A new, welcoming lobby. Refreshed suites. And a remarkable new restaurant and bar with excellent food and an interior meant to mimic the inside of a whiskey bottle.
Canada’s first St. Regis Hotel opened officially in Toronto on Wednesday, promising “world-renowned, bespoke service, signature rituals and exquisite culinary offerings.”
The St. Regis Toronto is at Bay and Adelaide in the heart of the booming financial district, with access to public transit and major amenities, including the Eaton Centre and Roy Thomson Hall. It was formerly The Adelaide. Prior to that it served as the troubled Trump Hotel and Residences.
St. Regis is part of the Marriott chain and promises to be a terrific addition to Toronto’s already sizeable luxury hotel market.
Owned by Innvest, the hotel is promising “a new era of glamour.” They kicked things off with a ribbon cutting on Wednesday that included Toronto Mayor John Tory, as well as a display of the famous St. Regis sabre-champagne ceremony (click here for a video) in which a butler cleanly slices the cork out of a bottle of bubbly with one swift stroke.
The Louix Louis restaurant and grand bar on the 31st floor of the new St. Regis Toronto. JIM BYERS PHOTO
“As the first St. Regis in Canada, The St. Regis Toronto represents an incredible milestone for the brand,” said Don Cleary, President of Marriott International in Canada. “Rooted in the brand’s distinct history and heritage, The St. Regis Toronto will offer an exquisite escape for business and leisure travelers alike.”
Rising 65-stories above Canada’s international enclave for business and culture, the hotel “is a beacon on the Toronto skyline, offering visitors a remarkably central location between the entertainment and financial districts.”
The property boasts 258 spacious guest rooms, including 124 luxury suites – the most suites of any luxury hotel in Canada.
Designed by DesignAgency and Chapi Chapo Design, the hotel reflects the layered and diverse cultural history of Toronto, the unique landscape of the Ontario province, and the rich social fabric of the people that make up the city.
Elton John recently stayed in the John Jacob Astor suite at the St. Regis Hotel in Toronto. JIM BYERS PHOTO
“The St. Regis Toronto will offer guests unmatched accommodations, personalized service and incredible amenities in one of the world’s most exciting destinations,” said Tim Terceira, General Manager of The St. Regis Toronto. “Enriching the local luxury hospitality landscape and introducing a new era of glamour, The St. Regis Toronto looks forward to sharing the St. Regis experience with both guests and locals.”
“We as a company have quite a few leading luxury brands” said Paul Cahill, SVP, Global Brand Leader Marriott International, who spends five or six days a week looking after Marriott hotels in Canada. “Their clearly is demand for luxury product in our space in Canada, specifically in the larger markets, and Toronto being the largest market. If you look at the top five North American cities, you can see five, six or seven of our luxury brands there. So,you can clearly see there was an opportunity to have more than one or two in Toronto. The St. Regis brand is a very powerful brand and we felt very comfortable bringing it to Canada. It’s clearly iconic luxury.”
Tory said Toronto received 44 million visitors last year and is keen to improve its tourism offerings.
“People who come to the St. Regis to visit are more likely to stay in the city and invest in Toronto,” he said.
Tory also noted that National Geographic this week named Toronto one of the world’s top destinations for 2019.
A cool mural adorns the ceiling of Louix Louis at the new St. Regis Toronto hotel. JIM BYERS PHOTO
Cahill told me the hotel also plans a special midnight supper, which should be unveiled some time in December.
Guests will enjoy the brand’s signature St. Regis Butler Service, which offers unparalleled, around-the-clock service and customizes each guest’s stay according to their tastes and preferences. This hallmark service includes unpacking and packing, beverage service and garment pressing. The hotel will also introduce eButler chat – where guests can contact their Butler through the Marriott Mobile App, available 24 hours a day.
An exciting addition to Toronto’s ever-evolving food scene, the hotel will unveil two unique culinary venues to the city, including LOUIX LOUIS, grand bar and restaurant on the hotel’s 31st floor, and Astor Lounge, a lobby-level café lounge.
Helmed by Executive Chef Guillaume Robin, LOUIX LOUIS offers a menu of “contemporary American cuisine with French technique.”
The squash soup with maple is a heavenly dish at Louix Louis, located inside the new St. Regis Toronto hotel. JIM BYERS PHOTO
The restaurant and bar aren’t due to open to the public until Dec. 6, but the media and others were given a sneak peek yesterday. Chef Guillaume served up wonderful smoked trout and an outstanding squash soup with maple. The branzino was perfect, and the Tea and Honey dessert looked terrific. Presentation was outstanding on most dishes.
