Whether you’re looking for a fun weekend getaway in Toronto; somewhere to stay overnight while you explore the many things to do in Toronto for Christmas, March Break, a long weekend (or any other holiday); or you need a Toronto pet-friendly hotel, The Chelsea is an affordable hotel in Toronto that suits both business and leisure travellers’ needs perfectly.
I’ve stayed here solo, with my immediate family and with multigenerational groups many times but none more impressive than our most recent stay following The Chelsea’s $60 million renovation. Sure, I’ve stayed in the “blue tower’s” upgraded rooms for a few years now, but the rest of the renos are finally complete and, wow, the hotel’s transformation is striking.
I’m going to show you some of the new and remodelled spaces throughout the hotel, and if you’re new to The Chelsea, I’m also going to share some helpful facts, stats, tips and tricks along the way. This affordable hotel in Toronto also happens to be the biggest hotel not just in Toronto, but all of Canada. With 1,590 rooms — most with private balconies — centrally located in the heart of The Big Smoke’s downtown core, it packs a lot of punch for its affordable rates.
Let’s get into it…
The Chelsea: an affordable hotel in Toronto
In this post, I’ll cover location and nearby attractions; room types, rates and fees; amenities; and dining. If I’ve missed anything crucial for your possible stay, please add your questions to the comment box at the end of the post and I’ll do my best to answer you.
Location, location, location
A lot of tourists visiting Toronto for the first time wonder if they really need to stay downtown when there are often cheaper options near the airport. The misconception, however, is that the “Toronto airport” is actually in Toronto — which it isn’t if you’re flying into Pearson. It’s in Mississauga, at least an hour away by car or transit — depending on traffic or how close you are to the TTC (subways, buses and streetcars) or UP Express at YYZ/Pearson International Airport. If you’re going to be spending most of your time in Toronto proper, stay in Toronto proper. With an affordable option like The Chelsea, you won’t regret not adding commuting time to your vacation.
Location: 33 Gerrard St. W., Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1Z4, Canada. There’s an entrance on Gerrard, but there’s a second entrance off of Elm St. on the south side of the hotel. If you’re getting dropped off or calling an UBER, this is the better entrance to use since there’s a covered drive-through loop.
PRO TIP: Use 22 Elm St. for your UBER or Lyft pick-up/drop-off address; if you’re new to Lyft, use my code to get 60% off your first two rides in Toronto.
Nearby attractions: Yonge-Dundas Square (currently called Sankofa Square), Little Canada, the Cineplex Cinemas Yonge-Dundas and VIP movie theatre, the Eaton Centre and the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre are all within a five-minute walk. In about 10 minutes on foot, you can get to Toronto City Hall, Nathan Phillips Square, Old City Hall and Queen St. W. shopping. The AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) is a 15-minute walk.
Union Station is walkable in 25 minutes or so, but you’ll want to take transit if you have baggage with you; a TTC subway ride on 1 Line (Yonge-University) headed to Finch Station will quickly get you to the College Street stop and then you’re only a five-minute walk to The Chelsea Hotel, Toronto. On a nice day, the CN Tower, Ripley’s Aquarium, the Rogers Centre, The Roundhouse and Harbourfront are all within a lovely, 35- to 40-minute stroll; in crappy weather, rideshares and taxis abound. And for farther distances, Toronto’s public transit is quite good, cost-effective and fairly straightforward to use.
Rooms + rates at this affordable hotel in Toronto
I already mentioned that there are nearly 1,600 rooms at The Chelsea Hotel. Let’s chat about them.
Room types: Chelsea Room, Executive Room, One-Bedroom Suite. There are partially and fully accessible rooms within these categories. Both the Chelsea and Executive Rooms will have either two doubles, two queens or a king bed. The Suites have a king bed and a living space in an adjacent “parlour room” where you’ll also find a kitchenette. I’ve stayed in all of them. They’re modern, scrupulously clean and offer quite a bit of space. There are robes in the rooms, too, and if you don’t see slippers, you can request them from housekeeping.
