We follow several deal sites to alert us instantly when flight and hotel deals are found online. Back in September 2018, after just returning from our annual trip up to Canada, we received a notice that the Hilton Toronto/Markham Suites Conference Centre had mispriced their Presidential Suite. With rates typically around $700 CAD per night, they were coming up around $135 USD after taxes per night. That was an incredible deal that we just could not pass up.
So a year in advance, we booked the Hilton Presidential Suite for a trip in August 2019.
We love visiting the Toronto area because we use our Cedar Fair Platinum season passes to visit Canada’s Wonderland. The particular weekend we selected also happen to correspond with the Taste of Greece event at Canada’s Wonderland. Plus it would be the first time our kids would get to see the new Yukon Striker roller coaster after my wife and I attended the media event back in April.
When we got to the Hilton property, we were all super impressed with the grand lobby and all of us knew this was not going to be our typical hotel stay. We easily checked in and headed up to our Presidential Suite on the ninth floor of the hotel.
Upon entry to the room, there was a modern hallway with rooms off in each direction.
Immediately to the left was a smaller bathroom complete with walk-in shower and no real door.
To the right was a small kitchen and dining room overlooking the lobby of the hotel.
Straight ahead was the living room with large seating area. All the televisions and lights were on when we entered the room, which was really nice. Plus the TVs had a personalized welcome message for me, which was a nice added touch.
Finally to the far left was the bedroom complete with a king bed and en-suite featuring a soaker tub, shower, toilet and bidet, which of course our kids were fascinated with the idea.
The room was nice, though it said in the listing that it slept 4 guests, but with no second bed. So our two oldest kids slept on the couch, which they were fine with the accommodations.
The hotel in general is part of a much larger complex complete with convention center, shopping and spa. Sadly the pool was just alright and nothing too impressive that one might expect at a premium Hilton property.
The one thing that really bugged us is the property chooses to charge guests for parking. We understand this additional add-on in places like congested cities; however, this hotel is far from Toronto, an airport, etc. It makes no sense why they do not provide complimentary parking for their guests. What was even more baffling is they front desk staff said the police will come around and ticket. Wait, on private property? It was just another money grab and BS charge.
While it was nice to get to stay in a Presidential Suite, the location of the hotel is not quite convenient for visiting Canada’s Wonderland, as it is at least 30 minutes away, assuming traffic is not that bad.
When we came up in April, we made the mistake of taking the 407 and then receive a price gouging bill a month later in the mail. So we were determined to everything in our power to avoid toll roads driving to Canada’s Wonderland on this visit. Unfortunately, that also means dealing with the huge traffic congestion problem plaguing the Toronto area.
This was the first trip to Canada where we really had long waits dealing with traffic. Not only was it bad trying to get to the park and then the hotel, but coming home and trying to cross the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls had long waits. So we redirected towards the Peace Bridge down near Buffalo. Unfortunately, we still ended up sitting in about a 90 wait to get across the border. Not sure what the deal was this trip, but it left us not wanting to return up north for the foreseeable future.
Overall, we still had a fun weekend and really enjoyed getting to stay in the Presidential Suite, though kids, no, we will not be staying there again unless there is another great deal.
