Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu 5 stars

As the title describes, this was one of the most pristine hotel experiences we have had. From an aesthetic perspective, this hotel is at the top. The reason why I did not rate you 10/10 is because the resort fee ($25) was virtually useless. All winter activities appeared to shut down after 5:00 pm (and, sometimes the staff closed up early for some reason). This means that when we got back from our other activities during the day, we could not take advantage of the snow-shoeing, skating (which was just outside our window!), and other fun things. Nobody at the front desk told us about this at check-in, which feels like a huge miss.

friendly staff, nice and clean room, enjoyed the outdoor and indoor pools, food and service at the restaurant was great, enjoyed the relaxing areas, fireplace and view of the river, liked the idea activities close by, casino, skating, snow shoeing.

The overall experience was good. The hotel has several areas that were under construction on the exterior. Free parking is a far climb up numerous exterior staircases. Valet and indoor parking is an expensive choice in an already expensive environment. The casino is clean and smoke free but where are the poker machines? Too many cartoon-ish slot machines. Food was very good and reasonable. I recommend the dinner buffet. Bars are good. Service and staff everywhere in the hotel are excellent. The grounds around the hotel have been developed with other less expensive but less luxurious hotels and restaurants. I have stayed 4 or 5 times at the Manoir. It is still a luxury accommodation but this stay left me feeling it was "sliding" just a bit. A lot more very young children and dogs than I remember. Maybe just the time of year. Also, the Sports Desk has changed how they rent snowmobiles. This time we were informed it would only be with a "guide". I have snowmobiled this area for 40 years. Not interested in a "guide" so we rented elsewhere. At check in, myself and the other family we traveled with were given rooms in different parts of the hotel. It seems there was another party with the same last name as mine and they were given my room inadvertently. We were offered to change rooms the next day buy we just kept the room.

This was probably our 8th visit at the Manoir Richelieu in the past 20 years. The amenities are great; common area for relaxing and reading, gym and pools. It is getting pricy, especially with the lack of queen size bed in the double bed rooms. Was not clear to me that a special resort $25 /night tax was added. The room was larger than most but the one assigned had small windows. Not sure what privileges ACCOR /president club membership provide.

The building and history is amazing but somehow our experiences with service fell through the cracks. Check in was lengthy (45 mins wait) and also baggage transport both to and from the rooms was delayed or didn’t arrive as scheduled. The bar/snack service at the lounge was also not present in the early evening and miscommunications directing us from the bar to the river view where we waited 10 mins and asked the front desk for someone to have hot chocolates and desert. Overall the resort was lovely but was not luxury as anticipated or hoped.