A picturesque hotel backdrop is seemingly de rigueur for holiday movies as of late. Lindsay Lohan recently made her much-heralded comeback via Netflix’s “Falling for Christmas,” a Yuletide-themed flick set at an idyllic inn. And now Freevee has released another seasonal film centered around a grand lodging. Titled “Hotel for the Holidays,” the sweet tale sees Georgia Clark (Madelaine Petsch), the zealous manager of New York’s fictional Hotel Fontaine (“Your home for the holidays!”), navigating her way through the hustle and bustle of the season while simultaneously attempting to secure funding from a visiting prince in order to get a hotel project of her own off the ground.
A true ensemble piece, Georgia’s dedicated staff, including event planner Kiki (Jamison Belushi, who just so happens to be Jim Belushi’s real-life daughter!) and executive chef Luke (Mena Massoud), as well as a slew of idiosyncratic guests, round out the charming cast of characters. While by no means a classic, “Hotel for the Holidays” (which marks Freevee’s first foray into the genre) is a heartwarming story that is sure to impart a little Noel magic to anyone who watches. Plus, what’s not to love about a grand old hotel at Christmastime?
Despite what the plethora of establishing shots showing a snowy Manhattan in all of its holiday glory would have you believe (not to mention a scene faked to be overlooking the Rink at Rockefeller Center), filming actually took place a good 400 miles outside of the Big Apple, in Ottawa, Canada, to be exact. Shot at a handful of area locales (including ONE60 Elgin, which plays Georgia’s proposed new hotel site, and Healthy Pets HQ on Bank St., which pops up as a tony pet shop), the vast majority of “Hotel for the Holidays” takes place at the Fontaine. As such, director Ron Oliver and his production team had to secure a lodging not only large enough to house all the trappings that come with the making of a film but one capable of promptly capturing audiences’ hearts. The massively large and exquisitely outfitted Fairmont Chateau Laurier, located centrally at 1 Rideau St. in downtown Ottawa, proved the ideal spot!
