The place is not safe and some of the staff is extremely violent and unprofessional. I had an horrendous incident when I stayed there with the older man working the overnight shift. The situation was completely over the top and unacceptable. It all started because I mistakenly rang the bell once while rushing in from the rain around midnight on a Saturday night, even though I already had my door code in hand. The employee opened the door in the nastiest possible way, immediately yelling in my face. I politely asked why he was being so rude, and instead of calming down, he became even more hostile. He raised his voice further and told me he would "kick my ass out of the building" if he wanted to. At that point, I was simply asking to be treated with basic respect while this individual caused a huge scene and acted as if he was ready to physically attack me. This was honestly the worst experience I've ever had at a hostel, and I will never come back. This employee is a liability and could get the company sued. I actually had to walk away from the hostel in the middle of a rainy night just so he could calm down before I felt safe enough to return and get some sleep. I emailed and texted the management several times to report the incident and never got an answer. From a few other reviews I've seen online it looks like this employee have done this in the past to other guests. Manager should know better at this point. Not a safe nor respectful environment for anyone. read more

Downgraded due to recent poor customer service experience. This place has a lot of rules that don't make sense . People are attentive initially but then they make it seem like you are getting on their nerves when you asked to be help ....even when you are respectful . Other guests I've witnessed have been jerks but I try to be kind and respectful when asking for help ..especially because I personally have worked in the service industry for a number of years . So that with the mold issue and the general deterioration of the place I honestly can't recommend this place . I was really trying to be nice with the three stars initially but yeah it's two or one honestly . It's one of the more affordable places for accommodations in Toronto and has a great location but if you can afford to spend more for another place then I'd recommend staying somewhere else . read more

See all

Toronto Hotel rates are very expensive and most of the time they are completely booked full or don't have available dates. We ended up staying at two hotels. We booked a private room with our own private bathroom for two nights at The Clarence Park. The price was very reasonable or inexpensive. The staff was very friendly. Yes there are a few cons at the place but for the price and the previous communication made before we showed up, it was within my expectation. The private room came with our own AC. Yes it was somewhat loud but after the room cooled down and we turned it off, it was not so bad. The room also came with a fridge and the fridge had some water stocked. So that was pretty nice. I liked how high the ceiling was. We did find that the there were quite a bit of banging or loud noises from people opening and closing their door on the Thursday night that we were there but on Friday, it was not so bad. So we think this is a hit and miss. After our stay, we received an email from the hotel thanking us for staying with them and also for our feedback. Overall, it was not a bad stay for the price we paid. Hotels in Toronto is very expensive and especially with the taxes on top. read more

See all

Claimed, on Expedia, to be pet-friendly, then charged me double to accommodate my small service dog. I was frozen and exhausted after 24 hours of travel, and responded to my requests for a refund with several long, condescending emails telling me all the things I should have done. I've been traveling abroad for 43 years! Toronto is generally beautiful, accommodating, and polite. Almost anywhere else would be, I'm sure, an improvement. When I was a teen, my folks briefly ran a little motel off the interstate. If I had treated a guest like Cesar treated me upon my arrival, my own mother would have fired me. read more

Friendly staff but when we checked in our room had the overbearing chemical scent of Glad Plug-ins. It was a very small room (which we were fine with), but with no windows that would open, it was impossible to stay in it. The smell had permeated the sheets, towels, pillows, etc. My fiance has a scent allergy and still had a headache 18 hours after we left. We checked out after an hour trying to air out the room and did not receive a refund. There were no other rooms available in the hotel so we left. We asked politely for a refund that night (and the next day via email) but were denied. We were told because we 'cancelled' less than 24 hours of our arrival date, we were not due a refund. I was unclear how we were supposed to cancel before arriving and knowing the room had been fumigated with Glade Plugins. read more

