Pearson Airport to IHG Hotels in Toronto & Ontario

Which IHG hotels are on the Pearson transfer map?

IHG hotels cover more price points than any other group in Ontario, and the transfers cover the same range: a Holiday Inn Express guest at midnight with two children and a stroller, a Crowne Plaza conference group of thirty, an InterContinental guest on a corporate account with a Monday-in, Thursday-out rhythm, a Kimpton couple who want the chauffeur for the Bloor Street evening. The fare is set by the address and the vehicle, never by the brand.

The airport IHGs on Dixon Road

The Holiday Inn Toronto International Airport is on Dixon Road at the airport's east edge, eight to ten minutes from the terminals; the Holiday Inn Express Toronto Airport and the Crowne Plaza Toronto Airport are on the same strip, and the Staybridge Suites Toronto Airport takes the weekly and monthly guests. All run shuttles on a loop that serves the pre-arranged shuttle stops at Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 — the airport-strip hotels route explains where those stops are and when the loops thin out overnight. A chauffeur is booked for the arrivals the loop does not suit: the family with six bags, the 1 am landing, the guest with a mobility aid, the group of twelve, or the traveller whose evening is downtown.

InterContinental Toronto Centre: the convention hotel

The InterContinental Toronto Centre is on Front Street West, physically attached to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and a block from the CN Tower, the Rogers Centre and Union Station. Its drop-off is on Front Street, which during a large convention becomes a queue of coaches and cars; the chauffeur knows the timing and, when Front is blocked, the Simcoe Street approach. The drive from Pearson is thirty minutes off-peak via the 427 and the Gardiner, off at Spadina or York. Delegations arriving together book the group shuttle — Sprinters and coaches on one manifest — and the organiser gets one invoice. The downtown route page sets out the UP Express alternative; from Union the InterContinental is a ten-minute walk west along Front, which for a solo delegate with a carry-on is fine and for a delegate with a poster tube and two cases is not.

Kimpton Saint George and the Holiday Inn Downtown Centre

The Kimpton Saint George on Bloor Street West in the Annex, beside the University of Toronto's St. George campus, is the boutique IHG door: a Bloor Street arrival, thirty-five minutes from Pearson off-peak, and guests who often keep the chauffeur for the evening on an hourly booking. The Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown Centre on Carlton Street at Yonge, opposite Maple Leaf Gardens and a short walk from the hospitals on University Avenue and Toronto Metropolitan University, is the family and medical-travel door; the accessible and family transfers page covers pickups for patients and companions, with the chauffeur waiting as long as customs takes.

Across Ontario: Mississauga, Oakville, Kingston, Niagara, Ottawa

The Holiday Inn Toronto-Mississauga on Dixie Road and the Holiday Inn Express hotels around Square One are twenty to thirty minutes west; the Holiday Inn Oakville and Burlington properties on the QEW forty to fifty; the Holiday Inn Kingston Waterfront a long-distance transfer of two hours forty-five along the 401; the Holiday Inn Niagara Falls-by the Falls and the Fallsview-area IHG hotels ninety minutes down the QEW on the Niagara route; and Ottawa's Holiday Inn & Suites Ottawa Downtown and Crowne Plaza Ottawa four and a half hours east. Every one is a fixed fare from the Pearson curb.

Booking an IHG transfer

Enter the hotel as the drop-off with the flight number, date and vehicle class; the fare is fixed for that door and shown before you pay. Curbside pickup at Pearson's pre-arranged area is included; meet and greet inside the hall with a name board is a paid add-on. Sixty minutes of waiting on international arrivals and thirty on domestic are in every fare; the return to the right terminal goes on the same booking through the departures page.

Extended stays: Staybridge, Candlewood and the weekly booking

IHG's extended-stay brands house the people who are in Toronto for a month: a project team at Staybridge Suites Toronto Airport, a family relocating and living at Candlewood Suites while the house closes, a patient's family near the hospitals. Their transport needs are different from a two-night guest's — a Sunday-evening arrival at Pearson with far more luggage than a sedan carries, a weekly car to the airport for the commuting consultant, a Saturday car to the hospital and back. Standing bookings cover it: the same chauffeur each week where possible, priced as transfers or as hourly days depending on the shape, and one contact for the family member arranging it from another city. The luxury SUV or the Executive Sprinter handles the relocation luggage; the fleet page gives the bag counts.

