Holiday Inn Waterfront

Good room (Queen with 2 beds); we had hoped to swap for a 1- bed King, but reception said they were fully booked and that anyway it would cost extra. Strange, receptionist (Malik) was more arrogant than helpful. Location great, 3 mins walk to the tour boat jetty. Public transport challenging mainly due to the Downtown bus stand renovation; we asked a driver which bay line 2 (train station) left, and 2 minutes later we saw line 2 departing from another bay around the corner 300 m further! So had to take a cab... Balconies and river view nice (90' angle). Nice buffet breakfast for 22$. Main reason why we did not feel the HI level of quality, next to reception, was the whole motel like setup of the building. All quite bare bones. But they were renovating, that influences the feeling.

The hotel is located downtown on the water (Lake Ontario), very close to many downtown amenities. Our king room was clean and the bed very comfortable. We were very satisfied with the in-house restaurant (the Wharf and Feather), such that we ate both dinners there, first night on the patio and second night indoors (on account of bad weather). The reason for just an average rating is this. The occasion for us being there was my wife's nursing reunion, for which husbands were not invited. This meant time on my own, some of which I had intended to watch TV (golf, baseball and the Belmont Stakes). Unfortunately, there was a malfunction of the TV - it could not bring regular channels, although I could access my bill and pay online. A service person (Mohammed) came to the room and attempted to remedy the situation, without success, but he certainly did try (we were present). Interestingly, the couple with whom we had dinner that evening had the same problem with their TV, leading us to question how widespread the problem might have been. For anyone planning to stay here and intending to watch TV, the first thing I would do is check out the TV before you unpack.

This hotel is in a really great location. Nothing too special about the hotel itself or the rooms, but the harbor view was nice, and the location was super convenient to walk to restaurants! Would definitely stay again if we were in the area.