We came to Toronto to see a concert, and decided to stay the night. All of the hotels in Toronto are expensive, so I decided to splurge and spend a couple hundred more to stay here. I also got a bed and breakfast offer that included breakfast and valet parking.
I left a more thorough review on Tripadvisor, but overall, I really wasn't impressed with my stay here, and there was nothing exceptional about it. By far, the best service I received was at their two bars; the Ritz bar and Deq. Since anyone can go to each of these bars, I don't really consider that part of my stay.
I did online check in and said I'd arrive before check in time. I got there around 2:30, and my room was ready, which was nice. The girl at the front desk was very nice, but no one walked me to my room, showed me around ,etc. I read reviews that people were given champagne on arrival. I was not offered that.
I was also really disappointed that there wasn't any candy in the lobby. I had read in several reviews that there was a candy bar in the lobby in the afternoons. I know it's a small thing, but I was looking forward to this.
When I got off the elevator, the first thing I noticed was a wet dog smell. The entire floor smelled that way for my whole stay. Luckily my room didn't. My first reaction to my room was that it was small. I had looked at videos online, but was still surprised how small it felt. The bathroom was nice. I liked the water closet, bath, and walk in shower. The toiletries were also nice. And the nicest thing in the room was the tv in the bathroom mirror. However, it didn't have the same channel numbers as the tv in the bedroom, and there was no guide, so it was hard to find anything to watch on it.
There was a canister in the bathroom that truly looked like something another guest left behind. It had scratches on it, and I opened it to see what it was, and cotton balls were in it. It was so beat up, I couldn't even get the lid back on it.
The room had some nice little features, like a light when you opened the door to the safe, and settings on the light switches to brighten and dim them. The robes were also nice and plush. It would have been nice to also have slippers though.
Housekeeping came for turn down service at 5:00, which seemed really early since I'd just gotten there at 2:30. If we had been in the room all day, I guess it wouldn't have seemed so strange.
The bed was ok. It wasn't especially memorable, but I also wasn't uncomfortable. However, one of the pillow cases had a black thing stuck to it. Given that they were white sheets, it was very visible. And it was truly stuck to it. It wasn't like a crumb or something. How did housekeeping make the bed and not notice this?
In the morning, I planned to make coffee, order breakfast, and use the tub since check out wasn't until noon. I called to order breakfast and use the bed and breakfast offer I'd booked. When I called, she told me I didn't have that offer. I explained that I did, that I'd booked it online, and I had print screens of it on my phone. She continued to insist I had no credit. This really irritated me. Do people that spend this much money on a room for one night usually lie about having a credit for breakfast? And why didn't she put me on hold or ask someone else, or really do anything else rather than repeatedly telling me I had no such credit? She kept looking for a few minutes and found it. If I'd have been on hold for that time I'd be a lot less angry about it now. It was incredibly unprofessional and something I expect to deal with at a Holiday Inn rather than the Ritz Carlton.
Once I could actually order it, the breakfast came really fast. They said 25 minutes, but it came much faster than that. It was displayed nicely and it came with free smoothie shots. I really liked the spreads that came with it, and the man that brought it was very nice. The plusses end there though, and the food was pretty terrible. Without the credit, this breakfast would have been $69! A $69 breakfast should be one of the best I've ever had. It was easily one of the worst. The egg white omelette was ordered with just ricotta. If there was any cheese in it at all, you could have fooled me. The weird potato thing that came with it also wasn't good. I'm not even sure what it was supposed to be. The yogurt with granola was just ok. The pastries were also something you'd get anywhere. The toast was actually the best part of the meal.
My two star review for this hotel is not really because anything was necessarily wrong, but because everything wasn't right. When you pay this much for a hotel stay, I really shouldn't have anything to complain about. I certainly shouldn't need to argue with a staff person about my breakfast credit. The only difference about staying here was the higher price tag. There are other luxury hotels in downtown Toronto, so if I come here again, I'd try one of those and see if I really get a luxurious experience. read more