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Mommy Gearest

Real life. Real reviews.

Ottawa hotels: Andaz Ottawa

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(This Andaz Ottawa review was updated on August 13, 2021, after a second stay at the property. It reflects realistic expectations of what Ottawa hotels can and should be doing after a year and a half of interrupted availability.)

Finding great Ottawa hotels isn’t the most difficult task. The city houses some of the finest properties in the country and you have a lot of choice when looking for somewhere to stay in Canada’s capital city. As a travelling family, we have stayed in everything from a two-star motel-style lodge to the finest, most luxurious villas you can imagine. And we’ve done so both before and now during the great COVID pandemic of the 21st century.

In fact, after avoiding hotel stays for 17 months — in part because it felt super irresponsible to promote travel in the early days when we were asked to stay put and in part because with so many unknowns, the thought of sharing hallways and elevators with strangers wasn’t appealing — we chose the Andaz to be our first major hotel stay as we stepped back into travelling. We’d stayed once before and trusted the brand, and we’d had such a phenomenal experience the first time around that we wanted to get our fresh memories started somewhere awesome.

Or so we’d hoped.

In my original 2017 Andaz Ottawa review, I felt very confident touting this Ottawa hotel as one of the best hotels we’d ever stayed in. It had actually earned a very rare 5 out of 5 rating and I spend the last five years sharing the original review in Facebook groups, private chats and DMs with followers. I cannot underscore how much we freaking loved this hotel after our first visit.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still good. And I’d stay again. But it’s a far cry from the five-star experience we had last time.

Before you jump all over me with “but the pandemic!” excuses, trust me — I made a lot of concessions keeping in mind that the service and hospitality industries have been put through the ringer and may be having a hard time getting back on their feet. I really did. Had it been just one thing, rather than a series of issues, I probably would have let it go and chalked it up to “but the pandemic!”

But I can’t let it go, because there were a number of concerns throughout our stay. The very last thing I would ever want to do is hurt an industry that’s so near and dear to me, but serving my readers with honesty is more important.

So, let’s begin. As I like to do, let’s start with what the Andaz Ottawa got right.

Ottawa hotels: Andaz Ottawa location

ottawa hotels byward market

If you’re looking for Ottawa hotels in the ByWard market, the Andaz is basically across the street.

Location, location, location. It’s still fantastic. The Andaz Ottawa is smack in the middle of Ottawa’s wonderful ByWard Market, mere minutes from everything you could want from an Ottawa road trip. Walk to myriad restaurants, cafés, market shops, the Rideau Centre (a fabulous shopping mall) and even art galleries. You won’t need to drive anywhere if you’re there exploring for the weekend.

The location and rooms are the only reason my revised rating didn’t dip much lower. So, onto rooms…

Ottawa hotels: Andaz Ottawa rooms

The rooms are still in great shape, kept scrupulously clean and offer configurations for bigger families or families with older kids who need more space. There are also accessible rooms.

During our first stay, we had a room with two queen beds. That was fine when our kids were little and we could squeeze ourselves into a bed, each with a kid. But those days are long gone and if we want any hope of a good night’s sleep, the kids need to be in their own beds, so it was great to experience connecting rooms at Andaz Ottawa.

andaz-ottawa-queen-room

The Andaz Ottawa two-queen rooms are a bit tight on space but they use what they’ve got well.

They don’t connect in a traditional way with the shared door-in-the-wall. Instead, our king-bed room and the two-queen-bed room beside it could be closed off by an external door. Essentially, we ended up sharing a small hallway and could keep our main doors propped open. You still get two full rooms, just with the added convenience of being a quick shout away.

andaz ottawa review

The highlight of my Andaz Ottawa review? The rooms are still just as fabulous as we remembered.

