When the cab turned the corner and I saw the outside of hotel espresso for the first time, I thought the 2.5 stars might be accurate. The outside looks like a mess and the sign is terrible. We have 5 people and a baby and when we walked into the lobby trying to pull all our luggage in from the snow and manage the baby at the same time, the lady at the front desk sort of yelled at us to quit activating the automatic doors which was letting the cold in. Not a good start. We got the room key and saw the nice little store near the elevator which sells souvenirs and snacks and toiletries. There's a bar and a cafe. We got to the room which is nice and big and spacious with a well sized fridge, free wifi and a good view of downtown. The pool is outdoor and closed for the winter, and the gym is not bad at all. We went back down to find the underground city and the next lady at the desk was very helpful in showing us where to go. Bed was super comfortable and our room is in the corner near the laundry room and was nice and quiet save for the construction that is happening across the street. So far a better than average hotel. Also the first hotel where the room gets cold enough for me to sleep - most of the hotels we have stayed at in Canada are like 85f even with the heater off so I appreciated the cool room last night.
Update: about 20 minutes after i wrote this review i was in the shower when the phone started ringing. I was told that they were doing construction on this floor and we needed to switch rooms within 45 minutes. I was pretty upset to have to repack and move, but the room they put us in was a significant upgrade. The downside was the wifi in the new room was pretty much unusable when it had been pretty good before. The coffee thing for the keurig in the room had already been used. The breakfast downstairs was pretty pricey and sad.