- Queen rooms: Chelsea (471), Executive (12)
- King rooms: Chelsea (56), Executive (227)
- Double rooms: Chelsea (386), Executive (310)
- Kitchenette rooms: 44
- One-bedroom rooms with parlour suites: 11
During my most recent stay, six of us stayed in two connecting double-queen rooms:
There’s also reportedly a new two-bedroom suite that sounds AMAZING for larger families or those with older kids or teens. I haven’t stayed in this yet but I will update this post once I do.
All rooms feature: a 50” flat screen TV, in-room safe, mini-fridge, electric kettle, Nespresso machine and blackout drapes.
Typical room rates: Like all hotels, surge pricing for peak seasons, weekends and during major events and concerts impacts rates, but you’ll still find The Chelsea is an affordable hotel in Toronto when you do side-by-side comparisons both on- and off-peak. During the Toronto International Film Festival in September, for example, expect prices even at The Chelsea to hit as much as CAD$700/night. However, that dips back down dramatically to as low as CAD$209/night on a Monday night that same month with rates starting at just CAD$159/night for the rest of this year.
Resort fee: The best part about these room rates? THERE IS NO RESORT FEE AT THE CHELSEA! (Yes, that deserved all caps; and, no, I’m not yelling AT you — I’m yelling WITH you. Because we’re excited, baby!) These days, a hotel that offers free Wi-Fi and has a pool seems to mean there will be a resort fee added to all of the other taxes that, unfortunately, already tack on quite a bit when you stay at any hotel. But at The Chelsea, you can use all of the amenities listed below without paying anything more than your room rate and applicable taxes.
Amenities
The Chelsea was already an amenity heavy-hitter, but the renovations have taken it to another level. Everything is new and modern with such a clean aesthetic, and it now sports a much more chic big-city vibe. Check-in can now be done at self-serve kiosks in the lobby without waiting in line; they’re intuitive and often much faster than waiting for a human. Wi-Fi is fast and free for all guests.
All-ages amenities: The Chelsea is a seriously family-friendly hotel. To kick things off, kids 12 and under can politely request a gift at check-in (subject to availability). The Hive Recreation Centre on the second floor is home to “The Cove,” with its all-ages pool and a super-fun, 130-foot-long corkscrew waterslide that winds its way outside of the building before dumping your kid back into the pool; note that guests must be at least 3’8” tall to use the slide. One other thing to keep in mind is that the waterslide has dedicated hours each day, which may change seasonally (the current schedule is 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sundays, but be sure to check with the front desk to avoid disappointment).
In an adjacent room, there’s also a brand new creative kids’ space called “The Workshop,” which is best suited for kids aged 18 months to eight years old. There’s stroller parking, a slide, padded toddler space for new crawlers and walkers, books, scheduled activities and tactile sensory zones. Even my nine-year-old cousin wanted to spend time in here.
“The Studio” is geared to older kids and has tween- and teen-friendly games and spaces for chilling and creating content. And everything I’ve mentioned so far are ALL included with your stay at The Chelsea Hotel.
If you want to add some pay-to-play fun, there’s also a new escape room with an entrance in the hotel lobby near the Gerrard entrance; Time Zone Escapes has two rooms suitable for up to eight players. We completed the smaller room (there were four of us — two adults and two kids, ages 9 and 15) and it was so much fun! It’s CAD$37.99 plus tax per guest, but one child under 12 is free with four paying guests and if you’re also staying at The Chelsea, there’s a buy one escape room experience and get the second one free deal.
Adult-only amenities: Just because there will be kids staying here, it doesn’t mean you have to spend your free time with them. Thankfully, The Chelsea hotel offers an adult-only retreat up on its top floor, called “The Heights,” featuring a pool surrounded by new loungers, a hot tub and an all-new, state-of-the-art gym with some of the most beautiful machinery I’ve seen in any hotel gym.