Ottawa and Kingston IHG hotels from Pearson

The Holiday Inn Kingston Waterfront on Ontario Street beside the harbour, and Ottawa's Holiday Inn & Suites Ottawa Downtown and Crowne Plaza Ottawa are regular long-distance destinations from the Pearson curb — a late international arrival into Toronto and a morning in Kingston or on Parliament Hill. Kingston is two hours forty-five along the 401; Ottawa is four and a half hours via the 401 and the 416. The long-distance page has the corridor's timing and what the fixed fare includes, and the chauffeur checks Ontario 511 for the Kingston-to-Cornwall stretch before leaving the airport in winter.

Families at the Holiday Inn Express

The Holiday Inn Express hotels on the airport strip and around the GTA are family hotels, and family arrivals are where a chauffeur beats the shuttle most clearly: a stroller, a car seat that has to be fitted, six bags, two tired children and a 10 pm landing. The accessible and family page explains the child seats fitted before pickup at no charge and the luxury SUV that takes everything; the chauffeur loads the bags while the parents buckle the children, and the drive to Dixon Road is ten minutes.

Booking across brands

IHG One Rewards members who stay at different brands across a trip — the Holiday Inn Express for the arrival night, the InterContinental for the conference, the Kimpton for the last night — book each transfer once and get one contact for all of them. Companies with travellers at the Crowne Plaza Airport and the InterContinental on the same week put both on a corporate account with the hotel named on each invoice line. Sixty minutes of waiting are included on international arrivals and thirty on domestic, the pickup is flight-tracked, and the GTAA's pre-arranged pickup programme governs where the chauffeur waits at the curb.

The InterContinental during TIFF and the big conventions

Two weeks a year the Front Street door of the InterContinental is the busiest in the city: the Toronto International Film Festival in September, when the TIFF Lightbox on King Street and the Roy Thomson Hall galas fill every room between Spadina and Simcoe, and the largest conventions at the centre next door. The City publishes the King Street closures for the festival each year, and the chauffeur plans the approach around them — usually Simcoe Street from the Gardiner rather than Front. The event transportation page explains the game-night and gala pickups at an agreed door; for an IHG guest at the InterContinental during TIFF, the door is the one the hotel's staff keep clear.

Booking through IHG or booking direct

IHG hotels will arrange a car through the front desk or the concierge, and the airport-strip hotels run shuttles. Booking direct before you fly gives you the fixed fare on your confirmation, a pickup tracked against the airline's live arrival, curbside collection included, and one booking that carries the return. For a solo traveller to the InterContinental with a carry-on, the UP Express to Union and the ten-minute walk west along Front is the honest alternative and we say so; for the Holiday Inn Express family at 10 pm with a stroller, it is not.

From the hotel: attractions, stations and the working day

Attractions. The InterContinental Toronto Centre shares its block with the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and is a five-minute walk from the CN Tower, Ripley's Aquarium, the Rogers Centre and the Steam Whistle brewery; the Hockey Hall of Fame and the St. Lawrence Market are ten minutes east. The Kimpton Saint George is on the museum strip — the ROM, the Gardiner and the Bata are within five minutes on foot — and Casa Loma is a five-minute drive. The Holiday Inn Downtown Centre is beside the Mattamy Athletic Centre (the old Maple Leaf Gardens), ten minutes from the Eaton Centre and the theatres. From the airport-strip IHGs, Canada's Wonderland is twenty-five minutes north and Woodbine ten.

Stations and the other airports. Union Station is ten minutes on foot from the InterContinental — five by car with luggage, to the Front Street doors — for VIA to Ottawa, Montréal and Kingston and the UP Express to Pearson. Billy Bishop is ten minutes from the InterContinental and fifteen from the Kimpton for Porter flights. From the Holiday Inn Kingston Waterfront, Kingston's VIA station is ten minutes; from the Ottawa hotels, Ottawa's VIA station is fifteen and Ottawa airport twenty.

City tours. From the InterContinental or the Kimpton, a chauffeured half-day covers the waterfront, the Distillery District, Yorkville and Casa Loma; from Kingston, the Thousand Islands and Fort Henry; from Ottawa, Parliament Hill, the Rideau Canal and Gatineau Park. The hourly chauffeur page has the rate structure.

Company meetings. The InterContinental's guests are at the convention centre next door or in the Bay Street towers a ten-minute walk away; the Kimpton's are at the University of Toronto and the College Street research hospitals; the Crowne Plaza Airport's are across Mississauga and the 427 corridor. A day of meetings from any of them is one hourly booking on the corporate account, with the chauffeur at the door and the bags in the boot.

Book a transfer to any IHG hotel