019, 4:40 pm
The other thing I've been told, is that they don't get a lot of Platinum guests.
I've never booked anywhere but the gold floor.
I may not be old, but I can be lazy.
I would book the Gold floor too if it was open. Too bad there is not much of an expectation they will open it for the summer at some point...
The hotel not having many Platinum guests is not really a good excuse for the subpar Plat treatment in my humble opinion. Quite the contrary, there are some hotels I have been to before which rarely see elite guests, and consequently for the "special occasion" they did the exact opposite: treat us like royalty and made us feel like it was the highlight of their year to get our visit. It is hotels that have a heavy volume of elites that tend to become blasé, for example Hilton Diamonds in the U.S. If everybody is a Diamond, then nobody is a Diamond!
May 5, 2019, 8:13 pm
They're not the only Fairmont to close the Gold product during low periods. The Chateau Lake Louise closes the Gold floor every November. In addition to it being a very low revenue month, it gives them an opportunity to really do a deep cleaning on every room. They tear the beds apart. Remove some drapery for cleaning. Repaint as needed. Etc. And in the case of this past November, they fully renovated one of their signature suites in time for the Christmas season rush. Tremblant just has an unusually long down time.
May 6, 2019, 8:47 am
May 7, 2019, 11:22 am
Another thumbs down for this property.
May 7, 2019, 4:52 pm
May 8, 2019, 3:06 pm
Aug 6, 2019, 4:37 pm
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.
Last edited by habshabs444; Aug 6, 2019 at 8:36 pm
Aug 7, 2019, 8:57 am
Aug 7, 2019, 12:23 pm
Maybe it is due to the fcat that Accor doesn't always toe the line that I am quite insistant on getting what is due.
But by the sounds of it, nothing was raised to Snr Management at the property?
Aug 7, 2019, 8:26 pm
Maybe it is due to the fcat that Accor doesn't always toe the line that I am quite insistant on getting what is due.
But by the sounds of it, nothing was raised to Snr Management at the property?
Also after my stay I filled out the online survey and pointed out that while the hotel has some good points, no room upgrade with hotel empty is disappointing and makes it very uncompetitive compared to Westin. Someone from the hotel got back to me (job title = Assistant Front Office Manager) and I received this answer:
Unfortunately, such experiences do affect my overall view of Fairmont and Accor in general because as you pointed out it might be because Accor does not push properties enough about upgrades.
Aug 8, 2019, 12:43 am
In my case I ask them to call the GM, the Resident Manager or the Guest Relations Manager (in that order).
Even the reply by a Assistant FOM is not proper if you are dealing with a loyalty member who is in the upper tiers.
Aug 8, 2019, 4:45 am
Aug 8, 2019, 8:04 am
I have visited. The contrast to the way I am usually treated at other properties was glaring. Can't say I am a fan of that whole village either.
Dec 7, 2019, 5:09 am
Fairmont Tremblant
3045 chemin de la Chapelle CP 2670 Mont-Tremblant, QC CA J8E 1E1
Fairmont Mont Tremblant = No Improvement Shown (12 Photos)
Fairmont Tremblant
In the past I have not hesitated to go back to a hotel where I previously had a subpar stay, when I thought circumstances might have changed in light of new information. For Fairmont Tremblant I had a negative experience earlier this year but for a few reasons I gave them another chance. Unfortunately based on my latest stay I must reiterate my thumbs down for this hotel after another stay which did not meet expectations.
There are a few reasons why I decided to return to Fairmont Tremblant only a few months after a so-so stay:
- The review of @habshabs444 mentioned booking with Amex FHR for free breakfast and he received a suite upgrade with the dual power of Amex FHR upgrade plus Accor Platinum upgrade.
- After my previous stay, the assistant front office manager reached out to me and I was led to believe they would be more diligent if I returned.
- Late in 2019 I had already achieved top tier status with Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt, so I could have booked at Westin Tremblant for no additional benefit with the Marriott chain, or book at Fairmont Tremblant to reach Accor Platinum. The price tag was similar between both if I considered the 25% discount with Life Experience certificates at Fairmont so I thought even if my stay is disappointing at Fairmont, at least I could consider that I just “bought” Accor Platinum status by staying at Fairmont rather than Westin.
Check In
We arrived at the hotel around 2pm which is later than the promised noon check-in with Amex FHR. The front desk agent showed me the list of Amex FHR benefits on a printed sheet and right in plain sight on the list was the room upgrade upon availability. All room types were still available for our short 2-night stay based on Fairmont.com so I was very surprised to hear that we were not getting upgraded; to try to smooth things out we were told we had “the best entry level room in the hotel”. Because I still had my experience from April fresh in memory I challenged my room assignment knowing the hotel was far from being full. I asked about the lack of upgrade and after a visit to the back office the agent came back with a very modest upgrade to a view room. Nothing irks me more than hotels trying to go around the rules, even worse doing it twice to me in the same year even after an e-mail exchange with management back a few months ago so it does not look like anything has changed. Also I would note that in his review, habshabs444 did not get the upgrade until he asked so that is now three known incidents on FT in a matter of months… I am now quite reluctant to give them the benefit of the doubt about their upgrade policy. If I had said nothing I was not getting an upgrade at all (again) and even with asking I got nothing more than a view. Ugh. So in retrospect I ended up being overly optimistic after habshabs444 received a suite after asking. My upgrade at this property pales in comparison with the proactive upgrades we regularly get at Westin or Homewood Suites in Mont Tremblant - sometimes even 2-bedroom suites.
