Four Seasons Resort Whistler — Attraction in Whistler Resort Municipality

We traveled to Whistler from Houston and spent 5 beautiful days at the FS (2 adults 3 kids 14, 12, 10). From check in to check out our experience was fantastic. ||Skiing. I read a few reviews before booking that pointed out that this wasn’t a ski in ski out property but honestly they made skiing a breeze so I do not think this is an issue. I would recommend getting your rental through the four seasons. They have a shop on property at the hotel. We were fitted the day before our first day on the slopes. The next day our gear was waiting for us at the Blackcomb base in the four seasons concierge area. They are staffed very well and there were several employees available to get you in your boots and off to the slopes. The hot cocoa and cookies in the afternoon at Blackcomb base were a nice touch. There’s a coffee/latte machine in the ski concierge if you need more caffeine before hitting the slopes or throughout the day. The shuttle runs constantly and it’s a very short ride from the hotel to the slopes. The private ski lesson we booked for the kids was right near the FS concierge area. Easy breezy. If your kiddos are doing ski school at whistler village base there’s a shuttle that goes there as well.||Rooms- the rooms were clean, spacious and well appointed with services that you would expect from the FS (daily thorough housekeeping and nightly turndown service). The fireplaces in the rooms were a nice touch. Our housekeeping team was excellent. Everyday they put my daughter’s stuffed animal in as new location- she looked forward to seeing where he would emerge each day. The beds were very comfortable. The view from our room was that of a beautiful winter wonderland.||Property- the hotel grounds are gorgeous. The hot tubs (3 total) and heated pool were a family favorite after a long day of skiing. The sauna is outdoors near the hot tubs which we enjoyed. The men’s and women’s spa area have steam rooms and these areas lead out to pool/hot tubs. Access to the spa facilities is included with your resort fee- which I appreciated because many properties these days try to charge additional fees on top of the resort fee for access to the spa/steam areas. There’s a full service bar at the hot tubs with afternoon/evening service. There are warm towels in this area. They thought of everything.||Gym- The gym is fully equipped. Not a huge footprint but it was never crowded when I went. I really enjoy working out on vaca so I went daily and loved it. They have several treadmills, 2 peloton bikes, a smith machine, a pulley machine and dumbbells (including heavier ones). They even had my favorite machine- a stair climber,😊 There’s an attached yoga studio with spinning bikes.. There are fitness classes daily- usually 1 yoga class and 1 Pilates class. I took 2 Pilates classes with the instructor Tawny- she was fantastic.||Kids activities- the game room is awesome for the kiddos (ping pong table, air hockey, etc). There were also daily s’mores outdoors from 4-6 and we went everyday lol. My kids really bonded with the patient young man (Rudy) that did the s’mores when we were there. ||Restaurants on site- The main restaurant is very family friendly. They were very accommodating and careful about allergies (we had one person in our party with a gluten allergy and another with a nut allergy). Breakfast is delicious but a little pricey so definitely book the room package that includes breakfast if you can. We never had to wait long for a table. The steakhouse Sidecut is also highly rated and a nice dining option, esp if you want to go without kids. ||Getting around- we rented a car to drive from Vancouver but didn’t use it at all while in whistler. The shuttle drivers at the hotel were more than willing to take you places close to the property so you may want to consider taking a shuttle from the airport and skipping renting the car. At the property the drivers were happy to take you to places in whistler and you just had to call for them to come and pick you up. You could check the location of the shuttles in the FS app.||Hotel activities- we enjoyed the complimentary wine hour everyday after skiing. There are other activities included that you can book (snowshoeing, wood burning craft, etc) but we didn’t do any of these (next time!). ||Overall the property is stunning and the service was attentive without being intrusive. Hats off to resort manager Josef Weichinger. We are looking forward to our return...

