Kimpton Saint George Limo Service: Black Car, Airport Transfers & Hourly Chauffeurs on Bloor Street West

Which limo service works best for the Kimpton Saint George in Toronto?

The Kimpton Saint George sits at 280 Bloor Street West, on the block between Huron Street and St. George Street. It is a boutique hotel on the line where Yorkville's shopping streets give way to the Annex and the University of Toronto. That position decides how a car should be planned: you are not on Bay Street or at Union Station, the nearest subway stop is a short walk, and the best black car plan depends on the hour.

This page is written for the person booking: the executive landing at Pearson with a 9 a.m. call, the assistant arranging a three-meeting day, the family attending a convocation up the street. We describe how the transfers work, how long they take, and where a private car beats the alternatives. We also say where it does not.

To see the exact fare for your address and vehicle, use the booker. It shows the all-in fare before you pay, so there is nothing to negotiate at the kerb.

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The Kimpton Saint George in brief

The hotel opened on June 19, 2018, as the first Kimpton in Canada, according to IHG's opening announcement. It is a 14-storey building with 188 guest rooms, 20 of them suites. Its own marketing places it on the Bloor Street Culture Corridor, near the Royal Conservatory of Music, and that description is accurate: the corridor runs along Bloor from the ROM past the Bata Shoe Museum to the conservatory, and the hotel sits in the middle of it.

On the ground floor you will find the Living Room, which doubles as the lobby, and The Fortunate Fox, a gastropub reached through it. The hotel's meeting space is small and deliberate. The hotel's own floor-plan page lists one room, the Peregrine Room, at 1,126 square feet on the ground floor, with a capacity of 80 at banquet tables, 90 theatre-style and 90 for a reception. That is boardroom-and-workshop scale, so the ground transport is small groups, speakers and clients rather than 200-person shuttles.

Where the car meets you on Bloor Street West

Bloor Street West at this block is a busy street with curbside bus stops, bicycle traffic, a lot of pedestrians crossing at the St. George lights, and delivery vehicles. A chauffeur cannot park a car here the way he could on a hotel forecourt. What he does is time his arrival to your message and stop at the hotel's front for the minute it takes you to come out. The hotel's Living Room is the hub of the property, so most guests walk out of the lobby rather than waiting under a canopy.

The exact door and side of the street depend on the hour, construction and what the hotel advises on the day, and we do not publish a pickup point we cannot verify. The chauffeur confirms the exact door by message before the pickup. Wait inside until that message arrives rather than standing on the kerb with luggage, and tell us at booking if you carry two or more large bags so the car is sized for them.

Airport transfers to the Kimpton Saint George

The figures below are road distances and free-flow drive times to the hotel entrance. Peak traffic changes them, and the right column says by how much.

The hotel's own directions page quotes similar figures: about 45 minutes to Pearson and 20 to 25 minutes to Billy Bishop by car. Those are the realistic numbers for a normal day. A free-flow 28 minutes needs a quiet 401 or a Sunday morning; at 5 p.m. on a weekday you should plan on the longer figure, and on a Friday in July longer still.

Pearson to Bloor Street West: how the pickup works

Pearson airport limo pickups work the same way whatever the hotel. We track your flight, so a delayed arrival moves the pickup with it. On international arrivals you get 60 minutes of free waiting after landing, and on domestic arrivals 30. The chauffeur messages you when he is at the airport and again when the car is at the pickup point. If you want a name board in arrivals, the meet-and-greet service is an add-on available at booking.

The chauffeur chooses the route on the day. One thing is specific to this hotel: the final approach is across the Annex on Spadina Avenue, Avenue Road or Bathurst, and the last kilometre is the slowest.

Guests arriving by business jet can ask about the Pearson FBO service, which uses a different procedure.

Billy Bishop, the five-kilometre transfer

Billy Bishop airport is the one most guests assume does not need a car. They are often right: the island airport's pedestrian tunnel and the short distance make a taxi or a TTC trip plausible. But the walk from the mainland entrance at Eireann Quay to a car is short, and a private transfer is simplest when you have luggage, a late flight, or a client with you. The airport is at 2 Eireann Quay, at the foot of Bathurst Street, and the airport's own site lists its operating hours as 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Our Billy Bishop airport limo page explains the pickup in detail. For the Kimpton Saint George the trip is about 5 km and about 10 minutes free-flow. The route is north on Bathurst Street, which carries streetcar tracks and the occasional closure, then west onto Bloor. Allow 15 to 25 minutes at peak.

Hamilton and the Niagara side

Hamilton's John C. Munro airport is about 86 km and 81 minutes from the hotel in good traffic, longer on a Friday evening, on the QEW and the Gardiner Expressway. Hamilton airport limo covers the pickup.

The same road, the QEW, leads to Niagara Falls, about 133 km and 105 minutes from the hotel without traffic. A Niagara day from Bloor Street is a routine request: leave at 9, see the Falls and the wine route, return for dinner. Our Toronto to Niagara Falls limo page sets out the stops.

Hourly black car for Annex, Bay Street and campus meetings

The owner's brief for this site is simple: hourly corporate use and airport transfers. At a hotel with one meeting room and a major university next door, hourly means something specific. It is usually a visiting speaker, a recruiter, or a delegation with three or four meetings across the city and no wish to hail a car between them.

