Montréal is frequently praised as one of the most European-looking cities outside Europe. With its abundance of outdoor cafés, metro system inspired by Paris, safe streets and bilingual population, the city has become an increasingly popular choice for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE).
According to Tourisme Montréal, more than 11 million visitors arrived in 2017, a 5 percent increase over the previous year. Visitor spending that year — including expenditures by MICE attendees — topped CAD 4 billion (about $3.08 billion), up 9.7 percent. Last year passenger traffic from the United States to Montréal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport rose by nearly 12 percent, and the Hotel Association of Greater Montréal reported average hotel occupancy of around 77 percent. “This year was again punctuated with city-wide public and MICE events, marking the city’s efforts to position itself as a cultural metropolis and international-caliber destination,” said Christopher Marilley, director of meeting and convention sales at Tourisme Montréal.
Montréal hosts more than 100 festivals annually, from world-class culinary showcases to large outdoor celebrations. Major highlights include the International Montréal Jazz Festival — recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest jazz event in the world (June) — Just for Laughs, a leading North American comedy festival (July), and Montréal en Lumière (Festival of Light), a multi-sensory citywide program featuring music, theater and dance, food and wine events, and public light installations such as the display on the Jacques Cartier Bridge (February–March).
Major conferences in 2018 held at the Montréal Convention Centre included the 9th International Congress on Glaucoma Surgery, the Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) meeting and the 39th SICOT Orthopaedic World Congress.
Montréal offers a wide range of hotels suited to MICE groups. Large, well-known properties with extensive meeting facilities include Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth (950 rooms), Le Centre Sheraton (982 rooms), Le Westin Montréal (455 rooms), Loews Hôtel Vogue (142 rooms), The Ritz-Carlton, Montréal (98 rooms) and the Hyatt Regency Montreal (595 rooms). These hotels provide ample meeting space, fine dining and professional catering services.
Smaller and newer meeting hotels have also expanded the market. The boutique Le Mount Stephen, a 90-room property in a restored historic building, features floor-to-ceiling windows, an on-site spa and the British-inspired Bar George. The modern, tech-forward Hôtel Monville, with 269 guestrooms and meeting space on the 20th floor, opened near the Palais des Congrès. The 169-room AC Hotel Montréal Centre-Ville opened as Marriott’s first AC-branded hotel in Canada.
After a two-decade absence, Four Seasons will return to Montréal with a CAD 398 million ($307 million) development slated to open in 2019. The mixed-use project will be an 18-story complex with 166 rooms, retail space, a restaurant and bar, a Four Seasons Spa and 18 private residences.
Le Bateau-Mouche with Montréal skyline in background © BATEAU-MOUCHE OF MONTRÉAL
Group organizers can also choose river-based venues. Two excursion companies provide meeting and dining options aboard St. Lawrence River cruise boats. Le Bateau-Mouche, founded in 1992, won the Tourism Grand Prix for innovation from the Office des Congrès et du Tourisme du Grand Montréal. With a 440-square-foot open-air deck, the boat now measures 110 feet and can accommodate up to 190 guests. The operator follows a green philosophy — avoiding plastic tableware, maintaining a smoke-free environment and outfitting crew in organic cotton — and offers packages for groups. Options include a 1.5-hour sightseeing tour departing from the Jacques-Cartier Pier in the Old Port and a 3.5-hour dinner cruise with menus crafted by Executive Chef Alain Pignard of Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth, live music and a sound-and-light experience.
Another river option is the AML cruise line’s AML Cavalier Maxim. MICE planners can arrange a full charter or reserve portions of the vessel’s four decks. The cruise program includes guided sightseeing as well as lunch and dinner services. Deck A features a multipurpose panoramic space for 250 people, Deck B houses the Maxi Club with an outdoor terrace and capacity for 160 plus a private Intimate Atrium for 60, and Deck C provides an upper-level area with windows and a terrace seating about 210 guests.
Seasonal group activities on the St. Lawrence River and nearby waterways include jet boating and rafting during summer and learning ice hockey or curling in winter — activities that add local flavor and team-building opportunities for delegates.
UNIQUE VENUES
The Palais des Congrès de Montréal (Montréal Convention Centre) supports environmentally conscious events. Since 2011 its Culti-Vert rooftop container garden has helped lower the urban heat island effect while producing organic herbs, fruits and vegetables. Located downtown and connected to around 4,000 hotel rooms via Montréal’s underground pedestrian network, the Palais des Congrès offers 551,000 square feet of meeting and exhibition space and 88 meeting rooms.
Downtown’s Au Sommet Place Ville Marie features a 360-degree observation deck on the 46th floor suitable for receptions, meetings and galas, with capacity for about 200 guests. The complex also includes an interactive exhibition on the 45th floor showcasing modern Montréal and Les Enfants Terribles, the city’s highest restaurant on the 44th floor.
The Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal (MAC) provides a contemporary, stylish setting at Place des Arts and frequently hosts festival galas and private events. A larger, redesigned MAC is planned to open on the same site in 2021, with expanded gallery space, an outdoor-facing Restaurant du MAC and new event areas that will broaden options for group functions.