DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Toronto Downtown {CAN}
 

Hello,

I am considering booking myself in to the Hilton Doubletree Toronto Downtown that has just opened up. It appears that Hilton has taken over ownership from someone else so they are in the process of "refreshing" rooms, etc. Has any one stayed or visited the property as of yet and had any experiences as a Platinum guest? Worried about construction noise, state of rooms/facilities, given ongoing renovation works.

Cheers!

Looks like the old Metropolitan Hotel. Pre-DoubleTree reviews were pretty bad and I don't think management has changed.

That said, I haven't stayed there recently. If the renovations are significant it may be worth a look when all is said and done.

Wow...you refer to yourself as a Platinum member in this thread and in your signature. Congrats on achieving...or creating...a status level that doesn't exist.

At this property right now
 

...for the same price, I would much prefer the HGI on Peter Street.

The goods: Great location next to Dundas Street in between Eaton Center and University Avenue. Renovated rooms are nice and I found the bed to be quite comfortable. Rooms have windows that do open and they have replaced the "through the window" AC units with new ones (however, these types of units are always a bit noisy). Brand new equipment in the gym: 3 ellipticals, 2-3 bikes, 4-5 treadmills and some other limited equipment. On-site restaurant (Hemisphere) is decent for breakfast (good food quality). Very friendly staff

Room for improvement: The rooms are very small in size by Toronto standards. Some confusion for the HHonors breakfast benefit. Front desk will give you 1 coupon for your entire stay (valid throughout so you need to keep it). Coupon is good for continental buffet, which is listed in the menu but is not currently available (due to low hotel occupancy, but will be offered soon). So the offer is a "room service style" continental (choice of 2 pastries, coffee/juice, fresh fruits). Value can be applied toward other menu items. Some areas are still in need of an upgrade, especially the common areas such as the lobby.

All in, they rebranded early to work out the kinks ahead of the busy spring/summer season but with enought renovated rooms available during the low season so that most guests would experience the new standards.

Not the hotel's fault but the fire alarm has been going on and off for part of the night...

Will be staying here next weekend, and just wondering if anyone else had been recently and had an update as to conditions at the hotel. Also, any chance for an upgrade as a gold?

TIA

I stayed there the beginning of June and wasn't impressed.

Now I arrived at 11AM, so I understand that check-in is not until 3PM. However if you have a room available, it would be nice to give it to a Diamond Guest. Check in agent (I believe it was the front desk manager - I know they had some sort of managerial title) before even looking at my reservation said "We don't have anything available check-in isn't until 3PM". I did not say a word while he continued to look up my reservation. Finally he saw my status and say "I see that you are a Diamond member, let me find a room for you." All I said was "Thank you".

So that was pretty rude. I can totally understand if the hotel has no rooms ready and am totally flexible in those situations. However, to open your mouth before you see the reservation just set the tone for dealing with the staff.

Since I checked in early I didn't mind if I got an upgrade or not so I can't comment about that. My room did have a view of the CN tower (if you turned your neck so maybe I did get "upgraded" but otherwise was a standard sized room.

The rooms and lobby were very good looking and the hotel from the inside did not looked rundown at all.

I would stay there again however I am staying at the HGI mentioned in a previous reply to compare/contrast the two in about 2 weeks.

Updating this thread with our "meh" experience this past weekend.

+1 is Gold and the rate was about $40 CAD cheaper than the nearby Marriott so we decided to give this property a try. Using the mobile app, were given a few room options in the Southern wing of the hotel, mostly facing West. We decided to try the end (xx11) room of the wing as it juts out from the property and has no neighbors on three sides (the bay window faces Eaton Centre) in the hopes that it would be quiet, which is was. We asked about an upgrade at check-in (almost 1 am) but was told there were none available.

As mentioned above, the rooms are on the small side and I think the xx11 rooms are slightly smaller. We had a comfortable king bed with a small sitting chair. There was a small fridge in the dresser unit, along with a mini-safe and some drawers. We were given two bottles of water each day. The bathroom was also small but the shower pumped out an impressive, fire-hose level of water.