In April I was told by Fairmont that suites are out of bounds for upgrades and they told me the same story for this stay. This does not seem to be true based on what habshabs444 reported; I bought their story last time, this time I don’t buy it anymore.
Anyway, I often accept subpar elite treatment in towns without competition such as Charlevoix, Lake Louise, or Montebello, if I really like the hotel, but I am less likely to do so in Mont Tremblant and if I am being jerked around or being deceived; unfortunately a property like that is not the best fit for me.
After check-in I realized that I did not receive my Accor Platinum welcome drink vouchers and I went back to reception to get them. Wine is fairly expensive at this hotel with many wines being over 20 CAD for a glass, but thankfully with the vouchers you can have an 8oz glass of wine not just the 5oz version, and they also allow pretty much anything else from the menu with these vouchers.
Room
Even though ski season has started, the Gold lounge is still not open. Our view room was on the 7th floor which is the gold floor during the winter. Yes the view was nice, but except for first timers in Tremblant I am not sure it’s worth paying extra for the view without having access to the gold lounge. I thought back in April that the entry level room was bland, but the Gold room might actually be worse. It felt more outdated and I was not a big fan of the structure around the bed. Both my room from April and my room from this stay were about the same size and both equally subpar with no special features to give a wow feeling. The shower is in the bathtub in the gold room (like in the standard room) and the tub was draining very slowly so the tub would fill up during the shower which would need to be fixed by maintenance staff. The temperature controls betray an older hotel which has not been renovated recently and the room felt very hot. We opened the window but the wind kept closing it back, so we ended up sticking a small towel in the window frame to block it from closing and to keep the room cool during the night.
The Platinum welcome amenity was “sucre à la crème” and a small bottle of cider, quite small when the hotel knows there are two guests in the room. Obviously as they did not seem to intend to upgrade us because the amenity was ready for us in the standard room, and they had someone bring it to our new room after check-in.
Service
Service at this hotel is maddening. Not only the lack of upgrade and the BS about suites is not something I appreciate very much, not receiving our drinks vouchers proactively, but in addition there are issues with the Life Experiences certificate redemptions which is entirely the hotel’s own doing. It was a mess during my check out a few months ago so this time I asked the day before check out to process my certs right away and not at the time of check out. This has been no problem at all in other Fairmonts where we stayed in the last few weeks (Charlevoix, Québec City, Ottawa, and Montebello). Unfortunately this property is the worst of this group in terms of service, they flat out refused to process my certs one day before check out, claiming risk of “fraud” (?) and told me to bring the certs the morning of departure despite acknowledging that these redemptions take time and can be tricky. They know it’s problematic to handle on short notice, yet unlike other Fairmonts they refuse to handle these vouchers ahead of time; realizing the existence of a problem and not taking measures to fix it is not exactly stellar service. Anyway the story about these certs did not end there. I still did not trust they could process the certs efficiently the morning of departure so I dropped them off at reception before going to breakfast and I informed them that I would come back later. Then about an hour later I went to reception and they told me some story about why they could not redeem my certs because I had paid via Amex FHR. I knew that it can indeed be done so I did not accept that reason. Then they told me they never received money from Amex so they could not refund my card because they can only refund a card which they already charged. Once again I refused this excuse and mentioned that back in April they successfully refunded a different card than the one I paid with. They said they would call other Fairmonts where I stayed to find out how they did it, and I went back to my room. After packing everything I was ready to go and went back to reception a third time that morning and they told me they could not make it work. I give them an ear full with a summary of my irritations, the fact that the situation should be have been resolved the previous day (not the morning of check out), the lack of proactive room upgrade, drinks vouchers, etc. In their defense, they said they did not want me to leave the hotel unsatisfied, so their proposed solution was to pay me back my certs in cash which was actually even better than refunding my credit card. So in the end they came through, but it was painful to get there. In addition more than one week after check out I still do not have the points in my account so unfortunately I am not done with this situation yet.
Enough with the negatives, on a more positive note about service, housekeeping was flawless taking care of the room exactly at the time requested and being generous with amenities refills.
Dining
In my previous review I could not comment on the breakfast buffet because there was no such buffet during low season. This time around we had the buffet and I can say it was good quality except for smoked salmon which looked bad and did not taste very good. It was nice to get baked ham with maple syrup, there was good quality and variety of fruits including different kinds of berries. Overall the breakfast was on par with other Fairmont hotels in the region such as Montebello and Charlevoix but perhaps a notch below Fairmont Ottawa which is more luxurious. My overall takeaway about breakfast is that it is clearly better than at Westin Tremblant (and worlds better than Homewood Suites) but you need to pay for it at Fairmont via a special rate or Amex FHR. Not only the food is better at Fairmont, but also the restaurant is far more attractive than in Westin.
Wifi
Wifi was ok but not great with 6 Mbps speed.
Overall
Overall it was useful for me to book at Fairmont Tremblant again to achieve Platinum status in 2020 (as long as my points are credited), but I think I am going to put this property back in the dog house for a while. The strong point of this property might be the Gold lounge but it’s open for such a short time of the year that more often than not we cannot even book a gold room, not even early in the ski season in late November or early December. Upgrades are not only stingy but also appear to circumvent the rules which is a black mark for me. It is not smooth to get an upgrade, drinks vouchers, Life Experiences vouchers credited, etc. I could forgive one bad experience but it’s been more than two so it is not just an isolated case.