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| - You might think that for $379 a night the Toronto Intercontinental might be able to provide its guests with standard features such as wifi or conveniently located outlets.
You might think that, but you'd be wrong.
Oh sure, there are slippers, but I could give a crap about slippers -- which, by the way, were too small for my feet anyway. Fast and stable wifi is not up for negotiation. Outlets next to the bed are not up for negotiation. Even the crappiest hotels have these amenities.
Over the course of my three night stay, I must have spoken to the hotel technical support 5 times trying to connect to the network. I spoke to a hotel manager once and I spoke to the front desk two or three times - including having the charges for wifi removed from my bill. (That reminds me, $379 a night and I have to pay for wifi on top of that???? Give me a break!)
Fortunately, there is a Starbucks about a block away from the hotel, so I was able to work there first thing in the morning and in the evenings, until it closed. Still, spending hours in my hotel room without connectivity really sucked.
On the plus side, the hotel is clean and modern, the room was spacious and the staff, friendly and apologetic for my problems. Also, and this is the biggest benefit, the hotel is connected to the Toronto Convention Center, so it was literally a two minute walk from the hotel lobby to the hall where the trade show I was attending was located.
I ordered room service one night, baby green salad, fried chicken and a Heineken. It was adequate, but not what I would necessarily expect from a 4-star hotel. Acknowledging that room service is always expensive, $64.58 feels more like gouging than expensive.
So, the big question: When I return to Toronto for future trade shows does the convenience of the proximity to the convention center trump the other issues?
Not in a million years.
Not being able to count on reliable wifi and not being able to have my phone next to the bed charging are such huge negatives (yea, I know, first world problems!) that I'd rather give up the location convenience and find something that's more business person friendly.
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