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| - I stayed at the Residence Inn during TIFF. Great location, as it's quick walk to the TIFF Bell Lightbox and Princess of Wales theater. It's a bit further from the St. Andrews subway, but only a block to King Street and its streetcars and cabs are plentiful.
I had a quiet king studio facing Wellington on the 4th floor. I booked here because of the apartment style accommodations, including the kitchen, which is convenient for in between movie snacks/meals. They also offer a free grocery shopping service, which I did not try, but would the next time. The included breakfast buffet is also a great value, although I wish they would extend it by one hour on weekdays and weekends. Loved the free trade publications in the lobby to read reviews and keep track of the deals made at TIFF.
The prices seem to be on the rise here, but if you're looking for a nicely appointed room with a kitchenette, daily housekeeping service and a free breakfast, it's one of the lower priced alternatives, especially when you have the Ritz Carlton and the Soho Met on the same street.
The room is also immaculate, no dust or dirt anywhere. I also appreciated that the room had a ton of outlets so it's easy to charge all of your electronics. The free WiFi also worked in the room, but the signal wasn't always consistent.
Some have complained that the elevators are slow, but since I was on a lower floor, I never had to wait more than 30 seconds for an elevator to appear. The staff I interacted with were also friendly and warm. The breakfast area is small and crowded, but you can bring the plates back to your room (trays would be a nice addition, though).
There were a few things that I was a bit disappointed with. The studio kitchen did not have an oven (but a microwave and a two burner stove top), so some of the website photos are misleading. I found the bath towels to be a bit scratchy and one day the housekeeper turned down the thermostat to 65F! But the thermostat is digitally controlled, so it's an easy fix.
The tub shower also leaked a puddle onto the bathroom floor no matter how I positioned the shower curtain, but the wet floor was dry once housekeeping was done. There was also a CO or smoke detector in the ceiling that had an annoying blinking light in the dark.
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