Aloft Airport Montréal

EN / FR

August 2021

The Aloft Montreal Airport is located next to the Montreal Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau Airport. The hotel is literally just next to a landing strip. The neighborhood is not very interesting, since it is next to an airport. It is mostly industrial without commercial activities.

I made my reservation on the Marriott web site, for one night at 153$ per night (plus taxes), in high season and during Covid. This rate is competitive for a property so close to the airport and in high season. Since there is so little activity at the airport, due to the Covid related travel restriction, we can believe that this rate doesn’t represent the “real” high season rate.

The property

This hotel has a good variety of services and equipment that will provide the visitor many things to do to occupied his time and he would mind the lack of distractions in the surroundings. On the other hand, because of Covid sanitary restrictions, most of these services were not available.  So, there is a pool (closed), a gym (closed), a bar (closed), and a restauration area (also closed). A small convenience store offers several types of food to eat on the go, with a coffee machine and microwave ovens. The prices for the food are very high, like we are already in the airport.

Parking is free.

The corridor on the room floor is dark and wide.

The room

Despite the hotel name, the room is not a loft. My room is small, but functional and well equipped. There is a carpet and everything is clean. All the space in the room is optimized to be functional. I found a work desk, with a comfortable chair on casters, and equipped with a module to charge electronic devices and to connect to the television set. Some kind of Recamier sofa is placed under the television, but there is no other chair in the room. In the wall of the bedhead, there is a hidden compartment in which an ironing board and an iron have been wisely placed. There is a lot of storage space in many places in the room.

There are two large windows that provide a good natural lighting. The windows have recessed blinds that make them totally opaque to the light.

The air conditioning system is located under a window and under a wide shelf that make the air flow oriented directly towards the person lying in the bed. I had to shut off the air conditioning during the night to sleep well.

The room has a door to access the next room. This greatly reduces the soundproofing with the room next door. Conversation the room next door can clearly be heard.

The bed is comfortable.

The bathroom

The bathroom is in two areas. The first part doesn’t have a door and has a sink and a large wall unit adjoining to the room. In the second part, there is the toilet and the shower. A sliding door separates the two bathroom areas. This door has a tendency to disengage from its track to become difficult to close. The two areas are spacious enough to freely move. The shower is large and soap and shampoo dispensers are provided. In the wall unit we find many shelves and a wardrobe space. A coffee machine working with pouches is provided. There is also a safe. A small fridge is located under the sink. There is no microwave oven. The surface around the sink is adequate. The sink is a washbasin type.

Services

Breakfast is not included in the room fare. I didn’t have breakfast at the hotel, so I cannot judge the food available. The staffs are helpful but not very friendly. Clearly, these guys were tired of being at work.

Wireless internet access (Wi-Fi) is free and excellent.

Design

The room functionality has clearly been well studied and is remarkable. I found two interesting items in terms of design, the clock on the night stand and the ice bucket. This one is in translucent blue plastic reminding a product design trend from the beginning of the years 2000. The clock case is also in plastic with a style inspired by streamline design.

My two cents

The services offered by Aloft are multiples and could allow this hotel to be a destination for comfortable long stays. This being an airport hotel leads to believe that the visitors will be there for very short stays. The hotel location, and the lack of commercial attractions nearby, is not compatible with long stays. Also, although they are functional, the room is still relatively small, which is more adapted to short stays, such as airport transit, business trips or stays before flights. All of this seems to be a contradictory service offer. I can conclude that the people of Aloft what to provide a lot of services and equipment to their clients to occupy their time and make their short stays as pleasant as possible. And, if that is their mission, they seem to succeed. For my part, despite all the restriction applied (related to Covid), my experience there was pleasant.

The devil is in the details:

• Air conditioning bad orientation.

Pros

• Near the airport.
• Functionality.

Cons

• Neighborhood, nothing around.
• Soundproofing between rooms.