Hitting refresh

This month, the Hôtel-Musée Premières Nations in Wendake, Que., opened 24 new and renovated suites. It’s the first part of a hotel-wide refresh of the 79-room property that’s been wowing visitors to the Wendake Nation for 15 years. A new colour palette (greens, golds, pale wood) reflects the forest and river just outside each room’s patio doors. Gleaming, modern ensuites, eye-catching side tables and plush ottomans are also welcome decor updates. Happily, Nespresso coffee machines make the in-room coffee option stronger, too. What’s missing in the new rooms are many of the animal pelts that gave the original decor a “wow” factor – how many hotel rooms offer beaver-pelt pillows, wall hangings and throw skins? But during a visit earlier this year, Wendat hoteliers reported that many guests find the furs off-putting while others steal the pelts. (And so, note the long cable locks that ensure furs draped over the couches and armchairs in the lobby remain in place.) Later this summer, expansion of the restaurant and conference rooms begins, and a lobby bar will be added.

The Indigenous-owned, run, designed and decorated boutique hotel continues to be a great opportunity to learn about the Wendake Nation’s culture and history and foods. At La Traite, the hotel restaurant, French chef Marc De Passorio fully immerses himself in Indigenous cuisine and offers creative platings of local ingredients, while also training the next generation of Indigenous chefs. And storytelling sessions in the enormous longhouse next door are as entertaining as they are informative. The hotel’s newly renovated rooms simply help elevate and pamper guests who’ve really come for the cultural experience.