Chinatown Travellers Home — Hotel in Toronto

If all you need is a bed to sleep and a shower, this is the right place.

Pros Rooms and shared bathrooms are very clean. (No shoes are allowed indoor. Marble tile floors are shinning white) Location is convenient - many street car lines, groceries, dim sum and noodles restaurants, coffee shops, massage spa shops, a park, some churches, AGO, Kensington Market, brand name stores, etc are within walking distance. 10 minutes on street cars to Yonge downtown, Eaton Center, CN tower, hospitals, Union Station etc. Supply of shampoo, hand soap, toilet paper; a bath towel per person. (you need to ask the housekeeper for a clean one or you reuse it until you check out) Laundry - Newer machines are on site but are locked in a room. Charging $7 per double load, incl detergent and softener sheet. Since there is no on site attendant, you have to wait until the housekeeper appears and pay her. She will transfer the laundry to the dryer for you. Overall is quiet, if your room is not near either the entrance, the shared bathrooms or the laundry room. Easy check out - just toss your key in a designated bucket and leave. Charge of any damage or use of unassigned beds will come after you.

Cons On site security and safety - no on site attendant at all (no front desk, no public phone). The main entrance has a number lock. The entrance door is not auto-closing, therefore, the property remains unlocked most of the time until a guest closes the door on purpose. The basement door and back door are using simple locks. There is only one fire extinguisher on each floor in the middle of a narrow hallways. The marble tile floor is slippery. The guest rooms are equipped with a smoke alarm, but have no windows and are very tiny. No escape. All the surveillance cameras are not working (each camera has a hanging disconnected cable). Guests are on their own risk in case of a fire or robbery. The kitchen (as advertised) is a joke - no stove, no toaster, no coffee maker, no shared fridge (although some guest rooms may have a fridge). In the basement, in a corner of the hallway, there is a microwave oven and 2 dirty electrical kettles sitting on a bookshelf which is also an open storage of blankets, toilet papers and housekeeping cleaners. No dinning area, no sitting area, no TV. The enclosed porch has converted into a walk-thru office and an area to take off the shoes (put your shoes in a provided plastic bag and take them to your room). No closet, no drawers in the guest room. No clothing hooks some rooms. You leave your luggage on the floor. My room was a storage of business safes, empty box, 2 older electrical fans, an older business machine (covered with a piece of bed sheet to pretend a coffee stand) and a large old fridge which can be used as a dresser (has shelves and a door). If you have big or many luggages, the narrow and steep stairway can be a concern. No elevator. When you check in, you make a phone call at the porch from a designated phone. Some one will walk to the property in 10 minutes and hand you your room key. Except the rule of no-shoes-indoor, verbal communication is very limited. Instructions and rules for guests are posted near the entrance door to read.

Advice Bring your sandals (easier to take off or to change your shoes in winter before you enter the property), bath gels, toothpaste, an a backup toilet paper (no attendant there in case you are running out of it) Bring with you a large ceramic mug (multi-purposed -- to brew your tea/ instant coffee, to microwave a cup of instant noodles, to hold drinking water, and to brush your teeth). You should be able to collect the plastic forks, spoons or chopsticks when you visit the nearby restaurants. You will need a clean shopping bag to hold your clothes in the bathroom. Buy a TTC weekly pass at any train station if you arrive the area between Thursday and Monday midnight. The pass saves you money and time from riding the street...

We first arrived at this hovel to be met by a what you could call a cleaner receptionist who had an earpiece in her ear talking to I don't know who, trying to sign us in. We were ordered to take our shoes off even though she was wearing some herself. We were shown to our room which I can best describe as a box with a small double bed, a table and food up chair. The room stunk of stale feet, upon closer inspection the duvet had stains on it. There was no wardrobe for us to unpack our suitcases so we had to live out of our suitcases. There was no tea or coffee making facilities. No iron or board. To move onto the bathroom very poorly fitted and very dirty, hairs from other users all in the basin and shower tray, very dirty and could smell the drains coming through the plug holes. There was no bins in the room to put rubbish in. We stayed here for 9 days due to budget we could not afford any thing else but what we payed you would expect certain standards. We hired a car too and when we booked was not told of extra payment for a random parking space that was allocated to the hovel. Which was $120 for the time we were there. Was very surprised that there was no night manager on site as the amount of noise coming from other rooms was hideous from furniture being moved in the room above ours. To a couple making out in the room next to us to general doors being slammed at all times of the night and people using the laundry space opposite our room. The lady who dealt with us was miserable and rude with no interaction with the guests she was happier taking your money and disappearing. We had to ask for clean towels after the 5th day of being there and have to ask for the room to be cleaned which in any lodging establishment whether a hostel or hotel cleaning of a room should be done as standard daily! This place was a disappointment beyond my wildest dreams. I will NOT be coming here again and have been in touch with the tourist board in Toronto to complain which we have been told numerous complaints had been made!!! Please avoid people I wouldn't even board a tramp here let alone anyone else!! Plus the list of stuff they had on the wall if it went missing was just ridiculous, Wasn't even...

Worst accommodation ever. Please research well before booking. When I told the name of this place to taxi driver, he advised me to lock the door all the time and never open the door if somebody knocked. I think it's gamble if you can complete whole stay that you originally planned there.

-The owner is rude and greedy, and the staff is unprofessional. -When check-in through the phone, the owner yelled at me and hung up the call. When I asked him for keeping luggage after check-out until same-day night, he proposed 150$... -No response for questions I sent through an app. -Their system is not organized. Just for knowing if laundry machine was available took 5 hours, it gave you unnecessary stress especially if you were a tourist having many plan. The poster explaining about the house's system in rooms is outdated and caused confusion. -No front desk and any common area...your stay would be unpleasant without free drinking water, mug, kettle with hot water... Shared microwave and fridge are in corridor in basement. But as a homeless person checked-in or visited to the floor, I didn't feel safe to keep food there. -Floor is dirty. Bathmat has always pieces of something brown or black. The room I stayed in basement had a small window, but doesn't have any scenery, just has a hole connecting to a pipe. -A male staff living in basement might exceed the boundary between staff and customers. He comes to your room without necessary purpose, for example, telling his recommended restaurants. As a female customer, I was uncomfortable. When I told him that, he got angry and insisted it is for customers, even though I didn't ask it... -No hair drier. -As laundry machine for customer was broken, they allowed me to use machine for staff. The filter of the drier had a thick pile of dust that I wondered why fire didn't occur. They demanded 10$ for laundry cost.

-Location -Still I could save some money...but time is...