Now that we’ve stayed in three different rooms at Andaz Ottawa, I can tell they’re all kitted out pretty similarly. We love the modern, clean lines and beautiful brass accents in the washrooms. Design-wise, some of the rooms are on the smaller side (think New York-sized hotel rooms vs. Toronto-sized hotel rooms), though our king-bed room was a spacious corner suite with loads of space to move around. The modern furniture choices and clever placement for table and chairs make the rooms here really livable. They’ve made excellent use of limited space.

The bedding was ridiculously comfortable. The comforters are big enough to share, the linens are high-quality and the pillows divine. I just love a good pillow.

The bathrooms are big, well appointed and beautifully designed:

ottawa hotels

The Andaz Ottawa bathrooms are my favourite out of all of the Ottawa hotels in which I’ve stayed to date.

Ottawa hotels: Andaz Ottawa rooftop

We made it to the rooftop bar this time (Copper Spirits and Sights), since it was winter during our last visit. It’s got lovely views, lots of good seating and feels energetic and somewhere I could spend all night hanging out with girlfriends. The cocktails were fine — nothing anywhere as close to inventive or palate-rich as the cocktails were in feast+revel during our 2017 stay (the restaurant on the main floor). I won’t assume they’re still as great down there either after trying their food this time, but I’ll get to that later. I appreciated the vibe here and will refrain from adding yet another negative down below, so will impart here that I didn’t love the server asking my child if he wanted another pricey mocktail while I was busy chatting with my husband; no, no — you ask the people paying.

andaz ottawa rooftop

The Andaz Ottawa rooftop patio is a gorgeous spot to while away a summer afternoon.

Ottawa hotels: Andaz Ottawa prices

Before we move on to the disappointments, price. I’ve seen Andaz Ottawa priced as little as $179 a night on Expedia for a standard room and I believe ours were around $250 each — not bad considering it was a long weekend in the summer. And, frankly, even with most of my expectations dashed, it’s still a good price considering the location, rooms, bedding and high season.

Finally, for those with four-legged friends, there used to be a $100 charge that allowed Muffy to join you at the Andaz Ottawa complete with dog-friendly amenities, like a doggy bed, doggy bowls, and doggy cookies…but you might want to double check that’s still happening.

andaz ottawa

The Andaz Ottawa is super walkable and has stunning rooms but the overall vibe and special perks that made it stand out among other Ottawa hotels are sadly gone.

Ottawa hotels: the worst parts of Andaz Ottawa

This part sucks. Because we went back expecting to feel the same distinctive touches and unique perks that made the Andaz Ottawa so memorable in the first place.

Andaz Ottawa rooms

During our first stay, everything in the in-room mini-bar (except alcohol) was free. And this was no chintzy mini-bar, either. We’re talking world-famous Hummingbird chocolate, artisan potato chips, interesting beverages, sparkling water. The works. And you just helped yourself and it was replenished each day of your stay. This is gone. In its place were two bottles of still water. The small bottles. Womp womp.

There’s little storage space if you want to unpack a family of four into one room. This wasn’t enough of a deterrent for me to take away from the hotel’s original 5/5 rating, though, but it needed to be mentioned then and now. There are two spots where a suitcase can sit open, and in the closet there were two small drawers into which one person travelling for one or two nights can unpack. But that’s it.

But I digress, because these were the least of our problems during visit No. 2.

Andaz Ottawa check-in

One of the best things about our first stay was the check-in process. Honestly, we talked about it to anyone who would listen for years. (Yes, this was pre-pandemic, but I’ma share anyway.) After stopping right in front of the hotel’s main doors, the valet collected our keys and helped whisk our baggage into the lobby. We’d barely given the front desk clerk our names before we were offered complimentary beverages to satiate us during check-in. The kids each ordered a hot chocolate (with marshmallows), while I had a nice Carbernet-Merlot and Big B enjoyed a local craft beer. This set the tone for our stay.

