Gladstone Hotel...
I visited this establishment last week. It was my first time in Toronto. This place is a very fine place to stay at. It is the oldest operating hotel in Toronto, and still maintained the history behind it as well bringing in the unique artsy feel.
Like previous reviewer have noted, they have 3 sections to the hotel. The hotel portion, the cafe to the left which is a room to a live music venue, and to the right of the lobby is the 'Melody Bar' which was hosting karaoke night.
The staff was very nice and accommodating to their guest. We asked for a room switch because during our stay it was CMW (Canadian Music Week) which had live performers playing through 1am. And for a old building like that sound travels pretty well throughout the building. SO they were kind enough to switch our room without any complains and continually asked us if the switch was better suited for us.
The hand cranked elevators is a cool piece of history they maintained.. The art pieces during our stay presented the old industrial Toronto. I loved the uniqueness of their design and layout. Each room has a different theme and design.
It is convenient to get around if you stay here. It has the TTC line that will take you to downtown and there is good amount of taxi driving around this area so it is easy to catch a cab. If you want to travel on foot it takes about 30 mins to get into the financial district.
Cons:
-No parking around the area ( Absolutely hard to find, around the corner you park there, but you must leave by 4pm or else you get towed. Based on experience =(
-They charged us for making local calls or even calls out with calling cards ( Like me calling the tow company to find our car)
Overall : I would recommend this one of a kind hotel just keep in mind of parking is a pain.