CXYYZ

I guess I could add a few additional comments to this thread:

I have found this property treats me well. As SPG Gold and SPG Plat my upgrade rate is 100%. As Gold, got upgraded to a deluxe room twice. The SPG Gold/Platinum line at check-in/-out has always been staffed when there's a need. The only area that I find somewhat lacking is the soundproofing between the bathrooms. I have overheard my neighbours having a conversation in the bathroom before.

As for the shuttle situation, YYZ now has an automated peoplemover/train between Terminals 1 and 3 (as noted, T2 is no longer in service). The train station is located between the hotel and Terminal 3. This is the fastest and most reliable way to get to the hotel from Terminal 1. If you're in a rush in the morning, be careful that the train you board heads towards T1 and not the "Viscount Station" parking lot. Made that mistake once.. ugh. LOL.

evanderm

Does anyone have any experiences with being upgraded from a club floor reservation as an SPG gold?

I will be staying at the Gateway soon and I've booked myself into a Club Floor King room. I've heard many people talk about being upgraded to the club floor when either gold or plat, but what happens when you book on the club floor? Will I only get a slightly larger (corner) room, or will I be eligable for a suite, me only being gold. What are your experiences?

SanDiego1K

evanderm, I don't have the answer - but I do want to welcome you to FlyerTalk and the Starwood forum.

Now, who can help?

DownUnderFlyer

Welcome to FT and the friendly SPG forum evanderm! I have stayed at this property quite often while I was a Gold. And my upgrade experience there was only mediocre.
I have personally never booked a club room but my guess is that you will not get any upgrade when you book a club room already. Sometimes Golds can be lucky, but I would expect it.

evanderm

Thank you for the warm words of welcome. I hope to be here more often posting, time permitting.

Also thank you for the replies so far. I'm only staying at the hotel for one night arriving on a transatlantic flight in the early evening, and am heading out early the next day... so really the hotel is only there to provide a bed. Hopefully I'll beat you to the question, Why did I book a club room then? The answer really is the snob factor. It wasn't much more expensive and then there's the added bonus of free Internet, light snacks in the lounge and breakfast the following day. Last time I stayed there (not even SPG at the time) I paid over $30 for breakfast! So I hope the $50 difference in price will be worth it, and the snob factor of course.

Now the plane geek in me will become apparent: I'm also hoping me forking over extra cash and being gold will at least get me a runway view. I'll be sure to ask at check in; so hopefully ^

Reading some of the replies up here I could have probably tried my luck with the standard room, but reading others (thanks DownUnderFlyer) I guess it was a good choice. I just hope it's worth it.

sam33

I've stayed at this property a few times as both plat & gold. As a plat, I never scored a suite upgrade at this hotel, which slightly irritated me. So the last time I checked in there (last year), I requested one at check-in, only to be told (predictably) that it wasn't available. I took the regular room, hit the road, and called SPG reservations to reserve a suite for that night, and voila- 2 available ! So I hung up, called the platinum concierge, and asked why the girl at checkin had lied to me ? I had the manager calling my cellphone within about 2 minutes, apologizing and informing me that my suite was ready, and that they'd move my stuff when I came back to the hotel. One thing about the platinum concierge, they're the best customer service out there today, and the main reason I stick with SPG.
As for your one night stay - if it was me, I'd hop a cab for the 3 minute ride to the Westin BP, whose suite upgrades are great, + it's a quieter hotel, and imho a nicer one.

unclepants

Welcome, evanderm!

I stay here several times a year as a Gold and have never received an upgrade when booking on the club floor. Your instincts about the extra cost being worthwhile are sound: between the ability to grab a couple of bottles of Perrier at any hour and a very solid breakfast, combined with the outrageous price of food at the restaurant, I usually break even. (The wine is cheaper, too.) I've also used the lounge to have meetings with some of my staff when we're travelling together, which can be extremely handy. My travel dept. now agrees, too.

Several times when I've checked in at the Gateway, I've seen huge stacks of platinum and gold keys at the desk, so I suspect upgrades for us modest Golds are very rare and perhaps more likely at weekends.

