Irwin's Mountain Inn — Hotel in Banff

Overall: Budget option with some major maintenance issues in room

Irwin's Mountain Inn has a great location - it is on Banff Avenue and a short walk to the restaurants and shops, yet far enough away to not have to deal with the noise. This also allows for a lot of overnight parking options behind the hotel and easy access to the highway to get in and out of town without having to drive through the pedestrian madness of Banff Avenue. There is also a Safeway a block away for your groceries.

Check-in was quick and easy, and they allowed an extra hour to check-out without issue. The property itself was clean and the WiFi worked flawlessly. We had one of the suites because the pricing of their suites was less than many hotels charged for their basic rooms so I would recommend checking their actual website if Banff is busy and appears sold-out because those rooms may be available and surprisingly affordable, yet not advertised on third party sites.

There is some onsite underground parking, however it is a little misleading to even call it “limited” as their website does. There are 65 guest rooms and what appear to be a dozen or so parking stalls underground in an extremely tight configuration. Also, if you are driving a larger vehicle you should check the height restrictions as larger trucks and SUVs will most likely not fit.

The room itself was clean but there were definitely some major maintenance issues. We turned on the air conditioning because the room was about 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Farenheit), yet the temperature was between 0 and 5 degrees Celsius (32 to 41 degrees Farenheit). The air conditioner could not cool the room more than a couple degrees, even if we let it run for hours. Being an older unit it was noisy so we could not leave it on overnight.

We did not take advantage of the amenities such as the hot tub, sauna and ski lockers. When we walked by the hot tub was always empty and looked to be large compared to other hotels, however because it is not fully enclosed you can smell the chlorine in the lobby. The El Toro restaurant is opened for breakfast and dinner, and when we had our breakfast there it was average and priced in line with other Banff breakfast places. I would recommend going into town to a place like Coyotes or Melissa’s if you have time because they are much better, however El Toro is a nice solution when you do not want to leave the immediate area for breakfast.

Irwin’s is priced at the low-end of the market, and as such offers a great value. While there were some major maintenance issues with our room and the underground parking leaves something to be desired, it is a place we would potentially stay at again if it was the cheapest option with the understanding with the cheapest price may come some problems (such as our 28...

We stayed at Irwin"s Mountain Inn, for two nights, in March 2025. Upon arriving at the inn, we were greeted by the sight of a completely "smeared" front glass door. The glass was so dirty that we couldn't even see into the lobby. What a horrible welcome! After we checked in, we went to our room only to encounter a general feeling of grunge. Everything felt dirty. The back of the bathroom door was filthy. We had to clean it with a face cloth and the cloth came away with black dirty spots all over it. There were also long black hairs clinging to the door. Neither of us has long hair nor black hair. It was so disgusting. The bathroom was a joke -- very tiny -- you could hardly move in there. There was no hair conditioner, in the container, in the bathtub toiletry caddy. The body wash container was missing and had been replaced by a bottle of Rocky Mountain Soap body wash. The pump on the body wash bottle was broken, so no body wash was available. The location of the bathroom was not designed properly. The door faced the two beds and the light switch was on the wall, outside the bathroom. So, when using the bathroom, at night, the light would shine towards the beds. Why should an occupant's sleep be disrupted by someone else turning the light on to use the bathroom at night. We have never been in a hotel room where the entrance to the bathroom faced the beds. This hotel is old and beyond outdated. The mattresses are of poor quality and sag when you lay down on them resulting in a terrible night's sleep. The upholstered bench, in the room, was stained and gross. The carpets were dirty and full of snags. There were vacuum cleaners and laundry carts strewn about the hallways well into the evening. We expressed our concerns about the condition of our room to the front desk clerk. We showed her the dirty face cloth that was used in cleaning the bathroom door. She agreed that this was not acceptable. The front desk clerk assured us that a refund would be applied to our credit card for the inconvenience. To date, we have not heard from the inn nor received a refund. We believe that this tactic is a ruse used by the hotel to lull guests into thinking that their concerns will be addressed. We think that this is a ploy implemented by hotel staff in an attempt to easily "get rid of guests who have a complaint". Don't stay at this dump, unless you want your mountain experience...

My official score is 3.5 out of 5 stars.

The only reason I am not giving a lower score is due to the price being the least in all of Banff (dog friendly) according to my husband. We paid $133 for one night including all fees and taxes.

-1 star because the walls are so thin you hear everyone talking, rooms beside you, above you and people in the halls. If you are a light sleeper you might not be able to sleep at all. My 4 year old daughter kept getting scared that some man was in our room because it literally sounded like he was. It took an extra hour with the bathroom fan on and a bedtime story playing on a device to drown out everyone enough that she was not scared and could sleep. This has never happened before and we have stayed in over a dozen hotels since she was born.

-.5 star for the sink not even being in the bathroom!? I didn't even get to brush my teeth before bed because once we finally got our children asleep I didn't want to risk waking them up as I have an electric toothbrush. Its also very awkward to use the toilet and have to go to a separate room to wash your hands. There was almost no counter space. They had a massive chair where they should have a small table and chairs so that you actually have somewhere to place items since the bathroom has no usable surfaces and the sink area is very small limited space. Also the soap is some disgusting cheap perfumed type that cause such an allergic reaction I broke out in hives and had to take emergency allergy pills as even my tongue started to have issues. This has not happened to me in YEARS.

Pros: Very clean Pet friendly Affordable Pillows are nice Beds are very firm if you like that (bit too hard for me but I'm sure its perfect for some) Location in respect to downtown (walk score great) Curtains block out all light without...