With an hourly chauffeur in Toronto you book a car for a block of time, tell the chauffeur the stops, and the car waits at each one. It is useful when:

• you are meeting people in the financial district, about 3.4 km and 7 minutes from the hotel to King and Bay, then again at Queen's Park or the hospitals;
• you carry materials, a laptop bag, a garment bag or product samples that you do not want to haul onto a subway;
• your day has a hard stop, such as a flight to catch at 6 p.m. from Billy Bishop;
• you are moving a senior guest who should not be waiting for a ride at any point.

For regular business accounts see corporate car service in Toronto. The booker shows the exact fare before you confirm, and the desk can set up an account if you travel to Toronto often.

A sample hourly day starting at Bloor and St. George

The table below shows how a typical multi-stop day plays out. Distances and times are road figures between the hotel and each stop, in free-flow conditions.

The ROM is close enough to walk. We list it because many guests arrive at the hotel in heels, in rain or with a heavy case, and a three-minute ride removes the problem.

The Bloor Street Culture Corridor on foot, and where a car helps

This stretch of Bloor is one of the few parts of Toronto where a guest can do a full day without a car. The Royal Ontario Museum is at 100 Queen's Park, roughly 0.7 km away. The Bata Shoe Museum is at 327 Bloor Street West, on the southwest corner of Bloor and St. George, and its own page gives St. George station as the nearest subway stop. The Royal Conservatory's Koerner Hall and the Yorkville shopping streets are within the same short radius, and the Bloor-Yorkville BIA maintains the listings of galleries, restaurants and events for the area east of Avenue Road.

A car helps in four situations: heavy winter weather, a formal evening (black tie at the ROM, a gala at the conservatory), a cross-town link to something outside the neighbourhood, and the return from a late performance. For the museum-and-boutique day, read our blog guide Royal Ontario Museum and Yorkville by car. For a show night downtown, see Roy Thomson Hall and the theatre district.

Evenings: the theatre district and the stadium

From the hotel to the Scotiabank Arena is about 5.4 km and roughly 10 minutes without traffic. Game nights change that. The Gardiner and Lake Shore get crowded, University Avenue slows, and the roads around Union Station close or crawl. A private car with a pre-arranged return is the dependable choice if you do not want to wait for rideshare surge outside the arena. Our concert and sports limo page has the details, and the blog's Scotiabank Arena pickup guide walks through the streets.

For a dinner and a night out, the night-out limo service covers birthdays and anniversaries. We never promise drinks on board; alcohol rules follow Ontario law and are confirmed at booking. If the plan includes a restaurant in Yorkville and a show on King Street West, tell the desk both times, and we plan the gap.

Honest alternatives: when a private car is not the right call

A private car is not the lowest-cost way to move one person from Pearson to Bloor Street. It is the smoothest. Here are the real options.

If you are a single traveller with a rolling case, the UP Express from Pearson to Union Station and a transfer to Line 1 at Union is a perfectly good plan. It serves Union, Bloor, Mount Dennis, Weston and Pearson stations according to its own site. You would then ride Line 1 to St. George, whose entrances are on St. George Street and Bedford Street according to the hotel's directions page. For service alerts and station elevator status see the TTC. The elevator at St. George has been out of service at times, so ask first if you have mobility needs.

The private car wins when you have two bags or more, when you land after the train service you want, when the arrival is in January, when a colleague travels with you, or when the call starts 20 minutes after you arrive.

Which vehicle for a Kimpton Saint George trip

Matching the car to the party avoids the most common error, an undersized vehicle.

• Executive Sedan: up to 3 passengers, with 2 large and 2 carry-on bags. Right for one or two business travellers.
• Luxury SUV: seats up to 6 with 5 to 6 large bags. The better answer for a family or a client with sports equipment.
• Executive Sprinter: 12 to 14 seats and a dozen or more cases, for delegations and speakers' groups, with the exact vehicle confirmed at booking.
• Stretch limousine and mini-coach: hourly, for weddings, galas and larger groups. The exact vehicle for those is confirmed when you book.

Child, toddler and booster seats are provided when you request them at booking. See child seats for the process. All our chauffeurs and vehicles are licensed and commercially insured, and dispatch runs 24 hours a day. Our full fleet page shows each class.

Booking, changes and cancellation

Everything starts at the booker. Get an instant fare with your pickup, drop-off and date. The page shows the exact all-in fare for your address and vehicle before payment, and the booking confirms by email. If your flight changes, tell us; flight tracking handles delays on arrivals, but a changed airport or date needs a message.

Our cancellation terms, measured from the scheduled pickup time: more than 72 hours' notice, no charge; 72 hours or less, 10%; 48 hours or less, 50%; 24 hours or less or a no-show, 100%.

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For other hotels around Yorkville and the Annex see The Hazelton Hotel, Park Hyatt Toronto and Windsor Arms Hotel. If you are staying downtown near Bay Street instead, our W Toronto and Hilton Toronto pages cover that side, and the hotel index lists them all. The wider picture is on the Toronto limo service and Toronto car service pages.