Kaisar’s Guest House

My fiancé and I were so impressed by Kaisar Guest House! We stayed there one night in a double room with private bathroom. The building was very cozy and charming inside with cute decorations and signs in Japanese. The staff member who checked us in was very sweet and friendly. Check-​in was easy and they helped us out by giving us our room very early (9 AM).
The room was very spacious, with very high ceilings, and had lots of light coming in through the windows. The furniture was all nice IKEA furniture, which made it feel more like staying in an apartment than a hostel. The bathroom was nice as well. There was also a small flat-​screen TV but we didn’t use it much.
The location was also great. We are not very familiar with Toronto, but we soon found that there were a lot of interesting bars as you walked to the west, and it was a short walk east to busy Spadina Ave. and Chinatown. Best of all, the guest house is on a 24-​hour streetcar line that took us downtown very easily.
We had only a few minor complaints that did not interfere with our enjoyment of our stay. One is that the wifi was slow during our stay and we found ourselves having to switch between their four networks in order to stay connected. Also, there was no refrigerator and a policy of no food in the room, which might have bothered us if we had stayed longer and hadn’t been eating out so much, but for our purposes it was fine. Finally, it bothered me a little bit that they charge a 5% fee for paying with credit card, which as far as I know is against the policy of the credit card networks, but we just paid in cash and avoided it.
All in all, we felt very lucky to have come across this place and wouldn’t think twice about choosing it again the next time we are in Toronto.

This is not a fancy hotel, but it is good accommodation for the price. I don’t write a lot of these reviews, but when I saw that it only had one review, and that review was negative, I felt compelled to write something. I think the world would benefit from more places like this, inexpensive accommodations with unique character with private rooms and shared bathrooms.
I stayed for a week in October 2012. It was an easy walk to the University of Toronto, where I was attending a convention. I was a single guest, but they upgraded me to a room with a double bed at no extra charge — maybe that was all that was available. The narrow windy halls and short flights of stairs give the place a quirky atmosphere. They ask you to take off your shoes in the front hallway. This helps to keep things clean. The carpets had some stains, but they were otherwise clean.
The bed was comfortable, and they were happy to provide me with extra pillows. I did not encounter any bed bugs. The room was nicely furnished with a wardrobe with hangers and a big desk. The ceiling was low. The walls between rooms were thin, but there was little traffic noise from outside, even with the window open, because the place is set back from the main street. The shared bathrooms were clean, and the showers functioned well.
The front desk is not always attended, and the bedrooms are only cleaned between guests, or once a week, in case of extended stays, but that was fine for me. The woman who usually sits behind the front desk was friendly and helpful, though her English was not very good. They have a kitchen and laundry facilities available for guests, which were big pluses in my mind.
I paid for just one day first, and then paid for the rest of the week when I decided I wanted to stay longer. They do ask you to pay up front.

This place is such a garbage guest house and really not worth staying at when visiting Toronto, very dirty with bed bugs.
The owner is a jerk and they force you to pay upfront for days you might be here and then refuse to give money back if you leave early.
Don’t waste your time here, it’s a dump