Knowing I was going to be in Montreal in the Fall of 2022, I decided to book the DoubleTree by Hilton Montreal (Complexe Desjardins). The location of the hotel was inside of a shopping center and in a good location in the city. In addition, they had an Executive Lounge. The Executive Lounge is accessible with Diamond Status or if you have an executive level room.
I was very excited to check out the Executive Lounge at the Doubletree Montreal as I had previously read a review and it looked great. Unfortunately, much has changed since that review *was posted,and the Executive Lounge at DoubleTree by Hilton Montreal (Complexe Desjardins) appears to have greatly declined in quality.
Check-in
Upon check-in, I was notified the lounge was adjacent to the Bar area on the Floor 6 which is also the lobby check-in level for this hotel, the restaurant , etc so its location was very good. I was not told specific hours but told to scan my card key at the lounge entrance, but the lounge appeared to be open several times we checked.
Accessing the Executive Lounge and Hours
The Executive Lounge never appeared closed. We even tried the executive lounge a few times first in the morning around 7am to make a real coffee and it was always open! That was a nice perk. It was nice to see it open throughout the day for grabbing a quick beverage of coffee, tea or juice. There was a wine bar available but it was out of order, but a few bottles of wine were left out to be used. There were a few beers a available in the fridge from time to time as well.
Executive Lounge Layout
The layout of the Executive Lounge was pretty nice. It was very spacious and also attached to a nice outside area. During our visit it was never full, typically only having a few people in there at a time. We did not see many repeat visitors during our several visits so I would estimate more people were using the lounge than a simple head count would suggest.
Executive Lounge Food and Beverages
I was most excited per the review* I read to see what kind of food offers and adult beverages that would be offered but I was very disappointed the several nights we visited. Its apparent the Executive Lounge is no longer the nice lounge that was in the previous review*.
From 5pm to 7:00pm there is food in the Executive Lounge, in addition they offer Beer and Wine. On our first evening, we visited and noticed only a few wine bottles on the table, apparently their Wine Machine was broken. The wine was a selection of lower end but drinkable reds and whites. In regards to Beer, they had two different Pilsner, I believe they where Canadian ones, found in the bottom of the fridge. The beer itself was good, but odd they ran out so quickly given the limited amount of people in the Executive Lounge.
The food was brought out shortly after 5pm. They served some cold cuts, an assortment of cheese and some sandwiches and a hot item. The cheese was decent and tried a few pieces, but lacked crackers which I though was odd to not offer something with it, considering some of the cheeses where the soft types. The hot item was a generic pasta with meatballs one evening and some sort of other pasta the other. The sandwiches were tuna fish one evening and cold cuts another. Desserts were sheet brownies and a few cookies. Food wise, the offerings reminded me more of a very bad airport lounge, not the Hilton brand and definitely not a Diamond Executive Lounge. The sandwiches did not look so appetizing (aka stale tuna fish) and there were no vegetarian/vegan or allergy friendly offerings. I overhead people again mentioning the lack of variety of food and at least one mentioned no vegetarian options. I was surprised they did not at least have a salad or some vegetable offerings. I witnessed several diamond members access the lounge, go check out the options and then turn around and leave with a very unpleasant look on their face. I wondered if those people had visited the DoubleTree Executive Lounge previously.
Issues with adult beverage selection not being refilled appeared both nights, the limited beers in the fridge quickly ran out and were not replaced. Similar issues happened with the wine. I overheard several people commenting about this. Also, having the wine machine being out of order and not clearly labeled threw many people off.
Overall Thoughts
The DoubleTree by Hilton Montreal was a good hotel. Its location at Complexe Desjardins near Old Montreal is a bonus. Being a Hilton Diamond member I was not impressed by the Executive Lounge at DoubleTree by Hilton Montreal (Complexe Desjardins). I specifically narrowed my hotel search to this hotel due to the Executive Lounge but due to my experience, that wont factor into my next hotel search for Montreal.
*The review is posted here
https://wareontheglobe.com/2019/06/07/exploring-the-executive-lounge-at-the-double-tree-by-hilton-montreal-complexe-desjardins/
Executive Lounger Review for the DoubleTree by Hilton Montreal , October 2022
DoubleTree by Hilton Montreal
1255 Jeanne Mance Street
Montreal, Quebec, H5B 1E5, Canada
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