Filmed on April 12th, 2022.
As I'm sure you guys should know by now if you've watched me for I while, I stayed at this Hotel back in 2017, and rode all of the elevators here and loved this property and its elevators a lot!
Since then however, a LOT has changed with this Hotel, as noted both by several people who have messaged me as well as the Hotel's Facebook and Instagram pages which I've been following for a few years now, and when I made plans to go back to Montreal, I made sure I came back here to see what's changed.
And, Needless to say, I'm pretty upset about what's happened here. ALL of the Copper Ceilings and and Woodwork in the Lobby of the Hotel are gone, the Hallways look Overly Modern now, the Pool has been removed, and this place has just lost basically ALL of its Historic Charm..... And the Parking Elevators, well, don't get me started on them but that's a rant for another video.....
These Main Elevators here however, I'm actually pretty pleased with what they did here. Unfortunately, the Beautiful Wooden Mirrored Cabs are gone and have been overhauled and replaced with more modern cabs that fit in more with the New Look of the Hotel and these recently just received a BRAND NEW Otis Compass 360 system! This is my 2nd or 3rd installation of Compass 360 I've seen, it definitely looks MUCH NICER than any of Otises' DD systems they've used in the past.
However, that's not the good news here!
This new "mod" was simply just an OVERLAY over the existing Early 2000s elevator system!!!
Even though these may now have Destination Dispatch and New Lanterns, on the inside, the Green Series 4 Fixtures and ELD indicators still remain, and the BEST PART about it all is that the BILINGUAL GRANDMA Voice STILL LIVES ON!!!! :)
And from the looks of it, these elevators are remaining like this, as there didn't appear to be any work going on with the elevators when I was here, and all of the elevators were running according to the Autotronic panel in the lobby (which thankfully also still remains)!
While everything else that happened to this hotel is pretty unfortunate, considering this Hotel wanted a New Look, they did a pretty good job with these elevators and I'm definitely glad they didn't modernize them any further as they didn't really need it as the existing modernization is only about 20 years old! The addition of the Compass system is a nice touch, and they did so in a way that kept a lot of the charm of these elevators alive.
Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the Parking Elevators, but we'll save the anger for another video.
But in the meantime, enjoy a 2022 Ride on what are some of Montreal's most Famous Elevators which have changed a lot, but have also remained largely the same as well!
Oh yeah, and P.S. I'd HIGHLY advise against filming here, I was kicked out by security upon leaving.....
Installed in 1967. (Otis Autotronic with Circle Touch/Heat Sensitive buttons.)
Modernized in Circa Early 2000s. (Otis with Series 4 fixtures, and New Controllers. Lanterns, Doors and lobby panel left as is, Motors and Cabs may or may not have been left original.)
Compass 360 system added and Cabs Redone in Late 2021.