When we reopened after the 2022 renovation, the most common question at the front desk was not about the pool or the restaurant. It was about the televisions. Or rather, the absence of them. Every suite at Maxcasinolic now has a single concealed projection screen that drops from the ceiling if you genuinely want it, but by default the walls are clean. We removed forty-one televisions during the refurbishment and, honestly, we expected a revolt. We did not get one. What we got instead was a slow stream of thank-you notes.
The thinking behind the decision was simple. A hotel room with a television switched on is a room where nobody is looking at the view. Our building sits on Cornwall Avenue, and every suite has at least one window facing either the harbour or the North Shore mountains. Put a screen in the middle of that and the guest ends up staring into a rectangle of blue light while one of the better skylines in Canada quietly does its thing behind them. We decided the room should push you toward the window, not away from it. The projection screen still exists for the nights you actually want a movie, or for anyone travelling with kids who need a wind-down ritual. It just is not the default.
What has surprised us most is how guests describe the change. Business travellers say they sleep better. Couples say they talk more. Several regulars have told us they now deliberately book us when they want a quiet weekend and book somewhere else when they need to binge a season, which is exactly the kind of honesty we were hoping for. The housekeeping team has noted fewer abandoned room-service trays because people eat at the dining table or on the terrace instead of in front of a screen.
We are not pretending this is a moral stance. It is a design one. Hotels have been telling guests to relax for a century while installing more and more reasons not to. We just moved in the other direction. If you want a television on your next stay, ask the concierge — we will set up the projector and you can watch whatever you like. We simply want the starting position to be the window.
