Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy La Galerie

This is a decent, bare-bones, staff-less hotel in a cool old building and a great location. I'd gladly book again for two nights or less. There isn't daily turndown service, so if you want that and hotel amenities, you may want to look elsewhere. It's steps from some of the city's best restaurants and Galleries, the Basilica, and other tourist attractions. My tidy room had four comfy pillows and lovely Davines shampoo, conditioner, and soap. It also came with the usual cheap hotel hair dryer, an iron and ironing board, a small fridge, and a kettle. I missed having a desk. The street-facing room was a bit noisy at night, but they thoughtfully provided earplugs and a white noise machine. The big windows were nice during the day, though the blinds don't block all the sun, so bring a sleep mask. The layout seems right for one adult or a couple. I wouldn't call it kid-friendly because the shower door is heavy glass. I don't mind staff-less hotels. I've stayed in a few in other countries and enjoy the convenience of self check-in.

I booked through Marriott's official website for a business trip to Montreal, expecting the standard I'd had at other Marriott properties like Courtyard and Residence Inn. This stay fell far below that. The room was cramped and noisy, and there was no proper reception or housekeeping. It felt more like a detention center than a hotel. I was there for seven nights and the room was never cleaned. When I asked for cleaning, they said it would cost over $50 each time, which was completely unreasonable. The reservation was non-refundable, so despite the conditions I was stuck for the whole stay. This property doesn't reflect the Marriott brand I trust, and I'd strongly advise others to avoid it.

Clean, easy to access, and exactly what I needed. This staffless hotel is really well located, close to everything, including the bus to the airport, and they were super accommodating. They supplied complimentary earplugs and a white noise machine, which was a nice touch. I did feel a bit uneasy, though. Maybe the place is haunted, but I can't be sure after spending only a few hours there.

My girlfriend and I came to Montreal for a long overdue romantic weekend, but the stay at this Sonder hotel was a nightmare. I had reluctantly accepted that there'd be no one on site for check-in. I didn't realize there would never be a human being on site, or no way to reach one in an emergency. I booked through hotels.com, expecting the sort of cute boutique hotel the listing suggested, not this. On Friday, no one had cleaned the room. The app chat was the only contact. We asked for towels and the bot said there was a supply in a pantry closet on the fourth floor. It was one drawer for the entire hotel. We took the last two and could see we wouldn't make it through the weekend. The bot said room cleaning only happens every 14 days, or they'd do it specially for $70. That felt deliberately misleading. The chatbot was slow and clunky, and it took over three hours to get through that conversation. We couldn't get any way to speak to a person. We stuck it out, but the access situation became a bigger concern that night. A restaurant had completely taken over the lobby. The keypad that was supposed to secure the elevator had either been disabled or never activated, so while the restaurant was open, anyone from there or the street could reach any part of the hotel. Towels remained a problem. We raided the drawer once or twice a day and, if lucky, got two for the day, but there was nowhere to put wet, dirty ones. A pile sat on the floor, slowly mildewing. We never left the room unattended once we understood the access issue, and were fortunate nothing happened. As a data professional, I'd say a chatbot belongs nowhere near the front line of anything important, even with human backup. Making it a hotel's only contact is an Orwellian nightmare. The greed and stupidity of designing this operating model is appalling.