Onyx & Orchestra is an independent guide to Canada's most theatrical resorts 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 boldly run the gaming is — the table pit, the high-limit room, the poker, the acres of slots — and whether the floor carries the drama the whole place trades on.
Whether the tower lives up to the marquee: the rooms and suites, the beds, the big-city or big-water views, and the service a proper grand hotel is expected to deliver.
The headline theatre, the restaurants worth booking around a show, the bars, the spa and the pool — everything that turns a night at the tables into an event.
Where it sits, how the show and the floor pull a crowd, and whether the whole night still feels worth it once the encore's done and the chips are cashed.
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.