L'Aspire AMEX Salon/Lounge propose un voyage culinaire international sophistiqué, mariant magistralement diverses saveurs mondiales pour une expérience gastronomique raffinée. La carte met en avant des plats de pâtes d'une grande maîtrise, utilisant des techniques traditionnelles et des ingrédients de premier choix, complétés par des sélections internationales inspirées qui satisfont les palais les plus exigeants. Les convives peuvent s'attendre à une atmosphère soignée, propice aux conversations détendues et aux repas mémorables. Cet établissement offre une sélection de plats conçus pour procurer une aventure gastronomique distinctive et satisfaisante. Chaque assiette témoigne de l'engagement de la cuisine envers la qualité et une présentation novatrice, garantissant un moment culinaire unique.
Le salon Aspire reçoit des avis mitigés, les visiteurs louant fréquemment la propreté, le design moderne et le personnel exceptionnellement aimable et attentif qui améliore souvent l'expérience. Alors que de nombreux clients apprécient la haute qualité de la cuisine préparée à la demande et l'ambiance relaxante, d'autres expriment leur frustration concernant l'absence de toilettes à l'intérieur du salon, la variété limitée du menu et l'inefficacité du système de commande par code QR aux heures de pointe. Les longs temps d'attente pour entrer et les retards potentiels dans le service des plats restent des points de discorde, poussant certains voyageurs à suggérer que le salon convient mieux à ceux qui y accèdent gratuitement plutôt qu'à ceux qui paient le tarif d'entrée.
The lounge itself is clean, stylish, & comfortable. The service was excellent - Christal went above & beyond in service & friendliness! The food was only okay. Good place to chill between flights.
AVOID AVOID AVOID! Ridiculous, deceptive & moronic policies: first they REFUSE you entry because you show up 30 minutes before the'allowed 3 hours before your flight requirement'. Then when you do show up at 3 hour mark, they REFUSE you entry AGAIN because'oh we are busy & there's now a waitlist.''How long is the waitlist?'well we have people waiting 30 minutes right now...' From check in counter, I can clearly count at least 5 empty tables! Embarrassing that you use deceptive policies to refuse customers so you can save cost by operating well below capacity.
After 40 minutes of waiting on their waitlist, I spoke with the manager Amanda who said they MUST leave empty tables for their prestigious AMEX members so that they can be immediately seated. Further you are not allowed to wait inside the photoed empty area as their guests need space to walk by to go to the bathrooms which are non existent inside the lounge. LOUNGE WITH NO BATHROOM!
Ordering food is a frustrating process. As a table of 4 guests you are only allowed to order 5 items maximum including drinks. So 4 guests can enjoy 4 food items, only 1 can have a drink. Remaining 3 guests will have to wait for first order to arrive before you are allowed to place drink order.
The manager at the AMEX lounge at YUL - I believe her name is Daria - should seriously learn a thing or two about customer service & basic professionalism. Travelers in airport lounges are often exhausted, stressed, & running on little sleep. Yelling at your very young & clearly inexperienced staff in front of guests is not good management. It's embarrassing & uncomfortable to witness. Either hire more experienced employees or treat your current staff with respect while they learn. Or get a job at a 5 star hotel where everyone is trained to behave & work in the manner she obviously wishes they did.
As for the lounge itself: honestly, I hope AMEX completely rethinks this concept.
Despite more than two-thirds of the lounge sitting empty, the manager was still creating a 30+ minute wait list. Why? Nobody could explain it.
Once you finally get inside, the experience somehow gets worse. Their'sophisticated' ordering system only allows one item at a time through your phone. No smartphone? Too bad - you're basically out of luck. I can only imagine how frustrating this is for older travelers.
Best part - you can only order one item at the time & can't place another order until the first one is delivered to you….Want a sandwich? Wait 20+ minutes.
Want soup with it? Add another 20.
Want a drink? Another wait.
Coffee? More waiting.
