During my trip to Quebec City, I was hosted by Tryp Quebec Hotel PUR, in the district of St. Roch.

My driver picked me up and handed me a small bottle of champagne, which I promptly spilled all down my coat. We laughed. I did it a second time. Old habits die hard.

I was wary of a minimalist type hotel, me being keen on colours and rainbows and magical leprechauns dancing around sunbeams (see: the swirly kaleidoscope of my blog header). But I realized my poor ignorant head had never actually seen tasteful minimalism before, and I loved it the minute I stepped into the lobby.

The dark grey hues of the hallway with neon-orange room numbers were also pretty sweet. And the white cleanness of everything in my room.

I was greeted by THIS upon entering my room:

Cool, right? Even if they think I’m married. I’m not married. Mrs. Walsh has a lovely ring to it, though.

Here’s a little background info on the hotel:

TRYP is part of the Wyndham Group, with hotels all over the grid in Europe. The one in Quebec was the first to be opened in North America, but NYC quickly followed suit.

I typically don’t get excited over hotels, and I find few of them memorable. But TRYP has this thing about creativity. Many of their rooms are set up in themes to suit your needs: i.e. a Fitness room will come with work-out equipment and complimentary gym clothes. They have Family rooms to sleep eight, which includes bunk beds and a Nintendo Wii.

Initially I was a little pissed by not having a coffee maker in my room. Brewing coffee is the first thing I do when I get up in the morning, no matter where I am. But later in the evening, during a little presentation about the hotel, we were told that there was a free Italian coffee press in the lobby. The whole point of NOT having coffee in the rooms is so that we can socialize in the lobby.

(And if you don’t want to socialize, I’m sure you can just slink away like a hermit.)

My favourite feature, however, was Lobbyfriend.net. It’s an app that works sorta like Twitter. You’re given a login password upon check-in, and access is free. You send out messages that other people in the hotel can read, so if you’re exploring a new place or simply wanting a friend to hang out with (maybe a little booty call on the side?), you’re able to connect.

It’s also a great way to pick the brain of the staff members, all of whom are TRYP Ambassadors passionate about their home. When I was there, someone had sent a message saying they were lost somewhere in Old Quebec, and one of the Ambassadors followed up immediately with directions.

Finally, ask for their signature drink: gin, rosemary, rosemary syrup, and sparkling wine. It’s a good time.