Viatges a Mansonville

A do it yourself hotel experience: full kitchen (fridge, stove, microwave, dishwasher, crockery and cutlery) washer and dryer provided for laundry, maximum privacy. Vibrant, eclectic neighbourhood with a great array of shops, cafes within steps of the door. Metro station a block away. Compact and cosy with windows that open. Great pied-a-terre for a few days.

Camera spaziosa e pulita. Personale gentilissimo

I highly recommend the hotel

Excellent location. Cute place. Loved all the nearby restaurants. We enjoyed Spanish Tapas the first night right across the street, then Sammi’s Dumplings the last night and a Persian Late at Montiran Cafe one evening. The metro stop is just a block away, so it was easy to come and go during the day. Our room was facing Saint-Denis, so there was always light out, even with the roller blind down. If you are a light sleeper, there was a lot of noise outside, maybe because of some nearby construction too, but I had a little fan that drowned it out pretty good. Overall, it’s was a great place. Will definitely stay there again.

Hotel Birks comes close to a five-star experience, with large, attractive rooms. I was surprised there was no coffee available in the lobby, a convenience I’ve enjoyed at many other luxury hotels, but the only real disappointment was the gym. It was small and poorly equipped. The only elliptical appeared to be an inexpensive, unfamiliar brand, far below Precor quality, and made a loud scraping noise that rendered it effectively unusable. The multifunction weight machine was similarly low-end and broken so completely unusable. That left a set of weights, two floor mats, one stationary bicycle and two basic treadmills—hardly what I would expect from a hotel of this caliber. I intended to raise this with the manager but didn’t get around to it. Even so, the equipment’s condition suggested that maintenance had been neglected. Other five-star hotels I’ve visited offer commercial-quality equipment from brands such as Life Fitness or Technogym. Birks should meet that standard. Summary: A five-star hotel with a zero-star gym.