Great downtown Toronto location? Check. Sleek room design with a kitchen and laundry? Check. Chic lobby with a giant bank vault in the basement and a huge, grand hall upstairs? You got it. I had a chance to bed down at the historic 1 King West Hotel and Residences on the weekend and came away hugely impressed. I had a model suite and not all rooms look like mine just yet, but I’m told they’re being renovated and mine will be pretty typical. The suite I had on the 10th floor was quite large and comfortable; probably 425 square feet. Read more

It’s almost V-D time, folks. As in Valentine’s Day. Not the other kind of V.D. We all could use a getaway round about this time of year. And it’s always good to impress your significant other. With that in mind, here’s one well-travelled guy’s list of some of the most romantic hotels in Canada. Wickaninnish Inn, Tofino, B.C. A true sense of place, plus a wonderful restaurant steps from a long beach just made for strolling hand in hand. Try a couples massage just a few feet from the pounding surf. Prince of Wales Hotel, Niagara-on-the-Lake Stroll the quiet streets Read more

Maybe we’re just too guilty. A fun study by cheapflights.ca finds that Canadians get most stressed on their holidays by the folks at customs and immigration. Asked what causes us to fuss the most when we travel, 27 per cent of Canadians said it was those nice, inquiring folks at immigration and customs. Who, I must say, generally are pretty good. Not all, but most. Still, I tend to agree. Even when I haven’t bought anything other than a travel magazine or a t-shirt I always feel a bit apprehensive approaching that desk and those men and women in uniforms. Read more

Pretty cool report the other day from hotels.com showed that Toronto is now the third most booked international city for U.S. travellers. The report, which analyzed bookings on hotels.com, found that U.S. travel types booked the most rooms in London, followed by Paris. Toronto was number three, moving ahead of Rome. Which is pretty cool. After Rome, in position five, was Vancouver, followed by Tokyo, Hong Kong, Montreal, Barcelona and Niagara Falls. It’s a not a definitive study in that it only takes into account bookings on one website. But it’s encouraging for Toronto and Canadian tourism types, I’d think… Read more

Earlier this week I was talking about the latest Canadian/American Automobile Association ratings and noted that Canada now has 11 combined hotels and restaurants with five-diamond ratings, the top award they give out. Now comes another series of ratings, this time from the travel folks at Forbes. They’ve got a pretty different list. Radically different, actually. Most notable, I think, is that both Forbes and the Automobile Association folks put the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto on their five-diamond (five-star for Forbes) list. That means the Four Seasons flagship property (in Yorkville) is the only property in Canada to have Read more

Sex on the Beach is apparently more than just a cocktail for Canadians. A great new study by the folks at Expedia.ca finds that 22 per cent of Canadians surveyed admit to “getting frisky” on the sand while on holidays. Which should put the lie to that stereotype of button-down, buttoned-up Canucks, right? Actually, the provincial breakdown is pretty interesting. A full 28 per cent of Quebeckers say they’ll get down on the beach, while a pretty sizeable 25 per cent of Ontario folks said they do the same. Folks in British Columbia may think they’re all trendy and cutting-edge Read more