Not Bad
Written: Aug 26 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great location
Cons: A little expensive
The Bottom Line: Nice place if you can get a lowered rate
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| bbbradk's Full Review: Intercontinental Toronto |
I live in Toronto so don't often have a reason to stay in the city, but recently a group of friends decided we would spend a weekend downtown, and after doing some searching for a room, we ended up getting The Intercontinental from Hotwire for a decent rate.
Prior to our visit I had honestly never heard of the hotel, but I had high hopes since Hotwire had rated it four and a half stars, and in most cases their ratings are bang on.
The first problem was I couldn't find the hotel, I looked at the pictures of it on their website (http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/intercontinental/en/gb/locations/overview/toronto-yorkville) and for some reason assumed it was the big hotel at the corner of Bloor and Avenue Road (ended up being the Hyatt).
But after a few phone calls to friends who had already checked in we managed to find it. (for the record, the address is 220 Bloor St West, which was about 2 blocks from where I thought it was)
When we got there we found 2 big tour buses out front, turns out Rod Stewart's band was in the process of checking out (I thought this boded well since I doubt Rod would stay in a bad hotel)
Check In
The lobby of the hotel was nice looking, there was a large round couch in the centre of the room that was a great place to sit if there was a line up to check in.
Luckily there was no line to check in when we got there.
The reservation was for 4 adults, the check in girl tried giving me a room with one king bed (not sure how she figured that was going to work?) until I reminded her that there were four of us, then she managed to find a room with two queens (not sure why she needed to find this as I had reserved the room three weeks prior).
Luckily we were not parking, as that would have cost an additional $25.00 as well as a tip for the valet.
The Room
Our room was at the end of a long hallway (that always had the maids cleaning cart parked midway along it).
If we were carrying much luggage it would have been a pain to lug it so far, luckily we only had backpacks (other members of our party weren't so lucky, and gave up waiting for the bell hop and lugged their own bags).
The room was nice, but nowhere near what I was expecting from a four and a half star hotel.
For starters the television was tiny, I guess in a standard sized room a 27 inch set would look fine, but the room was rather large and seemed to dwarf the television.
I like to keep the television on just for some background sound, and so turning it on was a little surprising, the on button had been permanently impressed, it worked, just made the television look broken and was much less than I expected from a four and a half star hotel.
The room itself was rather nice though, both beds were large, the covers were plush and in great shape, as were the (super comfortable) pillows.
The television was inside a large cabinet against the wall directly across from the beds.
The cabinet also had a small minibar and a snack tray.
There was also a drop down shelf where the ice bucket and wine glasses were kept.
We had a large window with what will some day be a nice view (once they finish the construction going on right outside)
Next to the window was a single easy chair, the only other chair in the room was at the small desk separating the two beds.
The bathroom looked fantastic, it was very large and included both a shower at one end of the room and a bath at the other.
Sadly the bathroom had a few letdowns as well, there was no fan (I thought they were pretty much standard in any hotel?) and the toilet paper seemed to be one ply, if not it was just as cheap.
So by missing a few important details they messed up a beautiful bathroom.
I mean there were plentiful towels (not cheap ones either) water pressure was fantastic, they even had some nice (non generic) soaps and shampoos, it just didn't make sense as to why they would skimp on such small and easily corrected details.
In all the room was comfortable, I just thought it was far from the four and a half star rating it was given.
The Hotel
The Intercontinental is located in a great neighborhood just off of Toronto's trendiest neighborhood Yorkville.
The hotel is located within walking distance of the aforementioned Yorkville, and the Royal Ontario Museum is right across the street.
The Bata Shoe Museum is about a five minute walk from the hotel.
Another great Toronto neighborhood The Annex is only a short walk away as well.
The hotel itself doesn't really stand out, it blends in quite well to the neighboring buildings, the only thing that might tip you off to the fact that it is a hotel is the velvet rope out front, and the bellhop.
The hotels sign is simply a large letter I.
The hotel has a restaurant on the main floor that we did not visit, as well there is a fitness centre and lap pool that we did not have time to visit.
Summary
As stated above we found a discounted rate on Hotwire, I don't think I would ever pay full price for a room at the Intercontinental (just checked the rate for tonight, a Tuesday night, and the rate for a standard room begins at $245.00) just because I know you can pay much less in Toronto and get the same amenities.
However if you can find a good rate the hotel is in a great area, and you should enjoy yourself there.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
bbbradk
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Location: Toronto
Reviews written: 119
Trusted by: 42 members
About Me:
Hi there, I'm 37 live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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