The Saturn Valet Challenge crowns a winner

VIDEO

Who's the best valet in town? Well, that's what Saturn wanted to know, and organized a skills competition to determine which Montreal Hotel has the kingpin of valets.

Here were the participants:

Peter Néréus, Hôtel le Germain
Jean-Sébastien Chénier, Hôtel Le Alt
Dan Mirica, W Montréal
André Wiame, Le Versailles-Montréal
Julien Sylvestre, Le Méridien Montréal
Mauro Beineta, Hilton Montréal Bonaventure
Simon Robillard, Le Square Phillips Hôtel & Suites
Louis-Philippe Bouvier, Sofitel Montréal
Yan-Erick Turenne, Hôtel de la Montagne
Tessa Said, Montréal Marriott Château Champlain
Gabor Mate, Marriott Spring Hill Suites Vieux-Montréal


The challenge was split in four events:

1. The Shuffle, where participants had to move a Saturn Aura Green Line that was parked in front of a Vue, in which they had to jump in and drive away;
2. The Swerve, which consisted of driving the Saturn Vue through a slalom course before performing a three-point turn, in preparation for the next step;
3. Stack'em and Pack'em, where participants had to back up the Vue through a narrow series of cones and park it, get out and fill up the cargo area of a Saturn Outlook with suitcases from a baggage cart;
4. The Squeeze, which consisted of parallel-parking the Saturn Outlook in a narrow space limited by cones, stepping out of the vehicle and run to a Saturn representative to hand over the keys.

Of course, the valet with the shortest time won. 2-second penalties were accumulated every time someone drove over a cone.

Although all valets performed admirably well, the winner of the Saturn Valet Challenge was actually the very last participant, with an impressive time of 1 minute and 23 seconds.


In addition, Gabor Mate, valet of the Marriott Spring Hill Suites, performed the course without any tire screeching or damaged suitcases, which probably made his boss happy; the latter promised a raise for Mr. Mate, who also gets a trophy and a $500 VIP forfeit which includes limo service and dinner for two in a fancy restaurant of Montreal.
photo:Philippe Champoux