IslanderOnTheGo
Business · November 20254/10
I travel a lot for both business as well as pleasure and tend to stick to Marriott-backed properties (105 nights with Bonvoy this year). Heading to Quebec City for some meetings, the Hotel PUR looked ...I travel a lot for both business as well as pleasure and tend to stick to Marriott-backed properties (105 nights with Bonvoy this year). Heading to Quebec City for some meetings, the Hotel PUR looked interesting and was priced reasonably. I can tell you, having stayed at countless properties, I would never return to this one.
My stay didn't start off great as I was trying to check in and was told they were installing new POS systems and I'd have to wait several hours (middle of the afternoon mind you they chose to do this). There was zero apology or offer to at least store my bags until I could check in. The attitude was "too bad, so sad". Eventually, after sitting with my bags for 30 minutes, a lady came over to offer (the only staff member during my stay who was kind and helpful). Not a great first impression.
When I eventually got checked in, I was assigned a room. Overall, the room was fine, but there were issues that a 4-star hotel shouldn't have. There was a frisbee-sized stain on the floor by the work station (no idea what it was), the station itself had a panel peeling off underneath, the mini fridge was circa 1995 and barely worked and the climate control was either ultra warm or ultra cold. The bathroom was fairly nice as was the bed. The room felt like it was an old hotel that had minor updates with nice wallpaper and such. The furniture, however, is old and showing its age badly. The room doors also slam shut hard if you don't guide them. I was woken up a couple times by people coming in late who let theirs go.
The fitness centre and pool were the nicest aspect of the hotel (lobby being a close 2nd). Good equipment and clean. They ran out of disinfectant wipes 2 times however and the water fountain was as warm as could be. The pool was nice but very bland. I understand they are planning to renovate which is much needed. The sauna was not warm at all and really showing its age.
The restaurant was a maximum 2/10. I only bothered to eat there because I had breakfast included with my Bonvoy status. I ate there 3 mornings and 2/3 of the dishes were good. The Huevos Rancheros and standard breakfast were well cooked and fresh. The eggs Benedict was ice cold and tasted bland. The service is atrocious and slow for the most part. There was a gentleman the first meal who was a decent server, but everything was very slow and they didn't refill coffee unless you flagged them down. The same type of experience for my 2nd meal. The 3rd meal was awful. The lady serving me was complaining to another table how she had such a long commute to work and had been working late the night before so had very little sleep. It showed in her work ethic and service. She seemed annoyed the lady that seated me had already got me coffee, was brisk and direct when I ordered, didn't bring water even when I asked, and had to be flagged down 20 minutes into my meal to get a refill on coffee. She didn't once check on me or ask if I needed anything. At one point she went to the back room and I sat there for another 15 minutes waiting for my bill. I got fed up and walked to the bar saying she had never returned. They seemed annoyed I didn't wait (although I did so for 15 minutes). They also seemed to not believe the waitress had taken my voucher when I ordered. Eventually I signed the bill. It is the first time in about 10 years I haven't left a 20% tip and left nothing. It killed me as someone who worked in the industry in my younger years. I know how hard a lot of people work and don't get the appreciation they deserve. In this case, they deserved exactly what I gave. I'd give this place a hard pass.
Bottom line, this hotel has big issues with management and systems. I don't know how it is so well reviewed in general as this was not my experience. I stay extensively at hotels and I'm not one to expect much. With upgrades to furniture, the pool/sauna and just better service in general this could be an excellent hotel. The outline is there, but good hotels have better service/management systems. One final thing that exemplifies this: I was booked for 4 nights and midway through an important meeting I received a notification I had been checked out. I immediately called to say this was a mistake. I was told I was the one who made an error and they would see what they could do. After some back and forth, they realized someone on their team had manually checked me out and could see I had indeed booked for 4 nights (I had a paper copy to back me up if need be). They offered zero apology and didn't even acknowledge the incident when I got back to the hotel and had to have my room key re-issued for the additional night. When I checked out the manager offered me some Bonvoy points, but again didn't seem too bothered when asking about my experience. Come on Hotel PUR, surely you can do better.Show More
