The Westin Harbour Castle

Location - Ideal for sightseeing. On the harbour front,in the Financial District. Ferry to Toronto islands next door. Short stroll to Union station, Scotia Arena and Downtown. Close to CN Tower and other amenities. Room - We had a refurbished room in the South Tower with a side harbour view. Large room with 2 king size beds. Beds are so comfortable, best hotel sleep ever! Water pressure is good for shower and a large vanity area next to the washbasin for toiletries, makeup etc. Plentiful supply of fluffy white towels. Very clean. Breakfast - One of the best ever. Lots of healthy options. Excellent supply and variety of fresh fruit. Omelettes cooked to order. Table service for coffee / tea and orange juice makes all the difference (as opposed to queuing for a machine that invariably breaks down or needs refilling). The breakfast room staff work very hard and efficiently to ensure a speedy clean table turnaround and warm, friendly, attentive service. Service - Exceptional. Every member of staff we engaged with was, smiley, approachable, friendly, helpful. Providing excellent customer service felt natural and in their DNA. Facilities - The hotel has much to offer and I feel we didn't make the most of everything available, such as the sun terrace and yoga classes. From providing chilled flavoured water in reception during a heat wave to aromatherapy sleep sprays in the room, this hotel works hard to make their guests feel valued and have a comfortable stay Recommend - without hesitation. I am struggling to fault anything. Minor - There is ongoing maintenance and refurbishment in the hotel. It did not impact our stay at all and the lifts were still swift. It is a shame that some of the upgrade work needs better finishing and maybe they want to address this with their contractor............ Read less

I am a Marriott Elite Titanium member, which means I am used to the hotel chain and have stayed at many Westin-level properties. I must say that this is the worst Westin experience I have ever had, in over 20 years of business travel. Additionally, beyond the check-in staff that recognized my level, and put me on a construction floor without letting me know they did not even know the streets that the hotel was surrounded by, or what direction the balcony faced. Disappointing for the check-in staff. I was 'upgraded' to a balcony room, which was nice. However, the staff did not inform me that construction was taking place three doors from me, renovating the entire rest of the floor we were staying on. I was here for work, so it wasn't delightful to listen to construction all day. I had several issues with the hotel elevator (I mentioned to the staff on multiple occasions). The breakfast waiters were rude, ignoring me directly after I requested a to-go coffee cup on two separate days. Additionally, issues with my room were never addressed or recorded, to the best of my knowledge. My room had been newly renovated; however, it was not quite finished with several missing, broken, out-of-place, or unclean items. I also informed the front desk about these issues. At this point, I would recommend not staying at this Westin until they can get their Staff in Order, finish the entire renovation, and determine where they place their overall look and service within the Marriott family in Toronto. Read less

This place is massive! Between its size and the construction navigating around was a bit challenging but we figured it out. Great location. One of the comfiest beds I’ve slept in. Really lovely housekeeping staff. Great view from the room and we had a great deal on our booking. Our only other complaint is that the elevators seemed to only be working half the time which caused some long waits and long queues. Other than that we had a lovely time. Read less

