Lovely 2BR in Old Montreal by Sonder

TL;DR: Fantastic location, clean and comfortable amenities, would recommend! We came to Montreal for the Fireworks Festival and this hotel was perfect for this trip. Location: located in charming Old Montreal in a quiet pocket, so no loud music, bars or tourists at our doorstep. This hotel is a 5 min walk to the Square Victoria-OACI metro station which was so convenient for our active weekend, especially to take the metro to La Ronde or to see a Just For Laughs show in the Village. Our stay: our suite was clean, air conditioned and had everything we needed for a comfortable stay. I really liked the layout, it felt like a cozy condo. The dining nook was great for morning coffee (we grabbed Americanos from Micro Espresso around the corner - highly recommend!) or midday breaks between sightseeing. The record player was a nice touch! Service: We didn't interact with a human staff member while we were there given this is a self-check-in experience. That said, the app was great and it contained all the info we needed, and a chat available to request additional towels, etc. We would come back to Sonder Le Victoria!

The room was well equipped, but it was not very clean. I thought it was just our room but reading the other reviews now I realize it’s quite common. It was dusty everywhere so it’s not quite easy to relax because you can’t quite trust if it’s just the floor, the counters, the walls, or is it also the bed and the couch? Aside from this, I noticed that the air was extremely dry inside the room, even though it was quite humid during our visit in the summer. My husband whose skin is quite sensitive to dryness had cuts in his hand, something common for him only during the winter. Our dryer also wouldn’t work (I chatted for support and thankfully there was somebody who came the next day), so I hung our clothes at midnight inside the closet and they were all perfectly dry by breakfast — the air was that dry!

I don't appreciate being lied to my face, and I'll likely charge-back my credit card for this. We complained about the ineffective AC (of course, by email because they don't have a "real" front desk). Hours later they sent someone to check, and that person only told us that Sonder called the repair company for the whole building AC multiple times in the past, but they left without fixing it. Yet we see that Sonder has recently installed new individual tiny "split mini" AC units into each suite. These are obviously meant to replace the function of the building AC. But they're so tiny, they cant even cool down the main living room. The bedroom and bathroom don't even have vents even if the AC was working properly. So, no matter what happens, you'll find yourself baking while you try to sleep. The best the staff could do was lend us a fan- but they had previously added a small plug-in fan to each suite as an acknowledement of this issue. They don't help. I would go as far as to say that Sonder ruined our vacation. This summer is set to be record-breaking hot. And overnight, the bedroom will always reach the same temperature as the outside. Therefore my partner and I were simply unable to see Montreal because we were just too tired. Even if being lied to isn't enough reason to go somewhere else- the lack of vents simply mean that there's nothing Sonder could do to make the bedrooms cool enough on a warm night. Regardless, I'd wager that Sonder has already found it to be too expensive to repair the building AC because he building is historic and old, so the tiny "split mini" is the new normal. And so is being hot while sleeping. This wouldn't be so much of an issue if they told the truth, and didn't lie like cowards. PS: I guess lying to shut customers up is commonplace. You can find similar reviews to mine, and others where the guest is told "we ordered my parts to fix it" which never came. Makes you wonder what else they lie or cheat about (maybe cleaning?). Just keep looking. Lots of amazing places in Montreal to stay.