& remember: you can't enter more than 3 hours before your flight, so if you time things perfectly, you might manage to get a soup, sandwich, cookie, coffee, & maybe a couple drinks before boarding.
Also, charging extra for basic items in an AMEX lounge is ridiculous:
• Hot dog: +$8
• Espresso martini: +$5
AMEX completely missed the mark here. This lounge manages to combine empty seating, long waits, poor management, slow service, & a frustrating ordering system all in one place.
We arrived 3 hours & 20 minutes before our flight departed. The gentleman at the front desk told us to come back in 20 minutes as we only have access to the lounge for 3 hours & our flight was at 6 with no mention of a wait list. We came back 15 minutes later & we were told that we had to wait an additional 50 minutes for a table because the lounge was full. Extremely frustrating since we were not informed of any wait list & the women who checked us in didn't seem to want to accommodate the original promise of 20 minutes. If we were given a warning that there would be a wait when we originally checked in then this wouldn't be as frustrating. If you make promises please stick to them!
Had a terrible experience here today. I didn't know much about the Aspire lounges & the lounge i usually use was on the international side only & this was the only lounge around. The sign on the outside said Amex card holders are welcome & you can pay $60 to address the lounge. I have two amex cards (25+yrs) & a priority pass so i thought i would just go in & ask. Well the woman there was so dismissive of my questions & acted like she couldn't give me the time of day. She behaved like one of those luxury store clerks you see in movies that talk down to customers because they think they are not rich enough or have status. It made me feel so little in the way that she spoke to me that after i walked away it just hit me hard. I realize now it's because I've never actually been treated that way & i would never do that to anyone & i certainly did not deserve it. I gathered up my courage & went back to confront her... She couldn't even look me in the eye & couldn't even be bothered to listen to me & called her manager over. He was very nice & i got the sense this may not be the first time. He did offer to get me a spot if i came back later, 3hrs before my flight.
At first I did not want to go back because I just didn't want to be in that environment but then I thought no, I'm not going to let her deter me. But then when i returned the line was very long & did not move. They are taking air Canada business class folks right now cuz i think the AC lounge is under construction. So I get that the lounge is probably at capacity & people like me don't get priority but there's a nice way to explain that rather making someone feel small by talking down to them.
Coincidentally I had to call American Express for a card issue & I mentioned my experience to the agent who then decided that they wanted to file a report & supposedly I'm getting a call back from someone.
I talked to my sister & she mentioned to me that she had a similar experience when she came to this lounge. The woman in question had a very heavy French accent maybe she didn't like our skin tones or that we didn't speak French? There was definitely this sense of being judged in a certain way & being treated like a lesser person. My sister does actually have status. So kinda weird why we both got treated like that. Air Canada apologized to her not amex.
I sincerely hope that this is not the type of image that American Express wants to put forward. I hope they actually take some action.
If you are the woman who i dealt with I hope you actually take a step back & consider how you treat people. Even if you don't intend it, because you interact with the public, the way you speak to people can have a huge impact. If for some reason you think you're better than people like me & that's why you spoke to me that way then i really feel sorry that your life experience led you to this. Be kind to everyone. You don't know their circumstances don't judge a book by it's cover.
Update: I did indeed get a call back from American Express. This lounge is operated by another company so not directly by Amex. They took my concerns very seriously & apologized & took some action to try to compensate me. If you've experienced anything similar please reach out to Amex & share your experience I know they want to hear about it. Hopefully this type of behavior does not continue, in this day in age there is no room to treat anyone like this.
We had a very disappointing experience at this lounge - honestly, well below the standard we have experienced in other lounges.
Due to a flight connection, we arrived about 30 minutes earlier than the 3-hour entry policy allows. We were fully aware of the rule & explained politely to the staff that we only intended to stay for about an hour & a half once inside.
Since we arrived slightly early, we calmly sat near the entrance area, without disturbing anyone (the area was empty), simply waiting for the appropriate time to enter.
After a few minutes, a staff member approached us & asked us to leave. Her exact words were:'In our airport, we do not allow people to wait here.'
