My first stay at a Spark by Hilton hotel property occurred while we were on a road trip in southeastern Canada. Spark by Hilton Montreal Midtown offered the lowest room rate of any Hilton branded hotel property within the city; so I thought I would experience staying at a hotel property under this brand.
My First Stay at a Spark by Hilton Property — and The Verdict Is…
Temporary parking is available outside primarily for guests to check into the hotel property for their stays. A room key is required to access overnight parking in the underground indoor garage, whose entrance is down a short ramp as shown at the left of the above photograph.
I checked in at the front desk and was informed that I was upgraded to a suite, which was nice.
After I was given keys to the room, I parked the rental vehicle in the aforementioned garage. If you park a sport utility vehicle which has a hatch that opens upwards, be aware that the red pipes hanging from the ceiling of the garage lower the clearance — and therefore, the hatch will not open all the way.
The entrance to the hotel property is through the clear glass doors that appear in the left side of the photograph shown above. An elevator goes to both the lobby and both floors on which the rooms are located. The stairs are located at a different entrance.
Spark by Hilton Montreal Midtown officially opened during September of 2025. At its official Internet web site is the following paragraph: “Find us off Autoroute 15, 400 meters from The Montreal Holocaust Museum. Royalmount Mall and Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal are each less than three km away. Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL) is a 25-minute drive from our hotel. Our complimentary breakfast, indoor parking, and fitness center complete your stay.”
As a brand, Spark by Hilton was formally announced on Wednesday, January 11, 2023. “Following extensive research, the introduction of Spark by Hilton fills an open space in the industry by creating a new premium economy lodging option to meet the needs of even more guests and owners seeking value, quality and consistency”, according to this official press release by Hilton. “Spark by Hilton provides a simple, reliable and comfortable stay for every guest, all at an accessible price. For developers, Spark by Hilton leverages an innovative conversion model to offer a compelling investment option for owners.”
Spark by Hilton has since supplanted Hampton by Hilton as the base economy brand of Hilton.
The lobby of this hotel property was sparsely decorated with bright colors. Regular coffee, decaffeinated coffee, hot water, and tea — along with a basic variety of sweeteners, creamers, cups, and stirrers — are available all day long.
The hallways were somewhat bizarre. At the beginning of the interior hallway on the ground floor, an ice machine was out in the open facing the breakfast area instead of being enclosed in its own room.
The interior hallway was rather bare in terms of aesthetics — and it strangely felt dark even though it was brightly illuminated.
Even the plaques for the room numbers were barely decorated — but they do have a slight bit of decoration on them.
A second elevator is located near the opposite end of the building from the lobby.
One uniquely strange feature about this somewhat quirky hotel property is that it contains an “exterior” hallway in addition to the aforementioned interior hallway — probably left over from the way this building was designed when it housed a corporate entity.
The large, long, and narrow building that now houses the Spark by Hilton Montreal Midtown hotel property was the former headquarters for a bulk computer and electronics company called Insight Direct Canada. After the company vacated the space, the building sat empty for a long time — and was also used as an indoor flea market and shopping mall — prior to undergoing its full renovation into a hotel property.
The Suite.
The living room of the suite contained the following:
- A sofa
- A small end table
- Floor lamps
- Two chairs
- A work of art which hung on the wall
A flat screen television rested atop a square bookcase at the opposite wall of the main area of the suite, where a long narrow mirror hung on the wall adjacent to the door of the entrance to the room — and what initially seemed to be a small desk with a chair and a small desk lamp…
…but part of the desk could be pulled out and swiveled up to 180 degrees, which created twice as much desk space — and because both that half of the desk and the chair were on wheels on a floor with a hard surface, the workspace was easily configurable. For example, two people can easily have enough space at the desk on which to dine.
The chair itself was adjustable.
Although electrical outlets were rather scarce in much of the room, a wireless charger was conveniently available on the desk to charge a smartphone — but it also contained two electrical outlets, a Type A Universal Serial Bus port, and a Type C Universal Serial Bus port.
The curtains was not able to be completely closed at the narrow window near the desk, which could potentially be concerning, as the suite was located on the ground floor. Ideally, the window would have been larger to have brought more ambient light into the otherwise dark suite — with curtains that completely closed.
Looking from the chair at the desk, a wet bar with a small sink is located between the entrance to the room on the left and a closet, the entrance to the bathroom, and the entrance to the master bedroom on the right.
Underneath the counter of the wet bar was a miniature refrigerator — you might recognize the jar of pickles from Schwartz’ Deli when I sampled the smoked meat sandwich — and cabinet space under the sink. The room did not have a microwave oven; but a microwave oven in the area where breakfast is served is available for use at any time.
The Master Bedroom.
