Our Staycation in the Penthouse Suite at The Thompson Toronto

As if getting to staycation (yes, it is a verb) in a suite at the Thompson Toronto wasn’t cool enough, you can only imagine the look on our faces when the girl at the front desk told us on check-in: “you’ve been upgraded to the Penthouse Suite”! Well, our eyes probably lit up brighter than a Christmas tree!

The Thompson Toronto is one of our favourite places in the city and this staycation couldn’t have come at a better time—with a mere 3(ish) months before our wedding and when the last 6(ish) months for me have consisted of day in and day out of roughly the following schedule:

• 6:00 a.m.: wake up and get ready to go to the gym
• 9 a.m.-6 p.m.: work full-time as a lawyer
• 6:30 p.m.: gym again or blog, or gym and then blog, or go to a blogging event, or go to an event and then blog, plus edit photos and plan Instagram posts for the next day
• 11:30 p.m.: sleep
• Repeat.

Since I spend most days basically working around the clock, I’ve sadly had little time to spend with my fiancé (bless his heart for being such a patient and good guy!). So, needless to say, we needed this staycation!

The Hotel

The Thompson has been one of my favourite spots for years, dating back to when it first opened in 2010. It’s in a super prime location in the city, in King West Village. It’s really a one-stop shop hotel and entertainment complex, with a gym, business centre, lobby bar (aptly named “Lobby Bar”), nightclub called Wildflower in the basement, and 360-degree rooftop that has a fully enclosed bar and is the only rooftop in Toronto with a 40-foot infinity pool! I’ve spent many a Saturday night having drinks at the Thompson rooftop lounge while taking in one of the best views of downtown Toronto!

In terms of dining, the Thompson Toronto has always housed a heavy-hitter in the restaurant scene – first, Scarpetta Toronto, and now Colette Grand Café (known by all bloggers in the city of Toronto to be THE cutest brunch place). Open 24 hours day, the Thompson Diner is a pretty solid ‘greasy spoon’ serving up all the classics. There’s even a Japanese teppanyaki restaurant, Hibachi, on-site, which we have yet to try.

The Thompson is one of few boutique hotels in the city. It’s known for its dark hardwood floors and modern aesthetic. One of my favourite parts of the hotel (other than, now, the Penthouse Suite) is Lobby Bar, which was renovated not too long ago and has a huge 3D feature wall of the Toronto skyline. I think there’s something to be said for a property that can retain its popularity and reinvent itself to keep people interested and coming back. A few days before our stay, The Weeknd and Selena Gomez were spotted at the hotel!

The Room

Okay, I’ve stayed in some pretty ballin’ ass places before (you’d be surprised how far your money can go in Southeast Asia), but the Penthouse Suite at the Thompson Toronto most definitely tops my list!

When we entered the room, we were first greeted by a GIANT display with rows and rows of Grey Goose vodka bottles and Veuve Clicquot, encased in glass. Turn to the right and the space opens up into a separate games room, where there is a good-sized pool table and bar. You can also find a guest bathroom (because, you know, just one bathroom isn’t enough in this suite) adjacent to the kitchen, which is all marble. Turn to the left and you enter the even more spacious living room, which is equipped with a desk, a couple of couches plus extra seating and a big screen TV. Just off the living room, you enter another part of the suite where you’ll find a large all marble bathroom with heated floors adjoined to a walk-in closet (which even has a bench, in case you get tired hanging your clothes), adjoined to the bedroom. There is a spectacular view of the CN Tower from the floor-to-ceiling windows in the bedroom.

At 2,100 square feet, we felt like the room just kept on going and going! I quickly broke my no drinking until my bridal shower rule, because living it up for a weekend in the $4,500/night Penthouse Suite at the Thompson Toronto definitely called for some champagne!!!

The Experience

With so much to do on-site, you can understand why Alex and I didn’t even leave the property (except to make a couple trips to the LCBO, haha!). Our stay was short, but it was still thankfully enough time for us to relax and reconnect as an engaged couple.

We started our day by exploring the space. First, Lobby Bar, where we got to play dress-up and recreate one of my favourite movie scenes ever. Remember the jewellery box scene from Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere?

I got my daily caffeine fix, while Alex caught up on the travel section in the Globe and Mail at Colette.

We shared some more sweet moments inside Colette, which is one of the most photogenic places in Toronto!

We took in the daytime view at the rooftop lounge for a bit. Unfortunately, it was still too cold and the pool wasn’t open.

And although this is kind of working backwards, we then indulged in a brunch fit for 4 people in bed from Thompson Diner. After that, we enjoyed the rest of the day lounging around in our bathrobes, while drinking more sparkling wine.

At night, we may or may not have had some friends come over (I mean, hogging all 2,100 square feet to ourselves would have been selfish, right?!). After playing a few rounds of pool, we moved the party down to Lobby Bar and then up to the rooftop lounge, where we ended the night.

Checking out the following day was bittersweet. We had such a great time at the Thompson Toronto and felt it was the perfect place for us to spend a romantic, relaxing and fun-filled staycation in the city before our wedding!

*This post was done in collaboration with the Thompson Toronto, but all opinions are my own.

Photography: Laura Clarke (couples photos in Lobby Bar, Colette, rooftop) and myself (interior photos of hotel lobby, Penthouse Suite, and in-room couples photos).

Hair & Makeup: Kim Timbol