A Cold Winter’s Visit… and a Warm Stay at SoHo Hotel Toronto

When you’re coming in from the cold, heated bathroom floors warming your tootsies are very welcome.

It’s a small touch that’s stuck with us from our recent stay at the SoHo Hotel & Residences in Toronto (aka the SoHo Hotel Toronto).

SoHo Hotel Toronto

SoHo Toronto location in the entertainment district

You know how they say “location, location, location” is key when buying a home? It’s key for hotels too.

(And had we thought ahead, we would have loved to book The Book of Mormon broadway musical, playing at the Princess of Wales Theater a couple of blocks away.)

Happily, the SoHo Hotel Toronto is also a breeze to get to from Toronto’s international airport.

Toronto finally has a convenient airport-to-downtown transportation link – the new Union Pearson Express.

This hard-to-miss express train leaves the airport every 15 minutes and takes you downtown to Union Station in 25 minutes. (Opened in June 2015, it wasn’t used much until public transit officials recently decided to slash prices. Now it’s way cheaper than a taxi and faster too, given the traffic.)

From Union Station, it’s a short cab ride or about a 10-block walk to the Soho Toronto. As we were traveling with only carry-on bags and wanted to stretch our legs after the cross-country flight, we were happy to walk. The only thing is – Toronto was experiencing a particularly cold snap right when we visited.

So it was cold!

That’s maybe why the SoHo’s heated marble bathroom floors made such an impression on us…

The vibe at Toronto’s SoHo Hotel

The SoHo Hotel is sleek and contemporary – minimalist in style.

The lobby is graced by an original multi-colored Dale Chihuly glass sculpture suspended above the entrance. 

Off to one side is the airy, street-fronting, all-day restaurant, with its glass-sided entrance marked by imposing rectangular marble arches.

Rooms at the Soho Hotel Toronto

The hotel has 92 large rooms (average 600 sq. ft.) on the first four floors of its high-rise tower.

We loved the spacious separate dressing area between the bedroom and bathroom, with hangers on two sides and built-in shelves.

And a small thing that makes a difference – the dressing area has a built-in luggage bench, big enough to store an open full-size suitcase. (Those collapsible luggage racks are so useless, don’t you think? They’re only just big enough for holding a closed suitcase, not an open two-sided suitcase.)

Expect electronically-operated, bronze-colored silk drapes covering wall-to-wall windows, Molton Brown bath amenities, an in-room Keurig tea and coffee maker with cream in the mini-bar fridge, and proper nightly turn-down service.

Not so good? Our view was over a parking lot. But, hey, this is a city hotel. In Toronto, your views are mostly going to be of buildings, high-rises, streets, etc .

For longer stays, fully furnished apartment-style suites with kitchens are like urban pied-a-terres.

SoHo Toronto: Dining

We didn’t have a chance to try out the Moretti Restaurant and Cafe.

But if we weren’t otherwise busy, its Italian menu definitely would have wooed us in to try out some “mac-and-cheese” with black truffle cheese – or maybe a pizza.

We’re told the lounge is a popular spot for a hip urban crowd to meet and mingle after work.

SoHo Toronto: Amenities

A long indoor lap pool and large hot tub also lured us in (well, more the steamy hot tub than the pool).

And if we hadn’t been lazy, we would have huffed and puffed alongside other guests in the bright well-equipped gym, staffed by an attendant.

Who’s the Toronto SoHo Hotel for?

The hotel typically caters to both business and leisure travelers (of the hip variety).

But celebrities (and CEOs) are also attracted to its mega 4,000 sq. ft. penthouse suite on the 15th floor. (Any celebs out there reading this?)

Think three floors of pure extravagance with two bedrooms, five bathrooms, two wetbars, in-suite glass elevator, 8-person hot tub on its own 1,400 sq. ft. rooftop terrace, and 270-degree views of Toronto.

No wonder Will Smith moved in here for six months while filming the 2016 super-hero flick Suicide Squad!

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We stayed at the SoHo in Toronto as media guests for review purposes for our blog. But we always write what we think and retain complete control over our stories. 

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Photo credits: 4 © Janice and George Mucalov, SandInMySuitcase | Remaining photos courtesy of the SoHo Toronto Hotel

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