The Malcolm Hotel — Hotel in Alberta

This was the first time my family (of 3, 2 adults + 1 child) stayed here and we were excited to escape the city for a weekend getaway but mainly there to unwind and try out the rooftop heated pool we’ve heard so much about. About a week after we booked, we were scheduled to arrive and Alberta was expecting a very cold weekend. Unknown to us, they had closed the rooftop pool because it was below -24 (so keep this in mind and unsure if that’s published on their website but if not, they need to) and failed to notify and give guests the option to cancel their stay prior to arrival. This felt like an “on purpose” oversight on their management so that guests who prepaid their stay like us, wouldn’t have ever been given the option to have a full refund…we were already “locked in”. Very disappointing to show up with this surprise, knowing full well a week prior we were expecting this weather province wide (it was in the 10 day forecast!) Everything was shut down for the most part in Canmore and Banff and it was a good learning lesson for us not to expect much in extreme temperatures. If it had been communicated upfront either on Malcolm’s website or via email communication that at certain temperatures, the pool facilities are shut down, we likely wouldn’t have booked or tried to cancel. When we arrived we were given a King “accessible” room which we mistakingly booked. They were kind enough to move us to a normal King so that we could have a proper bathtub and shower for our toddler. They were going to charge us an extra $60/night but after raising concern around the cancelled pool without notice, they gave us a deal and slashed $40/ night off to $20 (albeit we were paying $688 with tax for two nights already). So that was nice of them. The room we would have had was for a guest who required modifications to help with wheelchair accessibility therefore, the shower was a walk-in with chair type set up - great for those who are looking for that but the website needs to be more clear around room description (specifically there is no tub). All in all, we were ok with their fulfillment on the request we made. Both rooms were super clean, got to give them that and views were gorgeous.

There was a wedding that evening and for some odd reason. The wedding did not have a place to go after dinner down below so the wedding guests took over the entire Level 2 area where regular guests could have enjoyed a game of pool or some board games and it felt quite awkward venturing out of your room, with a pile of people drinking and mingling, felt like you were intruding.

The restaurant on site, “The Sterling” had amazing food! Dinner was delicious and service was fantastic! Breakfast ordered on our last morning was superb. It arrived on regular plate and silverware and not in takeaway containers like most hotels so that was a nice surprise.

We requested a late check-out by an extra hour to finish breakfast and the response we got from the front desk was “unfortunately due to the overwhelming requests for late check outs we are unable to offer anymore”. So there we have it, start the trip poor and end it poorly. Not rude but just not overly accommodating for the price. Will not stay here again. Maybe it was due to the uncommon (not unforeseen) weather circumstances but not about to spend another $1000 to find out. I will say, the saving grace was Banff’s Fairmont Hotel; their outdoor pool was still operating so that was a nice bonus!

The point I am getting at, the amount of money your are paying to experience a hotel stay that’s supposed to be above average, wasn’t worth it. The hotel service & amenities did not...

I was excited to wrap up my wonderful Alberta vacation with a final night at the Malcolm before catching my flight home. It was expensive, $732 CAD, but I considered it a treat after spending the previous several days hiking the Canadian Rockies.

This property has the potential to be a fantastic hotel. However, they fell short of the fundamentals. While the exterior and common areas are beautiful, the room conditions made it barely inhabitable. First the plumbing issues. The bathroom sink would fill up and took more than a minute to drain. I told the front desk and they tried to tell me how the stopper worked, but I told them that I had popped it up and it was indeed open, just draining very slowly. The other plumbing issue was the toilet which would clog with just a few sheets of toilet paper in it (no solids). They plunged it once, but it continued to clog throughout my stay. I resorted to using the shared restrooms in the hallway and lobby. This may be okay at a hostel, but not at hotel in this price range.

The next major issue was the air conditioner. I say major because it affected my quality of sleep. It was tolerable when I first entered the room, but it was not cooling. I called the front desk and they sent up someone who reset the thermostat as that was the extent of his troubleshooting skills. He set it to the lowest temperature setting and apologized for not being able to do more. I don't blame him as it's not his fault that the hotel didn't have someone with HVAC knowledge on duty. The AC ran all night and lowered the room temperature by only 1 degree. The weather was warm during my stay, but neither of my hotels in Banff or Jasper had an issue keeping the room cool.

Lastly, the alarm was left on by the previous guest (and not reset by housekeeping), and I was jarred awake 90 minutes earlier than my phone's alarm was scheduled to go off. Just to give some context, this was the morning of a long travel day where I would arrive home at midnight. This is another thing that should not happen. It was the cherry on top for a pretty lackluster experience.

I didn't use any of the other amenities as I was only there for one night, but I'm sure they're great. The property and rooms were all very neat and clean. Another key fundamental that I require when traveling is safety, and I definitely felt safe at the Malcolm. The mountain views around the entire town are incredible. Canmore is incredibly charming. Walking along the river to shopping/dining was lovely. The location isn't bad, but there are other lodging options closer to restaurants and shopping. The hotel's underground parking garage was nice, but the spots are very small. I was driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee and it was a tight fit. There are lots available adjacent to the property if you're in a larger vehicle.

A comfortable room with reliable plumbing is a very low bar, and The Malcolm missed the mark. There were attempts to fix things, but nothing was completely resolved. The staff was very nice, and they even agreed and apologized after I provided feedback via a survey. At the end of the day, I paid for the use of their product, and the product quality that I received did not meet my rather low, reasonable...

I booked this hotel on a special promotion after hearing about it on social media. Rooms were 50% off the first Thursday of the month I think. It was a race for time as by the time I woke up almost all of July was booked. I managed to snag two nights. We drove 12 hours through the night, made a stop at Banff Gondola and grabbed food. By then it was only 10am and we were tired. I requested super early check in for an additional $80 CAD for the room to be ready by 12pm. We got to the hotel at 11:30 and it wasn’t ready yet so we went and parked in the underground garage. By the time we unpacked and I fed my baby, the room was ready.

Two queen beds. Walk in shower with a rain head and a balcony with a nice view. We saw people walking a boardwalk trail and ended up doing the same later. Very beautiful. Rooms were clean. The hotel has a game room with board games and an outdoor pool with a view.

Check in was efficient. They send you an email and or text with a link to register your check in. And a bunch of add ons to your reservations like chocolates or flowers. I had mentioned that we were celebrating my husbands birthday with this trip and we arrived to a box of chocolates and a happy birthday note. Super sweet of them. They also provided plush bathrobe (not for keep $250 charge) and slippers.

After we had checked out, my daughter left behind her plushie. I called at bedtime because that’s when she noticed it was gone. I spoke with Laura and she had to check with Housekeeping to see if there was anything left behind. She called me back after I had gone to bed and left a voicemail. In the morning around 5am I called back and spoke with a gentleman who didn’t know anything about the missing item so he also had to proceed to talk to Housekeeping to find out if there was anything missing from our room. Laura ended up calling me back and said they found it so we were able to get it back by the time we were done eating breakfast.

Overall, hotel is nice and has nice amenities. But are they worth the price? Not the original price but I think at the discounted price that I bought them at, it was good. Convenient place to set up shop when exploring and spectacular views. Total spent $828...