Holiday Inn Toronto-Yorkdale

Been staying here a couple times a year for better than ten years. Rooms are decent and comfortable enough (3 star). Staff are normally excellent and the pool is nice if you like swimming in front of people dining. Bar is HORRIBLE!!! Nothing has changed in the bar in a decade or more. Same mediocre beer (not a single craft beer) and standard cocktail offerings with cloudy ice. Sushi bar is also mediocre at best. Ordered a love boat which was supposed to be a selection of 6 nigiri and a rainbow roll. I got 5 pieces of salmon and a shrimp and the rainbow roll was covered with salmon and avocado only. No Tuna even though it’s advertised that way.
Bottom line is that it’s comfortable to sleep here but walk across the street for updated beer, cocktail and food offerings unless you are comfortable in 1999.

Ordered food for room service. Very disappointed. The cheese in the cheese pizza was burnt, soup too spicy to handle and bread so dry! The only good thing was the water.
Requested for toothbrush and toothpaste since my stay was unplanned and it never came! Will not stay here again.

My boyfriend and I stayed here for Riot Fest this year. We’re from Cleveland and didn’t have a ton of time in Toronto so we needed a hotel close to the festival. Last year we stayed at a nearby hotel but we also brought our dogs and had more time so our needs were pretty different. The hotel itself was nice, although during our stay the elevators broke (ALL of the elevators, not just one), so we had to walk up and down six flights to go anywhere. I was just grateful not to be on a higher floor at that point. The staff was pretty friendly, especially for having to deal with a bunch of muddy little punks, but the Toronto crowd for the festival is better than other shows we’ve been to. I think some of the musicians stay there too, so that’s cool. The parking is a bit awkward, you have to drive through a car dealership parking lot to get to it. It’s also difficult for Über drivers to find we figured out. Overall we enjoyed ourselves and it was a clean hotel.

I stayed for one night since I was in Toronto for a 2-​day workshop. The stay was nice, the room was fine with it being well air-​conditioned and provided with the basic amenities. Despite being on the second floor, my room was well-​isolated from outside sounds. The bed was near, clean and comfy for the sleep in. The prices are what they are and since TIFF is also occurring, I expected that. I chose the option which included breakfast and was pleased with both the breakfast staff and then breakfast selection. They offer to make omelette for you and you have a variety of other food stuffs to choose from.
My only qualm is that the hotel is far from downtown. Sure, it’s off the TTC metro line (once your traverse the behemoth of a mall), but it still takes your approx. 40 mins from hotel to union station (barring any random TTC metro stoppages).
I would stay again however, being that far away from Toronto Downtown, you should prepare beforehand for the time loss of 1.5 hours back and forth.

The staff and management at the hotel are fabulous. However, My husband and I booked a room with two beds. There was no place to tick off for a handicapped accessible room, so I wrote that in the «notes» section. We booked through
. We received confirmation and so were very surprised when we arrived to find that all the «accessible» rooms in the chain have only ONE bed. A pull out couch is available, if you want to pay hotel rates for that. The room would be very difficult or actually impossible for disabled travelers to even enter since the door is a standard hotel room door requiring key card access and then pushing and keeping open the heavy door ahead of you. We wound up asking for a regular room; which we were given immediately, but my husband’s walker just made it through the door (with me holding it open). There was actually more room to move around in the regular room than there was in the «accessible» one. However, the bathroom was a tight fit for an able bodied person! My husband managed to make it in by leaving his walker at the bathroom door and holding on to the sink vanity. A wheelchair used would most likely not be able to use the bathroom at all. The tub/​shower was impossible for him to use. Whoever designed the «accessible» rooms has absolutely no real life experience either as a disabled person or someone traveling with a disabled person and certainly did not consult with anyone with any mobility disabilities. We were disappointed to find that this is a chain-​wide situation. The staff, who clearly had no part in the design and building of the rooms, was very, very accommodating in helping us whenever they could, which is very nice, but does not resolve the
the end, our bill was NOT at the rate we confirmed at and in fact was «rolling upward»! $ 10 more each night than the previous night! When I presented my confirmation information they immediately adjusted the charges downward but I was shocked to see that the rate was changing daily for others. I have never seen a «rolling» hotel rate! Also, you do not see until after booking that there is a $ 12 per day change for parking.

