Fairmont Banff Springs — Attraction in Banff

As a diehard Fairmont aficionada and repeat guest at this hotel, it pains me greatly to write this review, but it needs to be done.||My husband and I go to Banff with our two dogs every year, at least for the last 5 years, and stay at the Fairmont BSH. Thus, my review is not based on a one-off. We also preferentially stay in Fairmont hotels 3-4 other times throughout the year, and have been consistently impressed elsewhere with the high standards of service.||The good: Some service was good, notably Emily at Castello and Chase at the Rundle Bar patio. The bartender (Ernesto) in the Gold Lounge is outstanding. Spa service (facial) was quite good. ||The “not-awesome-but-I-can-live-with-it”: Internet service is very “off and on”—this was not a problem as I really was not working, but had I wanted to, say, stream videos, it would have been maddening. Room ventilation/air is inconsistent (had a suite, sitting area is freezing, sleeping area is hot!). Bathroom is tiny (you cannot open the drawer under the sink without first closing the bathroom door). All of these are peccadillos of an older hotel in the mountains so, while not ideal, are manageable for me.||The less great and frankly not tolerable: Most service is terrible. Now, I understand that in general, service quality is declining worldwide, so I will give some examples and let readers decide for themselves:||- We brought our dogs with us, and though they are great travelers, they are old (10 and 13), so we brought a bed pad (our own) in case there were any accidents owing to the stress of travel. We removed the bed pad from the bed prior to having the room cleaned and the cleaners took it with them. I am not necessarily upset about the missing bed pad but I do think that the cleaners should know what is theirs and what is ours.|- One of my dogs threw up grass on the duvet cover and I had to ask for a replacement. Unfortunately this happened at 9:59 PM, just as the Gold desk was closing. The eyerolls from the staff were memeworthy (basically think RDJ), even though I had simply asked if there was a way to contact housekeeping directly since it was so late.|- For several hours one day, we had a couple sitting directly outside our room door on the phone, with computers set up, clearly working. (Our room was adjacent to the console table across from the elevator banks.) After several hours, I asked if they might be able to move somewhere else as it is admittedly odd to have people sitting within 6 inches of your door. The response from the Gold staff was: “Are they really bothering you? They’re not in your room.” (Last year the Gold Lounge was overtaken by two people who used a significant portion of the lounge for day trading each day, so I am disappointed to see that this has continued.)|- I asked the Gold staff if they might be able to help me make reservations at a hotel restaurant and they told me to use OpenTable (which I did, and got the points). I would recommend reservations, because even when there are reservations on OpenTable, if you don’t make one, you can’t get seated: we went to the Vermilion Room when there were clearly empty seats at lunch (e.g. no diners visible) and were told that a large group was coming in so the servers would be overwhelmed. We left.|- One of our dogs has a spinal cord injury after being hit by a car and—while he is continent—often pees very quickly after being brought outside. He has not urinated in the hotel, but when we are taking him out, if people stop to “ooh and aah” over him, he will sometimes pee as soon as he gets outside, but always on the pavement. For the duration of our stay, the several times that this has happened, the outside workers (valets?) have been quite obvious about their irritation that they need to hose down the area. This morning, the doorman told my husband that he needed to carry our 75-pound dog (with a full bladder) outside and make him go on the grass. Of course, the dog peed all over my husband because he got nervous, and the doorman continued to tell my (now wet) husband to keep walking the dog to the grass. |- On prior visits, we have always been taken directly to our room by the Fairmont Gold staff and shown the amenities. While not necessary, this is a nice touch, and certainly better than the “wave and point” (though admittedly our room was visible from the check-in desk) that we received.||TL;DR: Overall, this visit was not up to my prior experiences or the Fairmont brand. There are certain limitations with a historic property. But you do have control over service: if you can’t offer a premier experience, don’t promise that you can. And there is no excuse for being unkind to a...