The interior space at LOUIX LOUIS (I can’t help singing the 60’s tune ‘Louie Louie’ when I write this) pays homage to the city of Toronto’s distilling history with a design that’s meant to evoke the feeling of being inside a whiskey bottle; with gold, shiny tones, a swirling mural on the ceiling and glass light fixtures that resemble an ice cube dropped into a glass of Canadian whiskey. The first of its kind in Toronto, the two-storey grand bar offers an extensive spirit list, including one of the deepest dark spirit collections in the country. LOUIX LOUIS also provides a second-level loft space available for private bookings and an outdoor secret garden overlooking Toronto’s skyline and Lake Ontario.
The St. Regis’ signature Bloody Mary cocktail (served at all 44 St. Regis properties around the world) has also been given a local twist at LOUIX LOUIS. Named the “Rouge 140” the cocktail pays tribute to Toronto as the most multicultural city in the world, with over 200 cultures and 140 languages spoken. With flavours including soy, oven roasted red pepper, tomato juice, chili, and a special blend of spices, a multitude of flavours from the various cultures represented in Toronto are featured in the Rouge 140 to honour the people of the city.
The lobby at the new St. Regis Toronto has been re-imagined and is much more open and bright than in its days as The Trump Hotel. JIM BYERS PHOTO
Cahill told me some items might be available at the bar but not listed on the menu, allowing regulars to come up with their own special item.
The hotel lobby will house Astor Lounge, a café counter and living room-style space that will serve Afternoon Tea on weekends and transform each evening with a brand ritual of champagne sabering at 5:00 pm for seated guests.
I had a quick look at the John Jacob Astor suite, which has two bedrooms and some 2,000 square feet of space. I was told Elton John stayed here for a month during his recent North American tour, flying back to Toronto after concerts all around the continent.
The St. Regis Toronto’s 12,000 square foot event spaces can accommodate gatherings of all kinds, from executive meetings to extraordinary celebrations. Dynamic 30th-floor meeting rooms offer sweeping views of downtown and can be custom-tailored with St. Regis and Astor Ballrooms connecting via a grand staircase on the 9th and 10th floors. The hotel also offers guests the opportunity to escape to Canada’s highest urban luxury oasis at the Spa at The St. Regis Toronto. Located on the 31st and 32n d floors, the Spa includes an infinity-edge saltwater lap pool with beautiful panoramic views of the Toronto skyline and state-of-the-art fitness centre on the 32nd floor featuring a movement studio for yoga and pilates.
Other Marriott projects are on the way in other parts of Canada, including Edmonton’s first JW Marriott, slated to open in December.
The new St. Regis Toronto hotel is in the heart of the city at Bay and Adelaide. JIM BYERS PHOTO
For more information on The St. Regis Toronto, visit https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/yyzxr-the-st-regis-toronto/ or follow Instagram and Facebook. To learn more about LOUIX LOUIS, visit louixlouis.com or follow Instagram and Facebook.
About St. Regis Hotels & Resorts
Combining classic sophistication with a modern sensibility, St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, part of Marriott International, Inc., is committed to delivering exceptional experiences at over 40 luxury hotels and resorts in the best addresses around the world. Since the opening of the first St. Regis hotel in New York City over a century ago by John Jacob Astor IV, the brand has remained committed to an uncompromising level of bespoke and anticipatory service for all of its guests, delivered flawlessly by signature St. Regis Butler Service. For more information and new openings, visit stregis.com or follow Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. St. Regis is proud to participate in the company’s award-winning loyalty programs – Marriott Rewards®, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards®, and Starwood Preferred Guest® (SPG). The programs, operating under one set of unparalleled benefits, enable members to earn points toward free hotel stays, achieve Elite status faster than ever, and seamlessly book or redeem points for stays throughout our loyalty portfolio of 29 brands and more than 6,700 participating hotels in 130 countries & territories. To enroll for free or for more information about the programs, visit members.marriott.com.
About Marriott International, Inc.
L to R: Paul Cahill of Marriot, Mayor John Tory, Lydia Chen of Innvest and Tim Terceira from the St. Regis Toronto cut the ribbon to open the St. Regis Toronto hotel.
Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) is based in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, and encompasses a portfolio of more than 6,700 properties in 30 leading hotel brands spanning 129 countries and territories. Marriott operates and franchises hotels and licenses vacation ownership resorts all around the world. The company also operates award-winning loyalty programs: Marriott Rewards®, which includes The Ritz-Carlton Rewards®, and Starwood Preferred Guest®. For more information, please visit our website at www.marriott.com, and for the latest company news, visit www.marriottnewscenter.com. In addition, connect with us on Facebook and @MarriottIntl on Twitter and Instagram.
