Tunnel Mountain Resort — Hotel in Banff

When we looked for accommodation in Banff for the six nights we wanted, this seemed the best of the limited available hotels. We could see that it was about a 25 minute walk from town, but the hotel gave a free bus pass, and the bus runs frequently to Banff Springs hotel, via the town centre, so we thought it would be fine.

I always understood a ‘resort hotel’ as offering leisure facilities, often extensive. In this case, there is a small pool, a sauna and, I believe, a children’s play area. Additionally, a resort would have one or more restaurants, and this hotel is shown as having a restaurant on the various booking sites.

However, when we checked in and asked where we would eat breakfast, we were told there was no restaurant, but “there are facilities to prepare meals in your room”. Of course, to do this, you need the food to prepare. There is no shop on site, so, having just arrived by shuttle from Calgary airport, we were now faced with taking a bus to town and struggling as best we could with bags of shopping on the bus back. As both of us are seniors with back problems, this wasn’t great. We didn’t see any taxis.

On our last but one day, we spotted that there was a restaurant, The Prow, in the Buffalo Mountain Lodge, across the road, which does breakfasts as well as evening meals. Why we weren’t told about this nearby facility is a mystery.

We bought supplies to cook a simple pasta-based supper for our first night. We cooked the vegetables and other ingredients, and then wanted to cook the pasta. At this point the “2 stove conduction cooktop” (or ‘hob’) showed some error codes and wouldn’t heat up again.

We called reception, who sent a maintenance man quite quickly. He determined that the power had tripped, which seemed unlikely as lights and numbers were showing on the stove display. In any event, he couldn’t find the power unit, either outside or in the room. Eventually, the hob must have cooled down and reset itself. We wondered if this was because we had used both rings, but why would there be two if you can’t use them? The next day we only used one, but the same thing happened.

Maintenance also fixed the broken bolt on the front door (a loose screw).

Our big room was very clean when we arrived and had a lovely view, through trees, to the iconic mountain (which has no tunnel!). We had a very comfortable King and a Queen bed, but I would question the concept of this being a ‘superior suite’, which surely has to have a separated living or seating area. Décor was simple but pleasant enough and we liked the room.

Lighting is rather dim – fine for a romantic evening, quite poor for reading in bed!

There was a huge amount of clothes storage.

I turned the aircon/heating unit off when we arrived, and the room only lost 2 degrees during the 6 days we were there. Good insulation.

The kitchenette (in the same space) was well equipped, though a dish rack is needed, and had cutlery and china for 4 people, a microwave, fridge and the stove. However, the very small eating table had only two chairs and could not have accommodated 4 dinner plates. The balcony also only had two chairs, not suitable for bringing in to use as dining chairs either. The balcony table could hold 4 glasses or cups. For two of us, this was fine, but I couldn’t suggest more people stayed in this room.

The bathroom was spacious and the shower good. A shaving/make-up mirror would be helpful as the main large mirror is across a deep counter. There are plenty of towels which get changed as required. A hairdryer was provided.

The beds are tidied daily, but the cleaning is basic, even though there is meant to be a full clean every 3 days. Each day, I wondered if the slowly accumulating hairs in some areas of the bathroom would be removed. They were not.

All balcony lights seem to be set on all day and all night, although two sets of internal blinds make the room reasonably dark at night.

I would usually give this only 3 stars, considering the price, but Banff accommodation is expensive, so it probably qualifies for 4 stars in...

We were a party of six; the travel agent (after checking out the resort), had booked 3 standard rooms for us, requesting 1 room with a walk in shower for a handicapped person. To start with, receptionist Jennifer was rude when we asked which room had access for a handicapped person, saying rooms had been assigned prior to our arrival and no such request had been made so she could not change the assigned room. In steps receptionist Hannah who (thank god) was the complete opposite. Cheerful, always smiling and helpful. She had spoken to our agent and explained that all 3 assigned rooms had showers. She suggested we exchange rooms amongst ourselves as our room was the furthest of the 3. This resort is meant for people who drive in with their own cars. It’s not meant for handicapped people at all. It’s a steep slope to climb to get to reception and even steeper from there to the level the rooms are at. Plus it doesn’t have a restaurant and is a 12-15 minute drive into the center of Banff. We asked if there was a luggage trolley we could borrow to transport our bags. Nope there isn’t. We asked if they had a golf buggy to transport guests. Nope. Hannah to the rescue again. They have a golf buggy which is used for house keeping supplies which thankfully she called so my handicapped husband could go to our room. Ray the driver of the buggy was most helpful. Coming every morning to take my husband down the slope to where we used to get picked up for our tours. Even the tour company said they could not pick us up from Tunnel Mountain Resort. We had to go to a neighboring hotel to catch the tours coach. This was not a restful stop for us and will not be repeated. I’ve given the rooms 3 stars as they were large, airy and comfortable but not easy to access. Service got 4 stars, mainly because of Hannah & Ray’s helpfulness. Minus 1 star for Jennifer’s rudeness. Location 2 stars as no restaurant, need taxi to get to anywhere central for restaurants or shops or...

We were visiting Banff in October 2nd week when it was supposed to be cold. I decide on this hotel because it had pool , sauna and steam. When we reached there and checked in the room , the room was downstairs and you have to take the stairs or elevator to go down to the room. Parking is very tight and we could find a parking close the elevator or room , I gave both even on the side of the room, the parking space is very tight and while backing up you have to be very careful. If you are going out for dinner etc in the night be ready to park far away from the room. There was one window in the room for outside view but the blind was broke so we couldn’t open the blind and enjoy the view. Sauna, steam and fitness rooms were all the way on other side in different building and you have to take 2 flights of stairs. My wife wanted to use sauna in the evening so first I went yo check it and didn’t find it family friendly , it was like haunted place , very old with some bad smell and no one was there. Hot tub was closed totally so we didn’t use any of those facilities during our stay. Also the swimming pool is in reception building , pretty awkward location and very dated. They gave us bus passes that we didn’t use as only one bus#2 comes there with limited route and have you have to wait outside in the cold, we had rental car so we decided to drive everywhere. You can borrow bear spray and umbrella from front desk that was a nice thing. Housekeeping didn’t clean our room one day at all and didn’t even change towels etc. even after we told them before leaving. I would expect this kind of experience when we paid up to 380$ per night during off season, spent 5 nights mentioned our special marriage anniversary occasion during the reservation. I would stay here for the price we paid , I would book somewhere else which is much better kept , family friendly with ample parking and hot tub etc. they do need serious...