World Traveller 73 
Review: Residence Inn by Marriott London Downtown, Canada
Our travels took is back to the middle of the Ontario pan handle between Toronto and Windsor to visit my wife’s brother. As a returning visitor to this region, we decided to branch out and try a different hotel than our last stay. As I’ve been spending a lot of time in hotels lately, I opted for the extended stay option in London, Ontario in order to stretch out and get a little extra space. Our stay at the Residence Inn London Downtown met all the marks for a comfortable stay in a residential like environment.
Review: Residence Inn by Marriott London Downtown, Ontario, Canada
“The Residence Inn by Marriott London Downtown is like staying in your first rental apartment, that’s been completely renovated with brand new furniture and fixtures”
This post is of the Residence Inn by Marriott London Downtown, Ontario, Canada. For another nearby Marriott hotel, please see our review of the Delta London Armouries, London, Canada.
Booking the Hotel:
I ended up picking this property as we were simply looking for a minor change during a recent stay in London, Ontario, Canada. The Delta London Armouries had served us really well, but thanks to a hockey tournament occurring in London during our stay, the paid rates were over $350 CAD a night.
I had been spending a lot of time in hotels lately. At the time that we booked this trip. I was on my eighth work trip of the year and we were only in the first half of the year. I certainly wasn’t going to mind a little taste of home in an extended say apartment instead of being cramped into a usual hotel room. As a result, I booked in at the Residence Inn London Downtown on a paid rate at $200 per night.
Under the Marriott Bonvoy program, paid rates at the Residence Inn brand earn 5 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar versus a regular full service’s hotel’s 10 points per dollar. While I don’t relish earning 50% less rates, I did value saving $300 in my pocket on this particular stay, visiting friends and family.
Marriott Bonvoy Reward Opportunities:
The Residence Inn London Downtown prices quite low in the Marriott Bonvoy rewards program. The property generally prices between 16,000 to 22,000 Marriott Bonvoy reward points, for a standard level room. During the summer months, I found rates as cheap as 16,000 and rates as high as the usual 22,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.
If you value Marriott Bonvoy Points at 0.008 cents, you’ll come out ahead by redeeming points against a room at the property if you rate is above $168 CAD on an average 21,000 Marriott Bonvoy redemption. This assumes that you are prepared to part with that number of points over the length of your stay.
Getting to the Residence Inn London Downtown:
We drove a Hertz rental car down from Toronto, after spending a night in The Sheraton Airport Toronto Hotel and Conference Centre. It was an easy two hour drive down some occasionally crowded Friday afternoon highways.
The Residence inn London Downtown is located in downtown London, Ontario and is walkable from many of the sights in the downtown core. It’s worth mentioning that we visited during summer months, so we didn’t have any winter weather issues that might prevent us from walking.
The Residence Inn London Downtown itself has taken over an older nineteen seventies apartment building. which was converted into a Residence Inn hotel. The street appeal of the property is a little drab; it seems that the property could use a little sprucing up in it’s current state.
It’s located among a neighbourhood of other apartment buildings. The area has a bit of an industrial and older feel to it. The area is primarily residential, which means that there aren’t a lot of restaurants or other office buildings in the area.
Checking into the Residence Inn London Downtown:
After parking the rental out front, we wandered inside and checked in at the front desk. The front desk and lobby area was under some renovation, which was best described as being “in progress”.
We had a warm welcome and provided a Marriott Bonvoy Welcome Amenity of 500 Points as a welcome bonus. In lieu of the welcome points, we were also offered an item from the hotel’s pantry, but we opted for the points instead. All rates at the Residence Inn Hotels offer an included breakfast.
We were also provided access to underground secure parking. While parking was listed as being $18 CAD, it appears to have been waived for Marriott Titanium members. We were given a parking pass and did not have to pay any parking fees.
Lastly, we were also provided a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level late check out of 4 PM, without any haggling or negotiations. This was really appreciated and made our time around the hotel, all that more leisurely.
The Room: One Bedroom Suite, 1 King, Sofa Bed
We led ourselves to Room #914, which was a one bedroom suite situated on the ninth floor. While we did not get a further upgrade as a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level member, we did get a soft upgrade to the ninth floor (of thirteen floors in the building) to a room with great views.
Getting off the elevator, the apartment hallways had been fully refreshed, with bright patterned hotel carpeting, and brand new metal apartment doors.
Immediately upon entering the room, we had a left hallway which led to a fully refreshed apartment.
The Living Room:
We wandered down the hallway to the living room. The space featured a combination dining and living room space. The dining area featured a small upright table for two persons. The space was sent against bright day light windows, which offered the opportunity for a lot of light into the apartment.
