Hotel de Glace

"A must do," wrote Martin and Tonia from Spain, in the guest book of the Hotel de Glace.

Competition Heats Up In Canada's Ice Hotel Market Will Connors 2012

For the past 12 years, Hotel de Glace enjoyed a monopoly in ice tourism on the continent.

Competition Heats Up In Canada's Ice Hotel Market Will Connors 2012

The 36-room Hotel de Glace offers rooms at $350 and up.

Competition Heats Up In Canada's Ice Hotel Market Will Connors 2012

At the other, Hotel de Glace, 160 miles north in Quebec City, crews pushed mini-snow blowers through the hallways, while monitoring a massive ice chandelier hanging in the lobby.

Competition Heats Up In Canada's Ice Hotel Market Will Connors 2012

"We are the standard," says Hotel de Glace founder and president Jacques Desbois .

Competition Heats Up In Canada's Ice Hotel Market Will Connors 2012

At the Hotel de Glace, three hot tubs and a sauna sit near the sprawling bar, made of ice.

Competition Heats Up In Canada's Ice Hotel Market Will Connors 2012

The Hotel de Glace is built with an internal metal structure that stays in place for the hotel's entire run.

Competition Heats Up In Canada's Ice Hotel Market Will Connors 2012

Hotel de Glace sees its locale as a competitive advantage.

Competition Heats Up In Canada's Ice Hotel Market Will Connors 2012

At the Hotel de Glace, concierges walk each guest through a 30-minute session demonstrating the most heat-efficient way of getting into a sleeping bag atop each of the hotel's ice beds, among other tips.

Competition Heats Up In Canada's Ice Hotel Market Will Connors 2012

Taren Phillips, 27 years old, from Victoria, British Columbia, was warming up with a friend in a similar lodge—with sofas—one recent morning at the Hotel de Glace, after spending the night shuttling between her room and the hotel's communal hot tubs and bar.

Competition Heats Up In Canada's Ice Hotel Market Will Connors 2012