Is it unreasonable for Anglophone Canadians or Brits to expect that in a country that is officially English and French-speaking, the customer-service staff in a large Montreal hotel will be conversant in English? Really?

It's not about "mutual respect" or Americans being dumb monolinguals (which is partly a function of our geography rather than mere xenophobia - Europe is not as culturally cool as rumor would have you believe), it's about good business sense.