Far enough west that the road goes quiet at night, close enough that nothing in the city is a trek. Parking is free and on site, which in Montréal decides more than it should.
Le Chabrol has stood on the same corner of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce since 1962, when it opened as the Le Cavalier Hotel-Motel. It has changed names more than once and been renovated more times than that, but it has never stopped being what it started as: an independent house of sixty rooms, run by the people who own it.
The front desk is staffed around the clock. Breakfast is included and parking is free, both of which are worth something in a city where neither is a given. Guests who book with us directly deal with us directly, which is usually the shortest route to whatever it is they need.
The largest of the suites. A rectangular jacuzzi sits in an open-concept bathroom with a jet shower beside it, and the sitting room is separate from the bed rather than beside it.
There is one of it. In summer and over holiday weekends it goes first.
An open-concept suite on the ground floor, a few steps from the front desk, which makes it the easiest of the suites to reach with luggage. A large jacuzzi in the room itself.
Three suites built to the same plan, each with a spa bath in the room and a seating area set well apart from the bed. Because there are three, this is usually the suite still available when the others have gone.
Queen rooms, twin-queen rooms for families, and corporate rooms kept for guests staying on business. Plainly furnished, quiet, and looked after.
One queen bed on the ground floor, reached without stairs. The simplest room we keep.
Two queen beds and room to spread out. The most straightforward room we have for four people.
A queen bed and a sofa bed made up with its own linens. The usual choice for a couple travelling with a child.