Hotel/Motel/B&B recommendations for Toronto/Markham area, please

September 19, 2007 9:55 AM

Greetings, my Canadian brethren! I am travelling to the Toronto area (specifically Markham) this November for some business. Do you have any hotel/motel/b&b recommendations?

Yeah, there are other questions on here about stuff to do in T-town, but where should I stay?
Currently I have reservations at one of the hotels at the airport, but am now thinking that maybe there are better places to stay.
The place I am going to be going to is way out in Markham, would it be worth it to get a room downtown? Or are there good places to stay out there?

Some more details:
I'll be in the area for the week of the 5th.
The cost of the room will be reimbursed (~$200/night max)

also, if you have any NE-suburbs or time specific attraction recommendations, let 'em fly.

posted by ArgentCorvid to travel & transportation (8 comments total)

Markham is very far away from both the airport and downtown (an hour plus by car in rush hour, and no realistic public transit options), so neither of those are good choices for places to stay.

Markham, on the other hand, is the home of the Canadian Headquarters of most major technology companies, so there are about a zillion interchangeable business class hotels up there.

The best thing about Markham is really the restaurants. It's an Asian enclave, so you can find fantastic restaurants across the spectrum of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, etc. These will tend to be authentic places filled with immigrants and first generation Canadians from those countries with awesome and relatively inexpensive foods.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:15 AM on September 19, 2007

There are several hotels on Highway 7 (probably part of the business class hotels that jacquilynne mentions). The bonus of being on Highway 7 is that there is a bus route (Viva) which can take you around Markham. But if you drive, be prepared to be stuck in traffic around rush hour in that area.
posted by mutantdisco! at 10:17 AM on September 19, 2007

Yeah, initially, I just made reservations at the airport, but afterwards took a look at a map, and it looked like it was pretty far away, so I figured I'd ask.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 11:30 AM on September 19, 2007

Get yourself loyalty cards for Marriott, Radisson and the like and let that steer your decision. It's very useful being able to get the odd free personal stay. (Marriott Maui is only 42,000 pts for 3 nights -- kick ass.)

There's some Marriott hotels in Markham. There's a Radisson about 10km away -- Toronto East -- where I normally stay actually... it's not too bad.
posted by NailsTheCat at 1:23 PM on September 19, 2007

Markham is the burbs. Go for a chain. There isn't much else. You have to see the Pacific Mall, its insane I can't even begin to describe the place. It is the thing to do in Markham.
posted by SassHat at 2:42 PM on September 19, 2007

I stayed here last month:

Courtyard Toronto Markham
65 Minthorn Boulevard
Markham, null L3T 7N5
Tel: [phone]

and there was a multi-restaurant complex within walking distance. It's a nice, new hotel.
posted by seymour.skinner at 2:43 PM on September 19, 2007

markham sucks, but driving to markham is worse. definitely stay in markham during the work week, that commute will break your ass off.

it's true that markham has kickass asian food. my asian restaurant rule of thumb is to look in the window before you pick a restaurant: if it's full of asians, it's probably good asian food.

if you can be in toronto and off work for the weekend, though, you could reward yourself with a stay at the drake hotel, which is aggressively cool and downtowny. this may or may not be your thing. the rooms are nice, though. (actually, come to think of it, a lot of people from markham seem to hang out at the drake bar on saturday nights!)

tell us more about what you like and we can tell you where to go / what to eat.
posted by twistofrhyme at 10:15 PM on September 19, 2007

OK, thanks everyone.

I'm flying out 6am on Friday, so the weekend downtown is out.

As for things to do, I'm up for just about anything (within the range of 'normal' of course). I'm not much into clubs, though. I'm more of a hole-in-the-wall type restaurant/bar type person.
I'm coming up for some training, so I imagine the instructors will have some recommendations, as well.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 7:50 AM on September 21, 2007