With another trip to Ottawa, I ended up visiting the last Marriott Bonvoy property I had yet to experience in the downtown core of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The nation’s capital offered many Marriott Bonvoy properties. Most were built from the same generation and era. My stay at the Delta Ottawa City Centre would be in a hotel similar to the other Marriott Bonvoy stays, but marked with the best executive lounge available in the Ottawa area. Read on to see how my stay was…

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This post is one chapter on a spring trip to Ottawa, Canada. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Air Canada Aeroplan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Review: Delta Hotels Ottawa City Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

“Another old school property in Ottawa, the Delta Ottawa City Centre offered the best Marriott Executive Lounge in Ottawa along with a bright fitness and pool space.”

As a frequent traveller to the nation’s capital of Ottawa, Canada there are a number of business hotels located in the central downtown areas.

I’ve stayed at many of these hotels, including The Westin Ottawa, the Marriott Ottawa, the Sheraton Ottawa, the Courtyard by Marriott Ottawa Downtown and the Fairfield Inn Ottawa Airport. For this visit, I decided to branch out and try something different. As a result, I booked into the Delta Hotels Ottawa City Centre for a five day stay.

Booking The Delta Hotels Ottawa City Centre:

As a government town, and a hotel catering to business travellers, the rates at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Ottawa City Centre 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 $250 – $300 CAD ($180 – $215 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 1 Queen Bed, Guest Room for approximately 244 CAD ($180 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, and a complimentary late check out up to 4 PM.

Marriott Bonvoy Redemption Opportunities:

The Delta Ottawa City Centre Hotel was a Marriott Bonvoy Category 4 prior to the move to variable pricing. As a result, rooms are typically approximately 20,000 – 35,000 points per night, with 26,000 points a night as an average standard.

If you value Marriott Bonvoy points at $0.008 a point, you’d have to spend more than $160 USD to come out ahead for a 20,000 point redemption or $280 USD to come out ahead for a 35,000 point redemption.. While this represents reasonable value, I can’t actually imagine anyone redeeming points at this particular property, since most travellers here are likely on the business travel circuit; much like it’s sister property the Marriott Ottawa or the Sheraton Ottawa.

Getting to The Delta Ottawa City Centre:

I arrived into Ottawa International Airport on an Air Canada Business Class Vancouver – Ottawa flight. I picked up a Hertz rental. While I’ve typically gotten great Hertz President’s Circle upgrades at the Ottawa International Airport location, the car upgrade gods were not helping me out today and I ended up with a 2024 Toyota Camry; which was a touch above boring.

Like usual, it was a short twenty minute drive from Ottawa International Airport up to downtown Ottawa. The Delta Ottawa City Centre is located in the western central business district of downtown Ottawa. The drive is mostly through wide four lane city boulevards since there are no freeways from the airport to the city.

Generally, the Delta Ottawa City Centre Hotel is well located for business and leisure needs. The property is located in the western central downtown area of Ottawa. The Delta Ottawa City Centre is located a short four blocks from the federal Ottawa parliament buildings and a few short steps away from the Sparks Street Pedestrian Mall that runs the east / west length of the downtown.

In terms of nearby conveniences, there is a Tim Horton’s Coffee Shop located immediately inside the hotel. The hotel is also located adjacent to the Ottawa O Train yon Station. It is also short walk to the Byward Market entertainment district, which is relatively easy in the spring, summer and fall seasons, and manageable with a layer of gloves, toque and coat in the winter months.

Checking into the Delta Ottawa City Centre Hotel:

Having previously visited the Ottawa Marriott Hotel, and being aware that they share the same parking garage, I self parked my vehicle in the underground and headed up to the lobby.

The parking garage itself is a bit of a labyrinth of tunnels and nonsensical passageways. It took a little effort to navigate through but I made it out unscathed.

The Delta Ottawa city centre lobby is a bright two-story atrium styled lobby. On my arrival it was overrun with the girls dance competition that took over most of the public spaces. Despite the excitement, I was properly served at the front desk.

I didn’t have to wait in line for check in. I had completed on line check in through the Marriott App. There was no specific Marriott Bonvoy Elite Line.

At the front desk, I was thanked for being a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium member. I was explained the access hours for the Delta Executive Club Lounge hours. Access to the Delta Executive Club Lounge was complimentary for Marriott Bonvoy members at Platinum level or higher.

I was pro-actively offered the opportunity to waive housekeeping for an additional 500 Marriott Bonvoy points per night, which was a nice unexpected touch.

The Room: A Junior Suite – 1 Queen Sofa Bed:

I led myself up to Room #2033, which was a two category soft upgrade from the Guest Room – One King that I booked. I received a Junior Suite – 1 Queen, Sofa Bed through a pro-active upgrade in the Marriott App that arrived about twenty four hours prior to my stay as a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite member.

I have to commend the Delta Ottawa City Centre, as I haven’t been pro-actively upgraded into anything remotely close to a suite category in the Marriott Bonvoy program in North America in recent years.

Navigating through the hallways, the hotel has gone with a gray theme. Without the white wainscotting that you might find in some residential homes, the hallway were solid gray which made it look a little bit drab.

The hotel offers junior suites which are actually two adjoining rooms made as one. They encompass two separate spaces are brought together by an adjoining door.

Starting off in the main room, I walked in to find the queen size bed.