I stayed at Clarence Park for quite a few months in 2021 before leaving midyear to move to Miami. The Clarence Park occupied a warm, fuzzy breezy section of my memory hole where I met great people who i kept in touch with for 1 year and even more (the kitchen being the scene of many a welcome random meetup). The staff at that time was mainly top notch and run by an Argentinian lady Maria who kept everything shipshape. Imagine my disappointment on my return to the Clarence Park after two years to be discriminated against by the front desk person on staff. As I waited on my last legs to be served (I had been up for 3 days nonstop at that point) this agent visibly curled her lip in my general direction and actively ignored me. When I finally approached her to find out when I could be served (approx 9 to 9:30am) she was aggressively rude and denied the ability to do anything check-in-wise until 3pm. Right after doing this she proceeded to help some other guests pre-check-in their bags. She did this several times literally right next to me, after completely refusing to help me with anything before 3pm. Oh, I forgot to mention my condition, which I explained to her. I was, and still am, visibly bruised and battered, dirty and smelly. This is because i had just been rescued from a violent 3-day incident which required police intervention to free me. I began to explain this to her but could see she was not listening to a single word. The judgement on her face had already congealed by that point. This VERY SAME REP then coincidentally assigned me one of the worst rooms in the hostel (outside, up to the top flight of stairs, poor to inexistent wifi - my phone has been stolen so my laptop is my only means of communication). I happened to know this is one of the worst rooms from my previous time at the property. Now, it could be coincidence that I was assigned this room. But imagine emerging from literally the most violent confrontation ever in one's life, booking a hostel room to recover as instructed by the police, and having to contend with all this on checking in. It's so egregious (some other things happened around this incident but for brevity I omit) that I STILL haven't slept, I needed to write this review first. The owner in 2021 seemed a nice gentleman who wouldn't tolerate this type of representation - maybe ownership has changed but I needed to post this to counterbalance my previous glowing recco of Clarence Park (which was almost solely due to Maria's work) read more

My husband & I decided last minute to spend a couple days in Toronto to celebrate our 5 year engagement anniversary. My husband proposed to me in the CN Tower :) For whatever reason, on the sites I usually use to book hotels, the majority of the downtown Toronto hotels were either booked or out of our price range, so I turned to trusty Hostelworld & found The Clarence Park. The price for a standard private room, which had an ensuite bathroom, was great compared to anything else I saw, so we booked. The Clarence Park will now be my go-to place to stay in Toronto. The location is fantastic. It's in a quiet neighborhood across the street from a cute park and has a fantastic view of the CN Tower, which is only about a 5 minute walk away. It's within walking distance to some great bars, nightclubs, restaurants, and shopping. The staff is friendly and are great resources to find out what to do & where to go in Toronto. The Clarence Park is near a streetcar, subways, and PATH so you can get around easily. Our private room was small but cozy and most importantly, clean. The bed was beyond comfortable, and this isn't a party hostel, so you'll get a good night's sleep. The free wifi was fast and connected to electronic devices with ease. There are 2 common areas, a giant modern kitchen, and a rooftop patio at your disposal. With advanced notice, the hostel even has parking available for $10/day, far below the price of garages in the area. read more

See all

The best place to stay if you're trying to save money and it was last minute too. We had our own private room and bathroom. We didn't know how to work the AC but the room had AC as well as hear. There was cable and the place was quiet. You can basically walk anywhere and was close to all the major attractions, definitely the heart of the city. We had to checkout late but they were gracious enough since we talked to them beforehand and we kind of lost our keys. I would definitely recommend this place for any traveler young or old. It's a hostel obviously but the atmosphere could be different if you chose it to be. The other guests we met were really friendly and helpful. Nancy was the nice woman that checked us in and worked with us for late checkout. I think Alan (?) helped out us out with an iron and ironing board the last minute. Anyhoo, please check them out if you're in Toronto. read more

The first room we were showed into came complete with dirty undies on the floor and pubes on the skirting board. After reporting this to the receptionist, we were given a second "deluxe suite", which had sticky floors and an A/C unit which was unbearably loud for the duration of our stay and its effectiveness was questionable at best causing us to wake up prematurely soaked in sweat. Overall, a very disappointing stay. read more

My friend was looking for a hostel to stay that was close to downtown where all the hockey stuff was going to happen. There wasn't much information or picture on yelp and couldn't find a lot of pictures on their website. We took a chance and stayed in a six bed mixed apartment. We had an easy check in and were taken up to our place. The lady gave us a bag with all of our linens and even a towel and walked us through the place. This place is a little older so it is not going to be super nice. Got to the room and there were two rooms within the place, one that had two beds and the other one had four beds. There was also a full kitchen and a decent size bathroom. Let's get to the bad things that I think that could be improved. The first thing is the beds, some of them have stains and needs to be cleaned. I didn't find out until I took off the sheet. Anyways the next thing are the floors, it looks like the place hasn't been deep cleaned in awhile so it makes me feel a little gross. Especially the bathroom floors and around the bathroom. One of the biggest thing I disliked was the mold on the shower curtain. After the first day someone took it off and threw it on the floor. A cleaning lady came in and asked what happened and told her. She said she will let the people at the desk know but three days later it hadn't been changed. Everyone that stayed just showered without a curtain and got water on the floor. Management should have done something about that. Also the second day we stayed at the hostel they changed the locks so we went to the main room and luckily found a rep before she left. It would have been nice to have known that the locks were going to be changed and get the new keys before we left. Several hours later management put a note on our door but it should have been done prior. Anyways I would prob stay here again due to the price and if I am staying with others in my party I might book the ensuite so that it is more private but it worked. read more