World Traveller 73 
Review: Courtyard by Marriott Ottawa Downtown, Ottawa, Canada
With another return to the Canadian nation’s capital of Ottawa, I broke up the usual repeat monotony by staying at a hotel that was more conveniently located for my business meeting needs. I ended up staying at the Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa hotel, which is located in Ottawa’s Byward Market. The hotel was recently renovated, but was located in a neighbourhood that is going through a bit of a resurgence. Read on to see how my week long stay ended up being…
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Review: Courtard by Marriott Ottawa Downtown, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
“A recently renovated old school property located in the heart of Ottawa’s Byward Market, bringing wanted (and unwanted) entertainment and street life to your doorstep.”
My travel patterns have frequently been taking me to the nation’s capital of Ottawa, Canada. Whlie most business hotels are located in the central downtown areas. I’ve stayed at many of these hotels, including The Ottawa Marriott Hotel, The Westin Ottawa, and the Sheraton Ottawa.
For this particular visit, my meetings were in the Eastern part of Central Ottawa. I decided to change hotel venues and try something located directly in Ottawa’s Byward Market.
I ended up booking a five day business weeklong stay in the Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa. The Byward Market is Ottawa’s entertainment area and will eventually be home to the newly constructed AC Ottawa Hotel, along with the Ottawa Moxy hotel, once they finish construction.
Booking The Ottawa Courtyard Downtown Hotel:
As a government town, and a hotel catering to business travellers, the rates at the Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa are highest mid week and tend to drop off on the weekend. Similar to other hotels in the Central Business District of Ottawa, the hotel generally offers rates between $180 – $260 CAD ($133 – $192 USD) during the week, with rates as low as $200 CAD ($150 USD) on some Saturday and Sunday nights.
I booked my a base standard Guest Room – 1 King Bed, Guest Room for approximately $189 CAD ($133 USD) on my last 5 night stay. I booked through the Marriott Bonvoy website, which as a Marriott Titanium Member, entitled me to a complimentary upgrade to the best available room, including select suites, complimentary access to the Marriott Executive Club Lounge (of which there wasn’t one at this property), and a complimentary late check out up to 4 PM.
Marriott Bonvoy Redemption Opportunities:
The Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa Hotel offers competitive room redemptions with the new variable redemption rates. Rooms are typically between 16,000 – 22,500 points per night, with 20,000 points a night as an average standard. I have did happen to see some 16,000 point redemptions on Sunday nights with no obvious pattern between midweek and weekend.
If you value Marriott Bonvoy points at $0.005 a point, you’d have to spend more than $125 USD to come out ahead for a 25,000 point redemption. While this represents reasonable value, like with other Ottawa Marriott Bonvoy properties, I can’t actually imagine anyone redeeming points at this particular property, since most travellers here are likely on the business travel circuit.
Getting to The Ottawa Courtyard Downtown Hotel:
I arrived into Ottawa International Airport on an Air Canada flight. I picked up a Hertz rental. I ended up with a Hertz President’s Circle upgrade of either a GMC Terrain a Hyundai Santa Fe or a Cadillac XT5. Never one to pass up a Cadillac, I ended up with a blue Caddy XT5 400 for a self drive to the hotel.
It was a short twenty minute drive from Ottawa International Airport, up to the Byward Market area of Ottawa. Despite occupying a corner of a city block, The Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa Hotel is only accessed off Dalhousie Street. It’s located across the street from the hip Hyatt Andaz Ottawa Byward Market, which I have yet to try out.
The Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa is the hotel you’ll want to be in, if you place a premium on dining out and night life. It’s location in the Byward Market is one that’s full of personality. The Byward Market is a neighbourhood filled with restaurants, nightclubs and bars located just steps from the hotel’s front doors.
The location of the Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa also happens to be one that seems to contain a lot of Ottawa’s homeless population. While this isn’t something directly within the hotels’ control, I’d probably stay at The Westin Ottawa, or the slightly more plain Sheraton Ottawa or Ottawa Marriott Hotel if I was staying with family or with children. I experienced some persistent pan handling on my visit that was missing from my last stays at other properties in the city.
The Courtyard Ottawa is located immediately next to The Keg Byward Market restaurant, with extensive retail shopping at the nearby CF Rideau Centre Mall, that’s located two blocks from the hotel. An LCBO Liquor Outlet is also located within two blocks walk from the hotel (also in the CF Rideau Centre Mall). Accordingly, the Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa meets all the requirements for a stay with amenities in the area.
Checking into the Courtyard by Marriott Ottawa Downtown Hotel:
The Ottawa Marriott Hotel was fairly easy to find. Like most other Marriott Hotels in Ottawa, the property has an older look to it. The neighbourhood surrounding it appears to be growing up, with high rise towers under construction next to the dated four storey Courtyard.
