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Auberge le Jardin d'Antoine: Small hotel on St. Denis-Quartier Latin Auberge Le Jardin D'Antoine Review

Unsuccesful at booking with Priceline, I turned to the guidebooks and found this small hotel located in the Quartier Latin on St. Denis. I absolutely loved the location, the surrounding area is chock full of restaurants in all price ranges and shops, including a condom store right across the street from the hotel (someone needs to explain to me why the only place I've ever seen a store devoted exclusively to condoms is in Canada, both in Toronto and Montreal!). The Latin Quarter is close to the University so there seemed to be young people walking around all the time and many of the businesses seem to cater to this age group.

Unique Qualities: I reserved one of the budget rooms as we spend very little time in our room, a little small but perfectly adequate for our needs. The shower was fine, plenty of hot water, TV, phone, air conditioner.

A basic buffet breakfast is included in the rate, a shame really as I would have rather gone and found a patisserie or tried those bagels that Montreal claims are better than New York's. The first day we skipped it since we had a couple of spare Tim Horton donuts left over, we should have skipped it the 2nd day too, I never did get to try those bagels.

The hotel has a couple of parking spots but they were first come first serve so we parked about 1 1/2 blocks away at the Library parking lot which was 10CAD per day. To check in, there is a 15 minute parking space right in front of the hotel so you can unload your luggage.

Address: 2024 Saint-Denis street

Comparison: less expensive than average

Directions: Between Ontario and Sherbrooke, within walking distance of the Berri UQAM metro station

Phone: (514) 843-4506

Price: US$80-120

Theme: Hotel

Website: http://www.hotel-jardin-antoine.qc.ca/home.html

Holiday Inn-airport: Priceline boo boo

I was booking my hotel only about a month in advance and Priceline wasn't yielding any hotels for what I was seeing as normal rates on Bidding for Travel so I chalked it up to the fact that the Jazz Festival for going on. At one point I added in the airport area because we were getting in so late at night, what I didn't do was check the regular rates, I ended up only saving $9US.

In any event, I got the Holiday Inn at the airport for $80 per night plus $20 in taxes. As with most airport hotels, the Holiday Inn is not convenient to downtown Montreal so I suspect that most of their customers are airline personnel, business people and travelers with early or late flights. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to claim the GST refund since Priceline doesn't itemize taxes but I submitted it and it was refunded based on my calculation.

Unique Qualities: When we arrived 2 hours after we were supposed to, the place where we rented the car from was already closed so I remembered that the Holiday Inn had a free shuttle, we called from inside the airport because it was so late, I assume they run regularly but you might want to check this out. You can catch the shuttle just outside arrivals, look for the numbered signs with the hotel listed on it. They were nice enough to deliver us to the off site car rental location the next morning.

The room was a standard business type room with a king sized bed, an in room safe, TV, air conditioning.

The bathroom had minimal toiletries, plenty of hot water, decent towels and a hair dryer.

We didn't have a chance to use the pool but it looked nice and it was in the interior courtyard so it was covered in case of weather.

Check in was quick and friendly, no mention of Priceline and no need to even leave a credit card imprint.

Address: 6500 Cote de Liesse

Comparison: less expensive than average

Directions: Located on the access road that runs right by the airport

Phone: (514) 739-3391

Price: US$80-120

Theme: Hotel

Website: http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hd/yulcd