A part of the Ottawa landscape for 82 years, the Lord Elgin Hotel will have something new to offer starting in early 2024. The 355-room four-star establishment will unveil a new hall for events and business meetings. Located on the ground floor, the room which housed a Starbucks coffee shop has floor-to-ceiling windows and access to an outdoor terrace. There is also state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment. Owned by an Ottawa family, the Lord Elgin Hotel offers business clients 15 rooms totaling 13,000 square feet. The largest room can accommodate 150 people in a banquet format. The imposing hotel is easily recognizable by its Château-style architecture, its copper roof and its limestone cladding.
The Shaw Center prides itself on being the meeting and convention hub in Ottawa. The immense glass-domed building hosts 450 events per year and attracts nearly 250,000 visitors from around the world. The place has just installed, six meters above the ground, a huge LED screen almost seven meters (23 feet) wide. Connected to a 492-room and suite Westin hotel, as well as the three-story CF Rideau shopping center, the Shaw Center was named the best convention center in the world in 2020 by the International Association of Conference Centers ( IACC). The Shaw Center has approximately 200,000 square feet of usable space, spread across 28 rooms, one of which can seat 6,000 people.
Looking for an unusual place to hold a group activity? The National Capital Commission (NCC) Waterfront House is the perfect place. This former boathouse, located on the banks of the Ottawa River, was renovated at great expense by the NCC and has just opened its doors. Classified as a heritage building, it includes a ballroom that can accommodate between 10 and 200 people. The place offers team building activities. However, parking is limited and the public transport network does not reach there. So we go there on foot or by bike using the Sir-George-Étienne-Cartier promenade. In July and August, the floating docks form a swimming pool with two swimming lanes. ByTown Catering is responsible for room rentals.
Ottawa has a great offer of escape games. The newest to open is the Manor Lounge on Elgin Street, a stone’s throw from Parliament Hill. It can accommodate up to 600 people for a few hours or a whole day. In addition to facilities for escape games (where you have to try to escape from a room in a limited time), there is a full catering service, as well as numerous skill games that allow you to get off your cell phone. The owners of Manor Lounge have three other locations in the greater Ottawa area. The one located in Carp, about 30 minutes from downtown, prides itself on being the largest escape game site in the world. It is housed in a former four-story underground nuclear shelter.