We recently spent a long weekend in Montreal, where we had a chance to take in a couple of meetings and also catch up with some old friends. Montreal is one of our favorite cities in the world, though we may be a little biased: we spent four years there for college. Still, there’s a certain vibrancy and — pardon the French – joie de vivre in Montreal that we often miss and long for. Our short trip back proved to be just the tonic.

We’ll be blogging more about some of the sights and stores we took in during our time in Montreal, but we have to first write about our fantastic stay at the Opus Hotel, located at the (prime) intersection of Sherbrooke and St-Laurent streets. Though the hotel had all the modern amenities — free wi-fi in the common areas, LCD TVs in the rooms, and thick down blankets and comfy beds that we tucked into after a night out on the Main — it was the little things that made our stay memorable: like finding a basket full of L’Occitane en Provence products in the bathroom, the free trainer available for consultations in the gym, and the vintage black and white photographs that adorned the walls of the rooms and hallways.

We also loved the attention to detail and respect for design displayed by the hotel owners, who painstakingly preserved part of the building’s original avant-garde structure, built in 1914 as the first poured concrete building in North America. Blending old with the new, the hotel offers rooms located in the “old wing” next to an ornate concrete spiral staircase, as well as newer rooms expressing Opus’ fictional “personalities,” like fashionista “Susan,” whose rooms feature dark wood furnishings and glazed concrete ceilings (photo above) and Euro-chic “Pierre,” with bright, airy rooms in Hermes-orange (We prefer the former… the simpler and better for us).

Our stay was capped off with dinner in the outdoor terrace at KOKO — the hotel’s Asian fusion restaurant, followed by drinks in the hotel’s lounge, Suco. Again, the commitment to design was evident in both rooms, with an Art Nouveau theme highlighted by Attila stools by Philippe Starck at KOKO and steel sculptures by artist Scott Eunson on display in Suco. It was refreshing to stay at a hotel that respected both style and comfort and the fact that it was in Montreal… well, that just made it all the better.

- TC

(Special thanks to Fiona and Maria @ ZOI for the hospitality and for arranging the accommodations for us!)