On arrival to the hotel off Dalhousie Street, there is a small loading and hotel check in area that consists of four parking stalls before an open air secure and security gated outdoor parking area. This area is barely small enough to contain a taxi unloading area.
There is a limited outdoor parking area at the hotel, and there is also approximately twenty five stalls in an open underground parking garage. Despite the limited parking, I never had any issues with the parking lot being full.
Heading inside, the entire Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa building is security fobbed. Access to the lobby was by keycard or by pressing the reception button bell.
On my arrival during the busy early evening check in period, there was no wait in line for check in. I had completed on line check in through the Marriott App, which sped up the check in process.
During the check in process, I was helped and served by the General Manager of the hotel at reception. I’m happy to say that I had had the most professional check in process in recent years. I was thanked for my loyalty as a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium member. Moving through the check in process, I was offered a late check out and I was also provided information on a complimentary upgrade on my room. I was also given information on the hotel’s Bistro Restaurant with operating hours between 6:30 – 10 AM for breakfast, and 6:00 – 10:00 PM for dinner.
I ended up using a digital key for my room through the Marriott Bonvoy App. While I wasn’t provided any assistance in getting my luggage up to my room, I had no issues navigating myself up to my assigned floor.
The Room: A Larger Guest Room, 1 King, Sofa Bed:
I booked a standard Guest Room – 1 King basic level room. As a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level member, I was entitled to an upgrade to the best available room on arrival, including select suites.
On today’s visit, that translated into an upgrade into a Larger Guest Room, 1 King, Sofa Bed Room. As there were no suites at this particular property, this was the best upgrade possible within the available hotel inventory. There are only two categories of rooms at this particular property, and this upgrade into the higher room category was the best I could have hoped for.
I took the elevator up to the top floor and made my way down to room #440. The hallways at the Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa are recently refreshed and are quite wide by modern day hotel standards. Having said that, the hallways are a bit dark and mostly without windows to the outside.
Upon entering into the room itself, the Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa offered a refreshed room complete with new bedding, new wall coverings and new furniture. While it wasn’t marketed when the renovation had occurred, it was recent as the room was in terrific repair and shape.
The Larger Guest Room was pretty spacious for a standard larger hotel room. As a business traveller for one, it was more than enough room to stretch out for working and relaxing.
A Larger Guest Room – The Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa, CanadaThe room contained an oval shaped sofa bed, that contained throw pillows. The oval bed was actually quite comfortable for relaxing on, something that isn’t too common in hotel rooms.
The larger guest room contained a small hotel desk. The desk was extenable through the pull out lower table that expanded the work area. The room contained the standard hotel office chair.
Along with most hotel rooms in this category, the room contained a Keurig Coffee Maker, a microwave (hidden out of the picture and above the coffeemaker) and a small mini fridge.
The Courtyard by Marriott room featured a view of an actual Courtyard. The inner facing room was on the quiet side of the hotel; away from the entertainment streets that surrounded the area.
Although there was some greenery in the Courtyard hotel logo, this Courtyard didn’t feature any trees. Instead, I was treated to a view of the Ottawa skyline along with the rooftop of the hotel’s indoor pool.
The hotel’s layout featured a square hallway pattern that offered occasional street views. Most of the rooms looked inwards towards the inner Courtyard. This meant that the hotel offered a bit of a darker hotel orientation as a result of a lack of natural light.
Getting back to the room, the bathroom featured a renovated bathroom with an upright shower.
In my “first time” for a Marriott property, the hotel featured Tea Tree Shampoo’s, Conditioners and North 39 Degree Body Wash.
The room was reasonably quiet in terms of its orientation. The inner facing room towards the Courtyard enhanced the overall sleep quality and I didn’t hear any noise from the Byward Market. However, there were two mornings where I could easily hear another guest making several speaker phone calls aloud in their room at 6:15 AM (3:15 AM for me on Pacific Standard Time!). There was also some hallway noise. As a result of thin walls, this property wasn’t ideal for a quiet restful nights sleep, if other travellers didn’t happen to co-operate.
Around the Hotel Property:
The Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa isn’t considered a full service hotel. As a result, it offers limited amenities.
Fitness Centre – Indoor Pool:
The Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa offered a small indoor pool. The pool area was a bit dark, drab and dated. The hours of the pool were between 7 AM to 10 PM. The pool was a family oriented place for the purpose of kids burning off steam, as opposed to any serious athletic exercise.
Fitness Centre – Gym:
The hotel also featured a small gym. The gym was a glassed in area off the pool. While the gym wasn’t too glamorous, it did offer a basic level of gym equipment.
