There isn’t anything more convenient than an “in airport” hotel. Canada’s largest airport at Toronto Pearson International Airport offers the first Sheraton in Canada: the Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Toronto International Airport. The Sheraton property offered everything you could expect from a Sheraton Hotel, along with excellent convenience to Toronto Pearson International Airport.

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This post is one chapter on our trip to the Republic of Tanzania and the Islands of the Seychelles. This trip was redeemed through Air Canada’s Aeroplan and enhanced through World of Hyatt and Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Review: Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Toronto International Airport, Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada.

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The Sheraton Gateway Hotel advertises itself as the first hotel in Canada to bring the Sheraton name to life. It is situated in an attached structure to the Toronto Pearson Terminal Three airport terminal. It is conveniently connected to the other terminals through a complimentary airport train.

Booking The Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Toronto International Airport:

We could have connected to a 5 ½ hour narrow body trans continental flight from Toronto to Vancouver and made it home at around 2 AM. MrsWT73’s brother is living in the Newmarket “Greater Toronto” area so we opted for an overnight stay and a quick family visit. We could have taken a shuttle to a nearby off airport hotel but instead we opted to stay at the on airport hotel in nearby Toronto Terminal 3.

The Sheraton Gateway in Toronto Airport seems to command the highest rates for a Sheraton within the Greater Toronto area, except for some hold outs like the Ritz Carlton or the St Regis Toronto. We booked direct on the website and ended up with a rate of $249 CAD ($197 USD).

Marriott Bonvoy Redemption Opportunities:

The Sheraton Gateway In Toronto Airport is a Marriott Bonvoy Category 5, meaning that rooms are approximately between 30,000 – 40,000 a night under variable pricing, with 35,000 points a night as standard. If you value Marriott Bonvoy points at $0.005 a point, you’d have to spend more than $175 USD to come out ahead for a 35,000 point redemption. This might be a great redemption property under certain circumstances, since most airport hotels happen to be dedicated to business travellers, instead of those seeking value from redemption stays.

Getting to the Sheraton Gateway in Toronto Airport:

If you’re arriving to the airport by car, you’re likely to be arriving on Route 409 or Route 426. The Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Toronto Airport is situated near Toronto Pearson Terminal Three. There are a variety of parking garages around the area, and the Union Pearson Toronto Express also offers rail linkages to the Toronto Pearson International Airport and the Downtown Toronto Union Station.

In our case, we were arriving off an international flight from within the Toronto Pearson International Airport Terminal One. We exited the international airport hall of Turkish Airlines Business Class Istanbul – Toronto and crossed over to the airport train. The Sheraton Gateway Hotel in the Toronto International Airport is in Terminal 3, whereas our flight arrived to the more modern Terminal 1.

Airport trivia geeks will remember that Toronto Terminal 3 was originally built by now defunct Canadian Airlines as they sought to control the whole passenger experience, including a modern airport design. Toronto Pearson Terminal Three now occupies the non Star Alliance carriers for international and Westjet for domestic flights.

We took the free airport train over one stop, down a level, and followed the well marked signage towards the hotel. The hotel doesn’t have much street appeal from the inside, only a set of silver fire doors that indicated the way in.

We rolled ourselves in to the lobby where there was no line to check in. The lobby, like most Sheraton’s, was the usual browns and beige colours that are starting to look a little dated. A friendly check in host processed our check in.

Checking into the Sheraton Gateway at Toronto Airport:

For kicks, I had applied a Suite Night Award to the “Prime Minister’s Suite”. It failed to clear and was returned to my account. I had noted on the Starwood Preferred Guest (now Marriott Bonvoy) website that the hotel was full for the evening. Despite this, our check in host indicated that she was able to Starwood Preferred Guest (now Marriott Bonvoy) Platinum upgrade us to a higher floor corner room from the category that we had booked. We exchanged pleaseantries about our recent trip to Tanzania. I got the sense that she really enjoyed hearing about guest’s travel experiences.

The Room: Deluxe Corner King Non Smoking: King Bed

We led ourselves up to Room # 792. The room was a large “handicapped equipped suite” at the rear corner of the building. I’m not always opposed to staying into suites designated under these categories if they happen to be assigned to me, since it often translates into substantial extra space.

The room was a large corner suite. Although the room, fittings and fixtures were a little dated, the room was very large and spacious. It was a comfortable place to be for 13 hours between flights.

There was an easy chair that was the seating area of the room. There was the usual Nestlé bottled water; something that is always appreciated after being a little de-hydrated after a long international flight.

The room featured the usual instant coffeemakers with the take away cups. This version was the filtered Starbuck drip variety type along with Tazo teas.

The bathroom was standard Sheraton type. It was an older variety and not all too exciting. It featured the Sheraton Le Bain soaps, which were pretty standard fare.

For those that were aspiring for terrific airside views, our room assignment did not feature such luxuries. Our view was “office park average” and overlooked another portion of the hotel and the parking lot. At least it didn’t look into another building, which was perhaps the only redeeming quality of the view.

The room was located in the far corner of the hotel. The room was very quiet and did not receive any hallway noise.

We freshened up and went downstairs to the hotel bar to meet up for a quick visit with MrsWT73’s brother, wife and sons. We later retired to a pleasant sleep for the evening at around 10 PM.

I had a bit of jet lag and ended up waking up around 4 AM, unable to get back to sleep. Since our flight was departing at 7:30 AM, we ended up leaving early to go back to the airport in favour of an Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge visit and a lounge breakfast.

Around the Property:

The Sheraton Club Lounge:

The next morning before we departed, I took a quick look upstairs at the Executive Lounge at about 5:20 AM. Guests that have booked Club Level rooms or those with Marriott Bonvoy Platinum or higher level access will have access to the lounge on a complimentary basis.

The Sheraton Club Lounge was a comfortable and compact space. Timings for the breakfast started at 5:30 AM. I was able to buzz myself without presenting myself to a reception host.

The lounge was a compact space, made larger by the fact that no one was in it.

There was a pretty decent food offering for breakfast, which was just getting going for the day.

As we left the hotel, our check out was processed efficiently and quickly and we were on our way within minutes. Even MrsWT73 was impressed, it that was easy. We headed off on our Air Canada Signature Business Class Toronto – Vancouver flight, which had an early 7 AM departure.

The Bottom Line: The Sheraton Gateway in Toronto Airport

The Sheraton Gateway Hotel in the Toronto International Airport was a pretty standard airport stay. Although the property is quite dated, it is super convenient for flights departing from the Toronto airport. I’d easily stay here again if an overnight connection in Toronto presented itself. While the Union Express train offers easy access to downtown, I wouldn’t make this a place to say longer than an overnight stay if you were coming through Toronto. Instead, I’d treat it as a place to be for early and convenient departures from the mega city of Toronto, Canada.

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If you’ve needed an overnight hotel at Toronto Pearson International Airport, did the Sheraton Gateway make your list?

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