There’s something illicit about booking a hotel suite for a night in the same city where you live. Nobody knows where you are, and you don’t have to do your own dishes. It’s a perfect surprise for a special date, especially after an expensive meal. Pay the bill, walk her around the corner to one of the city’s boutique hotels (we’re not big on the big chains), pick up the key, and show her your new temporary living room. It feels like travelling, but it takes less time. You’ll wake up the next morning with the feeling of having been out of town.
As a matter of fact, two of our favourite boutique hotels are offering some special suites and packages that seem particularly guy-oriented this summer.
At Le Germain, for example, eight of the luxury rooms (starting at $325) are theatre rooms, kitted out with 50″ plasma television and deluxe wine bar. Borrow from the hotel’s extensive DVD collection or use the OnCommand service to access the right movie for the mood. It’s an expensive movie rental, but it’s pretty private — no one’s going to ask you what you’re watching, or if you’re watching at all.
Your mate will also be duly impressed when you whisk her off on the Germain’s Pampered Shopping combo ($885), which includes a one night stay at the hotel, breakfast, limo transportation to recommended fashion boutiques and four hours with in-the-know and in-demand personal shopper Wendy Natale to help you give your credit card a good lashing.
If you want an even more over-the-top rock star experience, consider the Germain’s friendly rival, the upstart Cosmopolitan, the sole Canadian hotel to make Condé Nast Traveller‘s 2006 list of best hotels around the world. The Cosmopolitan offers a Top of the World package: $4,399 will get you (and, presumably someone you really want to impress) one night in the two-storey, South Beach-style penthouse.
Extras? Oh yeah, there are some extras: a couples massage at the luxe Shizen Spa, and front-of-the-line access to a list of exclusive clubs and restaurants. And oh yeah, it also comes with a private 3-hour cruise on the Cosmopolitan’s 40-foot yacht , where you can guzzle champagne, snack on hors d’oeuvres, and direct your very own personal captain.
And people say Toronto is a restrained place.