This has been my go-to hotel for years for a convention I always attend. After they “lost” my reservation in 2021 due to changing of convention dates I’ve gotten into the habit of calling the day prior and confirming details. I did this, made sure my coworker was on the reservation so she could check in as her plane was arriving before I would arrive. I made sure my Bonvoy acct was added too. Day of, I’m driving through snow squalls when my colleague calls me saying they refuse to let her in, saying she’s not on the reservation. I ask her to have them call me, they refuse. I’m dealing with white out conditions, but manage to connect to them and after a painfully long and awkward conversation, where they admit she was on the reservation yesterday but was removed that day, but they don’t know who did that. They reluctantly agree that yes they’ll let her in the room because no one is manning the email anyways at this time (they wanted me to pull over and go through email reservations to make the adjustment). When I arrive, Valet offers no help, just rushes me out of my car, bellmen didn’t help (previous times they’ve brought over a cart for me, and it’s later brought to my room). I struggle to the desk with my luggage to check in and get my key. I mention the mix up, how I was just rushed out of my car, and how the awkward 30 plus seconds of silence from the associate I talked to on the phone was odd. I was told to complain through the bonvoy app. So I did, was promised 5k bonvoy points for the screw up and awful check in experiences. THE POINTS NEVER CAME. Fast forward to the last night. I go to the desk as I’m leaving at 6am and want to make sure the parking is on my card, and pay for my half of the room. The agent makes it seem like this is putting her out, but does it. I go to bed satisfied I just have to leave tomorrow and my colleague has her late check out. Boy was I wrong. My car is returned to me and it’s overheating, check coolant light is on. So I go over to the little office and ask the guy “hey did my car start like this?/ when did this happen? (They moved my car the first morning so I could retrieve signage for the convention). So he admits it just started like that this morning, but not to worry he has a similar car so I should be safe to drive it home. I move my car off to the side, ask them “hey I have to get a tow truck out of here is this in the way?” They tell me it’s fine where it is. Bell men are visibly annoyed. Not once though does anyone say “hey we’d like you to speak to the front desk” or”hey we have to get an incident report started”. I did ask the bellman “as I’m checked out, is it still okay that I wait in the lobby CAA said it will be 3 hours for a tow truck” I was told it was fine. So I drank my awful mocha I order from their little cafe nook. Pro tip, it’s not Starbucks ingredients in their specialty coffees. I saw them whip out the can of carnation mock hot chocolate, and let me tell you it was the most disgusting tasting mocha that I have paid Starbucks prices for. After a few hours my colleague comes down to check out. The not so lovely desk staff refuse to give her a copy of the invoice, but assured her that her half has been paid under her credit card she checked in with. This detail is important later in the review. She leaves and I tell her I’ll get a full itemized bill later and we can figure it out for our respective expenses. CAA shows up, the bellman aren’t going to let us tow. I’m ready to lose it on this hotel, but my tow truck driver deals with the nonesense. They help him push my car out of the ramp and on the road, but then start giving us a hard time about how bad it looks. I think the nightmare hotel experience is over. Days later my colleague asks how long holds stay on credit cards. She had an additional ~800 on her bill. With both bills I do the math, they’ve charged her an extra night a full rate (not the convention rate) they literally billed us for the same room, twice getting them $1400 plus tax extra. She calls, they refund her that night, and for one night of parking, to her card. Parking was on my card since I had a car. I’m angry at this point as I also have not received bonvoy points for the stay or the earlier promised 5k points. So I call to make a general complaint. The manager I talk to agrees it’s an awful experience. Promises to refund me one full night and all my vallet parking as a gesture of goodwill. I thank him and accept. 2 weeks later, nothing comes. I try calling the hotel, they keep hanging up on me. So I escalate to corporate. They call back fast after that. It’s now a month later and they’re questioning why I didn’t talk to security, or front desk, that there’s no incident report, no tow companies were on site. After they “investigate” I’m promised what I was initially promised for the issues. I did finally get a refund of one nights stay and the parking. Read less

The Westin Harbour Castle is a great location if you are coming to Toronto for a convention, sporting event or anything taking place at ScotiaBank Place as the Westin is literally a stones throw away from ScotiaBank Place. It is located right next to Lake Ontario and a lot of the rooms have lake views. I was in room 2226 on the 22nd floor and had a lovely view of the lake and the city. It is also only a 15 minute walk from Union Station. From there you can take the UP train which goes straight to Pearson airport every 15 minutes. Although the hotel has been there for many years, I found that my room had been freshly updated. There was even a feature that I had never seen in a hotel room before. A filtered water faucet for drinking water. Nice touch. All the staff that I encountered were very friendly and the check in, check out experience was seamless. Read less