In keeping with my TBEX tradition started in Vancouver, I knew I wanted to stay at a boutique hotel during my time in Toronto. Hotel Le Germain Maple Leaf Square seemed to fit the bill perfectly: this 2.5 year old, 167 room property (the largest in the Germain family) was conveniently located two minutes from the Metro Toronto Convention Center.
I was immediately struck by two things: the beautiful design of the hotel & the extreme friendliness of everyone I encountered. The lobby is chic & minimal with a combination of black & white decor mixed with warm, creamy woods. While chatting with Ken, the friendly front desk agent, he wondered if I’d prefer my room be quiet or have a view? “Um, both?,” I replied. He laughed & said that wasn’t possible. I settled on quiet, knowing that sleep would be limited over the next few days.
(C) Christina Saull – All Rights Reserved
I was immediately in love with my room from the moment I walked in. The black & white design & warm wood carried over from the lobby into the room. A giant black & white photograph of a basketball player hung over the bed & I nearly collapsed into the overstuffed chair with a hockey puck shaped ottoman. Choosing “quiet” over “view” meant that my room was tucked into a back corner of the hotel – which was indeed quiet – but also meant that my view was looking directly into the office building next door. Oh well. For the amount of time I spent in the room, quiet trumped view.
The bathroom was what I’d hope to someday have in my own home. The shower/tub combo was huge – definitely deep enough to go for a soak in. The shower featured both a handheld shower head as well as an overhead rain shower head. Instead of having little bottles of shampoo and conditioner, which always seem wasteful, there are large bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash with pumps in the shower. Every morning, I wished there was a hook or shelf in the shower for my washcloth & bar soap, but I made due. The bathroom towels – a hotel pet peeve of mine – were luxurious: huge, fluffy, absorbent & even better than what I have at home! In fitting with the minimalist bathroom theme, there were only two hooks in the entire place: one for a towel, one for a robe. This works well if you’re traveling solo, but might not work as well for a couple.
Continental breakfast is included in your room rate. There was a good selection: pastries (really good chocolate croissants), fresh cut fruit, yogurt, half dozen different granolas, meats & cheeses, breads & Montreal-style bagels. Also available 24/7 to guests were a self-serve coffee machine that made a variety of espresso drinks (we all know what a sucker I am for those!).
The lounge area where breakfast was served was very comfortable. A long bar with high top chairs looks out over Bremner Street & Maple Leaf Square, allowing for great people watching on the weekdays. The MVP Lounge, located adjacent to the breakfast area, has overstuffed chairs & lots of comfortable seating. I wish I had spent time in this relaxing area during my stay- it would be the perfect place to curl up with a laptop or good book. Also in this area is a computer with free (!) printing.
The Hotel Le Germain Maple Leaf Square is pretty much a boutique hotel lovers dream. It’s one of those rare properties that works for a variety of travelers: it would be a comfortable, convenient business hotel; there are special rooms that cater just to families; & it’s the ideal high-end DINK location. Next time I’m in Canada, I wouldn’t hesitate to stay at the Le Germain Maple Leaf Square – or any of the Germain Hotels.
Know if you go…
– keep an eye on your credit card bill. As with many high end hotels, they will run a temporary authorization charge on your card when you check-in. It will total the cost of your entire stay, plus $300 to cover incidentals. A “glitch in the accounting system” ran this charge on my credit card twice & added a couple hundred dollars each time, meaning that for a week after my stay, my available credit on my card was negatively impacted in a pretty big way. Keep an eye on the pending charges on your account & make sure you’ve budgeted properly to avoid any issues.
– each room has a Nespresso machine, which make single or double espresso shots. I understand that the hotel is catering to their European visitors who don’t drink giant cups of coffee in the morning, but I did miss my morning cup of joe (I actually couldn’t find regular coffee anywhere in the hotel outside the room service menu!). Luckily, there’s a Starbucks across the street for my American venti coffee needs.
– the hotel chain did away with in-room bottled water a few years ago & has saved 70,000 plastic bottles from landfills ever since. In its place is a filtered water cooler system stationed at several places in the hallway. There is a carafe located in the room to fill at the water station; however, I just used the water bottle I had brought from home. I love the idea, but it seemed a little cumbersome in execution – I kept forgetting about the carafe & always seemed to climb into bed at night only to realize that my water bottle was almost empty.
– the staff was really wonderful. Any issue – at all – was responded to immediately. They were happy to do everything from bring more closet hangers up to my room at 11:30pm when I was trying to unpack after checking in, to arranging for a car to the airport (arrive in luxury for only $10 more than a cab!).
– the number one most awesome thing about this hotel? Free, high quality, wifi! So many luxury hotels are charging a fortune for wifi – I’ve paid up to $14 per day – that it was refreshing to see a group like Germain Hotels embrace free wifi at all their properties, regardless of price point.
– the location is in convenient to several Toronto attractions, including the CN Tower, the Air Canada Center (where the Raptors & Maples Leafs play), the Rogers Center (where the Blue Jays play) & Union Station, where you can catch commuter trains, the subway & Canada’s VIA Rail. Unfortunately, as with many downtown & touristy areas, there aren’t great food options. However, about a 15 minute walk east is the super cute neighborhood of Old Town. Try C’est What? – a local pub with a giant beer list – & stroll through the aisles of the St. Lawrence Market (note the market is closed on Sunday & Monday).
– since the hotel is so closely tied to its next door neighbor, the Air Canada Centre, the Hotel Germain has chosen to embrace this (when they very easily could have ignored it). Lights in a center column of the hotel illuminate red on Raptors home game days, blue on Maple Leaf home game days. In each room is a huge black & white photo of a Raptors, Maple Leafs or FC Toronto player. The photography is artistic in nature – you never see the person’s face so there’s no celebrity associated with it – but rather features the human form in peak condition. It’s a little startling to walk in the room & see a giant, nearly nude man hanging over your bed, but when you think about it as art, it becomes a beautiful photograph. I asked the hotel if they ever received negative feedback – especially from their straight male guests – & they assured me that, while they do get a LOT of comments, almost none of it is negative.
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