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| - First of all, I have stayed in hotels for six straight years for my old job from Frankfurt to Hong Kong, Berlin to Los Angeles. I have over 1.1MM air miles, so work that out on hotel stays. In short, I know something about a hotel, and as I was born in Toronto I know a lot about hotels, and what costs and doesn't cost in Toronto.
The Wi-Fi isn't free, it's $10 a day. This is fairly standard but it's good to know you won't be able to check your email unless you have a crackberry or you cough up the cash. Lots of hotels are bypassing this egregious charge for wireless they already have setup, but not this one.
The elevators are really probably the most dangerous elevators you have ever been in. The doors close immediately after they open. My wife and I were trash compacted several times during our week long stay, and we're very spry. Seriously - when you stay there call up the elevator, start walking into it and see how fast it closes on you. Just so you know, watch the children!
The rooms are all standard, and you can get a good view of Lake Ontario, the Rogers Centre, and the Harbourfront. There are all the standard amenities and the rooms are clean and in good shape.
The location is a 7/10. It's right beside Union Station so you can subway it wherever you like in town, and it's right beside the Gardiner so you're about 30 minutes from airport in regular traffic. You can jog along the water front, and if you're doing touristy things you're close to all. The great restaurants are 10 minutes west in a cab, so you're not too far from home at the end of the night.
Here's why they get one star. My wife's business partner was staying here as well and she's Romanian with a very thick accent in English. She ordered a cab for us all to return to the airport and then mentioned to me it was only $75 for the trip. I asked her what she ordered and she said the hotel had assured her this was the best price. I, being a Toronto native, knew she was being buggered. I confronted the bellman and the front desk who scrambled and tried to explain to me that if you call a taxi in Toronto a premium was added to it. Many drunken nights as a youth never triggered this premium while staggering home. I picked up the phone and called one of the gazillion cab companies in Toronto that come at an instant's notice and booked a taxi, then went to Union Station and spoke to a cabbie in the Taxi Queue and he promised to be there precisely at 3:15 PM, which he was. To the consternation of the hotel since they were aghast I dared to defy them. After I used bad words and reminded them beyond being horrible Canadians for cheating a foreigner the nefarious cabbies slinked away and I got into the honest man's taxi. Even more honest as I commiserated with him during the ride at my fellow Canadians behavior and he agreed that it was awful the hotels take a kickback from the taxis they call and so they place a premium on it. My total ride to the airport? $49 Canadian. For three people. With a ton of bags. In rush hour. It was a van.
Nuff said. Don't stay here. The staff are liars and take advantage of you if you don't come from Toronto and rarely do people in their native city stay in a hotel so it's ripe for the picking. There are so many great and affordable hotels in Toronto. Try the Westin, the King Edward if you want to spend a tad more cash, or the Windsor Arms. The Fairmount, of course, and the Sheraton Toronto Centre always has good prices and great location.
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