Discover the essence of Tremblant’s Quintessence.
Has always drawn skiing families to Mont-tremblant in winter, and now the Ironman athletes are coming
Very few hotels offer a lakefront view from every room. But the lake is just icing on the cake for Hôtel Quintessence in MontTremblant. The real draw is what’s in the backyard, so close you can’t so much look out the window to see it — you have to look up. Way up. And there it is: Mont Tremblant ski resort, looming so high it disappears into the mist. The base, with its shops and bars, is a two-minute walk away.
Well-heeled sporty types fill the hotel in winter, nearly half of them repeat customers throughout the snow season. Some Quebec families come every second weekend or once a month. For one New York City family, it’s a weekly habit: They pile into the SUV every Friday, hit the hill on Saturday and drive home on Sunday.
“The kids learn to ski here,” general manager Michel Tremblay says.
The five-star hotel has done well with its niche at the high end of the spectrum. It is small enough that it makes a point of trying to know its returning clients by name, by recognizing cars when they pull up. It will warm up and dry out wet ski boots for anyone who needs it, including skiers stopping in for a glass of Champagne by the fire. It will make the 30-second drive to pick up parents and their tuckered-out tots after a day on the slopes. It puts out hot chocolate for the kids.
It has also taken its cues from a general societal trend that favours casual over stuffy, service that feels authentic, not automatic. “People want to know it’s real,” Tremblay says. He tells his staff that when they’re talking with guests, “please, do mean it. If you don’t, don’t say it.”
All 30 rooms are suites, all of them big or bigger — 700 square feet up to 1,200 square feet, the largest with a 400-square-foot terrasse, which makes it the size of an average Plateau apartment. In these, there’s room for the nanny, there’s a wet bar and space to have meals catered, course by course, should you desire.
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones stayed with their kids years ago, though not in the largest suite. A couple of guests like to arrive by helicopter, setting down on the front lawn, causing heads to turn, ears to be covered and eyes to be shielded from the flurry of dust. The arriving pilots have strict instructions: “We say you can land,” Tremblay tells them, “but don’t tour around!”
Others come by water plane. But the lion’s share of guests come by conventional means from the northeast U.S., Montreal and Ontario, with a big chunk from Europe and Russia too. More Brazilians are visiting, along with Mexicans ,who, it seems, want to learn to ski, Tremblay says.
In the fall and spring, when rates drop down, couples come to cocoon. Winters are for families.
The design is a taste of the Laurentians, a woodsy luxury with classic appeal that has kept the hotel looking good as it celebrates its 10th year. There are dark beams, airy, open spaces, the nicest with cathedral ceilings, the tones all creams, whites, caramel browns. Leather ottomans and camel-toned sofas and chairs in sitting areas. The fixins for a crackling fire are ready to go in each suite’s fireplace.
Carpets are Berber wool, and the bathroom is all marble, with a pocket door. Slide it open, and a luxuriating soak in the deep, claw-foot soaker tub suddenly comes with the lovely lake view. In the shower is a rainhead fixture; double vanities round out the amenities.
It poured rain the week-
The design is a taste of the Laurentians, a woodsy luxury with classic appeal.
end I stayed, so aside from a puddle-hopping jaunt to the shops over at the ski hill, I was content to stay in my room, the signature Quintessence Suite, which has an open concept. I kept the fire blazing the whole time, using the eco-friendly man-made logs. I lounged with a book, and happily took more hot baths than I needed. I nibbled on a morsel of chocolate bark that came with the turn-down service.
In the summer, the hikers come. And the extreme athletes. Two years ago, Tremblant started hosting an Ironman competition, drawing Type A, high-achieving athletes from around the world, a natural fit for Quintessence. It has brought the hotel a new generation of clients, many of them senior corporate professionals (with families in tow) who appreciate a hotel that asks for their finish time and then has a bathtub full of ice water waiting for them.
That awareness comes from Tremblay, who once did 100 kilometres with cyclist Lance Armstrong — love him or hate him — to raise money for cancer research for a Montreal hospital.
The hotel also hosts the Ferrari Driving Experience, a two-day package with dinner and cocktails for owners of street-going Ferraris who come to Tremblant for a chance to drive the worldclass race car circuit.
Dinner at Quintessence is crafted to appeal to the epicurean. Quebec chef JeanLuc de la Bruère makes cuisine du terroir, using regional products in dishes that tend to be more intricate than rustic. Inspiration comes from Montreal biggies Toqué! and Ferreira Café, along with Joel Robuchon in Las Vegas and the Vegas outpost of Milos. An eight-course tasting menu ($135) features such ingredients as Gaspor Farms’ suckling pig and squab, jellied lobster consommé, Oreostyle mi-cuit foie-gras biscuit and a limoncello frozen lollipop. The three-course table d’hôte costs $65.
The wine cellar houses 4,000 bottles f rom $60 to $12,000; it won an award of ex- cellence from Wine Spectator in 2008. Next door, in the wine bar, eight bottles are opened each night for by-the-glass selections. You might have to ask what’s open. The night we were there, we were handed the menu from the dining room.
Quintessence is keenly attuned to the international traveller, but it also courts the good folk of Tremblant, wanting to be a place where locals think to drop by for a bite on the terrasse overlooking the lake. The summer lobster rolls are a big draw.
Breakfast brings a generous selection of goodies set out for the taking: cereals, fruits, nuts, cheese, yogurt, along with eggs and crêpes made to order in front of you. The buckwheat crêpes are a perennial favourite, the breakfast cook told me.
The Spa Sans Sabots offers all manner of beauty treatments and massages. Back in the heady pre-recession days in the U.S. and parts of Europe, a daily massage was standard for many guests. Now, one every second day is more like the new norm. I took a massage in my suite, where a masseuse showed up, put on calming music and set up her table in front of my fireplace. Very nice.
The spa itself overlooks the lake and has an outdoor whirlpool and infinity pool that is steaming hot all winter for a Nordic spa experience.
Also on the grounds is Clagett’s Cabin, a sweet and luxurious cabin that the European guests in particular get a kick out of. The cabin dates back to 1885 and belonged to the Clagett family, the American owners of the property who summered here for many years before the hotel was built. My boyfriend and I spent a weekend in the cabin just over a year ago as paying guests, and we were tickled, too.