I’ve stayed at this place a few times now, my most recent stay was 2 days ago with my husband (for 1 night).
This place is right across the street from Yorkdale Shopping Centre (great if you love retail shopping) and a few blocks north of Orfus Road (great if you love discount outlet shopping). It’s a bit away from downtown, but it’s near the Yorkdale TTC station, so you can easily take public transit downtown if you don’t have a car (will take about 30 minutes from Yorkdale Station). Driving downtown will take you at least 45 minutes to an hour since there is always traffic in Toronto.
The location is a bit weird because you have to drive through a car dealership to get to the hotel. However, the actual hotel is very nice. There are two towers (the east tower and the west tower). I’ve stayed in both and they are equally nice. The lobby has free ice cold lemon water and grapefruit water ²⁴⁄₇. They don’t always have them but on our most recent stay they had free cookies at the front desk in the late afternoon (chocolate chip, white chocolate macadamia, and oatmeal — yum!). From my experience with the Holiday Inn chain, Wednesdays are usually the day they have freebies like cookies, ice cream, etc. Our most recent stay was a Wednesday.
The staff are really nice and the rooms are clean. It’s not luxury accommodations, but the rooms are very functional and not too dated. There’s free WiFi which is really good during non-​peak hours but a little spotty during peak hours.
There’s a restaurant inside the hotel in the atrium and some of the balconies of the guest rooms look out onto the restaurant (like when you step out onto the balcony, you’re not actually outside, but in the atrium), which is a little weird, but also interesting. There’s also an indoor tennis court and swimming pool near the restaurant. I’ve never eaten at the restaurant but have had drinks there. Their piña colada is good (although a little too sweet). They also give you a complimentary basket of kettle-​cooked chips at the bar.
We grabbed breakfast at the Seattle’s Best kiosk which is inside the hotel across from the restaurant. It was good but as expected, very expensive — $ 3.50 for a little muffin, $ 5.95 for a small cup of yogurt with fruit and granola, and $ 3 for a bottle of orange juice. We were pressed for time that morning, otherwise we would have wandered south on Dufferin, where there are lots of places to eat for much less. There’s always Tim Horton’s in Yorkdale as well :)
I like the Holiday Inn Yorkdale, I would recommend it to anyone traveling to Toronto as long as you don’t NEED to be downtown for most of your stay.

Probably more like 3.5 stars, but not 4 cause it wasn’t AMAZING. Very standard but also no major problems. We (my family) may go back if we are back in Toronto. But it’s more like an hour or so (CAUSE OF THE HORRIBLE TRAFFIC!!!) away from downtown. Distance wise it actually isn’t so far from downtown.
Close to the mall across the street, and a train station by the mall to get you back to downtown if needed. The parking is $ 10 a day, and you basically enter from the Honda dealership off of Dufferin and go towards Holiday Inn (they don’t have their own entrance). They give you a parking pass to go in and out, and if you’re a visitor it’s 2 hours free parking.
The pool and gym is on the lobby floor (within the closed atrium) and they both close at 10PM. The gym has all of your basic needs for a gym: dumb waits, a few cardio machines, a TV featuring Canadian ESPN, and some other machines. Not large at all, but good enough for a small workout. There’s also water and towels for you. The bar closes at 12AM, midnight. We went down on a Wednesday night for some wine and was just sitting in the atrium and they didn’t mind us staying until after 12AM, but the bar closes. Very nice and chill.
We also went to the breakfast buffet. It has everything you expect for an American breakfast — eggs, ham, sausage, waffles, pancakes, potatoes, juices, fruit, cereal, yogurt, breads and pastries. I definitely liked the variety. They also had a section for salmon and different things you can add to your bagel. That was a nice surprise. A good range, but it was $ 21 a person. A little pricy if you ask me.
The housekeeping staff was good. We were able to get extra amenities cause we were staying 4 people for one room, so we asked for extra towels and shampoo and such. Don’t use the hotel phone though. It’s like $.85 a call or something. But yeah, like I said, no major problems other than that.

So I had the dubious honor of living out of a hotel for two and a half weeks… and I’m glad it was this one.
First, the staff was great. Laura, you’ve made me want to come back. But I can say that the rest of the front desk staff was very helpful and accommodating during my stay.
Second, the food at the restaurants won’t disappoint. Until you see the bill.
Plenty of things to do — mall across the street, TTC is just minutes away, and there are a host of activities indoors (swimming pool, gym hut, ping pong table, indoor tennis court, and pool table) — you just have to wrap it up by 10pm for quiet hours.
Pro tip — stay in the East tower if you have an extended stay planned. The laundry machines are in that building and not in the West tower.
Call the staff for anything and they will respond. I had a part of my ceiling collapse (freak storm battered that side of the hotel pretty hard) — they cleaned up it immediately and comped me some food. Staff also sent some beer and cheese on other occasions for positive staff interactions. I’ll be back if I’m going to be near Yorkdale.

