Pantages Suites Hotel and Spa

We stayed at the Pantages on the strength of another review we saw for this hotel on TB. The hotel is so modern it is borderline trendy but it is very, very nice. The room we stayed in had hardwood laminate floors and a sizable bathroom. The only complaints we really had with the room itself was that the bed was a little stiff for us and that the bathroom was a little narrow. All together though those two things are trivial and didn't keep us from rating the hotel a five. It also had a gym which was great because there was snow on the ground in Toronto while we were here and it made it difficult to get out and run in the morning.

The key advantage to staying here was its proximity to the bus lines as well as the Eaton Centre. There are a bunch of little restaurants and some big chains all within walking distance. Even with all these amenities the price was lower than we expected, especially since we stayed over the New Year's weekend. If all you're looking for is a roof, I'm sure there are plenty of other places to stay for cheaper, but if you're looking for a good value in the downtown area, Pantages is the place to go.

It was my last night on my Canada and USA trip and I wanted to stay in a good hotel as close to the city center as possible. The day before I day stayed in Syracuse and the last thing I did in the morning was to book the Pantages Hotel Toronto Center on booking.com. I choose the hotel primarily because of a good mix of location, price and quality and I found a king size bed that was one of my main criteria’s.

I arrived at the hotel at around 7.30 pm after having spent the entire afternoon in Niagara Falls for the first time. The hotel had a small parking in front of the hotel and it was located just as I wanted it; in a busy area not far from Dundas Square that is like Toronto’s answer on Time Square. Paul was the guy in front of the hotel taking care of the guests that day. I asked him about the options regarding parking and there were two. The most comfortable one was the valet parking at 34$, the other alternative was a public parking almost across the street for 20 – 25$ a night.

At that point I didn’t decided yet I wanted to check in first and I therefor went to the reception where Dave was holding the fortress, Dave was a friendly and big guy with a good sense of humor. I gave my name and he quickly found my room, which was on 4th floor. I asked if I could get a room higher up but then it would cost me 20$ more for the night which I much rather used on the car parking. I asked for Internet or Wi-Fi and it cost 12$ for the night on top but I took that as well.

I went back to Paul and picked up all my bags from the back of the car; it was packing time for my return to Copenhagen and I gave Paul the key to the car so he could valet with it. The entrance of the hotel was kind of small compared to many other hotels that I have stayed at in a city center but they had a nice reception desk and 8 soft chairs along the walk up to the desk. Next to the small and long lounge they had a nice small bar in modern green lighting where some people already were hanging out. It looked kind of nice and I considered having a beer there after my unpacking at the room. The elevators were next to the reception and I took it to the 4th floor.

My room was not far from the elevators which I don’t mind as log as they are not too busy or noisy here they gave no problems at all. When I entered the room I really liked what I saw even though the room was in dim lighting. It was actually so dark that it was impossible to take pictures. I had some windows facing the street and I turned on the different lamps in the room to get a better view.

The colors of the room were nice and soft and all the furniture was made of brown dark wood and so were the curtains as well. The bed was huge and the centerpiece of the room. The headboard was the kind that was mounted to the wall and it was in leather imitation with squares like a chesterfield; it was also in brown but in a lighter shade. Along the wall to the windows that was a huge closet that held the old and large TV set and some drawers. In front of the window there was constructed a quite nice furniture that had all functions one cold imagine; it contained a 2-person sofa, a large desk to work on, a corner minibar table and a fridge.

I was very pleased that there was a fridge because I could really do with a cold beer at that point of day and it being the last night of the trip. The minibar was huge and had full size bottles of both white and red wine and all kinds of soda’s, chips and candy. The strange thing was that there was a plastic plate and a lock on the area that contained the cold beers. I tried to open it with a bit of force after having performed a search for the key in the room that didn’t bring me closer to the beer. I could take wine but not beer. They obvious trusted more the wine persons that the beer persons. Later I found out that you had to get the key in the reception – how stupid was that. So I dropped the idea of using the first and only minibar I had seen on the entire trip.

The bathroom was nice as well; it was large and there was a huge sink and a nice shower room behind the door and a tub with Jacuzzi effect. There were loads of towels, bathrobe and some spa soap that I found nice.

The hotel was quiet even though it was located in the center of the town.