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Hilton Garden Inn

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Last Updated: August 21,2008 10:21:07 am

illow-mint sales must be nearing an all time high in Montreal as hotels of varying stripes continue to debut throughout the city. Now, you can add to the list of nascent ventures the Hilton Garden Inn. Opening this week, the new Hilton outpost supports its foliage-friendly name with seven trees (trust me, that is a lot given the central location) and various views of summer-green Montreal.

A slew of new hotels -- boutique, chain, and budget -- have opened across the city, many setting up shop with specific genre-placating intentions. While the Garden Inn does cater toward a certain clientele (i.e. mid- to up-market business and leisure travelers) it should mollify the masses with both its malleability and its location.

Fully equipped for corporate wanderers, families, and, eventually full-time residents (more on that later), its Sherbrooke Street home is a jumping off point to myriad Montreal attractions. Despite the titular mountain and the renowned frigidity of winters, Montreal's mix of new world grids and old-school dashes make it highly conducive to walking, and this new Inn will capitalize on stroll-potential.

Strategically placed between St. Laurent and the upscale Golden Square Mile, the hotel is within easy walking distance to cultural and vocational attractions, like Place des Arts, McGill University, and the business district. Also, farther a-field areas of interest are still accessible (i.e. meandering to Old Montreal, St. Denis, and Ste. Catherine are easily done, while Mile End and the Plateau are not out of reach).

As Hilton Garden Inn's entry into the extended-stay Montreal market, the hotel is designed to provide an upscale residential ambience. Designed and accessorized by Louis Secondo, manager of the Hilton Garden Inn – with strict Hilton specification, mind you – the hotel is outfitted with full business facilities (i.e. board, meeting, and conference rooms), free WiFi throughout and a grab-and-go pantry that stocks convenience frozen foods, candies and granolas.

Spread out over 11 floors, the hotel has 221 rooms, with nine suites. Amenities and special features include oversize washrooms, Herman Miller chairs in every room, flat-screen televisions (featuring the most channels of any Quebec hotel), an eleventh-floor saltwater swimming pool, two attendant terraces and a full gym (replete with twenty-foot ceilings).

"One of the major guest requests," says Secondo, whose years of hotel experience is invaluable "was for better gym and pool areas. Guests largely ignore the closet-sized gyms." On this note, the Hilton Garden Inn features an unusually large gym filled with Extreme Fitness- worthy equipment.

The 60-seat in-house restaurant, Circos, is helmed by Chef Dominique Billet, and serves moderately priced continental entrées, ranging in price from $11 to $39. In addition to its regular accommodations, the fusion hotel/living space will add an apartment complex component - which explains the six-story parking garage - within the year. The Hilton Garden Inn is now open. - Scott Tavener, (with notes from Don Ellis)