The tone & attitude were unnecessarily rude & unwelcoming. We were respectful at all times & did not cause any inconvenience. We were simply waiting quietly to comply with their own policy.
We travel frequently & have visited many lounges, & this is the first time we have experienced this kind of treatment. In every other lounge, customer service has been welcoming & accommodating - which is exactly the purpose of these spaces.
This experience was not only disappointing, but also quite unacceptable given the context.
The only reason I'm giving this 5 stars is because of the amazing staff, as the lounge itself has a number of shortcomings compared to other world-class lounges I've had the privilege of visiting internationally.
Had a really nice experience at the Aspire Lounge at YUL overall. When I first arrived, there was a pretty big line-up & I had to leave my number to join a waiting list. I ended up walking around the airport for a while, & honestly couldn't find a better spot to spend the two hours before my flight. Thankfully, I received a text just in time & was greeted very warmly when I returned. The staff, despite having what seemed like an extremely busy day, were attentive, friendly, & made the experience feel welcoming from start to finish.
Special shoutout to *Yulia & David*, the wonderful person who greeted me at the front desk who I think may have been the manager (in a grey/light sweater, I think - you were awesome), the two attentive guys behind the bar, & the girl who brought me the food, you were all fantastic & so warm. The food came out quickly & was about a 6.5/10, the latte was 9/10 - but for me, despite how busy they were, it was the service that really elevated the experience.
The space itself is contemporary & clean, with many seating options. Not all seats have access to a plug, but the manager was kind enough to offer me a portable outlet if needed. I ended up doing some writing at the bar (premium access to drinks ;-) hehe).
One notable downside is the lack of a washroom inside the lounge, which doesn't feel very lounge-like compared to other lounges I've visited that had plenty of washrooms & even showers. To access washrooms, you have to leave the lounge & come back, which feels quite absurd in my opinion. I'd personally deduct 3 points for that. I'd strongly suggest to management to add 2-3 all-gender washrooms within the lounge itself so guests don't have to leave the space. I'm not even sure this setup aligns with National Building Code expectations for a lounge/dining environment, so it may be worth reviewing.
Overall, a solid experience made memorable only by the excellent team who elevated the experience. Hope to see you again soon :)
Asking for directions to the Maple Leaf lounge, I was directed to the Aspire Lounge from the Air Canada Cafe, but unfortunately, my visit was completely derailed by the exceptionally poor customer service provided by the receptionist, Vindra.
My flight was scheduled for 3:15 PM, & I initially arrived at the lounge at around 11:53 AM. Vindra seemed visibly unbelieving that I even had lounge access. After having me scan my pass, she bluntly told me to come back in 23 minutes, citing a strict three-hour prior entry policy. I complied, left, & returned around 12:20 PM.
Upon returning & scanning my pass again, she seemed very happy to tell me that there was now a waitlist & I would have to wait. She said she would add me to the list, so I stepped to the side to wait. Vindra then called out again & demanded to see my pass yet again. After taking my phone number, she dismissively told me to leave. I mentioned I was comfortable waiting where I was, but she bluntly said I couldn't stay there & said I could wait in the AC cafe.
Furthermore, because I didn't have access to my regular mobile network at the time, I politely asked if they happened to have a SIM ejector tool (an iPhone pin). Without actually listening to me, she brushed me off & said they'didn't have a printer.' When I clarified that I didn't need a printer, she seemed rushed & desperate to just get rid of me, stating they would contact me via email instead.
Vindra lacked even an ounce of basic politeness or courtesy. I was surprised that she spoke the same way to another couple of customers. I am leaving this review in the hope that management addresses this behavior; guests should not be treated as if doing her job is a favor to them. A very poor experience!
My experience at the Aspire Lounge was like coming home for a quick stop in between long flights. Ugo at the check-in & Domenico waiting the guests were professional, welcoming & extremely friendly. The food was great, service was fast. My four hours delay went by without noticing. Highly recommended. Grazie ragazzi ;)