Two queen beds were in the master bedroom — along with a night stand between them; and only a telephone was on that night stand. The bed was quite comfortable. Each bed had its own lamp on one side. The bedroom had its own narrow window.
No electrical outlet or Universal Serial Port of any type was located within the immediate vicinity of either side of each bed, which was quite inconvenient. A group of four electrical outlets were high up on the wall — likely for a television, which was not included in the master bedroom — but because they were so high up on the wall and no furniture was near them, they were completely useless. Another electrical outlet was located at a lower spot on that same wall; but electrical devices must be placed on the floor while they are plugged in, as no table or desk were nearby.
Two closets — both without doors — are in the suite. The closet in the photograph on the left above is located just outside of the master bedroom — the entrance to the bathroom is on the right — and contained an iron, an ironing board, and an ice bucket. The closet in the photograph on the right above is located inside of the master bedroom and included four hangers, an electric hair dryer in a bag in a small open cabinet that was mounted on the wall, a shelf, and a portable luggage rack.
The Bathroom.
The bathroom was quite basic yet adequate, with a vanity, a sink, a large mirror that hung on the wall, a small bar of soap, a bulk dispenser of ZERO/o body lotion, a box of tissues, three sets of towels, and a small nightlight that was plugged into the wall.
In the shower area were three bulk dispensers of ZERO/o products — shampoo, shower gel, and conditioner.
The Views.
The backyards behind the houses of Avenue Coolbrook comprised the view from the suite — along with the narrow driveway behind the hotel property.
I have had worse views from hotel rooms — such as this one in Scotland; this one in Canada; and this one in Spain as three of countless examples — but at least this view had plenty of greenery.
Breakfast.
A continental breakfast is included in the room rate and is available to guests every morning. As a microwave oven is not included in the room, guests can come to this area and use the microwave oven here anytime.
Orange juice, cranberry juice, cold water, regular coffee, decaffeinated coffee, hot water, and tea — along with a basic variety of sweeteners, creamers, cups, and stirrers — were at the beverage station.
The area in which ti sit and enjoy breakfast is large and quite spacious.
No hot food items were offered. The closest thing to a hot food item was an assortment of bagels which can be toasted in the toaster that was adjacent to the display.
Hard boiled eggs and assorted flavors of yogurt were among what was offered at breakfast. I found the yogurt to be rather bland, unfortunately.
Guests can choose from an assortment of muffins. Peanut butter and assorted flavors of jelly were available.
Apples and bananas were available — as well as butter, cream cheese, chocolate syrup, coconut, raisins, nuts, and other condiments.
Fitness Centre.
The fitness centre — which is open 24 hours per day, seven days per week — was surprisingly well equipped for a hotel property in this price range, as a large variety of weights, towels, a flat-screen television, and assorted equipment were included.
Instead of watching television while working out, runners can look through two sets of windows — with the aforementioned hallway between those windows — to look at the frontage roads of Autoroute 15 while working out.
An unlimited supply of filtered water is available to fill up bottles and other containers.
Laundry Room.
One washing machine and one dryer — currency is required to operate both of them — are in the laundry room; as well as a long table on which to fold clothing. Neither an iron nor an ironing board are available in the laundry room, as they are included in each guest room.
Final Boarding Call
I recommend Spark by Hilton Montreal Midtown, as it met all of the criteria of what we needed. The hotel property was clean; the bed was comfortable; the service was good; breakfast was decent; and the location was reasonably convenient. Spark by Hilton is a viable lodging option for those people who want the general Hilton experience and hospitality — but at a lower price point.
The total cost of the stay for one night was $121.80 in United States dollars, which included all taxes and fees.
Although I was expecting Spark by Hilton Montreal Midtown to be a “bare-bones” hotel property, it did include features that surprised me and differentiated it as part of Hilton over a typical budget lodging option — so I would consider staying at another Spark by Hilton hotel property in the future. Still, do not expect amenities such as an alarm clock, a swimming pool, or hot food at breakfast as part of the stay.
The hotel property is located on the south side of Autoroute 15, which is convenient — except that the highway and its frontage roads were clogged with traffic most of the time that we were there.
Spark by Hilton Montreal Midtown
5440 Decarie Boulevard
Montréal, Québec, H3X 2J1
Canada
1-514-657-2777
Free secure parking is available in the underground garage that is on site.
If you do not have a motor vehicle, two stations of the Métro are conveniently within walking distance only a few blocks away from the hotel property:
- Snowden station for both Line 2 – Orange and Line 5 – Blue
- Côte-Sainte-Catherine station for Line 2 – Orange
- The stops of several bus lines are also within walking distance
All photographs ©2026 by Brian Cohen.
