A weekend stay at the ARC was a welcome relaxing getaway. Staff is extremely helpful and courteous. The location is excellent if you wish to walk to various attractions (Parliament- 3-4 blocks, Byward Market -6-7 blocks, museums- 5-6 blocks). Rooms are very comfortable and quiet.

We upgraded to a king room upon arrival, because the queen room was surprisely small...the king was twice the size and its bathroom was considerably bigger.

In fact, the queen is so small (it was a corner room) that the doors to the TV armoire cannot open fully and viewing the TV from the only place to sit or relax- the bed, is near impossible. I will say that staff was more than accommodating and offered to move us to another queen- a different room configuration. But instead we choose the $20/night upgrade and it was quite worth it.

The only other thing worth mentioning is that arriving at the hotel can be tricky. There is only a 3 space drop off/pickup area in front of the hotel and with traffic its easy to drive by trying to figure out where to park. Just stop right directly in front of the hotel and the friendly valet person will help unload your things and park your car in the safe, private underground garage.

I hope this helps... we would not hesitate to stay there again!

My wife and I stayed at ARC in late June for a couple of nights. We enjoyed the hotel and its location with respect to the sights of Ottawa. It is located on Slater Street which is a non-descript office-building dominated street. When we arrived late Friday night the street was deserted (not much reason to be in downtown Ottawa after dark I guess). But that made the location quiet.

It was only a four or five block walk up to the Parliament buildings and about a 15 minute walk over to the Byward market area (National Gallery too). It is a 30 min+ walk to get to the Canadian Museum of Civilization or the War Museum so consider driving to those. ARC is definately much lower profile than the Westin or the Fairmont Chateau but it should cater to a different crowd.

The apple, water, chocolates, Starbucks coffee etc have been mentioned before and are nice touches. There is no doubt that the hotel is chic and much more enjoyable than staying in a big chain hotel (1 person working the reception, 1 valet, everything is personal) but I was disappointed in three things: 1) The room was small. I mean very small. It was compounded by the fact that they had a huge armoire for the TV and a big desk. Those two pieces took up signficant room and made getting around the bed tough. 2) The bathoom wasn't as nice as the room (i.e. oldish). 3) The restaurant/lounge was overpriced. I had planned on getting a room service breakfast but found out that it was $12 per person for juice, muffin and coffee (but the coffee was free in the room) so 12 bucks for a juice and a muffin. Dinner mains in the restaurant were 25 - 30 bucks. I can't comment on the quality because we walked over to the market area for dinner where there is a huge selection of restaurants. The breakfast/restaurant must be for the business travellers who can expense the meals - if the ARC is targeting personal travellers then the pricing is excessive.

My pieces of constructive criticism: Make the rooms seem bigger by having a smaller desk (not of too much use to people like us who were on vacation) and have a small/less intrusive TV cabinet, redo the bathroom tubs and drop the breakfast price to make it more in-line with Ottawa norms.

The valet parking worked fine - I liked dropping the car off and being able to walk around downtown Ottawa without having to worry about parking. Overall it was a great boutique hotel.

My husband and I stayed at the Arc for two nights in May. The Arc is a beautiful, chic hotel. It is design focused and attentive to details. It is not grand and ostentation, nor so chic and expensive that you feel you don't belong. In fact, it used to be a small Howard Johnson. Someone bought it and renovated it so it is now considered a boutique hotel. When you check in, they offer you a glass of sparkling wine. You don't see tacky tourist brochures everywhere, just contemporary design and sleek furniture with that floating panel look and feel.

When you enter your room, you have to stop to make sure someone isn't already there because the light and music are both on low. I'm sure that's to create that "welcome home, we were expecting you" feel. I had to get used to it. When we came back to our room the second day, it was felt right.

By the bedside is an apple, a bottle of water and chocolates. In the bathroom are bathrobes, Aveda products, and more towels than you would need.

They have valet service, keep umbrellas by the door so guests can borrow one if it rains. The lounge keeps fresh coffee on brew all the time, and a bowl of apples for the taking. The library and gym are beautiful and clean. They have the same standard of thoughtfulness throughout the hotel. Most hotels are usually beautiful in the public areas and a few grades worse in the rooms. But not the Arc. Everything - both in the public areas and in the rooms - is clean, elegant, comfortable and abundant, without being snobby or shabby.

The decor was perfect for me. My husband thought it a bit too Club Monaco. We both agreed the rooms were a tad small, but so clean and comfortable we didn't mind.

Initially, I thought the hotel was a bit on the expensive side at $169 a night. But that included valet parking ($20 a day) and breakfast ($30 a morning limit for two). Last time we were in Ottawa, it was a nightmare trying to find parking and moving the car all the time. Because the hotel is downtown, we left the car parked all weekend and walked all over the place. Because breakfast was included, we only paid for a snack in the afternoon and dinner as we made our way around Ottawa. Breakfast is served as late as 11:30, so we could sleep in, read the newspaper they leave at our door, and have a late breakfast before setting out for the day.

I am writing this from my hotel room. Day 2 of a 3-day stay.
Staff is very polite, prompt and pleasant. Service with a smile.
Rooms are a bit small but well apportioned. Turn down service, nice ammenities.

No complaints whatsoever. A very comfortable and pleasant stay.