Fairmont the Queen Elizabeth hotel - Montreal, Canada

The reopening of Montréal’s Fairmont the Queen Elizabeth, after a $140 million top-to-toe renovation courtesy of Sid Lee Architecture, is a full circle moment. When it first opened in 1958, the convention hotel was the talk of town for its innovative offerings, such as being the first in North America to boast escalators, air conditioning and direct dial telephones in each room.

Now, after a year under the knife, the 950-room grande dame is back on top form, with almost double the meeting spaces, plus an entire floor dedicated to serving the corporate crowd. Called CoLab 3, the business campus is a creative playground that wouldn’t look out of place in Silicon Valley with the 13 rooms featuring swings, ping-pong tables, erasable whiteboard walls, touch screen video displays and play zones.

After working up an appetite, a host of new dining options await, including Artisans Market, where healthy ready-made meals can be bought to take away.