This time, however, only one of our rooms was ready when we checked in. It was a bit early, and I wasn’t expecting to go to our room, so it was a nice surprise, but check-in didn’t have any nice touches. There was no one to offer a luggage cart, no warm “welcome back” sentiments and certainly no welcome drinks. Look, I get you can’t have people in face masks drinking in the lobby while others are checking in, but you could add a couple of drinks to the room and still keep this perk. It would actually encourage people to go up to the rooftop and they’d probably spend more money.

Fast forward to 4 p.m. (it may have been more like 4:15 but it was definitely after 4ish), and we returned to the hotel to find a massive lineup of people trying to check in. It took ages to find out that our second room was still not, in fact, ready. Speaking to some other guests, they’d been waiting around the lobby for two hours for their room — and hadn’t even been offered so much as a coffee on the house. I overheard someone at the front desk tell another guest who was complaining about this wait that the hotel had been full the night before. Well, ummm…I guess y’all need more housekeeping staff to turn the rooms around faster. Because getting a room at 5 p.m. is unacceptable by any standards.

During check-in, we were told that in the morning there would be a continental breakfast just beside the lobby. Naturally, I assumed she mentioned it because it was included as a grab-and-go perk of staying at the Andaz Ottawa. It wouldn’t have surprised me since during our last visit there was always something scrumptious there for the taking, like a lavish hot chocolate bar or homemade cookies. But, NOPE. When we went down the next morning, the counter was bare. I asked the person working behind the “to go” breakfast bar if we needed to order the continental breakfast to go and was met with confusion. After explaining what we’d been told during check-in, the person said that some rooms come with continental breakfast and we should check at the front desk. So I did. And, guess what? No continental breakfast for us. So some extra training is definitely needed for front desk staff.

Andaz Ottawa food

But, no bother. We remembered how unbelievable the pastries were when we bought them from this very same spot five years earlier, so shelling out $7 for a breakfast sandwich and $4 for an almond croissant plus another $4-5 for fancy coffees wasn’t an issue.

Until it was.

Y’all, I didn’t even take photos I was so shook. The breakfast sandwich was barely warm and didn’t even look as appetizing as a McMuffin. But my kid was starving and ate it anyway, all the while wishing aloud that he had gotten two breakfast sammies from Starbucks for the same price. And it wasn’t even his money! My other kid’s bagel seemed like something out of a mass-produced grocery store bag and was paired with one — ONE! — tiny Philadelphia cream cheese packet. She was also starving and sucked it up but said it wasn’t at all fresh.

When we opened our almond croissants with all the hope in the world, I just couldn’t imagine how any kitchen wouldn’t be mortified to send something like this out to guests. They didn’t look like croissants, and certainly not almond croissants. They looked like an old, bland, beige omelette. But I took a bite anyway, because I was also so, so hungry by this point. Stale, flavourless, blech. I should have taken a photo, I know. But you have to understand that shock stops one’s brain from doing certain things, and instead I took the croissants back down and asked if they were made in-house and when. Staff confirmed they were made in-house and claimed they were made the night before. There is no way these were even 24 hours old, let alone 12 or less. They tasted days old and lacked anything that makes a croissant a croissant. They gave us our money back for those and I wished that the entire morning ordeal between the continental breakfast snafoo and getting on and off elevators to go down, up and back down again hadn’t taken so long and made my kids so ravenous that they just dealt with what they got, because we really deserved a refund on the whole dang thing. The coffees aren’t worth mentioning; we didn’t eat or get our morning java from the hotel again. All such a huge disappointment.

I will reserve further judgment on dining at Andaz Ottawa in its in-house restaurant, feast+revel, since it’s currently closed. Five years ago, we’d had one of most memorable meals of our lives — but based on what that shared kitchen was pushing out for breakfast, I’m definitely not going to suggest anyone dine there when it reopens unless I try it again myself.

