Most popular hotels for cheating on your spouse; sick but interesting

I don't condone the site in any way. But I gotta admit I find it interesting to look at some reports by Huffington Post of late on what hotels are most popular with folks who use the Ashley Madison infidelity (cheat on your spouse) social media network.

The site surveyed more than 3,200 members who live or travel to Toronto and asked them to name their most popular hotels for their affairs.

"Our research reveals that while these hotels may not be where they would stay on a typical business or family trip, to fulfill on the perfect affair they tend to choose something more exotic, trendy and even romantic," said Noel Biderman, CEO of Ashley Madison (which is based in Toronto? Really?).

Biderman said hotels obviously don't market themselves for cheaters but they certainly know it's a part of their business. In fact, he estimates perhaps 10 per cent of a hotel's revenue comes from infidelity.

Anyway, on to the hotels. The survey found that the most popular spot in Toronto was the Sheraton Centre. Makes sense, really. It's large. It's right downtown on Queen across from City Hall and near the Eaton Centre and close to offices and such. Nice rooms, but not over the top. Oh, one of the bars (see photo) is called Traders. Sorry, but how perfect is that?

Second was the Fairmont Royal York. Also a nice spot; very classy and historic. Then came the Hazelton Yorkville (very impressive to the girlfriend or boyfriend), the Westin Harbour Castle and the Hilton Garden Inn Airport.

Ashley Madison did a similar report for New York and L.A. In the Big Apple, the most popular booking spots for hooking up were the W Hotel on Lexington, the Holiday Inn on 57th St. (hey big spender, what's up with that?), the Marriott Marquis (more like it), the Gansevoort in the, um, meatpacking district and the Waldorf Astoria (much more like it, folks).

In L.A. the top five were the W in Hollywood, The Beverly Wilshire, The Beverly Hills Hotel, the Comfort Inn in North Hollywood and the Holiday Inn in Santa Monica at the beach. That's not so bad but a Comfort Inn? Really? North Hollywood ain't exactly the romance capital of southern California, although it IS close to downtown with good access to both the Hollywood Freeway and the Ventura Freeway.

Very silly stuff, of course. But interesting.

TORONTO HOTEL NEWS

Couple things to mention in Hogtown today. The folks at Trump Toronto - sorry, the Trump International Hotel and Tower Toronto - have announced the "highly anticipated expansion of Quartz Crystal Spa," located on the 31st and 32nd floors.

Spa patrons now have a natural salt infinity lap pool and an infinity edge whirlpool (never seen one of those) overlooking the downtown, plus a fully equipped fitness and movement studio and a sauna.

Over in Mississauga, the Towne Place Suites has been given a $17 million renovation/transformation. The hotel offers a full kitchen, free breakfast, a pool and more.

PORTER EXPANSION

Porter Airlines is adding a fourth weekday roundtrip between Sault Ste. Marie and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. The new flights begin Oct. 1.

“Sault Ste. Marie is an example of a city that needed competition,” said Robert Deluce, president and CEO of Porter Airlines. “We’ve been able to encourage more people to fly based on offering choice, lower fares and direct access to downtown Toronto. Our new schedule matches this interest.”

Porter began serving Sault Ste. Marie in 2011, with two daily flights.

MISSY LOVES PICTOU

Nice of American swimmer Missy Franklin to call out Pictou, Nova Scotia as her favourite spot on the lord's great, green earth. Franklin, whose mother is from Halifax and dad from Ontario, has spent a lot of time in Pictou, a small town on the north shore of the province.

Franklin just loves the place and, of course, folks in Pictou are thrilled with the coverage. They're hoping to get the Olympic medallist to visit again soon but apparently the 17-year-old has to go back to high school in Colorado first.