Leading further into the room, the living area featured a compact rectangular shaped space. The space offered a compact fitting section couch, which was remarkably comfortable for a sofa bed. All the features and furnishings were really comfortable and brand new.
The living area offered a flat screen television. While a flat screen is standard for a hotel in this particular category, it was down right unusual to see a flat screen in a seventies era apartment building, where we once had cathode ray monitor style televisions. I wasn’t complaining, but it was certainly unusual.
The hotel cleverly added a desk in the corner of the living room. This was a nice touch as the desk, for once, actually offered a terrific view over the surrounding neighbourhood. It was much better than looking into the usual hotel room wall, while you slayed away at your work emails.
The hotel offered neighbourhood views of rural London, in a combination of neighbourhood and other apartment building views.
The living area and dining area was comfortable and offered a great space to stretch out in. By offering so much space, it countered the usual challenge with compact hotel rooms; space that allowed you to actually live. In addition, the windows of the apartment were wide and bright, allowing a lot of natural light into the space.
The Kitchen:
Heading back towards the entrance, the One Bedroom Suite offered a small kitchen.
The kitchen offered two counters; which is much larger than kitchens in this particular hotel category. While we usually see a rail kitchen on a single wall, the Residence Inn London Downtown offered a larger than expected space.
It was worth noting that the kitchen didn’t actually feature a regular convection oven. The kitchen offered a cook top range (or HOB) but didn’t offer a space to actually heat up food. The kitchen offered a mini dishwasher, a full sized fridge, and a microwave. The lack of an oven was about the only feature that was a negative about the particular arrangement, since there are somethings that you can’t do an apartment without an oven.
The Master Bathroom:
Heading towards the bedroom, the one bedroom suites’ sole bathroom was located off the hallway to the bedroom.
The bedroom was nicely decorated and offered a single shower stall, along with a single vanity sink and toilet.
The Bedroom:
The bedroom, like many bedrooms of the nineteen seventies era, was quite small. Somehow, the property was able to squeeze a king size bed into this space. There wasn’t much other room available in the bedroom.
The bedroom also featured a second flat screen television, but given how compact this space was, we didn’t spend much time in the bedroom.
The hotel was kind to leave a welcome amenity for us as Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level members. The welcome amenity consisted of a bag of chips, along with a Hershey’s chocolate bar. While it wasn’t much, it was better than many stays where there is absolutely nothing provided.
The Included Breakfast with Every Stay:
All Residence Inn properties include breakfast with every stay. The included breakfast was pretty average.
Breakfast was offered between 6:30 AM and 10 AM. During our stay, the breakfast offering didn’t meaningfully change. The breakfast lounge area occupied most of the ground floor of the building.
The breakfast offering at The Residence Inn London Downtown offered both hot and cold breakfast materials.
There was a combination of cereal towers, a pancake machine with maple syrup, whipped cream, fruit toppings, along with scrambled eggs and sausages.
There was a heavily consumed baked goods cabinet, that featured some muffins, bagels and other english muffin items.
I did enjoy some of the pancake machine instant pancakes. It’s unusual for hotels to offer pancake machines, so I thought I would take advantage of the opportunity.
In addition to the other items, there were individualized yoghurts, milks for cereals, along with a variety of coffees and teas available to enjoy in the breakfast area, or to take away.
While I haven’t come to expect a world class included hotel breakfast, the breakfast at the Residence Inn London Downtown was perfectly functional for a short stay. It I was staying longer, I’d probably make something in the suite instead of relying on the hotel offering.
Around the Hotel Property:
The Residence Inn London Downtown offered limited features as an apartment long stay hotel. There is no attached restaurant to the property.
Gym:
The Residence Inn London Downtown offered a small gym on the second floor. The space offered free weights, a few treadmills and elliptical cycles along with a few yoga balls as equipment.
The gym offered a small window to the outside. While it wasn’t much, it was better than being in a windowless room.
The Bottom Line: The Residence Inn London Downtown
I was pretty happy with my stay at the Residence Inn London Downtown. Despite a dated looking property, the property offered a nice looking room that had been completely upgraded, with more than enough space to stretch out in.
About the only minus was the fact that I earned only 2,600 Marriott Bonvoy points over the course of my two day stay. This is something that is not directly attributed to the hotel, but rather the hotel’s lowest possible level within the Marriott Bonvoy program, as it only earns 5 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar as an extended stay hotel.
Ultimately, I’d easily return to the Residence Inn by Marriott London Downtown. I left completely satisfied with the space offered, as the highlight of the stay.
World Traveller 73 
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