After spending a few days in Montreal, we made our way on to Ottawa. We’d originally booked a two night stay at an Airbnb, but I subsequently realized I had a free night certificate that was due to expire within a couple of weeks from one of Marriott’s promotions last year.
I had an additional certificate from one of my Marriott credit cards, so decided to make use of those to stay at one of Marriott’s Ottawa hotels instead.
We’re traveling with our dog Truffles, so needed to find a pet-friendly hotel. The Marriott had no pet fee but unfortunately was fully booked, so we decided to stay at the Delta Hotel Ottawa City Centre instead.
This was the first time we’d stayed at a Delta Hotel, so we weren’t entirely sure what to expect. Here’s a full review of our stay.
Check-In
The check-in time at the Delta Hotel Ottawa City Centre was due to be 3pm, but we arrived at 2pm. We had a very friendly front desk agent called Stephen (great name 😉 ) who was happy to check us in early.
The only option when making the original reservation was a room with two queen beds, so that’s what we’d booked. Stephen asked us if we’d like a room with a king bed instead, so we gratefully accepted that.
A couple of minutes later we had our keys to room 1806. As I have Gold status, we also had access to their Club Lounge.
Bedroom
The bathroom was to the right when entering the room, with the main bedroom area ahead and to the right.
Straight ahead, there was a desk with a comfortable office chair. To the left of that was somewhere to lay your suitcase with a drawer beneath, with the smart TV mounted overhead.
The desk had a nice feature which I’ve not seen at any hotels we’ve stayed at before. There was every kind of cable you could need at the back; these were presumably hooked up to the TV in case you wanted to stream something from your laptop, play video games, etc.
To the right of the desk was a mini fridge, something I always appreciate having in a hotel room.
As mentioned earlier, Stephen at the front desk had changed us from a two queen bed room to one with a king bed. As you can see, Truffles decided to photo bomb the picture.
One of the bedside tables had two complimentary bottles of water. I’m not sure if you get those in every room or if it’s because we were in a room with Club Lounge access.
A couple of nice features of the room were the reading lights on each side of the headboard and an armchair by the window.
The view out of our window was OK, although not quite as spectacular as the one we’d had in Montreal.
On the left of the room as we entered was a closet containing some shelving for clothes, along with an iron and ironing board.
To the right of the closet was a shelf holding a tray with tea and coffee making facilities. In addition to a coffee maker, there was a small electric kettle which was identical to the one we travel with.
The location of the tea and coffee was strange as there was no power outlet nearby. That meanst you haved to move it to plug in the kettle or coffee maker which isn’t particularly convenient. It would’ve made more sense for them to either install a power outlet by the shelf or place the tea and coffee tray elsewhere that was next to an outlet.
Bathroom
There was a nicely appointed bathroom with the sink on the left of the room…
…and a walk-in shower to the right. Although the walk-in shower was very spacious, it was the worst part of the room. The water pressure was abysmal – you had to stand directly beneath the shower head in order to get wet as the water didn’t spray outwards at all.
In addition to a couple of bars of soap, there were bottles of SoapBox shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion.
Other than the shower, we were very happy with the bedroom and bathroom. The bed was comfortable, the room felt fairly spacious and it had a mini fridge which we needed as we had chilled food in a cool bag to go in there.
Club Lounge
While Shae took a nap, I went up to the Club Lounge on the 25th floor. It’s open 24 hours a day and offers breakfast from 6:30am to 9:30am, as well as evening hors d’oeuvres from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.
Regular Hours
If you visit the lounge outside of breakfast and evening hors d’oeuvres hours, there’s still some food and beverages on offer. There’s a coffee and tea station, although the large coffee maker wasn’t working during our stay. There was a canister of brewed coffee available, along with a canister of “hot” water.
I say “hot” because the water was barely lukewarm when I tried using it on a couple of occasions. The water was hot at breakfast and for evening hors d’oeuvres, but you’ll want to use the electric kettle in your room for hot water outside of those hours as it doesn’t seem like it gets regularly refilled otherwise.
The Club Lounge had a small fridge with a good selection of soft drinks.
During the day, there was a tower of Chex Mix you can help yourself to. There were cardboard containers next to it that you could fill up and take back to your room. The lounge also had a bowl of apples and oranges.
Evening Hors D’Oeuvres
Although we stayed at the Delta Hotel Ottawa City Centre for two nights, we only took advantage of the evening hors d’oeuvres on our first night as we went out for drinks with friends on the second night.
