By Nick – Random Segments
For the New Years holiday, I decided to visit Toronto since it had been a little while for me. Given the special offer from the oneworld MegaDO, I decided to book at the Park Hyatt Toronto and redeem one of my suite upgrades. I have stayed at this property previously, in just a regular room.
Check-In
Check-in was fairly smooth, but I actually found it lacking. I was promptly checked in, and asked which welcome amenity I wanted, but the agent did not mention anything about how the breakfast benefit works. He also made a big point of highlighting how I received a double room category upgrade, which annoyed me. If I had not applied a suite upgrade, it would not have been a problem, but redeeming a suite upgrade, it really makes a guest feel like they are waisting one of the benefits of diamond.
The Room
The room was nice enough, and certainly much more modern than my previous stays here, and it is obvious that there has been some investment in the North Tower. I was placed in a suite on the 11th floor, and here is a view of the suite itself.
The bedroom itself is quite small to make up for squeezing in a living room.
And the view from the rooms of the north tower are actually quite uninspiring, as it is off the main street.
And that pool that you see in the corner is the ancient Four Seasons Toronto that is about to shut down. And despite being a bit off Bloor, I was still able to clearly hear the protest going on right in front of the Royal Ontario Museum, which is directly accross the street from the South Tower.
The bathroom is fairly standard, and fortunately they have replaced the soaps since my last stay. My previous stays included Davies Gate soaps, and the exact same formulation that was carried in a Courtyard. Now, they carry extremely high end soaps from Le Labo.
For this stay, I decided to go for the welcome amenity instead of the points (the lengths I go to to provide complete reviews for everyone).
And here is the local wine that comes with it.
Other Facilities
This is a property that has its own spa, and the fitness center is a part of the spa. In addition, all guests have access to the Stillwater Spa locker rooms, which includes access to showers, whirlpool, sauna, steam room, and relaxation areas. It is real nice to be able to relax in the hotel.
Breakfast
I did take advantage of breakfast in the hotel resturaunt, and this is a property that does not place a cap on the Diamond breakfast. Instead I was told to order anything off the menu. I decided to go for the pancakes, with bacon, and banana.
It also came with hot maple syrup, and was a reasonable breakfast. The bacon was wonderful, not too thick, but still cooked to be crispy. I will say the powdered sugar did make the pancakes too sweet when combined with the syrup. But overall, a decent breakfast for free, but I would never pay the menu price for it ($22 CDN).
Location
It really depends on what you want to do in Toronto. If you want to do the traditional tourist thing, the hotel is not well located. It is in the Bloor Shopping district, with the only real tourist attraction being the Royal Ontario Museum. It is about a block away from 3 separate TTC stations, though it is a little bit of a ride still to get to the downtown locations.
Other Notes
While the room was nice, I still saw some pieces of age around the hotel, including one elevator where the marble was chipped. Also, the entrance doors are extremely slow, and don’t always have someone at them to speed them open when you are wanting to come out of the cold. I know these are minor things, but this is a hotel that is going to be competing with a new Four Seasons, the new Ritz Carlton, and other luxury hotels that are opening up in the city after years of higher scale neglect.
Summary
A decent property, though lacking in some places that make it a true wow property. Personally, I’m probably going to return to the Intercontinental Toronto Centre for my next trip to Toronto.
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