Our main pet peeve is related to Hilton's inability to request and honor feather-free bedding on reservations. We called down to request at least one foam pillow and after about a 10 min wait, the night clerk came to our room and handed us the only extra pillow he could find and after inspecting it, it clearly said it was a down pillow. He claimed there weren't any foam pillows on the property and handed us some blankets and pillowcases and suggested we use them to make makeshift pillows. We asked again at the desk on our way out in the morning but they were also unable to find any, so MacGyvered pillow it was for the rest of the stay.

Our room had a motel-style through the wall a/c unit under the bay window, placing right next to the bed, which is somewhat annoying as it turns on and off during the night.

Another annoyance was the spotty WiFi in our room; it was almost impossible to stay connected unless you were standing right by the window. The signal was much more solid in the lobby and restaurant, so I suspect being at the end of the wing had something to do with it.

The Gold breakfast coupon is stamped with an upgrade to the full, hot buffet which was pretty nice. There was a wide selection of fruits, breads, eggs (scrambled, hard-boiled, and made to order), sausage and bacon (but not peameal, strangely) pancakes or french toast, oatmeal, and cold cereals. We didn't have any issue with the food quality or service.

The location was convenient for us and we walked to St. Lawrence Market one day and Kensington Market another. Both were about 15-20 min walks. We also took advantage of the $11.50 CAD transit day pass and used the subway and streetcars to get around. We also used the subway and Rocket Bus combo to get to YYZ and it was pretty painless.

There are some nice Japanese foodie places in the immediate area, including Sansotei Ramen and Uncle Tetsu (cheesecake), both with long lines. On the second floor of the hotel is high end Chinese restaurant Lah Wai Heen, where we had a very nice (but expensive) dim sum lunch.

We weren't too impressed with the front desk and their friendliness. Overall, they didn't seem too engaged. No real attempt to offer an upgrade at checkin, no additional effort to locate a foam pillow for us, and just a curt. one word of "thanks" when checking out (they probably saved themselves an earful, though).

Overall, we'd probably look at the mainline Hilton or one of the Marriotts for our next stay in Toronto.

The feather-free issue is a pet peeve of mine as well and it took 3 to 4 stays at this property before they got it right. It has been a non-issue since then.

Given that the Hilton Toronto has seen some minor renovations in some of the rooms, it is indeed a superior option to the DT (in terms of room size, overall amenities and location). The HGIs still do the job, but they are not aging particularly well

For the right price, I do not mind staying at the DT, but for a few $$$ more, the Hilton it is!

Value of Gold at Doubletree Toronto Downtown
 

I'm spending 12 nights at this property for work meetings in September.

I've read reviews of the hotel on FT & TripAdvisor and it seems frankly average. It's rated 3.5 stars.

My question is: if I got Hilton Gold status before my stay, how might that improve the immediate experience of those 12 nights (setting aside point earning bonuses for now).

All meals incl. breakfast will already be covered for me as part of work expenses.

I'm torn because on the one hand it just seems inherently preferrable to have Gold versus not if I'm spending 12 nights there, but on the other hand, I'm trying to really limit new CC apps and saving them for Chase products until I have the ones I want. (CSR, Ink+)

Someone said an alternative could be getting the AMEX business Plat and getting some kind of status match to Hhonors Gold. Is it correct that a business AMEX would not show up to Chase as part of 5/24 because it's a business card?

where are your work meetings?

I dont think this hotel is attached to the PATH... but its close to the subway station.

Sorry I don't know how the gold benefits are at this prop as I live near by in downtown toronto and worked beside... I know of a few of the guys who work at this DoubleTree.

do you have any status with any other Hotel? You could also try for a status match, or a Fasttrack.

I stayed there earlier this year and I have Diamond status.

As hotels go it's "ok", but nothing amazing.
Hilton status will probably get you upgraded to a bigger room and access to the executive lounge. The executive lounge is quite nice, but the breakfast there isn't exactly stellar.

Meetings at the hotel.

Do you know people who work at the hotel who might know what Gold gives to guests apart from food benefits?

I just booked a 3 night weekend stay here in October and noticed a 2.66% "Service Charge" is added to the bill. Any idea what this is?

Is there still an executive lounge here? I don't see mention of it online.

Curious about the lounge here at well as any updated reports.