I stayed at the Fairmont during my last visit in 2010. The hotel is about 30 minutes drive from the airport (no traffic) right in the heart of the city, beside the main train station.

If you are travelling by train, you can access right from the train station through the underground pass. Attached the hotel is the maze of underground shopping (path) from Place Ville Marie all the way to the Eaton Centre.

The main entry way was just as grand and elegant as I remember. Huge chandeliers, rich dark furniture and polished marble floors. Check in was quick and the staff were very pleasant and friendly. The gentleman who checked me in confirmed the room type and switched without hesitation it when we discovered the room type was booked in error by my company travel agent.

The room itself was nice; updated with a mix of new and classic. My TV was huge, about 46"! The bathroom was clean enough although the bathtub seemed to be a bit worn. When you showered the water seemed to take some time to drain properly, which tells me the drains need to be cleaned out. The heater worked well, except at times it would make a buzzing noise.

I ordered room service and the food was good, but served luke warm, not hot.

The restaurant Montrealus was also quite nice, but pricey. Breakfast, buffet or not will run you about $25-30 per person. Food was good, but not outstanding. You're better off walking up to St-Catherine Street and have a variety of food to choose from.

St.Catherine Street is less than 10 minutes walk from the hotel. You will find tons of great restaurants and shops along the mains street as well as tucked into the side streets.

The overall hotel experience was average.

Had a one night stay here and all was great. Room clean and it was a reasonable size. The bathroom was small, but we expected that in an old hotel. We had an excellent room rate due to special that was running. Easy walk to the Bell Centre. And an excellent Sunday brunch at the hotel.

We also took advantage of the Gibson spa with 30% off on Sundays. We were happy with the spa and all who worked there.

Overall a great stay.

Most Fairmont hotels I have stayed in have been outstanding. The Queen Elizabeth is fine, but lacks character and good management. We arrived in Montreal from a cruise and arrived to a chaotic scene in the lobby. We were 8 people, two to a room, and each check in took 20 minutes to half an hour. In my view, since our rooms had been pre booked, and secured with a credit card, each check in should have been a matter of a few minutes. Altogether it took two hours for all of us to receive our room keys. Ridiculous. The room itself was large, clean and comfortable, but had no charm whatsoever. In a hotel like the Queen Elizabeth, the room should delight you. This did not.

My wife and I had looked forward to staying at the Queen Elizabeth and while I know it is an older property I was hoping for something a bit more. We used our suite upgrade which gave us two spacious rooms. Frankly the roooms looked old and tired and really in need of an overhaul. The heating/cooling system was noisy and one of the TVs did not work wiht the remote.

This was my impression of the lobby area as well. It needs to be redone. The staff are polite but almost indifferent. There is something lacking here that problably requires a new management team to fix.