Andaz Ottawa elevators

I mentioned the elevator speed above. Oh my God. So slow and one was either on service or broken at some point every day of our stay. Once, Big B chose to walk up 12 flights of stairs instead of brave the line for the elevators. If all three had been going consistently through our stay, I would have left this part out because with health protocols, I expected to wait for elevators. But not like this.

andaz-ottawa-city-view

Andaz Ottawa’s city views are lovely — once you finally get up to your floor.

Andaz Ottawa parking

There’s no valet due to COVID, which shouldn’t be a big deal because there’s a parking lot right beside the hotel, right? Except it’s first come, first served — for all guests. So if it’s full, you’re SOL. People were parked in spaces that weren’t even designated parking spaces and it was an absolute madhouse. If you get a spot, do not — I repeat do NOT — leave in the middle of the day and expect to come back to a free spot. Keep it and hold it dear throughout your stay.

Andaz Ottawa hotel staff

In round one of this Andaz Ottawa review, the Andaz employees earned rave remarks. Like “everyone was outstanding!” and “So friendly, so helpful!” and “I was super impressed from beginning to end. Big B and I said over and over during our weekend there that although it may not technically be a five-star property, it sure operated like one.”

I know it’s not easy to connect with people wearing face masks, and I don’t expect everyone living through a pandemic to operate at boisterous Energizer Bunny level either, but gone was the bend-over-backwards service we received in 2017. It was decidedly colder and more transactional. That said, I’m not letting this affect my new rating and won’t until we stay again post-COVID. That said, there are a lot of pretty great Ottawa hotels out there and the Andaz Ottawa needs to find what makes it special again to stand out enough to warrant a new visit.

Ottawa hotels: Andaz Ottawa — the new (but not improved) rating

In my original review, I noted that this hotel could compete with the likes of the Langham and Waldorf Astoria. Sadly, that’s not a claim I can make anymore. I hope the team reads this review and does some soul searching to find its way back to awesome.

3.75/5

 

DISCLAIMER: These stays were provided to facilitate this review. Opinions are clearly my own!

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Comments

  13. Ottawa is a great city to visit and what a perfect location for your hotel! I haven’t been there in years, but this hotel sounds great — thanx for the review!

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  14. Ottawa is a great city to visit and what a perfect location for your hotel! I haven’t been there in years, but this hotel sounds great — thanx for the review!

    Reply

  25. Its looks like it would be so much nicer to go for a room like that , so inviting fresh and clean. Gorgeous photos they really show off the space well.

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  26. Its looks like it would be so much nicer to go for a room like that , so inviting fresh and clean. Gorgeous photos they really show off the space well.

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  27. Location is key for me too. It’s been rare for me to find a place that is in the middle of everything but doesn’t lack in customer service, presentation, etc,. I’d love to say at Andaz Ottawa one day. It looks and sounds SO amazing.

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  28. Location is key for me too. It’s been rare for me to find a place that is in the middle of everything but doesn’t lack in customer service, presentation, etc,. I’d love to say at Andaz Ottawa one day. It looks and sounds SO amazing.

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  29. My husband and I have been talking about making a trip to Ottawa with the kiddos and this hotels sounds like a destination unto itself!

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  30. My husband and I have been talking about making a trip to Ottawa with the kiddos and this hotels sounds like a destination unto itself!

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  35. Finding a perfect place to stay in Ottawa is half the battle to having a great time or a successful business trip. Will book here next time.

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  36. Finding a perfect place to stay in Ottawa is half the battle to having a great time or a successful business trip. Will book here next time.

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  47. what an amazing experience I really liked the valets extra touch of having the coffees in you cup holders for when you left 🙂

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  48. what an amazing experience I really liked the valets extra touch of having the coffees in you cup holders for when you left 🙂

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  61. We go to Ottawa frequently and usually stay with our daughter. I’m thinking this would make a great mother/daughter mini vacay. Your photos as usual are drool worthy. Thanks for the review.

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  62. We go to Ottawa frequently and usually stay with our daughter. I’m thinking this would make a great mother/daughter mini vacay. Your photos as usual are drool worthy. Thanks for the review.

