The Ritz-Carlton on Sherbrooke Street has been receiving guests since 1912, which makes it the elder statesman of Canadian luxury and, by some distance, the most quietly self-assured hotel I review. It does not need to prove anything to you, and that is precisely its charm. You step off the Golden Square Mile into a Beaux-Arts lobby that has hosted a century of Montréal's better moments, and the staff greet you as though you are simply the latest in a long, distinguished line — which, of course, you are.

I arrived expecting heritage and found, to my relief, that the heritage has been kept honest. A meticulous restoration means the old bones now carry genuinely modern rooms; mine opened off that beautiful lobby into a space that felt spacious and current rather than embalmed. The service is the stuff of the hotel's legend and lives up to it: a bellman whose attentiveness a fellow guest singled out by name, an early check-in granted without fuss, and the sort of anticipation that separates a five-star hotel from a merely expensive one.

The Palm Court, the table, the roof

Afternoon tea in the Palm Court is the hotel's ceremony, and it is performed with warmth rather than stiffness — a guest celebrating a birthday there spoke of genuine warmth from the staff, and I saw the same. Maison Boulud is the anchor of the dining, and it is exceptional; a stay that pairs a Boulud dinner with a morning by the rooftop saltwater pool is close to my ideal of a city break. What impressed me most, though, was how the hotel treats guests who are not spending freely: one couple booked on loyalty points still received champagne and macarons for their anniversary. That instinct — to be generous when there is nothing to be gained — is the truest mark of the place.

A century of practice has taught this hotel the rarest luxury of all: how to make you feel expected.

The honest caveats

Even a grande dame has her limits. The standard rooms are, by the frank admission of several guests, fairly compact — a consequence of a 1912 footprint, and worth knowing before you book at the entry level. A few travellers noted dated maintenance details in the bathrooms and some inconsistency between the restaurant and in-room dining, the kind of small gap that a hotel at this price should not leave open. More troubling were two isolated notes I take seriously: a housekeeping mix-up that soured an anniversary when a requested sheet change never came, and one guest who felt watched by security while dressed casually. A hotel this practised should make every guest, in every outfit, feel like the expected one.

How to stay well here

If space matters, book above the standard category or a corner suite — some come with a fireplace, and they are worth it. Make Maison Boulud and the Palm Court part of the plan rather than an afterthought, and do not leave without an hour on the roof. Arrive expecting warmth, and in the overwhelming majority of stays it is exactly what you will get.