Casino Hotels

The complex stands on Île Notre-Dame in pavilions built for Expo 67, with the river on both sides of it. In the warm months the island is a park: crowds cross for the rowing basin, the beach and the race circuit, and the restaurants and the live programme inside work against that background.

Winter takes the island back. The paths ice over, the crowds that filled the green space go home, and the approach across the bridge becomes a cold one. The building itself does not close for any of that, since it works round the year, but the surroundings it sits in change completely.

The colder half is when the outdoor fabric gets attention: paving, lighting, planting and the long approaches that thousands of feet cross in the warm weeks. Inside, the programme keeps running, so the work follows the seasons of the island rather than of the building.

Ask what is on and how the island is reached, since bridges and shuttles change with the weather.

Niagara Falls fills through the warm half of the year, and the resort on the bluff above the gorge sits at the centre of that. The theatre programmes to a full town, the restaurants run every service, and the windows over the water are busy from the first breakfast until well after dark.

In the cold months the town below empties out. Attractions close, the streets that queued in summer go quiet, and mist off the falls freezes onto everything within reach of it. The resort stays open throughout, with the spa, the restaurants and the theatre carrying a much smaller crowd than they were built for.

That thinner traffic is when the large rooms get their turn. Seating and staging in the theatre are worked on, carpets and finishes are replaced section by section, and the plant behind a very big building is serviced without a full house above it.

Ask what is playing and which restaurants are running, because a winter programme is a shorter one.

River Rock stands on the Fraser at Richmond, with a marina at the foot of it and the airport a few minutes away. Through the dry months the boardwalk and the moorage are in constant use, the concert hall programmes hard, and the restaurants carry local crowds and passengers with time to fill.

The rain arrives and the river side of the property changes. The boardwalk is walked rather than sat on, the marina goes quiet, and the outdoor part of the address stops being the point of it. The building works round the year regardless, but its relationship with the water is plainly seasonal.

Wet months are working months outside. Decking and railings along the water take a beating and are repaired then, the moorage is inspected, and planting along the walk is cut back and replaced while nobody is sitting in it.

Ask what the concert hall has on and whether the boardwalk and marina are open to walk.

This resort stands on the lands of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation, near Lake Couchiching in cottage country. Through the warm half of the year the whole district is busy: the entertainment hall books to a full room, the golf course works, and the kitchens and the spa run against a steady flow of lake traffic.

Winter empties the district around it. Cottages are shut up, the roads carry a fraction of what they carried, and the lake becomes a different kind of place altogether. The resort keeps working through the cold months with a smaller crowd, and the change is in the country around it rather than in the doors.

The cold half is when the outdoor side gets its turn. The course is put to bed and worked on, grounds and car parks are repaired, and rooms are refurbished in blocks while the hall is programming to a lighter schedule.

Ask what the entertainment hall has booked and whether the course and the spa are open.