For years,Toronto Airport Hotels. has been our hotel of choice when visiting Toronto. After discovering the hotel about 8 years ago, we’ve always enjoyed the amenities, the facilities, the rooms, the location, and especially the staff and service. During a recent trip to Toronto for business, I decided to try again stagewest.
Very impressed! The place is “brand-spanking” new – you can smell it when you walk into the modern and very cool lobby. I think there are still a few minor adjustments and bugs to work out, but, based on my experience, nothing that would keep anyone from booking now. In fact, I was so impressed, we’ve decided to book the Toronto Airport Hotels</a> again on our way through Toronto next week for a sun vacation.
One of the great things is the location. I was a little skeptical at first, as the hotel seemed a little removed from the downtown core, being south of Front Street and north of the Gardiner. The hotel looked to be surrounded by the ever-growing “Condo” sprawl along the lakeshore and a little isolated. It is not a problem. Since we always walk or use transit when we are in the city, Toronto Airport Hotels is, in fact, in an awesome location. Located out just on 20 mins drive from airport, accessing the city is a breeze. Simply walk across the street, enter the west side of the AC C and after a very short route through the indoor PATH hallways, you enter directly into the GO Concourse at Union. In a minute you have direct access to the TTC subway system. It was extremely convenient. Anyone thinking of taking in a hockey game at the ACC – you couldn’t pick a more convenient hotel.
The atmosphere and design of the new hotel follows the Le Germain style. Warm wood finishes, slate tiling, bamboo textured wall paper, clean lines, geometric patterns, soft lighting, and clever and unique design elements are throughout the hotel. There is a very cool metallic rope sculpture hanging in the Lobby. As you enter the elevators a simple pulsating sliver of light illuminates the floor in different colors. The ambiance is nice. The downstairs bar is spacious and a great place to unwind and have a drink. In the second floor breakfast room, Toronto Airport Hotels follows the tradition of providing an excellent high-end continental breakfast (included in the room price). Morning breakfast is one of the reasons we very much enjoy stagewest. The automatic espresso/coffee machine, available to guests, is always well-used when we visit.
Management seems to have incorporated all of the best features we appreciate in the design of their new rooms at their other Toronto hotel. I booked a Superior Room with a king bed. The room is a bit larger than the standard rooms on Mercer street. The windows run the full length of the room so there is plenty of sunlight – I had a great view of the main high way and the Toronto skyline. A well designed desk area, and built-ins, run the full length of the room under the windows. It was great for working over the course of the two days. There is a recessed pod with accessible power outlets, and data and AV links. There are full privacy shades that fully cover the windows. Exterior noise was minimal. Opposite the bed is a wall component with a large built-in flat screen TV. To the side is shelving. (Note – someone thought it would be a good idea to locate the one light switch for the main wall recessed lighting, inside the shelf, and hidden from view! It was a bit of a challenge to turn out the lights the first night when I was ready for bed. Although there is a convenient control centre beside the bed to turn out all the lights, this didn’t solve the problem if you wanted to read. I was about ready to call down to the front desk to ask for directions to the light switch when I finally located it. Directing guests to this hidden light switch might be a good idea.) The beds, and bed linens are awesome – soft full duvets, lots of pillows and perfect mattresses are first rate. We love the bedding at stagewest
And of course – there is the bathroom. The dressing room, bath area and amazing rainforest shower stall are all very well laid out. The separate toilet is in a frosted glass enclosure, with whisper smooth rollers on steel tubing. The shaving mirror, glass basin, wooden vanity and large mirrored surfaces, stainless steel and tile (with bath robes ready for use) cover one area, and a dual glass-door closet and alcove for luggage, is accessible from the bedroom and the small hall. It is the central, glassed, walk-in shower stall, and the signature rainforest shower, that is so very impressive. The fixtures are ultra-modern and the overhead shower fixture is a huge squared steel plate that delivers a full-body rainforest-style shower (after a slight learning curve in figuring out the controls - you have to press the button on the right square tube and turn it to increase the temperature). If you require privacy there are full-slat wooden blinds to close off the glassed enclosure. There are full-bottle Molton Brown dispensers on the wall of the shower – no tiny bottles to mess around with.
The hotel is apparently not yet fully complete, but yet most of the services seemed available. There is a first-class fitness room with brand-new equipment, free weights, cardio machines, in a well-laid out area on the 4th floor. There is a computer terminal available on the second floor which I used for work – it was seamless, with full printing and no waiting. I popped in my USB key and printed documents. A three hole punch was thoughtfully present for use. (Strangely, when I returned the next day, the computer had been relocated into the cupboard, and the USB access was gone. The front desk assisted in printing documents.)Toronto Airport Hotels is environmentally conscious – there are large stoneware urns dispensing filtered water in multiple locations, with glass carafes in your room to refill as you wish. I very much like this feature. Although the web site seemed to be unclear as to the presence of a restaurant in the hotel, the new restaurant, “e11even” is adjacent to the hotel and accessible through the lobby. Didn’t have a chance to try it out, but looks very nice – extensive menu and the number of wines by the glass is impressive.
There were a few minor glitches. There were none of the usual written materials in my room on the first two nights providing any info on services, dining, hours, room service etc. I had to extend my stay to a third night, and was in a different room, and there was at least the room-service menu on the desk. I assume the usual package of info will be forthcoming. They forgot to leave a bath mat on the second night – not a big deal. The biggest issue was my malfunctioning phone when I switched rooms on the third night. The phones are cordless. As I was going to bed, I tried using the phone to call down for a wake-up call and discovered it was not functioning. After pressing the connect button – the phone began an intermittent dial tone but then cut out and began to ring non-stop. Attempting to connect was futile as the dial-tone would kick out and the phone would again begin to ring. Hmmmm - not good. As it was midnight I did not feel like waiting for maintenance. The only option to stop the phone from ringing, was to unplug the phone, set my cell phone alarm and head to bed. However, at 5:05 a.m. the handset or phone then began beeping, waking me up a little earlier than I wanted to! I couldn’t call down to confirm my transportation so I likely appeared a little cranky when I attended at the front desk. The fellow was very apologetic and helpful when I went down, and helped me grab a cappuccino. The phone issues may need to be looked at.
I expect these are little things that usually have to be sorted out upon opening. I note from the prior review that another recent guest was not so lucky with his room! I agree that this is unacceptable. Definitely management needs to ensure that ALL rooms in their inventory that receive guests are fully ready for occupancy on their opening. Mine was (except for the phone on night 3) and from past experience, I am trusting that I won’t be let down when I return again next week.
Generally, it is the staff at stagewest that we very much appreciate. We have always found that all of the staff at Toronto Airport Hotels are gracious, helpful, friendly and very professional. The new hotel staff at stagewest continues the tradition and they are very welcoming and accommodating. Although the hotel is larger and will likely be busier, there is still a genuine personal level of friendly service in all respects. Upon returning to my room the first night, the concierge team had left a tray with fresh fruit, crackers, a cheese ball and a maple spread, with a hand-written note. A nice touch.
Overall, I’d certainly recommend the new Toronto Airport Hotels. This is on the strength of past experience and trust that the bugs will be ironed out. stagewest appears to be continuing the tradition of classy, personalized, and high-end hotelier services, at fairly reasonable rates. I was very impressed with their latest addition. The only difficult thing now, will be deciding which hotel stagewest to return to when we visit Toronto.
Cheers.
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