While I didn’t use either the gym or the pool, it’s nice to have an option available to guests.
Food and Beverage:
The Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa offers a limited Bistro restaurant. Since the hotel is situated in the middle of the entertainment district, it’s not the end of the world that the hotel doesn’t offer a full service restaurant.
Bistro Restaurant:
The Bistro Restaurant operates only during meal time hours. During our visit, it operated between 06:30 AM and 10:00 AM. In the evenings, service is offered between 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM There is no lunch service.
The Bistro was located right off the main lobby. The space stretched through to the middle of the hotel, and contained a variety of dining and relaxing space.
The space offered complimentary workspace computers, connected to printers.
The Bistro Lounge offered Starbucks Coffee in the morning. However, that’s pretty much where the similarities ended. A Classic Fruit and Yoghurt Cup went for a very hotel priced $8 CAD, whereas Eggs your Way went for $16.50 CAD.
While I did take a coffee one morning, given the hotel prices, I ended up eating off property except when the weather was really bad. Without access to a Marriott Executive Lounge or M Club at this property, it’s at a bit of a dis-advantage for Marriott Bonvoy Elites that might otherwise enjoy a snack in the hotel lounges at the other Ottawa properties.
The Byward Market Neighbourhood:
This stay marked my first time staying the Byward Market neighbourhood of Ottawa. I have typically only visited the Byward Market in the evenings for dinner during my past Ottawa visits.
Unfortunately, the charm of the Byward Market has eroded over the years as a result of the homelessness and drug / mental health crisis affecting major cities. The area is substantially less desirable outside of dinner hours. I might add that the Courtyard by Marriott is situated on the eastern edge of the market, away from many of the market’s historical buildings.
One morning when I was on the 8:30 AM meeting circuit, I left the hotel at 7:20 AM to attempt to locate some coffee and a muffin. The neighbourhood does not have many residents living in it, and is mostly deserted in the morning. Walking one block to the north, I found the McDonalds Restaurant closed with a sign out indicating that they did not open until 8 AM. When McDonald’s Restaurant doesn’t even bother to open at an early hour for breakfast, you know there is a substantial issue that it’s not worth their time.
I ended up next door at Tim Horton’s Coffee Shop and Quick Service Take Away Restaurant. Inside, there were several homeless people inside cussing and swearing at each other. There were other homeless people openly smoking crack cocaine in the restaurant at the stand up dining counter. I found two or three more openly consuming drugs on the outside sidewalk, after I got my muffin and morning coffee.
There is also polite but persistent pan handling in the area. I spent many occasions brushing past requests, getting onward to my next destination.
All of these factors, combined with the fact that there is no Executive Lounge at the Courtyard by Marriott Ottawa Downtown, really made me miss the ease of staying at The Ottawa Marriott Hotel and the Sheraton Ottawa for businss travel reasons. Both of these properties feature executive lounges (when open), and offer a great space for working with complimentary wifi and relaxing for business travellers.
While a provincial health element isn’t within the control of the Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa, it does speak a little to the environment that the hotel regrettably finds itself in. By staying at the Courtyard Downtown Ottawa, you get super convenient access to restaurants that happen to be within a block of the hotel.
Unfortunately, you also get a lot of the social problems that come with the Byward Market neighbourhood. It’s a lot more vibrant than staying at the Sheraton Ottawa or the Marriott Ottawa Hotel; which has a neighbourhood that is a virtual deserted ghost town after regular business hours. Despite this, I don’t think that the convenience of having these restaurants nearby, outweighs the zombies that are floating around outside of the hotel. As a result, through no fault of efforts of the hotel, I expect to likely be staying elsewhere the next time that I visit.
Checking Out of The Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa Hotel:
On departure day, I visited the front desk to check myself out of the hotel.
I had no surprises on the bill with everything “as expected”. The check out was instant. I received a parking coupon to allow myself out of the parking garage, in exchange for the return of my hotel room key.
My Marriott Bonvoy points posted to my account within 72 hours as promised.
The Bottom Line: The Courtyard Downtown Ottawa Hotel
The Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Ottawa Hotel was a bit of a novelty stay for me, and a marked change from my usual circuit in the Central Business District of Ottawa Canada, near the parliamentary buildings.
While the property was exceptionally convenient for my meetings, and it’s proximity to the Byward Market for a solid nightlife and it’s restaurants, the property was less exciting for Marriott Elites. This was as a result of a lack of an available executive lounge and only one possible category of room upgrades. The Byward Market neighbourhood has a particular edge to it; one that’s admittedly not always favourable.
Despite this, the property is well renovated and refreshed. If you stay, you’ll find among the newest hotel rooms in the Ottawa Marriott properties.
World Traveller 73 
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