Marriott Downtown at CF Toronto Eaton Centre — Hotel in Toronto

We chose this hotel for our three-night Toronto visit primarily for its central, advantageous location and secondarily to utilize our Marriott Bonvoy membership benefits. This strategic choice offered both convenience and value.||Our stay was excellent, exceeding all expectations. The hotel's amazing location, room quality, cleanliness, and the staff's professionalism truly set it apart. Its key feature is the central position, offering a direct link to the Eaton Centre and immediate proximity to Yonge Street. We particularly enjoyed that most tourist attractions were within a pleasant half-hour walk. Overall, it provided great value, and we would definitely choose to return for future visits to Toronto.||Details on some specifics are as follows:||Check-in and Welcome: Upon arriving at the hotel around 6 pm, we found the check-in process quick and efficient, with staff also offering water. The hotel had already sent details regarding on-site amenities (such as operating hours for lounges and restaurants) via the Marriott app. As a Marriott Bonvoy Platinum member, we were granted lounge access and upgraded to a slightly larger room within the same room category.||Room: The room's layout was notably distinct, featuring a large hallway separating the bathroom and sleeping areas. This design proved beneficial for noise reduction, minimizing disturbances from guests entering adjacent rooms. The bed was spacious and very comfortable, and the entire space maintained a high standard of cleanliness. Standard amenities like a fridge and coffee/tea making facilities were available. The only minor inconvenience stemmed from the room's unique configuration, which positioned the TV in front of the windows, making it tricky to reach the curtains. Otherwise, the room was problem-free.||Service: The hotel staff were exceptionally friendly, providing detailed explanations with a constant smile. They clarified that the complimentary breakfast for Platinum status guests was primarily intended for the lounge, but we were permitted to take any items from the main buffet. Although this made the self-service aspect slightly complicated, the variety and quality of the breakfast offerings were outstanding, and we thoroughly enjoyed it every morning. Furthermore, the lounge consistently provided good coffee and light snack options daily. A significant positive was that, unlike some other Marriott locations, the lounge was consistently cleaned and well-stocked. It was always a pleasure to return to the hotel and relax with a cup of tea in the lounge before bed.||Location: The hotel boasts an exceptionally central location, comparable to staying in a vibrant area like Times Square in New York. Its proximity to the Eaton Centre and Yonge Street provides numerous activities and attractions right on the doorstep. Furthermore, we found the location ideal for easy access to all major tourist sites and the airport. We highly recommend this hotel purely for its unbeatable location.||Gym/Pool: The rooftop amenities offered a mix of disappointment and potential. We had looked forward to using the pool and jacuzzi; however, the jacuzzi was unfortunately out of service. The pool area itself reflected the building's age and did not seem particularly appealing. We believe redecorating this space would transform it into a wonderful guest amenity. In contrast, the gym appeared well-equipped and boasted excellent views from the top floor, though we did not use it during our stay.||Overall: Our stay was so enjoyable that we were genuinely reluctant to leave the hotel. The only notable drawback was the disappointment we felt regarding the pool area; otherwise, we had absolutely no complaints. We were very satisfied with the hotel's location and the excellent comfort provided by the rooms. While the rooms were comfortable, a few technological enhancements—such as a single master switch for all lights or more intuitive electronic curtain controls—could elevate the comfort level further. Despite these minor suggestions, it was a very comfortable stay, and we would certainly contemplate a...

The bad and 'meh' parts of my experience were pretty significant for a 4 star hotel. I went in expecting a certain level of attention to detail and service and was a bit disappointed.

On the first night, I could hear someone with a terribly loud cough loudly hacking away at 2am from below me. It went on for 15min so I called the front desk and asked if there was anything they could do. They sent security to my floor and said they caught someone with loud music (which I didn't hear at all) but no coughing. I explained that it was the floor below me and requested to move rooms if the person was staying for the whole week. They sent security back to my floor and reported they could not find the source of the coughs. Thus, began my week of falling asleep to the sounds of wheezes and coughs.

Upon waking up and getting ready for work, I checked out the breakfast buffet before I was asked for my room number and immediately informed that it was not included (unless I wanted to pay ~$30). What ensued was me ordering the most expensive eggs benny I've ever had yet it was only okay and took over 20min to arrive despite most guests opting for the buffet. I got breakfast from down the street from that point onwards. Compared to food in nearby restaurants, the restaurant attached to the lobby is not really worth the steep price or wait unless you have it included in your package.

