Le Sheraton Montréal spends $28 million in room renovations

Renovated guest room at Le Sheraton Montréal.

MONTREAL, QC—By the beginning of September, all 825 rooms in Montreal’s second biggest hotel will have been renovated to the tune of $28 million.  But the best part is that the renovations at Le Sheraton Montreal will be completed in 10 months, with minimal disturbance to guests.

“Sometimes you’re only able to renovate one third of the rooms each year, meaning that some of the guests aren’t getting the same experience as others,” comments Marie-Andrée Beaudoin, director of sales and marketing for the hotel.  The renovation was conducted seamlessly, a couple of floors at a time with buffer floors top and bottom.

With the renovations, they moved to the next generation of Sheraton Sweet Sleeper beds, and added flat screen televisions. “The style is not too trendy, but very contemporary, airy and bright,” Beaudoin says.  “We have received great comments from guests.”
“You can now order room service, eat, chat and sit on the bed and use the computer at the same time,” she adds.

The bathroom vanities were all replaced, huge mirrors and make-up mirrors added, and lighting improved following the suggestions from some female guests.  All of the bathtubs and toilets were replaced with more eco-friendly models.  The tap water pressure has been reduced from 1.0 gallon to 0.5 gallon per minute, and toilets are dual flush.

“We did our last room renovation in 1999, and we really needed it.  The hotel is 25 years old and we’ve had 8.5 million guests. We were getting good comments on the warm welcome, and staff service, but we were starting to hear about the bedrooms.  Now with half of the hotel done, it’s changing the feedback.”

Beaudoin calls the room renovation “the cherry on the sundae.”
 
“Over the past few years, we’ve been stressing brand culture for all employees at all levels.  With the brand culture and the brand renovation, nothing can stop us now.  We’re the second largest hotel in the city—our focus is to be the best hotel in Montreal to host self-contained conventions.  We want to be better, different and special—we have the total package to do that.”

Next on the agenda is a Sheraton Link in the lobby – a communal area with computers where people can gather together, chat, use the Internet or watch TV.  “This is included in our Sheraton Values,” says Beaudoin.  “We want to be warm, connecting and community minded.”