Gala & Gilt is an independent guide to Canada's most spectacular hotels with a real casino on the property. Here is exactly how we choose the hotels and score them.
Every hotel in this guide has a real, licensed casino on the property — that is the entry ticket. From there we stay where we can, walk every gaming floor, eat in the restaurants and judge each hotel against the same four measures, so a score means the same thing across the guide.
Our ratings are an editorial opinion, not an average of user reviews, and we take no payment for a place in the ranking or a higher score. Room counts, casino sizes and other figures are approximate and change often — always confirm the current details with the hotel before you travel.
How good and how well-run the gaming really is at scale — the sweep of tables, the high-limit salon, the poker room, the acres of slots — and whether all that spectacle still plays well once you're seated.
Whether the hotel earns the drama with substance: the comfort of the rooms and suites, the beds, the views and the service that would impress you without a single spin.
The restaurants worth booking, the bars, the spa, the arena or theatre — the marquee extras that turn a night at the tables into a full-blown weekend.
Where it sits, how easily you reach it, and whether all the sparkle adds up to fair value once the last chip is cashed and the house lights come up.
Scores run to one decimal out of ten. Above nine, in our view, is a genuine destination worth planning a trip around; the low eights are still strong stays where the casino is one good reason among several. We re-score as hotels renovate, expand or change hands.