A meal that’s as good as any five-star restaurant you’ll find. Comfortable, lie-flat seats with fine French champagne. And a brand new, plush BMW to whisk you to an exclusive suite at Pearson. The folks at Air Canada recently gave a few lucky members of the media a test run of their new Signature Service, which began on Friday for select customers on select flights. If you’re a customer who can afford it or a business person who needs some extra sleep and enjoys a fine meal and being treated like royalty, or if you’re a travel agent booking a Read more
business travel
There’s nothing quite like arriving refreshed after a 14-hour flight to Asia. And I can’t think of a better way to manage that than with a business class ticket on Cathay Pacific. All of us who fly economy, and that’s by far the majority of what I fly, have trudged to our seats at the back of the plane and looked enviously at the folks ensconced in those dreamy pods in the front section. I was lucky enough to fly from Toronto to Hong Kong a couple weeks ago in the biz cabin on Cathay Pacific. And I’m happy to Read more
HONOLULU – That was fun. Air Canada rouge celebrated the return of non-stop service between Toronto and Honolulu on Wednesday with celebrations in both cities. As a winter storm started to develop near southern Ontario (damn, I hate to miss those), the crew on the first Toronto to Honolulu Air Canada rouge flight was gathering at Pearson International Airport with plastic flower leis, papier mache pineapples and other Hawaiian-inspired goodies to get ready for the 3:55 p.m. departure. They cut a ribbon to celebrate the occasion and generally fussed and fawned, catching a few folks by surprise. “We didn’t know Read more
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
The entry of the big boys from Trump and Shangri-La and the new Four Seasons Hotel and the fairly new Ritz Carlton has garnered a lot of attention in Toronto hotel circles. So much so that we (meaning in this case, I), sometimes forget about a very sleek and very convenient hotel right downtown: One King West. The famous tower in the historic (almost 100 years!) bank building at King and Yonge has 330 hotel rooms; all suites with kitchens for the convenience of guests. They do a fair bit of leisure travel, as it’s very convenient to attractions like Read more
