My girlfriend and I stayed here on New Year's Eve 2008. First of all, there is really no reliable parking at the hotel. The closest parking is on the street, which the hotel workers didn't recommend because f Toronto's notorious fetish for towing cars. We had a park underground in a ramp in a not at all well lit/nice looking neighborhood. Very scary. This was underneath the grocery store across the street from the hotel. The room we stayed in had a queen bed, and a tv. That's all there was really room for. The TV sat atop the dresser and the mini-bar/fridge wasn't even plugged in until I had to do it myself. The bathroom was very small, and the door would hit the toilet every time it was opened. They were happy to call us a cab, which never came however, but it wasn't hard to get a cab on the corner (right outside the hotel). They were also very helpful in giving us a wake-up call. There is a free continental breakfast which actually was better than expected.
Definitely not for families, however.

Isabella Hotel and Suites is located on the corner of Sherbourne and Isabella Streets in Downtown Toronto. Driving down Sherbourne from the main expressway certainly had us concerned as it is a very rough neighborhood with lots of graffiti and homeless people. The neighborhood seems to improve as you get to the Isabella. We chose a room with a queen size bed and the room was beyond tiny for $130 a night but it was very clean and quite comfortable. Even though our used towels were left on the floor we did not get clean ones. The temp in our room did not go above 67 degrees farenheit even though it was set at 90. We had to request another blanket to keep warm. I was fairly satisfied with the room considering most hotels in Toronto were over $200 a night. The Isabella was clean and the staff seemed very helpful. I would recommend this hotel to people who are looking for no frills accomodations.

We stayed at Isabella during our recent visit to Toronto. The hotel is clean, convenient and affordable. However, the staff wasn't very helpful nor did it seem like they knew what they were doing. When we arrived, they lost our room and parking reservation because their system crashed. Luckily they had a room available for us - but we didn't get a parking space. So we had to park on the streets, and get up at the crack of dawn to feed the meter every two hours. In addition, our room was incredibly HOT. The thermometer appeared to be broken, and when we asked the staff to fix it, they always claimed they did. We lived in 82 degrees heat for the 3 nights we were in Isabella. The cleaning lady also came at weird times. One day, she could come early in the afternoon to clean, but other times, the room still wasn't cleaned when we came back at 5 pm.

Stayed for a week for the Film Fest and the price was reasonable for that over-inflated time of year. The first room I was put in felt like a prison cell as it only had one small high window. Luckily the staff were extremely helpful and I was moved to another room which was fine. The hotel was clean throughout and had all the facilities you'd expect at the price. The location is also good, just 2 mins to Bloor Street and the Sherborne St subway. However the best thing was definitely the friendly staff - they made my stay.