Earlier this month I stayed three nights at the InterContinental Toronto Centre. The hotel is attached to the Metro Toronto Conference Centre (MTCC) and conveniently located near the downtown Union Station transportation hub.
This is one of two InterContinental Hotels in Toronto. I stayed at both properties for five nights of my Toronto stay this month. My review of IC Toronto Yorkville is here.
I snapped few pictures of the IC Toronto Centre hotel property as I spent most of my time either in my room writing or outside sightseeing. So this will be mostly a written description of the hotel.
The large lobby was often filled with people attending a convention at the MTCC. There were scantily clad bodybuilders all around, men and women, with bulging muscles and massive necks. Businessmen in suits and tourist shoppers with designer bags on their shoulders and in their hands also were in abundance.
My conference meetings were on the far side of the Convention Center and it was about a ten minute indoor walk across the entire convention center complex to go from my hotel room to the conference rooms.
IC Toronto Centre has 28 floors. High floors have good water views if your room is on the harbour view side. My room was on the harbour view side, but I had a room on floor 10 and the views were not so great of the water.
Lake Ontario view is better from higher floors. This is floor 10 view.
The CN Tower view was brilliant at night with red, white and blue colored lights display.
CN Tower at night seen from the IC Toronto Centre.
The room was comfortable with two cushion chairs, a desk chair and great King Bed. The seating arrangement with a couch and chairs was better in the IC Yorkville room where I first stayed.
I prefer the Yorkville location as a neighborhood in Toronto. The Toronto Centre location is better if attending a conference or for proximity to the Toronto harbourfront.
InterContinental Toronto Centre King Bed
Desk area and electronic refrigerator. TV had nice HD selection.
Main complaint about the property was the $28 price for three days of internet. The internet worked fine in the morning, but in the evening the speed slowed to a crawl and effectively prevented me from working.
The hotel removed the internet charge from the bill at checkout with no prompting from me after I mentioned the speed issue. I expect they get plenty of complaints. It was seriously an impediment during my hotel stay.
Standard bathroom.
Agraria toiletries from San Francisco.
The hotel has an indoor pool in the spa. I never went to that section of the hotel during my stay.
The Union Station railroad tracks are adjacent to the InterContinental Hotel. The train noise was not an issue for me. The walkways shown here are convention center walkways between the north and south sides of the MTCC complex bordering both sides of the train tracks. One set of hotel lobby doors lead directly into the MTCC.
InterContinental Toronto Centre is the place to be if you are attending a conference at MTCC. An event at the Rogers Centre (Skydome), CN Tower and Union Station are five minutes walk.
IC Toronto Centre is same vicinity as CN Tower and Rogers Centre (white roof skydome).
St. Lawrence Market District is about 15 minutes walk. The waterfront is three blocks south. Trains and the subway line are at Union Station, but the street and building construction at Union Station with pedestrian detours made the St. Andrew station more convenient to reach for travel to and from the hotel.
IC Toronto Centre is lower tower on far left as seen from the Roundhouse rail exhibit park. The entire area of the Toronto downtown harbour is a noisy environment with construction all around. This city is growing up in new ways.
IC Toronto Centre is tan building on right behind the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
I stayed two nights at InterContinental Yorkville Toronto and it took me about 30 minutes to get from that hotel to the MTCC convention hall rooms. The St. George subway station is one block from IC Yorkville and five stops to St. Andrew station for IC Toronto Centre and MTCC. Subway trains are frequent.
Both Toronto InterContinental Hotels are 40,000 points per night. Rates are typically $200+. I booked five nights in January 2013 during a reward rate glitch when the properties were listed for for two days at 15,000 points. I booked a two night reward stay at IC Toronto Yorkville and three nights at IC Toronto Centre for $70 + 5,000 points per night.
I enjoyed the hotel stays, except for the frustratingly slow internet at IC Toronto Centre in the evening hours.
Here are my other posts about Toronto from the past month.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada (May-June 2013)
- Downtown Toronto North to South part one (June 5, 2013)
- Downtown Toronto North to South part two (June 7, 2013)
- Downtown Toronto North to South part three (June 8, 2013)
- Beer Academy Toronto Memories (June 7, 2013)
- InterContinental Yorkville Toronto hotel review (June 6, 2013)
- Radisson Admiral Toronto Harbourfront review (June 4, 2013)
- Centre Island Toronto photo essay (June 4, 2013)
- Toronto Islands Canoe Paddling Around Wildlife (June 3, 2013)
- High in Toronto up the CN Tower (June 1, 2013)
- Hiking Rouge Park on a sweltering day at TBEX Toronto (May 30, 2013)
Ric Garrido, writer and content owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests.
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