Local Arrangements

Conference Hotel

The conference and workshops will take place at the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel Toronto Downtown.  The hotel is located at 108 Chestnut Street, close to Toronto City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square.

Make sure to book your hotel stay at the Hilton conference hotel.  The ACM has negotiated a special rate of $229 CAD per night for reservations made by the early bird registration deadline.   The Hilton is at the center of the conference activity, and will allow you to network easily with other conference attendees. Also, it’s a quick trip to get to the program and functions, and just as quick to nip back to your room for a break. Staying at the conference hotel will provide a better conference experience!

Everyone enjoys meeting in a comfortable conference venue, offering quality service and support for workshops, tutorials, plenary sessions, and other activities. As the transaction for those services and support, the conference guarantees that a percentage of attendees will stay in the hotel. The contract with the hotel then guarantees a specific number of sleeping rooms will be used each night during the conference. If the conference does not meet the contracted sleeping room commitment, the hotel gets paid anyway. Those unfilled rooms will cost the conference thousands of dollars.

Please support PODC and the SIG by staying at the Hilton!

Banquet

A banquet dinner will be held in the evening on Wednesday July 31st.  The banquet will take place on a boat (the Captain Matthew Flinders) operated by Mariposa Cruises.  Additional banquet tickets are available for purchase through the registration site.  Guests are advised to bring sweaters or coats as temperatures over Lake Ontario can be substantially cooler than on land.

picture of cruise boat

Air Travel

The nearest major airport is Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ).  Cab fare from Pearson to downtown Toronto is approximately $50-60.  Pearson airport also offers a train connection to Toronto Union Station, which is located 1.5km from the Hilton hotel.  Cabs are available at Pearson Airport and at Union Station.

Guests arriving from Canadian and US cities may prefer to use Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ), which is a smaller airport located on the Toronto Islands.   Cab fare from Billy Bishop to the Hilton Hotel is approximately $20.  Guests are encouraged to reserve cabs ahead of time.

Local transportation

It is a good idea to buy a Presto card (it costs $6 and is available at the UP Express service counter) if you plan to take the train from Pearson Airport  to Union station. It  costs $9.25 each way with a Presto card and $12.35  without a Presto card. You also get a $1.60 discount when you transfer to the subway/street car if you use your Presto card.
More information can be found at https://www.upexpress.com/Tickets/UpPrestoPDF

From Union station, you can take the subway to St. Patrick station
and then it is only about a 4 minute walk (300m) to the hotel.

From Billy Bishop Airport, you can walk about 3 minutes (230m) to Queen’s Quay and Bathurst and take the 509 Harbour front street car to Union station.

The subway/streetcar costs $3.10 with a Presto Card and $3.25 without it.

There is a free shuttle bus from Billy Bishop airport to/from across from Union Station on the east side of York Street.