BE Six Fifty

I am an experienced traveller who has stayed everywhere from the shabbiest third world hostels to 5-​star establishments. Never in my years of traveling have I been greeted with such apathetic unprofessionalism as I was at this pathetic establishment. Furthermore, I have never given a one-​star review of a hotel for any reason… until now.
I live down the street and had helped my father reserve a room here, vis a vis a popular online 3^rd party provider. I arrived with him, presenting unequivocal documentation showing a confirmation number. When we arrived there was a girl who could not have been more than 19 years old who appeared to be the sole employee at the hotel. When we showed up she was thoroughly confused by our presence and frozen like a deer-​in-​headlights. She mentioned that the manager did not leave her with a «print-​out» of our reservation. She eventually found our reservation in the system, but asked us to come back later so she could «sort everything out» (note: it was already 9pm).
When we returned an hour later, she told us that the hotel was booked and they had no rooms for my 65-​year old father. She explained that she had called the manager, but he had not returned her call (I do not believe this, as she was clearly coached to shoot us down). My father asked for compensation or for a room at one of their other two locations, but was again turned down. No apology, no compensation, nothing. They had our reservation but refused to honor it.
The cherry on top is that as we were leaving, someone else came to check in, and they gave him a room!!! The only thing we can reason is that they didn’t like the rate we were receiving from the 3^rd party provider (which was reasonable and cheaper than the hotel down the street) and gave away our room… the cowardly manager leaving his young employee to take the heat.
Stay far far away from this hotel… and as a matter of fact, you should go to the Eaton Chelsea down the street. More affordable, professional staff, and you can be assured your room will actually be there once you arrive.

Great location and great front desk staff! The rooms are VERY small, but it’s great value for the location. Is definitely stay there again if spending one night in Toronto. We ended up staying somewhere else the second night since we wanted a little bit more room. It’s also a three floor walk up so pack light!

The rooms are very small… ok…actually extremely small. But they are awesome with customer service and the room was super clean. They also offer coffee and pastries in the morning and even when we checked in. Bed was pretty high for me to fall into… more like climb into and hold on for dear life (short people problems). There is no elevator so keep that in mind if you need elevators. There is also no fridges inside the rooms. They have an iPad that lets you surf the net, and Skype call the front desk for anything you need. The free Netflix allowed us to catch up on our favourite shows. The smart tv was a bit complicated to use at first but you figure it out quickly. I would definitely come back for another stay. Checking out was a breeze and no problems throughout our stay.

Rooms are cute but small.
Shower does take a while to warm up.
Continental breakfast is fruit, coffee, and pastries.
No elevator, only stairs.

I loved the showers and had no problem waiting on the water to warm up (30 sec.).
Rooms are small (even the Queen) for us Americans. Still the rooms are comfortable to come back and have a short afternoon siesta before going out again at night.
Pros:
The service staff is wonderful.
The rooms are clean and chic.
Comfortable beds.
Situated in the perfect location in the city.
Cons:
The internet almost never worked (only reason why I gave this place 3 stars).
You can clearly hear your neighbors having conversations and eventually… Sound was not traveling through the walls, it seemed that the doors were poorly insulated.

We stayed at BE SixFifty for three nights. The location was great for us, as we planned to take the subway and light rail to most of our destinations during our long weekend trip. The TTC Dundas subway station was only a short walk away, as were plenty of restaurants and the Eaton Center, which gave quick access to the underground Path.
We were happy to find out each room was equipped with a smartTV (including Netflix and YouTube apps) and iPad. The free WiFi was a lifesaver to us, as we could not use our cell phone data plans in Canada without being hit by roaming charges. We were told the iPad had Skype installed, which could be used to call down to the front desk, but we did not take advantage of this. We never were bothered by housekeeping during our stay. Instead, the front desk staff member would ask us upon our departure each day if we wanted our room «freshened up.»
The room itself was very small, which we anticipated and hadn’t planned on spending much time there. However, the design sacrificed some quality. The shower stall was so narrow and shallow that it was virtually impossible to start the water without standing inside with the door closed. It took a while for us to get hot water, so this was pretty unpleasant. Even with the door closed, water leaked out of the shower stall. We also wished there was a proper door to the bathroom, which would have provided some privacy to couples staying at the hotel. The bathroom door was a tempered glass sliding door with an open loft ceiling. While there wasn’t too much street noise, the blinds were so thin that light shined in through night. There was also no place to hang your coat or put your bags. It would have been nice if they installed some hooks and had a shelf to place items on.
It was unclear to us the affiliation between BE SixFifty and the adjacent Café 650 Bistro. Even though there was a coffee-​shop like menu and prices listed on a chalk board, the café wasn’t actually available to purchase food or drinks from. The hotel served the continental breakfast there, which included coffee and pastries, which we skipped. The hotel’s website claims that this café offers Mediterranean food, which was not the case.
In general, it was a pleasant stay and an interesting experience staying at a smaller, boutique hotel. We enjoyed how quiet the hotel was, its prime location and the amenities fulfilled most of our needs. However, I would not suggest this hotel for anyone with mobility issues (no elevator) and feel it better suited for single travelers as the room was a little tight for two people.