BISHA, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Toronto — Hotel in Toronto

My fiancee and I arrived at the Bisha Hotel and learned that it had only joined Marriott Hotels a mere eight days earlier. I wouldn't have known had I not been told by Maria who greeted us at the front desk. I have stayed at many Marriott hotels in several countries while on business travel, including Marriott Luxury Collection Hotels, and The Bisha Hotel is indeed worthy of the Luxury Collection moniker.||The hotel is located in a fantastic location adjacent the CN tower in the heart of the entertainment district, making it an ideal base for attending shows downtown. Despite arriving early we were checked in immediately and given a room upgrade. By the time we were done at the desk our bags had been unloaded from our vehicle by Mark, were on the way up to our room, and our vehicle was being parked. The professionalism and demeanor of Maria, Mark, the front office manager Jacob, the servers at KOST on the 44th floor (fantastic breakfast options & stunning view), the servers at the lobby bar (Ladies try a Dragon’s Whisper), the cleaning lady I met in the hallway, and quite literally every employee we encountered, were friendly, knowledgeable beyond the domain of their immediate role, and frankly, seemed genuinely delighted to speak with us or help to improve our stay in any way possibly. The service was, in a word, astounding. If you remain unconvinced, read on.||The second night of our stay we had dinner reservations at Akira Back which is attached to the hotel. I called the front desk to confirm the location so we weren't late for dinner and the line was busy. I didn't care to leave a message and figured we would just ask at the from desk on our way there. I hadn't even put on my shoes and someone called the room back and answered my question. Simple as this may seem, in my experience concerned call backs to guest hang-ups is atypical even at high end hotels. ||Regarding the Akira Back restaurant itself, the first thing to know is that the restaurant is accessed from outside, but only a mere 10 feet from the hotel entrance. So a jacket is optional if you are headed back to your room after your meal. Exceptionalism points for Bisha would be to create direct indoor restaurant access for guests with a reservation, perhaps via one's room card having time enabled access into the restaurant via the service elevator. (Don't ask how I know that might be possible :) Suffice it to say, the staff at Akira Back restaurant also go above and beyond to exceed all expectations. Our waiter had clearly eaten his way through the menu and made some solid recommendations. The manager who's name sadly escapes me, paid us a visit as we finished our dessert to ask about our meal, what we enjoyed most, what brought us to the restaurant, and to Toronto in general. Again, as with Bisha staff, his inquiry seemed to emanate from a sincere interest in our culinary experience and origin story more broadly. As for the food, it was superlative. If you are a foodie who enjoys Japanese and Korean fare, then you are in good hands here as the food is indeed of Michelin Star quality. We highly recommend the chef's surprise and the chocolate in a cup dessert, which sounds and looks rather simple, at least until you dig into it. ||For those wisely skeptical of rave online culinary reviews, I bestow the praise above in contrast to the highest of possible baselines. A mere ten days prior I dined at the two Michelin Starred Claude Bosi in London England. I'm not saying that Akira Back is equivalent to Claude Bosi, rather, that my expectations were extraordinarily high at the time we dined at Akira Back. Nevertheless, neither I nor my fiancee were disappointed. ||(As an aside for foodies - Claude Bosi set a nearly impossible bar to meet. If you're in London, I suggest the Chefs Signature Tasting Menu with the equally impressive wine pairing. Zero. Regrets. Seriously. The architecture, decore, and history of the building, of which the staff are well versed, is an added bonus to the experience.)||The only regret we have regarding the Bisha Hotel, is that we were unable to enjoy the rooftop pool and patio connected to KOST because it's still winter. No matter; We shall return! I could go on and provide further examples of the many small details that made our short stay at Bisha Toronto exceptional, but why not just go experience it...

OVERPRICED & TEY DO NOT CARE OF GUESTS

Based on all my observations and interactions with hotel staff, I do not recommend anyone to rent this venue for presentations because you will either overpay or they will try to sabotage your event and then blame you for not wanting to be overcharged.

The organization held a presentation event in the Sky suite and invited me as the technical director for AV.

The event organizers were shocked that a simple hookup for computers with PowerPoint presentations to the projector would cost them more than $4,500. The estimate provided by Quest AV seemed inflated, and indeed it was. Quest AV offered a lot of unnecessary equipment and even a three-ton truck to bring in a 10-kilogram sound mixer. They rented out a Slide Advancer, which costs $25 new, for $90 a day. Similar markups applied to all other equipment and services related to the event. Presumably, they counted on most clients approving estimates without expertise in the field, thus allowing the company to earn more.