We hosted my father’s 80^th birthday party at this hotel. We were totally satisfied with the entire event. The location was large enough for the 36 of us, the lunch buffet was fantastic — great variety and great food, and the price was more than fair. The guests had lots of compliments, the birthday boy was gratified by the event and my brother and I were more than satisfied by the price, variety of the buffet and the service. Would totally recommend this for events.
My family also stayed at the hotel, and we were very pleased with the rooms. Very clean, comfortable, quiet, and great amenities.

Staff very friendly and helpful. Burger and pizza in the restaurant have easily been one of the best I’ve had. (had the «Canadian Burger» twice :)

Breakfast buffet is hideously overpriced (23 $) even for hotel standards and the hot food in it was awful. Crispy is ok in bacon but not pancakes and French toast. Guy in gift shop warned me against going downtown one day because of gay pride parade. I wasn’t going anyways but it seemed awful presumptuous and not a good advert for the hotel.

I stay here frequently. (It’s moderately priced, across from the mall and a few minutes away from the office, so it’s ideal for a retail traveller.)
The hotel has its shortcomings. The restaurant and bar are terribly overpriced (even when you’re expensing meals) and the level of service leaves much to be desired. The building’s exterior is drab and does little to please the eyes. The interior décor is equally as drab; reminiscent of my grandmother’s 50’s bungalow that hasn’t seen an update since the dawn of time. Fake flowers in the bathroom? Really? Parking is highway robbery, so it’s advised to park at the mall and walk over. And what’s with having to drive through a Honda dealership to get into the lot?!?
These points aside, I always enjoy my stays. The front desk staff are friendly, courteous and engaging and the housekeeping staff are equally as nice and efficient. The beds are some of the most comfortable I have ever slept in, FREE WiFi everywhere, and a great TV channel selection. The lobby convenience store has all your essentials and the family that owns it are warm and welcoming.
TIP; Apply for a FREE rewards card and get a gift bag every time you check into a IHG property!

OK hotel but definitely not a fan. Overall, the hotel has its pluses
— easy access to the 401
— comfortable bed
— complimentary WIFI (albeit with just OK speed)
— OK bar/​restaurant
— very friendly staff
Negatives
— old dumpy looking interior (seems to be true for all HI that I have stayed at) — seems like a hotel from a previous era
— seems pricey compared to other hotels — must be for the location
Sorry but I would consider other hotels before this one.

I was pretty surprised on a recent business trip that the vendor put us up in this hotel. Upon pickup at the airport, we asked where we were staying and he said, «Oh, it’s a Holiday Inn, but it is an upscale Holiday Inn.» Uh, okay. Good cover story. There is no way this was an upscale Holiday Inn! Just the same as most others! Not that I have a problem staying in a Holiday Inn but this one was a good half hour cab ride from the city. 25 minutes taking the subway, which is located on the opposite side of the mall across the street. Either way, the cab fare was about $ 30 each way and the subway fare was $ 3 each way. Even our cab fare back to the airport was $ 60!
The exterior of the HI leaves a lot to be desired. It looks like a prefab concrete building with some green and yellow paint. Not very appealing. Then the interior looks to be stuck in the late 80s! Yeckk! The elevators are extremely slow and they bypass your floor, return to lobby before coming back up to your floor. I found taking the stairs to be much quicker.
I will say that my room was comfortable. The size was nice and the bed was super comfortable. The typical desk had no mirror so I couldn’t sit to do my makeup there; I had to stand in the bathroom which was fairly small. The shower was nice– no complaints there. The room came with a small coffee maker, blow dryer, ironing board, etc. so I had no complaints there either. And my wake-​up calls came on time each morning! The free wi-​fi was a nice touch!
The pool, hot tub area was in a very public place, right off the main dining and bar area, so I would have felt pretty uncomfortable in my swimsuit. Speaking of dining, the breakfast buffet was fantastic and offered a great variety of food. However, I was not paying for it so I didn’t mind the large price tag on the breakfast buffet. I did note that the hot buffet cost more than the cold buffet. Weird.
All things considered, I would not stay here again if I wanted to be in the city doing things. The amount saved on the cost of the room was easily spent in cab fares!