Review: Delta Montreal

My dad recently visited me in Montreal, and I decided to put him up at the Delta Montreal for his week-long stay. I chose the Delta since it’s located very close to my place, and also because I had a seven-night Category 5 certificate from the legacy Marriott Travel Packages to burn, so this was the perfect opportunity to treat my dad to a comfortable hotel stay whilst getting another one of those certificates off the books. 

I booked the room under my name and spent quite a bit of time coming in and out of the hotel, so I figured I’d bring along my camera and write a quick review of the property to help those of you visiting Montreal assess whether the Delta would fit your needs. This would also be my first-ever experience at a Delta hotel, so I was curious how the brand, which has origins in Canada, would compare to the rest of the Marriott portfolio.

Delta Montreal – Location & Arrival

The Delta is located at the corner of Avenue du President-Kennedy and City Councillors St in Downtown Montreal. I’m a big fan of the location, which is in a tiny pocket of relatively quiet streets just immediately outside of the downtown core, within a 5-minute walk to Saint-Catherine St, McGill University, and Mont-Royal.

The building exterior is quite unassuming, and upon first glance you might mistake it for one of the many apartment buildings around these city blocks.  

I arrived to check-in to the room early in the morning. Upon entering the hotel at ground level, you find yourself in a rather sparsely furnished lobby area, with the check-in desks to your left.

A staircase leads up to the half-mezzanine and mezzanine levels, where you’ll find a much more respectable lobby lounge and seating area, although I’m really not sure why the hotel hasn’t bothered to decorate its ground-level entrance area properly.

Delta Montreal – Check-In

The hotel seemed rather busy during this period, so no suite upgrades were forthcoming even as a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite member. I even checked the Marriott app to see if the hotel was selling any suites for cash, and they weren’t, so it seemed fair that we’d only be upgraded to a Club King Room this time around.

The check-in associate informed me that as a Titanium Elite member I’d be treated to Club Lounge access on the 23rd floor, where they’d serve breakfast from 6am to 11am and an evening Happy Hour spread from 5pm to 7pm (or as Quebecers like to say, a cinq-à-sept). 

I could also choose to have breakfast in the hotel’s Aroma restaurant, which would also last until 11am in the morning, and I was given seven breakfast vouchers for each morning of my stay should I choose to eat in the restaurant instead of the lounge.

Note that Delta Hotels are only obligated to provide elite members with breakfast in the lounge, and breakfast in the restaurant is usually offered as an alternative if the hotel doesn’t have a lounge or if it’s closed for some reason. Therefore, the Delta Montreal was going above and beyond in offering me the choice of breakfast, which left me with a good initial impression of the hotel.

I took the elevators up to the 20th floor, where I had been assigned Room 2001 at the very end of the hall. Usually that’s a sign that you’re about to get a very nice suite upgrade, but alas, it was only a Club King Room this time around. 

Delta Montreal – Club King Room

Nevertheless, the Club King Room was a good enough size, and would meet my dad’s needs very well throughout his stay in town. A small foyer welcomes you into the room, and the bedroom and workspace lies beyond a short hallway.

The bedroom consists of a king bed, which my dad was quite happy with, facing a chair and side table. The mini-fridge was positioned by the chair, and could also be used as another surface space. 

The desk and television are located in the corner of the room, along with a luggage rack as well. It’s not the most intuitive layout of a hotel room I’ve ever seen, but that’s probably the result of the room being at the very end of this irregularly-shaped building. 

I spent a bit of time using the room as my office for the day before heading to the airport to pick up my dad, and I’m pleased to say that the swivel chair was one of the most ergonomic hotel chairs I can recall using recently.

The room has a balcony, which was very small and didn’t really have enough space for any outdoor furniture or anything like that. The views from the balcony weren’t much to speak of either, mostly facing the buildings of Downtown Montreal.

There’s a small closet and cabinet, where you’ll find the pantry and kettle for making coffee and tea. I was surprised that the Delta doesn’t provide bathrobes, even though I had previously expected the brand to be about on par with a full-service Marriott hotel, were bathrobes are very much the standard. 

