April 24, 2006 - The Courtyard Montreal Airport hotel is a beautiful hotel. It is nicer than many of the full-service Marriott hotels that I have stayed at in the past. Every aspect of the hotel exhibits a very high level of quality. Service is excellent.

The hotel is located adjacent to Canada 40 and between exits 62 and 65, close to the Montreal Trudeau airport. While we could see the hotel from the highway we had trouble finding it. We called the front desk and the associate helped us with directions immediately.

Arriving at the Courtyard check-in was “Marriott fast,” taking under a minute. Our group of three all received the King rooms as requested. The room rate was $134 Canadian using an available AAA rate.

My room was #314, was close to the elevator. The room was beautiful. The décor and quality of the furnishings impressed me. The bed was firm, but very comfortable. There were both feather and foam pillows and the quality and feel of the linens was excellent. Even though my room faced the freeway I did not hear any highway noise.

The room had a flat screen TV with a large variety of both Canadian and US channels. I was pleased to find the Lakers game on TNT, even though they lost! There was also a large selection of pay-per-view movies.

The work area was large and featured a two level desk. The bottom level could be pulled out to increase the desk area. There was a comfortable and functional office-style chair and lighting was good. Electrical and broadband connections were conveniently located above the desk.

Across from the work area was a sofa and coffee table. The sofa was very comfortable. I did not check, but believe that it was also a sofa bed. Heat and air conditioning was centrally located and quiet.

The hotel offers wired complimentary high speed internet service in rooms. The Data Valet service worked well. Running the Speakeasy internet speed test showed a download speed of 570K and upload at 95K. While the regular internet connection worked well, it did not work as reliably with our company’s VPN as most Marriott properties do. It took several minutes for Outlook to connect and it went on and off-line several times in three hours.

The bathroom was large and also decorated nicely. The combination tub and shower had a great shower head and plenty of hot water which flowed immediately. There were enough thick white towels for four guests. It may be an unusual comment, but the plumbing fixtures in the bathroom were very high quality! Lighting was good and the granite vanity large. Bath amenities included shampoo, conditioner, and lotion.

One feature of the new-design Courtyard rooms is the coffee bar area. It has a four-cup coffee maker, is well lit, and has a granite counter top and a mini refrigerator under the counter.

A business associate and I had breakfast in the hotel restaurant. As part of the buffet, there is an omelet station. The buffet was pretty standard having a good selection of both hot and cold items. The cost for two complete breakfasts was $28.00 Canadian. Service was prompt and excellent.

The Courtyard is connected to a Residence Inn, something that I have not seen before. The two hotels share an indoor swimming pool, large exercise room, and large guest laundry on the lower level of the Courtyard. Next to the guest laundry was a children’s play room with a window between the two.

Everyone at the hotel spoke excellent English all though their initial greeting was in French.

I really liked the Courtyard Montreal Airport hotel. It is a beautiful property with really excellent service.