Review: Hyatt Regency Toronto

I stayed at the Hyatt Regency Toronto for one night while passing through the city en route back to the West Coast after hosting the Prince of Travel Signature Event in Montreal.

The Hyatt Regency is located in the middle of Toronto’s Entertainment District, offering views of the downtown skyline and Lake Ontario from amongst its 394 guest rooms and 32 suites. 

Hyatt Regency Toronto – Booking

The Hyatt Regency is moderately priced, with a standard room starting in the region of $200. I had made my booking about a week in advance, for a cash rate in that vicinity. 

On the loyalty side, the hotel is a Category 3 property with World of Hyatt, meaning that a one-night standard room can be redeemed for 12,000 Hyatt points at the standard rate.

We currently value Hyatt points at 1.9 cents/point (CAD), so paying cash was the more optimal choice for this stay.

(I had actually meant to stay at the Hyatt during my last visit to Toronto, but I had arrived at the hotel only to find out that they weren’t serving breakfast due to pandemic restrictions at the time, so I moved to the Sheraton Centre Toronto instead.)

Hyatt Regency Toronto – Location

The Hyatt Regency is centrally located within the Entertainment District, and is just steps away down King Street West from the Financial District.

The hotel is within walking distance of many of Toronto’s prime attractions, such as the famous CN Tower and Rogers Centre less than a 10-minute stroll away.

Union Station is similarly close by, offering easy connectivity to other locales in the Greater Toronto Area or the Union Pearson Express to Toronto Pearson International Airport.

The airport can also be reached via a 25-minute taxi ride from the hotel, while Toronto’s secondary Billy Bishop Airport is only a 10-minute ride away, whether by car or the free shuttle bus from the nearby Fairmont Royal York.

Other Toronto attractions, such as the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum, are a short 5- and 10-minute drive from the hotel, respectively.

And for those who may be interested in shopping or dining, St. Lawrence Market, Toronto Eaton Centre, and Yorkville Village can all be reached on foot or by car in under 20 minutes.

Hyatt Regency Toronto – Check-In

I took the shuttle bus from Billy Bishop Airport to the Fairmont and then walked over to the Hyatt Regency, arriving at around 8pm. The hotel has pedestrian entrances on King Street West, as well as a vehicle entrance on Widmer Street.

The building as a modernist architectural style, with a white and green aluminum exterior and a unique structure with many shapes and curves, certainly standing out among the surrounding buildings. 

Upon entering, the lobby consists of a waterfall and pond installation, along with a modular staircase design connecting the various half-levels, decked out in jet-black and grey marble.

The Hyatt Regency had proactively upgraded me to a Deluxe City View Suite, which was confirmed upon my arrival at the front desk.

In hindsight, I should’ve asked them for the CN Tower view, which is probably one of the best things about staying at this hotel. If you’re planning a stay here, I’d certainly recommend trying to secure a CN Tower view if you can.

I do wish I had asked to switch up the views, but in the moment, I was satisfied enough with the automatic suite upgrade as a Hyatt Globalist member, and I thus happily took my keys and went upstairs to my room.

Hyatt Regency Toronto – Deluxe City View Suite

The hotel’s hallways feature carpet floors, beige walls, and wooden doors, with quite a dated appearance overall. I was assigned Room 1405 at the end of the hallway on the 14th floor. 

The interior designs were simple and modern, mostly drawing upon dark wood accents against various shades of brown and beige.

The Deluxe Suite was quite large, with a few distinctly separate areas. The living area features a small seating area with a section and two armchairs, a kitchenette, and a dedicated workspace. 

The kitchenette has a small island with two bar chairs, adjacent to a large flat-screen TV facing the rest of the living room. 

I appreciated having the space and having a dedicated work area. The chair was highly ergonomic, which is to be expected for a business-oriented hotel, but an area where many other hotels have let me down in the past. 

Over in the bedroom, there’s a king-sized bed with an oversized dark wood headboard. Directly across is a 47-inch TV and a single armchair to the left of the window. I found the bed comfortable enough for my one-night stay. 

An alarm clock with a Bluetooth speaker can be found on the bedside table, with power outlets and USB ports.

The bathroom was relatively small for a suite, but it had all the essentials in the tight space. There was a walk-in shower with red accent tiles, and the vanity mirror was reasonably large with a single sink.

The suite faced north, looking at some of the skyscrapers of Downtown Toronto rather than the CN Tower views I would’ve enjoyed if I were in a south-facing room instead. 

Overall, I found the suite to be well-suited to a mix of productivity and comfort, though not overly inspiring in any way. 

Hyatt Regency Toronto – Breakfast

The Hyatt Regency offers a complimentary à la carte breakfast for Hyatt Globalist members in the King Street Social Kitchen & Bar, located on the basement level of the hotel. 

I ordered a fairly standard breakfast with eggs, sausages, home fries, coffee, and juice. The breakfast was very run-of-the-mill, which I’d say is in line with the rest of the hotel.

On the plus side, the server taking care of me was warm and enthusiastic in his service, even offering to heat up my plate after it had gotten a little cold while I was taking a call. 

The King Street Social Kitchen restaurant also offers a lunch and dinner menu, although the venue was only open for breakfast during my visit in April 2022. 

Hyatt Regency Toronto – Other Facilities

The hotel has a seasonal outdoor pool located on the 17th floor, which was closed at the time of my visit. Still, there aren’t all too many Downtown Toronto hotels with outdoor pools, so this would be a nice option to enjoy in the summer.

The hotel’s fitness facilities are also on the 17th floor, and are open from 6am–10pm. It wasn’t the largest hotel gym, but had a decent selection of cardio equipment, free weights, and weight machines. After working out, guests can enjoy time in the hotel’s sauna as well. 

In addition to the King Street Social Kitchen restaurant on the basement level, the Hyatt is also home to Mix Bistro Bar, a casual eatery that normally offers beer, wine, cocktails, and a light food menu – although it was yet to reopen following a pandemic-induced closure during my visit. 

Lastly, there’s one complaint I need to voice: the hotel’s key cards were extremely susceptible to getting demagnetized in my pocket, whether they were sitting alongside my phone or my wallet full of credit cards.

I had to approach the hotel front desk countless times to get a new key, and the staff could only suggest that I keep the keycard separately from my other items, as though people’s pockets aren’t filled with magnetized stuff these days.

It’s long past time for the Hyatt Regency to invest in some more robust keycard technology, as my multiple trips back down to the lobby to get my keycard replaced would quickly become an annoyance over the course of my stay.

Conclusion

Upon checking out at 4pm thanks to my Globalist late checkout privileges, I reflected on a serviceable, though wholly unremarkable, one-night stay here at the Hyatt Regency Toronto.

If you’re a Hyatt loyalist, the Regency is a solid choice of accommodations in the downtown core. Indeed, I thought the hotel’s location was its best asset, as I could shuttle my way around the Financial District on the King Street streetcar very conveniently.

Otherwise, I didn’t find much at all that made the hotel an attractive place to stay. The room interiors were very businesslike, verging on uninspiring, and I felt the hotel could certainly use a renovation sometime soon.

I probably don’t have much reason to return to the Hyatt Regency Toronto in the future – though I’d certainly push for the potential redeeming factor of a CN Tower view if I happen to do so.