While I usually prefer a king size bed, the queen size bed made the most use of the available space. Since I was travelling on my own, I didn’t really miss the extra room. The bed offered some limited space on each side, along with an urban skyscraper view.

The bedroom featured the usual Marriott slab desk and luggage stand with a flat screen television. The televisions were a bit smaller than our typically expected in this category and appear to be an older generation.

The desk itself was just the right size for a short stay. Quickly swallowed up many laptops and charging devices. The space would be to contact for two people but was perfectly sufficient for a single business traveller.

The Junior Suite offered a single vanity sink and a standup shower. The bathroom space was pretty compact and was perfectly fine for one person.

Moving over to the other side of the suite, I walked through the adjoining door to find the living space and sofa bed of the junior suite. The side of the room offered a simple square space which consisted of a sofa bed to occasional chairs and a round dining table.

The Junior Suite offered another flatscreen television. The flatscreen television was quite small and below what might be expected size and generation wise for hotel of this class.

As an older guy that needs glasses, I actually found the television to be too small to be of use, given where the couch was seated.

The junior suite space offered a small coffee maker, microwave and refrigerator. This was located in a bit of a dark corner towards the back of the room.

While I will never turn down an upgrade, I found that the living space in the Junior Suite tended to be a little bit dark for my liking. Further the sofa bed was quite firm, as most of the beds can be. As a result I didn’t end up spending a lot of time relaxing in this particular space.

The room offered a peek a boo view of the Ottawa Marriott Hotel, and the landmarks downtown. Unlike the Ottawa Marriott Hotel which offers a better view by virtue of its position, the Delta tends to be more surrounded by other buildings.

The room was reasonably quiet in terms of overall sleep quality. During the midweek portion of my stay, the hotel featured mostly business travellers. My floor was very quiet and being an end room, I had limited noise towards my end of the hall. As a result of my day was very peaceful.

Around the Hotel Property:

The Delta Ottawa City Centre Hotel is a full service hotel property. While it may not be the newest of properties, it has every feature you’d expect from a full service hotel.

Indoor Pool:

The indoor pool was open between 6 AM and 10 PM. In the same area there was a fitness centre that was open 24 hours a day.

The pool itself was pretty bright for a downtown skyscraper type hotel with lots of glass and a light coming into the pool area.

Fitness Center:

The amount of daylight at the pool was perhaps at the expense of the fitness center. The fitness centre was tucked back into the building in a darker space.

There were a few treadmills and free-weights available. During my visit, the gym was pretty quiet with no issues getting a machine.

Food and Beverage:

The Delta Ottawa City Centre offered a combination restaurant / lounge, and an Delta Executive Club Lounge called “The Club”. It was handy to have both of these options availalbe, as aside from the indepdent Jack Astor Restaurant and Bar across the street, there isn’t much around this neighbourhood in terms of food and beverage.

Prova – Bar & Kitchen:

Prova Bar and Kitchen is the hotel’s lobby restaurant and lounge space. It’s located on the ground floor in the lobby. This space was quite busy with a good atmosphere.

I stopped by one evening to get a bottle of wine uncorked and the staff were friendly and approachable.

The Club Executive Lounge:

Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Breakfast

The Delta City Centre Ottawa Hotel offered a Delta “The Club” Executive Club Lounge located on the second floor above the lobby. As a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level member entitled to a breakfast benefit, I was offered breakfast in the lounge (as opposed to the restaurant).

The club offered a nice bright daylight space with full glass frontage on half of the lounge. The daylight area offered the most popular spots to sit in the lounge. The space was frequently occupied by groups.

The back portion of the lounge offered a television and bookcases. The television and area made it feel much more like home.

It was actually one of the more attractive club lounges that I’ve had the opportunity to visit in recent times. It was easily the nicest lounge within the Marriott Bonvoy properties within the Ottawa area.

During my visit, the Club Lounge hours were as follows:

• Breakfast: 6:30 AM – 9:30 AM
• Evening Snacks and Beverages: 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Somewhat inconveniently, the lounge was completely closed at 9 PM. This meant that there was no ability to escape your room to get a late night snack, or perhaps to do some work outside of your room in the Executive Lounge.

The lounge was pretty comfortable. Although, not having it open outside of food service hours made it a little less convenient.

Checking Out of The Delta Ottawa City Centre Hotel:

On departure day, I used the Marriott App to check myself out of the hotel. With a short line at the front desk, I went with the electronic route which was easier than battling a line.

I had no surprises on the bill with everything as expected. The check out was instant.

My Marriott Bonvoy points posted to my account within 72 hours as promised. Perhaps interestingly, my 2,000 additional Marriott Bonvoy points for declining housekeeping posted separately from the bill a day or so later.

The Bottom Line: The Delta Ottawa City Centre Hotel

The Delta Ottawa City Centre Hotel easily caters to business travellers looking for a convenient stay in downtown Ottawa.

While the hotel interiors are looking a quote dated, the property has tremendous potential due to it’s location and size. Unlike the Ottawa Marriott Hotel which offers better upgrade opportunities as a result of many more room configurations, the Delta Ottawa City Centre offers a nicer executive lounge, which many Marriott Bonvoy travellers will appreciate.

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If you have visited Canada’s Capital of Ottawa, which Marriott Bonvoy property do you stay at ?

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