There was what I’d consider to be a good spread in the evening, certainly enough for it to be sufficient for our meal that night. The food was all tasty, although one of my beef skewers was a little gristly.
The Club Lounge also had an honor bar with wine and beer on offer. Both the beer and wine seemed a little overpriced, so we gave them a miss.
Breakfast
Although we only had evening hors d’oeuvres one night of our stay, we had breakfast there both mornings. There was a fairly good selection of food offered in the mornings.
The photos above are from the first morning when the hot options were egg and cheese omelets, bacon and potato wedges. The next morning there was scrambled eggs, sausages and potato wedges.
Club Lounge Service
I want to make a special point by mentioning the staff working in the Club Lounge at the Delta Hotel Ottawa City Centre. There was only one person working both mornings at breakfast and a different person working in the evening, but both were extremely hardworking.
They were constantly hustling, refilling food, clearing plates, refilling the fridge, etc. They were also very friendly, so props to both those employees.
Amenities
The hotel is pretty large with a ton of meeting rooms and conference facilities. If you don’t have access to the Club Lounge (or even if you do), there’s a restaurant and bar on site, along with room service.
We ordered room service our second night as we arrived back at the hotel too late for the evening hors d’oeuvres. Shae got a flatbread pizza, while I ordered a smoked meat sandwich with fries. Both our meals were fairly good, albeit somewhat expensive given that it came to ~$45 CAD (~$35 USD).
In terms of other amenities, there’s a fairly large fitness room. There was someone working out when I took photos, so the second photo below doesn’t show the full extent of that side of the room. In that photo, it’s a square hole in the wall rather than a mirror, so the room goes back pretty far with plenty more exercise equipment.
There’s also meant to be a swimming pool, but it seemed to be blocked off due to construction during our stay.
If you need to use a computer during your stay, the hotel has a business center with a couple of computers and a printer.
Wi-Fi
We had free Wi-Fi during our stay. It was a decent speed and I don’t remember having any connection issues during our stay.
Pet-Friendliness
Delta Hotels Ottawa City Centre is a pet-friendly hotel which, when we stayed, charged $35 CAD (~$27 USD) for every five nights stayed. This is very reasonable as far as pet fees go.
The hotel has very little grass due to its location in the center of Canada’s capital. However, there were grassy areas within a couple of minutes walk from the hotel, with a small park about five minutes away.
Service
I was very impressed with the service we received during our two night stay. The front desk agent we had when checking in also checked us out and he was extremely friendly. The staff in the Club Lounge were friendly and hardworking, while Marie-Helene – who I think was another front desk agent – was also very friendly and helpful.
I’ve written previously about how our car was broken into while parked in the hotel’s parking lot. I don’t hold the hotel responsible for that, but they dealt with the situation very well. They safeguarded our belongings as they’d been unable to get hold of us, plus they waived the parking fee due to the break in.
It was Marie-Helene who I dealt with regarding that situation and she also helpfully gave us details of a local auto glass company who’d be able to fix our car window.
Location
As its name suggests, the Delta Hotel Ottawa City Centre is in the center of the city. It’s within reasonable walking distance of most of the city, the river, canal, parliament buildings, etc.
Cost
I mentioned at the beginning of the review that we used a couple of free night certificates for our stay. One was earned during a promotion, while the other came with a credit card that has a $99 annual fee. The second certificate wasn’t really a free night so much as a $99 night which was still good value.
For comparison, the cash rate during our stay would’ve been $310.61 per night, so it was a good use of the two certificates.
Final Thoughts
Overall, we had a great stay at the Delta Hotel in the center of Ottawa. Our room was comfortable, the Club Lounge had a good spread for both breakfast and evening hors d’oeuvres and the service at the hotel was excellent.
Despite our car being broken into, I’d happily stay at this hotel again.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives the hotel four paws out of four – pawfect! It was a quiet hotel, so it didn’t disturb her at night. The pet fee was very reasonable and, given the hotel’s in a city, there were enough nearby grassy areas.
Our Rating
Room = 4.6 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.1 / 5 (this rating would’ve been higher if the pool was open)
Food = 4.6 / 5
Location = 4.7 / 5
Service = 5.0 / 5
Overall Value = 4.4 / 5
Total = 4.57 / 5
Address
Delta Hotels Ottawa City Centre, 101 Lyon Street North, Ottawa K1R 5T9, Canada
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