I got home late one night and ordered some soup via DoorDash. Once I realized no spoon or fork was included, I asked the front desk if they could send up some cutlery. They sent up two forks and two knives. No spoon. Most of my soup went to waste because I didn't want to pester or complain but it was too messy to slurp from the bowl due to the bowl's design.

There was a mini fridge included in the room but there is no way to heat up food that I was able to find. I left out my leftover containers with a note requesting staff to throw it out. I came back later that day to find it all neatly stacked on the coffee table so I'm guessing they either couldn't or didn't read my note. I then carefully tried to aŕrange it all in the tiny trash can under the desk and prayed nothing would spill or drip before the next cleaning.

On the last night, I came back to the hotel after an evening of drinking and watching baseball. I decided to give room service one more try because I was parched and the mini fridge had frozen my water bottles. I ordered a brownie, a bottle of 7up and a bottle of water via the QR code on my nightstane which worked out to over $20. A toffee pudding showed up with nothing else, but before I realized the dessert was wrong, I asked if they could bring up my drinks. A can of 7up and a water bottle appeared a short time after. They must have come from a vending machine on a different floor because the one on mine was not operating when I tried to buy from it earlier. So essentially, I was majorly overcharged. :(

Wifi was not included, an extra $18/day or something like that. I ended up leveraging my cellphone's hotspot mode for my entire stay. It's a little weird that Best Western can afford to include WiFi but Marriott can't despite the premium price.

Lastly, my employer booked my accommodations and had everything charged to their corporate card. For some reason, this worked for all of my coworkers but not me so I had to front a $3k hotel charge. Thank god I brought a back-up credit card.

The main pluses of the stay were how the cleaning staff arranged all of my belongings neatly at the sink, the ease of the drycleaning service, and I liked the tiny bottles of essential oils to spritz on my pillow every night. It was also only a short 5min walk from my office and the staff are polite and pleasant, answering all my questions prior and during my stay.

Not my worst Marriott experience but I have not been having the best luck with this company in recent years. It has the look and some of the amenities of a 4 star hotel but it honestly felt like two 3 star hotels in a trenchcoat at the...

Edit: August 2024

I must say that it pains me to write a negative review about this hotel however it needs to be said. We came back here for a visit and the property standards have taken a severe decline. In fact I asked today if a leadership change had taken place as the quality of the stay is so much different. I am a Titanium Marriot Member. I say this to simply say, I stay in a lot of Marriott Properties. This property is now on par with a Courtyard experience, in fact, I have had better experience with a Courtyard property recently. Not meant to knock Courtyards as they are great cheaper options. This hotel is supposed to be mid to higher in quality. I keep that in mind as well as I do frequent the St. Regis and Ritz Carlton properties as well.

Concierge Lounge:

Was one of the best in this category of hotel. Now, is one of the worst, if not, the worst. Staff are great, food is terrible, with exception of breakfast, however I did even notice some cutbacks in the lounge with regard to the breakfast. For example, no ready made coffee! Only a machine! No juice options other than orange. Food display in the morning in the lounge is very sparse.

Food throughout the day is awful. Used to have chips, cookies, pretzels, nuts, nutritional options. The hot options used to be excellent! They have been replaced with very low grade cheep items and not well stocked. Now serving gummies, stale yogurt pretzels, apples. For the hot items. We arrived on the first day and there was one chicken wing, was never replenished, cheese that had sat out so long it was sweating. The pita bread was good, veggies were good, however even the pita bread was getting crispy from being out.

Rooms do not smell as clean as they used too, and some of common areas also have an odour. Likely due to a change in cleaning materials being used.

I have brought my concerns to the hotels attention. I have been told everything from the changes are to help the environment, to the hotel is trying to do more “in house” food items rather than packed items. I was told the changes are because of COVID, that’s why there is not chips or nuts in the lounge. Apparently two many “hands” would get the bowls, however somehow gummies and yogurt pretzels are immune from that as they are served in that fashion.

My take, nothing to do with environment. Lots of properties have been able to accomplish this without taking value from the experience. This is a hotel management that has clearly lost its pride in excellence. Very sad!

Original Review Below:

Stay was good at this hotel. The club lounge was a great. Very much enjoyed the food. Breakfast is amazing. Really appreciated how the lounge is open and managed. No one hounding as you enter asking your room number. You have a key, so you are good. Really appreciated this! Hotel has undergone some renovations in recent years. We would have given 5 stars however the temperature in the rooms seems to be locked at 20.5 degrees. Will not go lower. Room was very hot when get a family in a small space. Will not come back in the summer months that’s for sure. Otherwise a great hotel. Just may want to find a hotel with better in room ventilation for the...