The Auberge Saint-Antoine in Québec, Canada is a pleasant old hotel with an archeological theme. It is located close to an old alley of Québec, the Rue du Petit-Champlain, which is a lovely little street to walk down. In 2024, I got to find out for myself how comfortably placed it was.
Although only a 4-star hotel, the Auberge Saint-Antoine was cleaner and in better condition than the 5-star Fairmont Le Château Frontenac. For example, there were no discarded bandages lurking by the mattress, the bathroom was not dusty anywhere, and the only dirtiness was that the bottom of the glass shower door needed some hard chemical to get rid of the orange whatever-it-was. However, we did get two long pieces of hard, transparent plastic in our breakfasts.
Every room had a title and an archeological piece outside with a matching piece inside. Our room was “La chambre des royalistes”. We hurried to check what archeological piece was outside that the piece inside would match. It was a bit of stone.
Hilariously, the matching piece in the room had gotten unattached from its stand. We figured this out after all first individually noticing there was nothing on the stand, thinking it must be very small, or, in my case, thinking that it was some unusual white thing I needed better lighting to see and wondering how it possibly fit in with the thing outside. We all realized it was only hot glue after shining a torch. Eventually, one of us stood at the right angle with their head inclined just right and found the matching and now-no-longer-missing piece.
My brother used his Amex, so the first things to greet us in the room were a handwritten postcard with mostly correct English basically telling him how they hoped to continue having his money and a letter where American Express reminded him of the benefits to him for continuing the relationship where he pays money through them. There was also a bucket with some sort of lightly alcoholic cider and nicely boxed gingerbread (?).
Until I took a shower and discovered the bottom of the shower door, I liked everything but the art on the wall. I do not need photorealistic art of the topless torso of a man with his face hidden by a caribou skull facing me all night.
The gym space was nicely designed but definitely had a spa vibe. Using your keycard at the door led to a room to change into a robe and slippers, a yoga room, a massage room, and a sitting/refreshment area with a nail table to the side. Finally, there was the gym itself. The equipment was normal, but the placement was questionable. We thought it was funny that the hotel thought guests would want to look into the eyes of those across from them as they exercised.
When we left for a walk, room service visited our room to tidy and left us a nice “Good night” message.
Having breakfast delivered to your room has a CA$7 (~US$5.20) charge. Each plate of breakfast is CA$35 (~US$26). We received credit for two breakfasts with the room, so we used those and went out to find crepes after. To schedule breakfast delivery, one has to fill out the form and leave it outside by 11 PM. While breakfast tasted fine and we thought Le Végétal was particularly good, both plates had a ~3-inch strip of hard plastic buried in the food for some strange reason.
The day we left, we stopped at the front desk after afternoon tea (short version is that they have top-tier food but mediocre tea) to ask them to send up a cart and get our car in 10 minutes. They assured us they would be up in just one minute if we called from our room, so we did that instead.
The valet at Auberge Saint-Antoine was also superior to the one at Fairmont Le Château Frontenac. At the Fairmont, we waited some 25+ minutes outside in the cold for our car there even though the main person assured us it would be just 10 minutes and then never updated us again. At the Auberge Saint-Antoine, we only had to wait the time it took us to come down on the elevator.
The main upsides to me were that the Auberge Saint-Antoine clearly values cleanliness, has a bathtub comfortable bathing in after walking through the ice-filled old Québec, has a good location for visiting desirable destinations in Old Québec, and has easy access to an affordable and delicious afternoon tea. My brother would probably add the gym facility as another plus. The downsides were the wall art and the plastic strips in our breakfast (which I would probably be more annoyed about if the pieces had not been so obvious).
If we feel like a nice hotel in Québec City, we might look at this one again. We would probably have to weigh the tastiness of the breakfast against the risk of more plastic strips hidden in breakfast when deciding whether to order.
