Charltons Banff — Hotel in Banff

I honestly don’t know how this place is still operating. I wouldn’t let my worst enemy stay at Charlston Banff. We booked 3 nights here and it was an absolute disaster from the second we arrived.

We confirmed over the phone that someone would be at the front desk until 11:00 PM on Monday, March 31. After a grueling 11-hour drive from BC, we pulled in at 10:30 PM—only to be met with a dark, locked building. No staff. No note. No access. Just silence and frustration. After hours on the road, tired and drained, this is how they welcomed us?

That was only the beginning of this nightmare.

One of the main reasons we chose this place was because they advertised a sauna and pool. What a joke. Once we finally managed to check in the next day, they casually dropped the news that neither the sauna nor pool was working. No prior notice. No update. Just a shrug and a direction to use a facility at a different hotel down the road. Are you kidding me?

At the Royal Canadian Lodge, we were “greeted” by someone named Mark, who was hands-down the most disrespectful and arrogant person I’ve encountered in any hotel, anywhere. He acted like we were bothering him, rolled his eyes, and spoke with an unbelievably condescending tone. If that’s customer service, I’d rather sleep in my car.

As for their “solution,” the pool at Royal Canadian was disgusting — it reeked of chlorine, there were no towels, and it looked like a chemical spill. We couldn’t even enjoy it without coughing. Total health hazard.

Back at Charlston, our room — Room 111 — had a broken bathroom door that wouldn’t shut properly. We informed the staff, and their response? “Yeah, it’s been like that. We don’t have a fix.” No apology. No attempt to resolve it. Just complete indifference.

And the grand finale? We were promised a manager would call us to discuss compensation and sort things out. Of course, no one ever called. Instead, we were slapped with mystery fees after checkout. When we called to question them, the front desk agent put us on hold for nearly 15 minutes and then came back with an attitude like we were wasting their time. Rude, dismissive, and absolutely useless.

This place is an embarrassment. A total scam operation that preys on tired travelers and hides behind fake promises. Avoid this hotel like the plague — they’ll ruin your vacation, take your money, and treat you like garbage.

Zero professionalism. Zero...

Find a hotel where staff care about the safety and well being of their guests.

My partner and I were woken up at 4 a.m. by the couple in the suite next to us having a very loud an aggressive altercation. This altercation became violent there was furniture being slammed in to our shared wall multiple times (photos literally fell off our wall), along with both partners screaming at each other. This altercation lasted over the course of THREE hours (4am-7am), during this my partner and I called the front desk four times, security came to their suite twice and the police were also sent to them twice, eventually the couple was removed from their suite by police around 8am, after we CALLED POLICE OURSELVES. This extremely violent domestic dispute left my partner and I in fear for our safety and traumatized from what we were subjected to all morning. You can't control who's staying next to you, this could have happened anywhere, but it's how the Charltons staff handled the situation that is the reason for this review. I want to note that during this horrific THREE HOURS hotel staff did nothing to protect us as guests after we communicated we felt unsafe in our room. They easily could have switched us rooms. Upon check out the staff at the hotel offered us to return for a free night, do you HONESTLY think we want to come back here after what we just endured? They refused to refund us for our horrific nights stay. We contacted both the general manager Suzanne, and front office manager directly never received a response. I did speak with the assistant general manager, Marie, who unfortunately was unable to do anything past persist that we accepted the free nights stay. I want to be CLEAR, this wasn’t a noise complaint that disrupted our stay, this was an aggressive, violent domestic assault that lasted over the course of three hours, that we were subjected to listen to on the other side of the paper thin wall. We unfortunately will never be returning to this establishment after how management has handled this situation, brushed off our serious concerns, and disregarded the traumatic experience. I hope anyone looking for a nice night in Banff takes this review in to deep consideration before making a decision to stay here. Find a hotel where staff care about the safety and well being of...

I did pre-check in while en route. I received all the confirmation emails from Booking,com, and directly from Charltons, without incident.

On arrival, I noticed the pool and spa were out of service. This wasn't listed anywhere when booking, so I was mad. I booked this hotel because it had a pool and spa. Why didn't they let us know? The guest agent at the front desk said the pool and spa were decommissioned two days ago, and they didn't have time to let people know.

The guest services agent said we could use their sister hotels pool, which was three hotels down the road. (In March, in Banff, with 20 cms of fresh snow - walk three hotels away in a bathing suit and house coat). No, thank you. If they had let me know prior to my cancelation deadline, I could have rebooked elsewhere. I asked him if he could just move us to that hotel. No. Only if they're sold out.

When checking us in, the guest services agent repeatedly mentioned my room number out loud for everyone within earshot to hear. This is a major safety issue and privacy violation.

Finally, get up to the room and surprise, surprise. The keys dont work. THREE TIMES, the keys to my room wouldn't work, and had to be rekeyed. Each time I came back to the desk to have them fixed, the desk agent would make me wait while he checked in two or three other reservations. He also mentioned all of their room numbers out loud as well. Zero regard for discretion.

Finally, after 90 MINUTES of trying to get into our room, I requested a manager and to be moved to one of their other hotels. The manager came and obliged. Moving us next door where that hotel had a spa, but no pool.

The guest agent needs a lesson is DISCRETION. The hotel should have communicated their pool was out of service. I could have at least canceled with enough time to book other comparable accommodations. Checking in was a shit show, and the delay and move caused me to be late for a work dinner.

Terrible experience from...