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  77. Wow! So mice when you walk into a nice room and these are so modern, they look amazing and the food looks great, always makes it more enjoyable.

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  78. Wow! So mice when you walk into a nice room and these are so modern, they look amazing and the food looks great, always makes it more enjoyable.

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  79. I’m glad you guys had such a wonderful experience. It does sound like such an amazing luxurious hotel. I love that they not only have complimentary hot chocolate station but that it is a high quality hot chocolate. I love little touches/details like that!

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  80. I’m glad you guys had such a wonderful experience. It does sound like such an amazing luxurious hotel. I love that they not only have complimentary hot chocolate station but that it is a high quality hot chocolate. I love little touches/details like that!

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  83. Tha Andaz hotel looks like a great place to stay.They know how to pamper to their guests.I love how clean it looks and how great the food looks.You must have a wonderful time!

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  84. Tha Andaz hotel looks like a great place to stay.They know how to pamper to their guests.I love how clean it looks and how great the food looks.You must have a wonderful time!

    Reply

  101. Oh wow, I would love that, and it sounds well worth it, especially the food. It’s so nice to go out and everything is just perfect.

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  102. Oh wow, I would love that, and it sounds well worth it, especially the food. It’s so nice to go out and everything is just perfect.

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  105. What in incredible hotel and the price is good, if you choose your time right. Thanks for the great review.

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  106. What in incredible hotel and the price is good, if you choose your time right. Thanks for the great review.

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  107. I have been to Ottawa twice. The first time there, my husband received a parking ticket as we parked where someone told us we could and paid them money only to find out it was a scam. Both times that we have gone though it seemed the whole town shut down at 6:00 pm. I did enjoy what we were able to see though

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  108. I have been to Ottawa twice. The first time there, my husband received a parking ticket as we parked where someone told us we could and paid them money only to find out it was a scam. Both times that we have gone though it seemed the whole town shut down at 6:00 pm. I did enjoy what we were able to see though

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  117. Wow!! Looks amazing, especially that breakfast. I’m starving. I could lay in that bed all day too!! I have never been to Ottawa but would love too.

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  118. Wow!! Looks amazing, especially that breakfast. I’m starving. I could lay in that bed all day too!! I have never been to Ottawa but would love too.

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  123. i am canadian obviously and sadley i have not yet been to Ottawa, i have been to winnipeg and toronto area that is is.. thanks

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  124. i am canadian obviously and sadley i have not yet been to Ottawa, i have been to winnipeg and toronto area that is is.. thanks

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  139. I like the idea of Boutique hotels, I find I generally get better service and they are usually much nicer.

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  140. I like the idea of Boutique hotels, I find I generally get better service and they are usually much nicer.

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  141. I have never been to Ottawa , this looks like a great place to stay thanks for sharing 🙂 the food looks scrumptious !

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  142. I have never been to Ottawa , this looks like a great place to stay thanks for sharing 🙂 the food looks scrumptious !

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  143. I live in Ottawa so I won’t need a hotel but it sounds so great I will let family from out of town know about it

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  144. I live in Ottawa so I won’t need a hotel but it sounds so great I will let family from out of town know about it

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  149. So I was loving the whole review but then I came to the chocolate… OMG, that looks so amazing and truly that is all that is left in my mind. LOL I want that tart! Really, really want that tart.

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  150. So I was loving the whole review but then I came to the chocolate… OMG, that looks so amazing and truly that is all that is left in my mind. LOL I want that tart! Really, really want that tart.

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  151. I’m jealous that’s all I’m gonna to say…just jealous!

    Ok I’m gonna say more. There is no need for me to be jealous as this hotel is a mere ten hour drive away so visiting is not impossible for us to get there. Sounds like a really nice hotel to visit!

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  152. I’m jealous that’s all I’m gonna to say…just jealous!

