Always Unique, Always Memorable

There’s something about a site inspection of the Park Hyatt Toronto.

Over the years I’ve taken numerous clients to tour their facilities. The experience is anything but “cookie cutter”.

We’re talking about an industry where the product is differentiated more by service than anything else. After all, a bed is a bed is a bed, and a function room is no more than a big empty box. The Park Hyatt Toronto recognizes and capitalizes on its key selling points while addressing the client’s and the program’s unique requirements. At the same time they turn the site inspection itself into what you hope your meeting or function to be: a meaningful experience, to inspire and/or be remembered.

Just sayin’.

And the Winner is...

My (admittedly biased) pick for Best Scene in an Oscar-nominated film: the zero-gravity hotel in Inception.

Enjoy the Academy Awards this Sunday.

In the Vault

Really – you can have your meeting or event *inside* a real bank vault.

The repurposed space is a remnant of the building's former life as the head office of Canada's first bank. One King West - the hotel, which opened in 2006 - has retained its original circular door (four feet thick and weighing 40 tonnes) making The Vault a unique meeting venue and popular topic of conversation. One King West is currently using it as a temporary restaurant while renovations continue to its lobby – expanding Henri’s Bar, adding an internet lounge, and reconfiguring the area where the breakfast buffet is normally staged.

One of the hotel's other prime meeting spaces is the Banking Hall, with ornate two-storey high ceilings and purportedly the "longest bar in North America", modelled after the original tellers' counter.

One King West specializes in extended stays, offering both kitchen and laundry facilities in each of its modern suites, but is equally suited for shorter stays and medium-sized corporate meetings & events.

A Refreshing Brand Standard

Free bottled water in Four Points by Sheraton guestrooms.

Oh - and free Internet, too.

Finding Nemo a Room with a View

The Canadian design company Umbra - celebrating 30 years of adding fun and style to our most basic household objects - has come up with this fun and funky fishbowl inspired, one supposes, by a stay in a hip boutique hotel.

Hotel Restaurants To Dine For

 

According to the 2011 Edition of Toronto Life's Eating and Drinking Guide: "The rise of boutique accommodation has rescued hotel dining from the days of rubber chicken."  Their fave five?

1.  The Drake
2.  Lai Wah Heen in The Metropolitan Hotel
3.  Victor in Le Germain
4.  One in The Hazelton Hotel
5.  Scarpetta in The Thompson Hotel

On newsstands now. Bon Appetit!

Le Germain No. 5

Le Germain Maple Leaf Square is the fifth property to join the stylish portfolio of Canadian-owned and-operated boutique hotels identified by the small “g” logo.

Ultra-modern rooms feature the chain’s signature see-through showers, exceptionally large work space, both black-out and white-out blinds, and, over the bed, large black and white photos depicting the biceps or torsos of anonymous Toronto athletes. The hotel’s proximity to both the Air Canada (attached by “pedway”) and Rogers Centres makes it a natural choice for sports fans. Indeed, a special relationship with Maple Leaf Entertainment affords guests with front-of-the-line ticket opportunities. The hotel also as an “in” with the insanely popular “Real Sports” bar; home of north America’s biggest indoor screen.

Guests enjoy complimentary breakfast in a spacious lounge open all day for their exclusive use. A Tapas menu is available in the lobby bar, and the restaurant e11even (as in the 11 points of a maple leaf; e11even also has a private dining room for groups.

Meeting rooms are modest in size (as befits a boutique hotel) and are cleverly branded with sports names: the Neutral Zone, the Penalty Box, etc.

Easing into the market, Le Germain Maple Leaf Square should be fully operational in January 2011.