I came here to celebrate my belated 50th with my long time childhood friend who also turned 50. Upon arriving, we had amazing service. The lovely young man who checked us in, Rajath, was not only beyond patient but extremely helpful and kind. We also took advantage of the adventures the hotel had to offer. The first one we booked was the Town Walking tour led by a very charismatic fellow named Ewen. He was funny, personable, and pleasant. Not only did he lead us into town with some stops, he gave us recommendations and answered our questions at the end. After visiting town and leisurely shopping, we came back in time for the Hotel Walking tour led by Elise, a lovely and sweet young woman who took us all around the hotel along with the history of the hotel. Despite a wedding being set up there, she walked us through places I don’t think we would be allowed if not for the tour. Both these tours were great ways to learn more about Banff and the chateau. The hotel tour ended in time for us to get the cards to our room which was located in the Gate House on the 19th floor. While this side of the castle doesn’t have much of a view, it was worth it for the room. We found our bags waiting for us in the bedroom and a delicious treat waiting for us in the living room area. It was definitely worth the wait and very comfortable. The bathroom was also very spacious for a hotel bathroom complete with a Toto toilet. We ended the day with the outdoor pool. I’d like to also give a shout out to Jeet and Jack at the reception desk. Jeet gave us our cards to the room and was amazing. And Jack gave us helpful information about getting to the pool, our plans to visit Lake Louise the following day as well as validated our parking with in and out privileges for our entire stay. The outdoor pool was fantastic. It’s heated so it’s like a hot bath but not too hot like a hot tub. We made it in time to get a couple of Aperol spritz from the pool bar. A young Filipino man who let us talk his ear off about our Lake Louise plans. I’m afraid I didn’t get his name. He was there until the pool bar closed. The view at the pool was beautiful and we stayed there until right before closing at 10p. We spent the following day at Lake Louise but before that, we partook in the buffet breakfast at the Vermillion Room. It filled us up for the day. Upon returning at around 8p, we found yet another lovely surprise waiting for us in the room. It was a small birthday cake with a kind note from Rajath! The cake was delicious! We rushed to get to the pool with just enough time to see our friend again at the pool bar for another round of Aperol spritz. And a chat about our day at Lake Louise that he remembered from the previous day. This time, we stayed in the pool until 10p and it was still bright out so it didn’t feel like 10p at all. On our 2nd and final day, we started off with the breakfast buffet again with the same kind and sweet waitress we had yesterday, Sarah. This time, I opted for the pancakes and waffles which were the perfect size and quite yummy. We were also given a late check out option which we took since we signed up for the Wilderness tour at 12:30p. The tour was led by Ewen, whom we were delighted to see again. He has a fun and lively personality which made the tours he led a lot of fun. We ended the tour with his recommendation of seeing the Bow falls. That pretty much marked the end of a most memorable and wonderful stay at the Fairmont Banff Springs. Despite it raining every day that we were there in June, this made our 50th an amazing birthday. The only downside to our stay was that our cards didn’t work upon our return from the tour and it took 20 minutes for them to bring a new set of cards to us despite opting for the late check out. We just had to get our bags. They communicated with us via text the entire time which was very convenient. We opted for the express checkout via text and...

Go for a day for just the view in the back! Best view in Banff! ||My mother and I spent a whole week in Banff and one of the days we spent a whole day at Fairmont Banff Springs. We did not stay there because they were booked the days that we wanted and we didn’t wanna be going back-and-forth and back-and-forth between hotels just to stay there. So we decided to do a day there, which is perfect because that is all you need! (I heard the rooms are really small and for the price you pay I don’t think so. We need a lot of space !) We stayed at hotel Canoe and Suites, which was huge! And brand new so that’s probably why their rooms are nice and big!||We did the afternoon tea, make sure to make a reservation way in advance because it’s whoever makes the reservation first that gets the window seat. they still let us sit over there for pictures though, but that was disappointing that we couldn’t sit by the window, but the tea was great! The food not so much but tea was good. That’s another review. ||Then we went to the spa. Very very nice spa. (Not as great as the fountainbleau in Las Vegas but it’s been here for years !) There’s a relaxation room that no one ever goes in apparently because I could go take a nap in there, there’s private pools for the spa and an indoor pool and outdoor pool three different hot tubs with different temperatures, coed living room with snacks and tea, overall good spa experience as well. We had the 45 minute massage and that was good enough for me. Then we did the dinner at the steakhouse and that was really great as well. But in between those activities, we checked out the convention center, the old ballroom which made me want to dance and host a ball because it was just so pretty, the lobby is gorgeous, shops are cute, but the view in the back is spectacular! Definitely go just for the view in the back. One of the best of views in Banff!||They also have apparently a hidden bookcase entrance downstairs at the Rundle bar, which I forgot to check out.||They used to have a historic museum on the second floor, but we were sad that it was no longer there and had been moved. They also do a tour which I wanted to do, but they only offer the Tour to guests. Mean. So maybe stay there for a night just for the tour? ||Also be sure to check out the statue in the front who’s pointing towards the view, that was an interesting story from one of our other tours. Apparently, the rooms used to face the wrong way, and not the view or the entrance, but then after some renovations, they flipped it. The statue (original owner or buyer) was mad originally because the hotel was facing the wrong way. So I guess they made sure to make a statue of him pointing the right direction.! ||The staff there was all very friendly though, of course it varied per person, but we were up so early and there so early in the morning that I think we snuck into the VIP area, but no one seemed to mind and it was great because we could get pictures without a bunch of people around .||Parking is easy they have a parking lot. Which both of the restaurants on the spa will validate. So then it’s free. There’s also some free parking along the street but if you’re going to the restaurant or the spa, you might as well just park in the parking lot.||Overall, I would just go for the day because I did love this hotel, or stay for at least one night just so you can do the tour, but also make sure you get the view from across the street. I must say we stayed at the Fairmont in Jasper , the Fairmont, Jasper Lodge, and they were amazing as well, so they have a new loyalty member in me! I can’t wait for another...