Onsite parking: If you drive a truck or extra-large SUV, do not try to use the Gerrard St. W. parking lot entrance. You will not fit. Even when I drove a midsize SUV, I had to be pretty careful as the ceiling height in some spots is 5’6″ and the ramps are narrow. There are five spots at the Elm St. entrance for larger vehicles, but they’re first-come, first-served, so if you’re out of luck upon arrival, you’ll need to find an alternative. Just ask the bellman to suggest nearby options, which are thankfully plentiful. For overnight guests, it’s CAD$43/night in the Gerrard St. garage (or if you nabbed one of the Elm St. oversized parking spots) and that comes with full in/out privileges; believe it or not, this is a pretty good price for a downtown Toronto hotel considering you can come and go as you please.
If you need an EV charger, there are two “green” spots available on P2 but only one TESLA charger, so if your neighbouring car owner doesn’t come to unplug her car ever — cough, cough, white TESLA with the pink handles parked beside me — or you have a Prius PHEV like me that uses a different charger, you can park there but you won’t get any charging done, so keep that in mind if you drive a full EV and require a charge.
Onsite laundry: while there are no onsite laundry services for personal use, you can speak with the Bell Desk if you need dry cleaning. If you’d rather DIY it or use a laundry service that isn’t dry cleaning, there’s Laundry On Carlton at 252½ Carlton Street, which has coin-operated machines but also offers wash-and-folding with pick-up and drop-off. Please note that I have never used this and cannot comment on its service.
Show Your Key perk: And one last little perk that comes with a stay at this affordable hotel in Toronto — the Show Your Key and Save program, which gives Chelsea guests exclusive discounts to area businesses and attractions, like the ROM, Elmwood Spa, Medieval Times, The Second City and many more.
Dining
One of the biggest changes at The Chelsea is to its dining offering.
Onsite dining: The new Elm Tavern offers sit-down breakfast, lunch, happy hour, dinner and cocktails (delicious mocktails, too!) with an elevated pub vibe and menu. There’s also Branches Deli (open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.) for grab-and-go options. There’s a new cocktail lounge — the entrance is beside the escape room in the lobby — but it’s only open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and the Thursday we visited, the doors were locked.
I’ve enjoyed The Elm Tavern’s new deluxe English breakfast buffet as well as lunch and both cocktails and mocktails and all of it has been very good to excellent. At breakfast, the continental breakfast at CAD$27 feels steep, while the $33 deluxe option that adds hot dishes is very well-priced (think peameal bacon and proper English sausages, eggs with fixings like grated cheese and salsa, Yorkshire pudding filled with a poached egg and topped with Hollandaise sauce).
The lunch and dinner menu is all new and pretty robust, so I haven’t had as much from it as I had from the previous menus pre-renovation, but I can definitely recommend the Fat Chips with curry sauce, Elm Lager Battered Haddock & Chips, and Sherry Trifle (and if you bite into it and think it’s light on the sherry — dig! It’s very sherry-forward).
PRO TIP: Note that children five and under eat free at The Elm Tavern from the kid’s menu with the purchase of an adult main course or breakfast buffet; guests who are 6-12 years old can enjoy a complete lunch/dinner meal from the kids’ menu for $14 and get 50% off the breakfast buffet price.
And if you’re hoping to catch a game, grab a pint or enjoy an evening chat over cocktails, The Elm Tavern has you covered on that front, too. I’ve tried a few of the drinks, including the non-alcoholic options, and they’re beautifully crafted.
Be sure to check out my other Chelsea Hotel posts for additional info, more room photos and things to do in Toronto. You’ll find them here, here and here. I’m so excited for your stay!
DISCLAIMER: The Chelsea Hotel compensated me for this content but did not request to review it ahead of time nor approve it. All opinions and suggestions — including that it’s an affordable hotel in Toronto — are my own.
Every comment counts -- what's yours?