I stay here rather than some of the alternatives because the convenience cannot be topped, the staff are very good, and the facilities (esp. if staying on the Club floor) provide everything you need.

evanderm

I've noticed those stacks there too, though this time I'll be staying on a Saturday night in June. Hopefully the weekend theory works out on this stay. I'll post the results as soon as I can. I never had status when staying here before and on corporate rates they wouldn't even post milage into my Skymiles account Oh how things have changed!

unclepants

Bumping because I'm curious if this worked out for you, evanderm.

I just checked in here on the club floor on a Sunday and no upgrades to be found, with the usual monster stack of Plat and Gold folders at the front counter. It's still a great deal for this location, provided you avoid the restaurant.

bigguyinpasadena

wrong gateway-so sorry

evanderm

Well, took a while for me to finally be able to reply but My stay here was excellent. I was delayed flying in and the only downside I can think of mentioning was the fact that the preferred guest desk was closed and the staff didn't really pay attention to the elite-line they had created off to the right-hand side of the regular check-in desks. This resulted in me having to see 3 other customers be served from the non-elite line before they noticed me standing there. Oh well... No upgrade to a suite, but a room with a runway view request was honored.

Stayed here twice since my last post and the second time was also good. Will be staying again in about two weeks time so I hope they can pull a hat-trick, service-wise.

iwpingmu

This hotel has over-priced restaurant, food is extremely expensive.

Book a regular room, no upgrade to club room or suite since it was full on a Sunday night, however have the lounge access, The male lounge attendent is an extremely nice person, club lounge is open even on weekends, if you are a Platium, internet is free

CXYYZ

This is new. Glad to hear it, as I consider this to be a positive development!

unclepants

This is a very well-run hotel and the convenience makes the slight premium worthwhile.

Today they allowed me to check in 5 hours early while still providing a modest upgrade (larger room, terminal, on a higher floor) while sold out. As always, everything works and I needn't request a thing.

The food is extraordinarily overpriced, though I suppose we're a captive audience.

tinytina

I just had an okay stay here. Granted, I was already having a bad day after flight delays... I've always stayed at the Westin BP across the street or 4P Meadowvale, but since it was going to be a short night of sleep and I had to go to work at 5am, I decided to give the Gateway a try given the location.

When I arrived around 10:30pm, I walked over to the plat/gold line, but the lady says she just shut down her computer. Since she made no gesture to help me out at her other computer (which she proceeded to do for the next people in the non-plat/gold line), I checked myself in at the kiosk (no upgrade). I tried to get the parking option but the machine wouldn't recognize it. I figured I'd settle down in my room then call guest services to ask about parking later.

Was in a (very clean) regular club level room on the 8th floor... very far from the elevator. Around 11pm, I dialed 0 for guest services. The phone rang for (no exaggeration) 5 minutes, no one picked up. Hung up. Tried again. No answer again. It was now 11:13pm, and being the internet addict I am, I tried to get online. Turns out there's no wireless in the rooms. It was a little chilly in the room so I tried to turn up the heat. Somehow, the thermostat was place at this spot about 6 feet above the ground… not sure how a short person (like me) is supposed to read/adjust the temperature.

Bathroom/shower was normal, though they only had shampoo, conditioner, and lotion (missing the shower gel and mouthwash that I've gotten at the other Sheratons). The towels were fine, a little rough compared to the reeeally soft and nice ones over at the Westin BP. Oh, while I was taking a shower, I could hear my neighbors talking. That was weird...

Later, I decided to check out the lounge. There were a couple of plates of sweets still out. That was nice. Free wireless there - also nice.

When I checked out in the morning, I found out I'm just supposed to pay parking for the airport, which was $28 a day (no discount with the hotel?).

I guess looking back, there wasn’t anything particularly terrible about the hotel. Just nothing spectacular.

Pros:
Clean room
Seems to be a nice club lounge with always-chilled canned sodas and water
The guy cleaning the lounge at night was really nice

Cons:
Some rooms are really really really far away from the elevator
Lounge opens at 6am for bfast - too late since a lot of flights leave at that time
Parking $$$
Customer service? It was frustrating not being able to reach any staff