If you’re just joining the fun, my nightmare trip actually started on Delta Airlines. You can read about it here if you want to start at the beginning. From there, me and my partner had a terrible experience leaving NYC from LaGuardia airport. Once we arrived in Montreal I thought things were going to change. We ended the night at the Aloft hotel. Here is my Aloft Hotel review with some good ol’ fashion real life experiences thrown in…

Lets back up a bit. I love staying at Aloft hotels. They’re chic, fun, hip and well… all of their rooms look like artsy lofts. What more could you ask for in a great stay?

Oh yeah… They also have a great bar in the lobby (alcoholic bar) as well as a food and beverage bar with noodles, cupcakes, beverages and free coffee. So, yes, there is more to ask for.

The hotel comes with a small gym and a nice pool. Although looking through the glass, at the three feet of snow, you might not want to take a dip (even when the pool is heated.)

I like Aloft hotels. They’re great and usually cheap for a fun and hip hotel choice. This one is located near the airport. A quick shuttle ride from Montreal Airport to the hotel and a good night of rest would leave all the bad travel ju-ju behind.

Lets Address the Haters

Haters like this one below:

Who think my experience is not disastrous enough should really get out and live a little. If they did, they would realize that sometimes one bad comment, one rude person can ruin your day, making something “a bad experience.” No?

But for people like this person who think this trip is not as bad as I’m making it seem should actually continue reading ahead. Why? Because this trip actually ended with someone dying. Yes… Someone actually died on Christmas Day (since this is a X-Mas trip report from this past year.) However, I am not going to get into that out of respect for my partners family.

Also, I LOATHE travel bloggers and Vloggers who only talk about the sunny side of travel. We all know that things never go as planned. Flights get cancelled, people get annoyed with each other. Trips get ruined at times. People miss flights etc. So, if you think I’m only going to write about all the great stuff and only the great stuff, think again.

I want you to know that I LOVE to travel but I also want you to read the annoyances I have on my trips. The tics I encounter and the pick-pockets who try to rob me (as an example.) If you only want sunshine and rainbows I can tell you now, I am not someone you will enjoy. Perhaps you should have been born a flower instead.

You can check out the video below of one of the many trips that didn’t go as planned:

Getting Back to the Wonderful Aloft Hotel Review

The Aloft Hotel in Montreal is near the airport. It has a convenient shuttle to and from one of the gates. So it’s really convenient and easy to get to.

We waited for the shuttle for about 10 minutes, which felt like an eternity in this 12 degree weather. The shuttle arrives, we get on with a flight crew and get off 5 minutes later at The Aloft.

I’ve stayed at other locations before and I like how punchy and bright the color scheme of these hotels are. Each hotel looks identical by the way. The elevators have a great jell pad on the floor. You can step on it and watch the jell move around. The light is also dim and blue and they play club music. It’s like your own private party of two. I think they’re fun.

The prices are average in terms of hotel. The prices differ from location to location but you can usually stay in one for $100 and up, depending on the location or season. I believe we paid $150 for the night.

The Alofts have a great loft-like feel once inside the room. Separated by what looks like a giant door/bookcase, the restroom is quite nice and spacious. The rooms are very modern.

We got the room with a king size bed so we can relax and spread out in.

We arrived pretty late. It was approaching midnight by the time we settled in and decided to sleep a well-deserved sleep. I needed the sleep. LaGuardia airport was such a bad experience, I needed to sleep the stress away. I wanted to sleep in as much as possible. After all, we were catching a bus to Quebec city the next day at noon. This meant we could take our time, sleep in, relax for a bit and enjoy the ride to our Christmassy destination.

The Next Day

My partner usually sleeps with ear plugs because he doesn’t like my snoring. The drapes in the room are so thick they completely block out the sunlight, which is a great thing when you’re trying to sleep in.

I open my eyes because I see a flashing light in the room. It goes off once, then twice. Then the extremely loud and obnoxious fire alarm starts to ring. I grab my cell phone to see the time. It’s 6 in the morning. We went to bed at midnight. So much for a good night of sleep.

My partner wakes up, even with his earplugs, he can hear it.

I walk outside to see if it’s a false alarm. I see people leaving the building and walking outside.

The funny thing about walking outside, to a “safe place” is that in Montreal, in the dead of winter, it takes about 15 minutes to put on winter attire to survive the sub-zero temperatures. If this were a real fire, we would not have time for this.

I put on pants, thick socks, undershirt, shirt, sweater, coat, scarf, hat, neck warmer, boots and

walk outside. The fire department is already here. Today we could have died in a fire… if there was a fire. However, if there was a fire and we needed to run out of the building we would have died in the cold dead of winter. Interesting.

The firemen proclaimed a false alarm finally. They turned off the alarm and we all went back inside to warm up, settle our nerves, pack up and get ready to head to the bus station.

Let me break it down for you:

The Aloft Hotel is fun and chic. Depending on location and season it can be expensive to stay in. Sometimes it can be as low as $90 per night on an off-season day. Otherwise, I would say this hotel is pretty cool and average priced for a hotel.

It has a great bar, pool and gym. It also has a snack bar and beverage bar. The coffee is free at the snack bar. The Aloft comes with all that comes with a hotel room, like AC and heat, private shower…etc. The rooms actually look like chic lofts.

Do I recommend it? I prefer staying at lower budget accommodations but this hotel is pretty nice. Or you could stay at an Airbnb for around the same price per night. However, I definitely recommend this hotel.