Hey friends ! Today I wanted to chat about my experience staying in one of the most luxurious hotels in Toronto. First of all, we did not pay full price for this hotel what-so-ever. We actually used Hotwire’s “Hot Rate” hotel option, which means in order to book a room at a very inexpensive price, you aren’t allowed to know the name or exact location of your hotel. They give you several hints and the general area of the hotel, but that’s it !! And I’ve used the “Hot Rate” option many, many times now and have yet to be let down.
When I was looking for the ideal hotel for my Toronto trip, I was looking for something directly downtown that was pet friendly. A pool would be a nice added touch, but not necessary. On Hotwire, it stated the Hot Rate hotel would be pet friendly, have a fitness center, business center, a pool, a spa, etc. On the map provided, it showed the hotel in our ideal downtown area.
After a few moments of deliberation, my boyfriend and I decided just to go for it. Once paid and officially booked, we saw we were staying at the Fairmont Royal York located at 100 Front Street W, Downtown Toronto. This hotel looked very huge from the pictures, and it stated that there are over 1300 rooms in this hotel. It also looked very gorgeous, almost European and super fancy. We were both overly excited and could not wait to arrive in a couple of days. By the way, we booked our stay at Fairmont two nights before our planned trip and were still able to find a great deal on our hotel room all thanks to the “Hot Rate”. (This isn’t sponsored by Hotwire btw, even though I did try and reach out to them for a sponsored post and would have loved for this to be sponsored, haha)
Okay ! Day of – a 3 1/2 hour car ride later, we arrived. I did not participate in the check-in so I can’t give much of an opinion on that. I actually stayed in the car with our dog while my boyfriend went inside to the front desk. When he came out, he stated that the hotel was pretty booked, so because of that, we were actually able to get an updated guest room at no additional cost to us. I believe normally, the hotel charges an extra $40 a night to stay in the updated rooms. Sweet deal !
After he checked in, we unloaded our bags from the car and made our way through this massive hotel. Our room was located on the 11th floor and it was quite the trek. The hallways seem endless as your twisting and turning around every corner to locate the guest room. Such a massive hotel.
Our room was gorgeous and a lot bigger than many city rooms I’ve stayed in not only in Toronto, but all over North America. I’ll get into our room details a little bit later in this post. Also, you’ll have to forgive me because I didn’t take any pictures of the actual sleeping area! I don’t know what I was thinking, but I will say that the pictures online look exactly how our room looked. You can take my word for it. Just make sure you’re looking for pictures of the updated rooms.
After we dropped off our bags and our pup for the time being, we came back down to find somewhere to park our car. We decided to park it ourselves in a somewhat near-by self park garage, because we didn’t want to pay the extra $50 a night for valet parking. Self park only cost us $25 for the entire stay. Way cheaper.
The lobby of this hotel is so incredibly fancy. Many comfy lounge chairs throughout, huge chandeliers, surely an extravagant entrance way. I felt like I was walking into a palace. There were several restaurants located in the lobby area that looked very welcoming. On the very lower level of the hotel there were little shops and it was all connected to the PATH (an underground pedestrian tunnel that has many shops an eateries over 18 miles long).
Now I can talk about the best part! Our room! So our room was the ideal size for us, we originally wanted a king bed but we ended up with 2 doubles. I didn’t mind honestly since the hotel was almost booked full. One bed just ended up being a place to lay out all our outfits and tech gear. Our dog also slept on it a couple of times when he wasn’t sleeping with us.
So when you walk in the room, the bathroom is on the right side and a closet to the left. Inside the closet there were slippers and bath robes for both of us. In the bathroom we had everything we needed from shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, hair drier, extra toilet paper, shower caps and of course, many towels. I really enjoyed the makeup mirror in the bathroom too. It was perfect for doing my makeup and even tweezing my eyebrows.
Inside the TV cabinet we had a Kuireg coffee maker with complimentary coffee & tea. Everything else, including what was in the fridge is all charged based off of what you take out of the fridge! I actually pulled out a can of soda and some liquor to check it out and didn’t realize that it charges your room based off of what you take out! I has a little sensor on it. I called the front desk immediately and told them it was a mistake – I didn’t want to be charged! It’s for sure a high tech way of keeping track of what’s being used in the guest room.
The bed was cozy and I enjoyed the soft pillows. After a long day walking around Toronto, it’s ideal to have a nice comfortable cozy bed to sleep on.
Our hotel room was located on the inner portion of the hotel in the back, so we didn’t really have much of a view or natural light, but that didn’t bother me because we were too busy out exploring all day and sleeping at night. But it’s just something I thought I’d mention incase you’re expecting all the rooms to have a view.
On our first night there we wanted to check out the hot tub and the pool. We noticed there is an adult only swim from 9pm to 10pm which is perfect for relaxing without the kids playing around the pool. It was a great way to chat with other couples or just go for a nice swim. Right across from the pool there is the gym area. The gym had a lot of equipment from treadmills to weights. There are even complimentary bottle waters to take and even headphones if you’ve forgotten yours. Inside the gym area there is a women’s and men’s changing area/showers + a wet & dry sauna.
I thought this hotel was absolutely perfect and it has to be one of the most luxurious hotels I’ve ever stayed in. The service was amazing, along with the amenities & location of the hotel.
I’d totally stay again in the near future and I recommend this hotel to anyone looking for a little bit of luxury.
Some other key facts:
The pet rate is $50 per stay and they do have size restrictions.
There’s 5 dining places on-site and they feature all different cuisines.
In-room dining is 24 hours, but they don’t serve everything on the menu all night.
Fitness Room is open 24 hours a day, pool is open from 6am to 10pm. Adult swim is from 9pm to 10pm.
-Alicia !