The bathroom entrance is by the front door, and it was a generous size, if a little basic in what it offered.

A sink and mirror, toilet, and shower – just the essentials, nothing more, nothing less.

Delta Montreal – Breakfast

That’s about all there is to say about the Club King Room, so let’s take a look at everything else the Delta Montreal offers, starting with the breakfast options. We ended up making use of the breakfast vouchers in the Aroma restaurant on all seven mornings, since the breakfast spread is much wider than what’s available in the Club Lounge.

The servers in the restaurant were very friendly, offering unlimited refills of coffee and orange juice, as well as made-to-order eggs from the kitchen. I ordered omelettes, poached eggs, and fried eggs over the course of the seven days.

Then you could also choose from the buffet spread, which was what I’d consider to be “your average North American breakfast buffet” – that is to say, pretty hearty but not too appetizing in the end, consisting of your everyday selection of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, some kind of fried potatoes, baked beans, ham, cereal, pastries, and fruits. 

Nevertheless, it’s a larger spread than what I’d ordinarily eat for breakfast at home every day, so I was quite happy to come over to the hotel in the mornings to have breakfast with my dad.

Delta Montreal – Club Lounge

The Delta’s Club Lounge is located on the 23rd floor, the top floor of the building. Outside of breakfast and the evening Happy Hour, the Club Lounge tends to be pretty quiet during the daytime, and I used this space as my office on quite a few days.

Upon entering the lounge, there’s a large room to your right-hand side that consists of quite a few couches and chairs, which can be booked as a private function room for a small meeting or get-together.

Then you take the stairs up a level to arrive at the main seating and dining area. There’s another balcony up here as well, with views of Montreal from a slightly more commanding angle.

We came up here for the evening spread every once in a while. There would usually be a selection of two hot items, plus some cold sandwiches, finger foods, cheeses, nacho chips and salsa, and desserts. 

The wait staff can help you to beverages as well – as is the norm in North America, non-alcoholic drinks were complimentary, while alcohol would be charged to your room. 

The evening spread isn’t quite large enough to serve as a full dinner replacement, although it’ll function nicely enough if you simply need to fill up your belly in a pinch.

Delta Montreal – Other Facilities

The hotel’s Health Club is located on the ground level, down the hallway from the check-in desks. The fitness centre is open 24/7, whereas the pool only seems to be open at certain hours in the mornings and evenings with a short closure period around lunchtime.

I actually used the hotel’s gym a few times out of convenience. It’s better equipped than many other hotel gyms out there, with a proper bench press in addition to the usual treadmills, exercise machines, and free weights. 

At the back of the gym is an aerobics space, and there’s even a squash court accessible via the basement level. 

We didn’t get a chance to use the indoor pool, although I saw many guests coming down to take a dip during my time at the gym.

In terms of the hotel’s other facilities, there’s a gift shop in the lobby area opposite the check-in desks, which sells Montreal-related souvenirs and knick-knacks. I was rather surprised to see this, since it’s not often you find a gift shop at a city hotel. 

The Delta also has an Enterprise car rental office on the premises, which proved useful when we needed to rent a car to drive out to Mont-Orford National Park for some hiking on the Thanksgiving long weekend.

My dad was leaving at 7am on the final day, but I asked for a late checkout as a Titanium Elite member and continued to use the Club Lounge as my workspace before finally checking out at 4pm. 

Conclusion

The Delta Montreal served our needs well for my dad’s seven-night stay in town, and he was very satisfied with the hotel overall. I personally thought that the hotel had a great location, friendly staff, and generous elite treatment with its breakfast benefits, although the physical building was definitely beginning to show its age, and there are probably quite a few more recently refurbished properties around Montreal that are available at a similar price point. 

In particular, I’d probably be more enthusiastic in recommending the Renaissance Montreal Downtown, where I had stayed back in April and which is priced at roughly the same $200–250/night range as the Delta. Nevertheless, if redeeming Marriott Bonvoy points for a free night, the Delta might be a more affordable option as a Category 5 rather than the Renaissance’s Category 6.