Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown Centre

I am writing this review to express my deep disappointment with my recent stay. From the moment I walked into my room, I was met with a foul, musty odor that was impossible to ignore. The cleanliness standards were appalling. The walls were layered with thick dust, suggesting they hadn't been wiped down in a very long time. To make matters worse, the curtains were grimy and stained, and I was disgusted to find several stains on the blankets provided on the bed. ​It is completely unacceptable for a hotel of this reputation to offer rooms in such a condition. The lack of basic hygiene made my stay extremely uncomfortable. I had to spend as little time in the room as possible. Read less

*BEDBUGS on 7th Floor* I really wanted to share a positive review from my trip, however bedbugs puts quite a damper on any travel. Our first impression of the hotel was that it was well maintained and in a convenient location. At first glance, our room appeared clean. However, when we woke up in the morning, we were disgusted to find a bedbug in the bed. We immediately notified housekeeping, who sent up the housekeeping manager, who verbally confirmed it was a bedbug and took the big with her. We quickly vacated the room and spoke with the hotel manager. All they did at the time was remove our parking fee. They stated they would not do anything more until a third-party inspector came in, even with proof and possession of the bedbug. I am currently waiting for a resolution, that they said would be provided early next week. My expectation is a full refund. If they follow through with a resolution, I will happily update my review to reflect the measures they take. Read less

We arrived before check in and the reception staff were accommodating and got our room ready so we could check in early. The room was nice. It was very clean and had everything we needed. The only issue we had was the toilet didn’t flush. So we needed to fix the toilet after every use which was a bit of a pain but everything else was great. The housekeeping staff were so lovely and spoke to us every morning when we were leaving. The location of the hotel was great as it was a short walk from Dundas Square and the subway was right outside. There were lots of shops nearby! When we checked out we just dropped our room key into the dropbox and we left our bags with no problems. Overall, this was a lovely hotel to stay in, it had everything I needed and I would definitely stay again. Read less

Good location and good price for 2 days to end our trip, room basic but what we need it for. Found it quite tired and lobby toilets unclean. Pool area is old and very dirty, hair everywhere and really made me feel unclean - yuck! Found front desk staff quite rude and unhelpful particularly a woman- couldn’t leave our bags on arrival had to pay $50 for early check in instead. Great souvenir shop inside worth noting Read less

There are both good things and bad things to be said about this hotel. However, the noise is a major dealbreaker that should keep anyone away from this hotel. I'll get back to this. Anyways: The staff is a big positive. Both the receptionists, the cleaners and the maintenance guy were helpful and friendly. The lobby area is alright, rooms were clean, breakfast was good, and location is decent. On the flip side, if the rooms really are refurbished, the contractors did a very sloppy job. Carpets are visibly worn, and there are details throughout the entire room, especially the bathroom, which should make any tradesman hang their head in shame. Simply poor quality on the finish throughout. Bed was squeaky and too bouncy. Elevators are slow, so despite them having four elevators, you may very well be waiting a looong time to get up or down. There is a fixed shower head only, and it's mounted at about 5'9" height. I'm 6'3" (191 cm), and had the shower head under my chin. If you're anywhere close to 6 feet tall, get ready to crouch in the shower. Oh, and the "water-saving" shower head is just annoying. I had to shower for 3x as long to get a thorough rinse, so it doesn't save any water, it just wastes time. Having a 20+ minute crouching shower every day is no fun. HOWEVER, good things and bad things aside, the thing that makes this an awful stay is the absolutely horrendous NOISE. I was first given a room in the back, with a gargantuan outdoors ventilation system just outside my window running 24/7. There is seemingly no sound isolation whatsoever in this hotel, so it felt like I was living inside a jet engine. The indoor AC was also incredibly loud, but even when I managed to turn that off (thanks, maintenance guy), the outside one was just as loud anyway. I was told this was a very well-known issue, and I was encouraged to ask the reception for a new room. Unfortunately, I had to spend one night inside that jet engine, but from day 2 onwards there were other rooms available, and I could choose between the same room a few floors up, or a room facing the street with all the traffic noise that comes with it. I saw no reason why the noise would be significantly better a few floors further up, so I chose the traffic side. Sure, it was clearly better than the jet engine in the back, but it was still a lot of noise from the busy street outside, with police sirens, loud motorcycles, buses and alarms going off all night. There is also seemingly no sound isolation internally either, so whenever someone slams their door in another room, it sounds like they're right by your bedside. I could also hear every whisper from the hallway. It's like the door doesn't even exist. So to summarize, if your room is towards the back yard, you have the internal AC, slamming doors and external jet engine keeping you awake. If you're lucky enough to get a room towards the street, you still have the internal AC and slamming doors keeping you awake, but instead of the jet engine, there is the Toronto downtown keeping you awake. This is, as mentioned, a very well-known issue at the hotel, and they're advertising on the TV that you can get ear plugs and sleeping masks in the reception if you're a light sleeper. I'd like to mention then that I am __NOT__ a light sleeper. I used to work on a ship and slept like a baby right next to the roaring diesel engines and 12 meter waves. I slept through an apartment break-in, and I could probably sleep through a nuclear war. But I could not sleep within the jet engines of Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown. After four nights here, I am entirely exhausted. On the last day, I cancelled all my plans, and just laid in like a zombie all day. Completely sleep deprived. I cannot believe this doesn't get more attention in the reviews here. Perhaps it's better if you get a room higher up. My rooms were at the 7th and 9th floors, but they go all the way up to 22nd, I think. There are some pros with the hotel, like the food and the staff. But with the cons being the bed, showers and elevators, and the unbelievable noise as a complete dealbreaker, I am never staying here again. As their self-proclaimed flagship hotel, they should really invest in some soundproofing. Being a sleep deprived zombie ruined my Toronto stay entirely, which unfortunately has to result in a disappointing and abysmal rating from me. Read less