I recently stayed twice at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel across from Toronto Pearson’s Terminal 3 before some early morning flights from Pearson. The hotel has been recently refurbished and renovated so I thought it was worth a review.
How I booked my stay:
Both of my visits were in the summer and the Sheraton was going for well above an insane 500 CAD per night. Staying in the city would’ve actually been cheaper even if we stayed at the Park Hyatt again. But I ended up caving and using my only two Marriott anniversary free nights (up to 35,000 point certificates) because I didn’t want to deal with traffic on my way to the airport early. Do note that with the new Marriott pricing, the norm for the property seems to be 40,000 points per night.
Check In:
Check in was a chaotic affair both times we got to the hotel around 10pm. There was a huge line and despite having checked in using the Marriott Bonvoy app, the key in the app would only open one of our rooms. The other issue of course was the mobile key only worked sporadically inside the elevators. We had to annoyingly walk back down to the lobby and wait patiently in line. Note the picture was taken well after midnight at which point everything was empty.
The ambiance of the lobby was quite nice and well kept.
Anyway we were both assigned club rooms facing the airport, one with a king bed and another with two queen beds during our first stay in July, but the September stay involved a room facing the opposite direction. Everything was the same, but the view outside was useless in the second room.
Club Floor Two Queen Room
The room had nice finishes much like the lobby with the hardwood floors and inviting lounge chair.
The room also had a nice desk and an area below the TV to place luggage and other items:
The restroom was located next to the entrance and featured a stand-in shower as well as Gilchrist and Soames amenities, which are pretty decent for a mid-tier hotel.
The room featured two water bottles and a Keurig machine in case anyone was wondering.
Wi-fi speed was exceptionally fast throughout our stay so there was no issues there.
The View
The highlight of the room had to be the view out the window which looked out onto Terminal 3 and Terminal 1 in the distance.
In the morning I caught a decent shot of the Mississauga skyline over the the terminal. It’s crazy how big that skyline has become over the years!
Here is a shot of the scene from my phone if you want to see how it would look with that. The yellow light in the distance was the moon.
Sheraton Lounge:
Though they called our floor a “Club Floor,” the club lounge was actually located behind the lobby on the second floor (above the level for the train and terminal entrances). The lounge was always open as far as I could tell (I went at 1 AM) and it had some of the same design elements as the room and the lobby. It was well stocked with soft drinks (by Pepsi), milk, and some basic snacks even at this late hour. Breakfast is served in the lounge from 6:30-10am, but we weren’t around to take a look on both of our stays.
Location:
As I said before, the hotel is adjacent to Terminal 3 and is about a 5 minutes walk from the entrance. If you are going in and out of Terminal 1, you do have to take a train there which is a couple of feet away from the hotel, up an escalator. If you are unfamiliar with Pearson Airport, Terminal 1 is the Air Canada terminal. Also, do note that the rental car facility at T3 is currently not open so please always proceed to T1 for your rental car needs.
Bottom Line:
The Sheraton Gateway Hotel at Toronto Pearson Airport is a very nice hotel adjacent to a major hub airport. It’s not the nicest Sheraton in terms of food and drink, but it is certainly a great place to stay before an early morning flight out. The views of the airport are definitely the highlight, but everything else isn’t too shabby either. If rates are decent, this definitely where I would stay on a late arrival or early departure.
