. "13"^^ . "10"^^ . "3"^^ . "2010-08-13T00:00:00"^^ . . . "9"^^ . "* Mixed emotions *\n\nFortunately I had to go to Montreal.\n\nUnfortunately many of the hotels I usually stay at were booked or overpriced.\n\nSurprisingly the Intercontinental was available and priced reasonably. \n\nFortunately there was only 1 person in front of me on line at check-in.\n\nUnfortunately it took about 15 minutes before the front desk was able to check me in. \n\nSurprisingly they upgraded me to a suite and pointed me to the elevator without offering assistance. \n\nFortunately I never say yes when offered to have assistance to go to the room.\n\nUnfortunately this was a rare case where I could have used the assistance! When I got into the room I couldn't figure out how to turn on the lights even though I am fairly technically savvy. It took 10 minutes to figure out that many of the lights had individual switches and were not on a central circuit. \n\nSurprisingly there was a plate of freshly baked macaroons and a bottle of mineral water to welcome me.\n\nFortunately the room was large with a separate bedroom and living room. \n\nUnfortunately the workdesk had a chair that was likely invented by the Marquis de Sade. \n\nSurprisingly even though the property was recently renovated it is already showing signs of wear, including wall paper starting to peel in the washroom. \n\nFortunately the concierge staff was really knowledgeable about the local area and made several very solid recommendations.\n \nUnfortunately housekeeping was a bit sloppy (found a hole in a towel, a bit of dust on the desk, and no bath mat on my first night). Since these were all minor I didn't bother calling in about them. \n\nSurprisingly housekeeping varied each day and was not very consistent. I was surprised that the empty plate from the macaroons which had a flower and some chocolate sauce garnish was left in the room for 2 days before being taken away. Some days you would get turndown service (some not). One day they took away an almost empty tissue box but didn't replace it with new tissues. One day they threw out a perfectly good bar of soap which was in the shower, while other days they let me use a bar of soap more than once (thankfully). Some days you would get a newspaper, others you would not. Some days they would leave all of the lights on in the room, some not. Some days they would replace the tea for the automated tea/coffee machine, some not. Some days they would put a bucket of ice in the room, some not. I got the impression it was just a crapshoot each day when they serviced the room! All issues were minor, so I did not complain about them. But they were noticeable. \n\nFortunately the room came with access to the club room.\n\nUnfortunately my key didn't work for access until I went to the front desk to get it fixed.\n\nSurprisingly the club room didn't have a lot in it except during breakfast and happy hour.\n\nFortunately the club room did have breakfast and some items were nice like the fresh berries. \n\nUnfortunately some items were really low quality like the scrambled eggs which tasted mealy (I'm guessing powdered?).\n\nSurprisingly even the baked goods like croissant and bagels (which are both Montreal specialties) were more like supermarket variety. \n\nFortunately the hotel offers an \"instant service button\" on the phone.\n\nUnfortunately when you press the button it just rings and rings and rings. I found that if you dialed 0 you got through though, but the instant service button must be going to a bad extension!\n\nSurprisingly wake up calls were not always on time. Some came as much as 15 minutes late - not reliable. In fact one day after I happened to wake up (even though the wake-up call did not come) I went down to eat breakfast and then came back to the room to get ready to leave and there was a pounding at the door (about 45 minutes after the initial wake up call request). Apparently since they called late and I didn't answer (since I was already downstairs at the time I had originally planned) they were worried I somehow died in the room or something. Hm......\n\nOverall the location is decent if you need to be near the convention centre, the pricing is reasonable for the area, and it isn't a terrible hotel. Sometimes they shined, but sometimes they did not. The non-consistency for a chain hotel is quite surprising. I likely would not choose to come back when next in Montreal. There are definitely better more consistently reliable options available."^^ .