Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac Quebec City = One of Best in North America

I reviewed this hotel shortly before the covid outbreak and returned this year.  I thought I would provide a brief update regarding this hotel which is one of the nicest Fairmonts we have stayed in before.  

The iconic Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Quebec City was officially our daughter’s 100th hotel in her life at the age of 20 months old, not counting duplicates of hotels where we stayed more than once.  This stay was booked many months ago, originally planned for December but I was sick like a dog in the virus infested country (second only to China?) but the hotel thankfully agreed to reschedule to January despite being passed the cancellation deadline.  

This hotel has a great reputation, for what it’s worth they won best luxury hotel in the world according to “World Luxury Hotel Awards”.  https://www.luxuryhotelawards.com/winner/the-16th-annual-world-luxury-hotel-awards-winners/?sorts%23winners-table[hotel]=1

This is quite a high standard to reach, I would settle for maybe one of the best in North America but regardless, the point is that this hotel does not have many flaws no matter how we look at it.  They claim to be the most photographed hotel in the world as it’s the city landmark, a stunning castle overlooking the river. Being #1 hotel in pictures, that I can believe more easily.  How often do random tourists actually take a picture of a hotel anyway?  My guess is that 99%+ of tourists coming to Quebec City take a picture of the Fairmont hotel.  If not it must be because their phone is broken.

I booked the entry level room and was originally upgraded to a signature room as Accor Diamond, however because of our early check-in the room was not ready so they proactively further upgraded to junior suite which was available immediately.  Most hotels would actually do the opposite if we arrive too early.   The suite was not very big but this is a very old hotel with most rooms being on the small side, a room 45 sqm was quite good here.  We had lovely river views from our room as well.  

The public areas of this hotel are great especially the restaurants and bars.  The hotel has excellent dining options popular with people not even staying at the hotel, and offers a perfect opportunity to burn the 100 USD F&B credit as per Virtuoso benefits.  Our daughter received a celebration cake and card marking her 100thhotel and we got a bottle of champagne, not to mention 3 welcome drink vouchers and they allowed us to pick whatever we wanted from the menu rather than limit to the cheap stuff - nice all around, everybody happy.

Service at this hotel stands out, I would dare to say almost at the level of Asia and the Middle East which almost never happens in North America.  As an example, when we ordered room service the server was aware it was our daughter’s 100th hotel.  Staff just seem to know who are the guests and what is going on, there is great coordination and communication.  Service was professional and polished at reception and in the restaurant.

Wifi speed could have been better, I clocked 7 Mbps.

Overall it was a treat returning to Fairmont Le Château Frontenac and I can highly recommend it to everybody, from top tier Accor loyalists to infrequent travelers looking for a historical hotel which will provide a premium experience.j