Just stayed one night at the brand new Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Downtown (opened last Wednesday). This is the first of two Garden Inn planed for downtown Toronto (they are also working on converting a former Marriott branded property to the Hilton Garden Inn brand).

The hotel is located in Toronto's enterntainment district, close to the King/Peter Street intersection. It is close to other hotels such as the Hyatt Toronto Regency (former Holiday Inn on King) and the SoHo Metropolitan. It is within walking distance of theatres, Rogers Centre/Skydome, Convention centre.

Check-in was quick as the hotel did not look very busy during my stay. Staff was very friendly and reviewed the hotel services upon check-in: restaurant, business centre, fitness centre, elevators - standard stuff. Note that the hotel has a pool but is not opened yet.

By the look of it, I was assigned a "regular" room with a view on a portion of the Gardiner and Lake Ontario and several rooftops. The room itself was of a reasonable size, featuring one of the new "Evolution" bed. The room has a microwave and a small fridge, a "large" LCD HDTV, workdesk, high-speed internet.

The bathroom featured the standard features. No bathtub but a roomy stand-in shower. It took me a while to figure out the operation of the shower as there are 3 options: Standard hand-held shower, standard fixed shower head and "body" shower. You can only get one of those working at any time by turning the know 90 degrees to the right (body), 45 degress to the right (fixed) or 45 degrees to the left (hand-held).

Had breakfast in the restaurant - good service and good food, featuring yor regular hot and cold breakfast options, including cooked-to-order eggs, pancakes and French toast. Not very busy (5 people in restaurant) so service was very attentive.

The fitness centre has two treadmills, two ellipticals and at least one other piece of cardio equipment (all with individual TVs). It had some basic weight equipment as well.

No particular reason for staying at this property - other than looking for a more affordable HHonors option in downtown TO (ie: other than the somewhat overpriced Hilton Toronto). I believe that this will be a good option for people staying overnight in TO after watching a show, a ball game or potentially even attending a convention. It is however a little bit out of the way for Bay Street people.

I would probably stay there again.