It seems that the hotel management is closely tied to Quest AV, supporting and covering for each other.

I got the impression that after the event organizers declined the services of Quest, everything was done to sabotage my clients' presentation.

Further details:

My clients ordered the basic AV package, which includes the use of a projector, sound, and HDMI cable.

The presentation computers were supposed to be connected to HDMI outlets, which are plentiful in the room's walls. The video was to be projected from a projector suspended from the ceiling and controlled by remote. The sound was to be transmitted from speakers in the ceiling. All control of this system was supposed to be done from one panel in the same room.

A day before the event, I met with the hotel manager, Enrico. He assured me that the manager working in this room on the day of the presentation, named Mustafa, would be aware of everything we needed and would know how to operate this panel. No operation instructions or manuals were provided.

On the day of the presentation, it turned out that it was impossible to turn on the projector from the panel.

The hotel staff allegedly never found the projector remote control. We turned on the projector from a makeshift chair.

In addition, none of the wall outlets, of which there were more than 10, were working. The names of all the outlets in the panel had been manually removed and replaced with blank cells.

Hotel manager Enrico appeared several times for a couple of minutes and each time repeated the same phrase: "You're having trouble because you didn't hire Quest, they know how to operate this equipment." Although the day before the presentation, he promised that any assistance from the hotel staff would be provided.

Manager Mustafa was only useful in arranging whiskey glasses and bringing in extra chairs. We didn't notice any other help from him.

Fifteen minutes before the start of the presentation, we couldn't get any help from the hotel staff except for the promise that they would call a technician who is familiar with the system.

Since the outlets connected to the projector and speakers were manually disconnected, we had no choice but to connect the cable directly from the computer to the projector. We also used our backup speaker.

Despite the hotel being new and operating since 2017, some curtains are already broken. Furthermore, the curtains are narrower than the windows, and strips of backlight shine onto the screen, hindering the perception of information.

At 4 p.m., when more than half of the presentation was already done, a technician from Quest suddenly appeared, saying he was ready to fix everything now. It was simply mocking. The presentation started at 11 a.m., and the technician appeared 5 hours later.

Then Enrico appeared again and repeated that if we had hired Quest, they would have known what to do from the beginning.

There’s no parking...

I greatly enjoyed my stay here! Usually I don't splurge for something more luxury when I go on vacations since I'm more of a walk around all day and check things out kind of traveler but this hotel ended up being a competitive price to other chain hotels that I'd say are around 3 stars. I also got several amazing perks through Amex including breakfast and incidental credits which definitely helped and I think an upgrade (I had booked the smallest room, the Nina, and ended up with a nicer one).

The check in process was easy and I was able to check in a bit early and the front desk person was apologetic for the wait for housekeeping and kept updating me on the status every ten or so minutes since it took a while but again... I was early for check in and they'd upgraded me. Plus he was conscientious of if I had other plans but honestly I wanted to clean up after the flight so it wasn't a big deal and the lobby was comfortable enough to hang out in for a bit. From then on out everyone in the hotel was friendly and they check in on you through text chat if you need anything or have any questions.

The room was always nice and housekeeping kept it very clean. The heated floors were nice and the bathroom and bedroom were big (I did get an upgrade as mentioned previously). The TV stand is different than I've seen before and is encased and swivels so you can watch from the couch or TV. Linens felt cozy and comfy but I would say whatever mattress/mattress topper/protector they use is quite warm along with the comforter. I did wish I had a less heavy blanket bc I was sweating most nights 😅 that's a personal problem though and might have been solved if I kept the room colder. I imagine in winter it's perfect. If I go here again I would probably try and request something like a lighter blanket...

The restaurant KOST was good for breakfast every day and the staff there was friendly as well. It does lean on the more expensive side but again I'm probably not the typical client staying here since I saw a lot of people here for business reasons in suits and whatnot. I also liked French Made the couple times I went to get a drink or a pastry. I wish I'd had a chance to try the other restaurants but I wasn't able to fit them in with all the other cool things to do in Toronto.

Street cars are easy to access from this hotel. The ones I used the most were on King St (North of hotel) and Spadina (west of hotel). Subway is a bit more of a walk (not far to someone who lives in a US city though). Union station is also a bit of a walk but I noticed most people traveled by car or Uber when coming or leaving this hotel so it's not a big deal. I ended up walking to the hotel from Union but I pack relatively light. I did take the street car partway back on my checkout date though and would recommend it. You can checkout by text somewhat, although I ended up stopping at the front desk to check on my receipt. They offer help with luggage...