    Ok I’m gonna say more. There is no need for me to be jealous as this hotel is a mere ten hour drive away so visiting is not impossible for us to get there. Sounds like a really nice hotel to visit!

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  157. This sounds like a luxury hotel boutique and the hot chocolate aspect would definitely make me want to be there even more, it sounds like you had a perfect stay.

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  158. This sounds like a luxury hotel boutique and the hot chocolate aspect would definitely make me want to be there even more, it sounds like you had a perfect stay.

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  165. Looks like a great place to stay in Ottawa! Close to the action, delicious food, and coffee waiting for you in your car? My kind of hotel!

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  166. Looks like a great place to stay in Ottawa! Close to the action, delicious food, and coffee waiting for you in your car? My kind of hotel!

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  179. I like the idea of staying at a hotel that is well situated and you do not have to be constantly taking taxis. The hotel looks gorgeous and the food looks delicious.

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  180. I like the idea of staying at a hotel that is well situated and you do not have to be constantly taking taxis. The hotel looks gorgeous and the food looks delicious.

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  183. This sounds like an overall good place , I love the stocked mini fridge ! That is awesome and the kids would love it ! Looks very clean from the pictures which is very important on the list ! The food looks delicious! I would love to hit the dessert menu there !

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  184. This sounds like an overall good place , I love the stocked mini fridge ! That is awesome and the kids would love it ! Looks very clean from the pictures which is very important on the list ! The food looks delicious! I would love to hit the dessert menu there !

    Reply

  185. Looks like a great place to stay. Love the food and the fact that I can bring my dog! Ive never stayed in Ottawa (have only driven through it) but if we were to stay, I’d definitely consider staying here.

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  186. Looks like a great place to stay. Love the food and the fact that I can bring my dog! Ive never stayed in Ottawa (have only driven through it) but if we were to stay, I’d definitely consider staying here.

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  189. Wow sounds like the a great place to stay when visiting Ottawa. We are planning on going within the next couple months so I’ll definitely check it out. Thanks for a great review.

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  190. Wow sounds like the a great place to stay when visiting Ottawa. We are planning on going within the next couple months so I’ll definitely check it out. Thanks for a great review.

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  191. Sounds like an awesome place to stay while in Ottawa, the food alone would want me to stay everything looks so great and tasty!!

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  192. Sounds like an awesome place to stay while in Ottawa, the food alone would want me to stay everything looks so great and tasty!!

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  195. this definitely looks and sounds very luxurious. We all deserve some pampering! The room is lovely and the food looks amazing. That is a great price for a breakfast buffet for sure.

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  196. this definitely looks and sounds very luxurious. We all deserve some pampering! The room is lovely and the food looks amazing. That is a great price for a breakfast buffet for sure.

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  201. I love the room style. Very clean and modern. I didn’t see a bathtub though. I’m always on the hunt for a good room with a great bathtub

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  202. I love the room style. Very clean and modern. I didn’t see a bathtub though. I’m always on the hunt for a good room with a great bathtub

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  211. well i can tell ya one thing….the food has got me DROOLING!!! all those dishes look so yummy. i have never been to Ottawa before and actually would love to go this summer with hubby. my brother in law lives in Ottawa and we have yet to visit them. I will definitely keep this place in mind. I love all the new modern touches

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  212. well i can tell ya one thing….the food has got me DROOLING!!! all those dishes look so yummy. i have never been to Ottawa before and actually would love to go this summer with hubby. my brother in law lives in Ottawa and we have yet to visit them. I will definitely keep this place in mind. I love all the new modern touches

    Reply

  217. I wonder if you loved that donut so much and you are NOT a donut person how much a person like me who loves them will feel? Love that you can bring doggies to the Andaz, so nice when the furry friends can come along

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  218. I wonder if you loved that donut so much and you are NOT a donut person how much a person like me who loves them will feel? Love that you can bring doggies to the Andaz, so nice when the furry friends can come along

    Reply

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