Our stay at the Four Seasons Whistler Blackcomb Hotel was a mix of exceptional service and memorable experiences, though there were some notable areas for improvement, particularly regarding breakfast and certain amenities. Here’s a detailed review based on our experience:||The Positives||1. Shuttle Service: | The shuttle service was outstanding—reliable, timely, and incredibly convenient for getting around Whistler. It made our stay much more enjoyable, especially given the ski resort setting.||2. Staff: | The majority of the staff were exceptional—polite, friendly, and highly competent. From the front desk to the concierge, transportation desk, and breakfast staff, everyone went out of their way to ensure a pleasant experience. The Four Seasons App, particularly the Chat feature, was a standout—it worked beautifully and made communication with the hotel seamless.||3. Rooms: | We stayed in 2 adjoining suites, both of which were excellent. The restrooms were well-appointed, the sound insulation was effective, the heater worked perfectly, and the beds were incredibly comfortable. The Wi-Fi also performed very well, which is always a plus.||4. Overall Service: | The service throughout the hotel was top-notch, living up to the Four Seasons’ reputation for excellence. We felt well taken care of during our entire stay.||Things to Improve||1. TVs: | The TVs in the rooms were not Smart TVs, which felt outdated. The practice of charging for movies was disappointing, especially since we couldn’t access streaming services like Netflix. This is an area where the hotel could modernize to meet guest expectations.||2. Fridge: | The fridge in the room was completely filled with minibar items, leaving no space for guests to chill personal items like a bottle of water. This was inconvenient and something that could easily be addressed.||Negatives||Breakfast|Breakfast was the most disappointing aspect of our stay. Here are the key issues we encountered:||1. Toasters| The toasters didn’t work properly. Often, only one side of the toast was heated, and even on the highest setting, the bread sometimes wasn’t toasted at all. With only two toasters for a ski resort full of guests, the setup was clearly insufficient.||2. Eggs Station| The eggs station was understaffed, leading to long waits during peak breakfast hours. This was frustrating, especially given the hotel’s luxury status.||3. Coffee Machine| The coffee machine was more suited to a 3-star hotel and frequently broke down (it happened every day!). Additionally, we were shocked to learn that regular/espresso coffee was not included in the buffet. This was the first time in all our travels that a hotel charged for breakfast coffee, and it felt incredibly petty. Having a waiter offer coffee only to find out it wasn’t included was an unpleasant experience.||4. Juices| The buffet lacked basic options like orange or apple juice, offering only two overly sweet, artificial juice blends that were not enjoyable.||5. Breakfast System| The breakfast system was unnecessarily complex and confusing. Charging for the buffet but then saying it wouldn’t be charged felt like a needless complication. Most luxury hotels, including other Four Seasons properties, simply include breakfast in the room rate, which is far more straightforward and guest-friendly.||6. “Large Party” Charge| We had two rooms: one with two adults and one child, and the other with two adults. Despite this, we were charged an 18% “Large Party” fee on one occasion, which was unacceptable and should not have happened.||7. Breakfast Manager| The breakfast manager was the only staff member who stood out negatively, often displaying a “wise guy” attitude that was off-putting.||8. Food Quality and Variety| While the food quality and variety were acceptable, they didn’t meet the high standards we expected from a Four Seasons hotel. The overall breakfast experience fell short of what we’ve come to expect from luxury accommodations.||Swimming Pool and Sauna|1. Indoor Pool| The lack of an indoor swimming pool was surprising for a luxury ski resort hotel. It felt like a missed opportunity, especially given the cold weather.||2. Sauna| The sauna being outdoors was very unpleasant, particularly in a ski resort where guests are likely looking for warmth and comfort after a day...

The Mrs. and I have adopted “luxury travel” as a bit of a hobby (to the degree that we can afford it – we are not multi-millionaires). One of our primary ways to enable this are trips to Vancouver, B.C., which is only a 3-hour drive from our home (no airfare expense – yaa!). With that in mind, when we saw an absolute killer Amex Plat FHR daily rate for the Four Seasons Whistler during a period when we needed to be in Vancouver anyway, we jumped all over it.|||No regrets…but…some disappointments.|||One of the things the Mrs. and I have observed that makes Four Seasons properties special is the experience. It isn’t necessarily about the property itself…the Four Seasons Miami at the time of our visit was essentially brand new; the Four Seasons Singapore is showing its age with both a bit of wear and tear, as well as design themes. It is about the experience, and the majority of that is about the people. The Mrs. and I have speculated that there must be some “Four Seasons University” that staff are sent to, because the service, the hospitality, is always amazing. They seem to KNOW you are expecting something special, because you could be staying at the Marriott and saving a ton of money. At minimum, if there isn’t a “Four Seasons University”, then surely there is a rigorous hiring process that only the best and most experienced hospitality people could make through. Your first job in hospitality is not going to be at a Four Seasons.|||Unless it is the Four Seasons Whistler.|||There is a work visa program relationship between the British Commonwealth countries, primarily the U.K., Australia, and Canada, a program that is primarily leveraged by young people in their twenties. I know this because my wife was raised in Australia, and my university age son was raised in Canada. It is a very common thing for Brits to spend a year working in Canada or Australia someplace cool…like Sydney (Bondi Beach) or Canada (Whistler). For Canadians, its London and Sydney. For Aussies, its London and Whistler. The hospitality industry in all three cities leverage this. I’ve seen this in Sydney maybe times. And now I’ve seen it at the Four Seasons Whistler.|||Polite, pleasant, enthusiastic, and well-scrubbed is the staff at the Four Seasons Whistler. Bright eyed and bushy tailed. Experienced? Competent? Meh…|||The property is lovely – well up to Four Seasons standards (including the Four Seasons level artwork – I am always amazed at how the artwork doesn’t LOOK like “hotel artwork”…I can tell it is good stuff, and I care not a wit about art). Our room? Large and lovely, with in our case a great view. Expectations met.|||The people?|||I’m different. I know it. Having grown up quite working class and now living at a wee bit of a different station, the “Feeling Special” is a central part of the motivation behind our luxury travel hobby. “Feeling Special” is part of the reward for the hard work that makes $500 - $1000 per night hotel rooms possible it. And the Four Seasons, more than the Fairmont, and as it turns out, more than the Langham, ALWAYS delivers on this. Except when they didn’t at the Four Seasons Whistler. |||Not bad service. Certainly, in no way impolite or improper. And to be clear, the manage level staff – all experienced at other Four Seasons properties (at least the ones I spoke to) were great.|||But the Front Desk staff, the wait staff, the bell staff, all the front-line staff, perpetually seemed like they either waiting for me to tell them what to do, or that there was no expectation that they do anything beyond “check the box”. No mindset of “how do I solve this problem” versus “what is the correct answer”. At a Marriott, you ask about ice, you are told where the ice machine is. At a Four Seasons, the bellman who just dropped your bags either volunteers to get ice or promises to make sure that ice will appear in short order. At a Hilton, you ask for your car, they ask for your ticket, and then ask you what you are driving. At a Four Seasons, they greet you by name and then say “the _, right?” (Yes, it is true, I don’t drive a Honda or a Toyota, or the like).|||Now, given the killer rate we were paying, a rate that included parking and breakfast, I should have NO complaints. But it was a Four Seasons....