Bear Hill Lodge — Hotel in Municipality of Jasper

This review is for the Summer Cottage. This review is also on TA.

We arrived here on what was almost the hottest day recorded for Jasper at 30°C. After checking in, we drove the car to the front of our Summer Cottage number 12 and opened the front door to be greeted by the most intense heat ever. We opened all the windows and turned the fan they provided on to try and cool the room down. We knew there was no a/c and this was not a problem. Our second day was even hotter at 33°C but by keeping the curtains closed when we were out, this helped a little.

If you are considering booking this accommodation, here are some points to note: • The Summer Cottages are small. And when I say small, I mean very small. • There is no storage for clothes - no drawers and a couple of pegs on the wall to hand a couple of items. We were here for 3 nights and I do not recommend this lodge type for any more than one night, 2 at a push. • There is no fridge in this cottage and in the height of the summer, this is not ideal. We found a way round this by filling the recycling bin (from outside the cottage) with ice and putting our bottles of water in it to keep them cool. • The quilt on the bed was the UK equivalent of either a 9 tog or 10.5 tog and is far too heavy. In the summer months, a top sheet and a light(ish) blanket or 2 for the cooler nights would be more than sufficient. We took the quilt out of its cover and used that. Temperatures overnight for us were around mid-teens. • The kettle and cups etc are located on a table near the bathroom door, however, there is no power socket there to use it. The nearest socket is either on the floor where the TV is plugged in, or by the sofa bed (not sure why this is in a room so small) at the end of the room. • There are no power sockets located either side of the bed. Actually, there are very few accessible power sockets located in this cottage. • You need long arms to be able to get the toilet paper.

The cottage could be improved by removing the sofa bed and replacing this with a countertop with possibly a small fridge underneath and perhaps some drawers. The kettle would then be more accessible and safer to use.

Location wise, the town is a 15-20 minute flat walk. It is also free to park your car on site and on the nearby local roads. There are parking charges the nearer you get to town.

All accommodation in Jasper is expensive, as is most of Canada, but I think you get poor value for this cottage against what is provided. However, I would recommend Bear Hill Lodge as a place to stay, but from a value for money point of view, if you are staying more than one night and can afford to, book a different...

Location was good, about a 10-15 minute walk to most things in town. Parking was close to the room. We stayed in one of the rooms in the main lodge, and we probably won't do that again. The room was very clean, and felt relaxing (decor, lighting etc). The kitchenette was useful, although a little more cutlery, and perhaps some basics like spices and cooking oil would be a nice addition. The gas fireplace added a nice ambiance and kept the room at a comfortable temperature. The seperate thermostat for the bathroom was also a very nice feature, since I like to sleep in a cooler temperature, but don't want the bathroom to be as cold when I have my morning shower. The TV was a little small for watching from bed, but most people aren't spending a lot of time in their rooms whilst in Jasper. Also no HD hockey, which added to the problem. The bathroom had a weirdly low counter. It had lots and lots of space, but it was low. At first I thought it was intended to be an accessible room, until I remembered we were on a second floor (stairs only, as far as I could tell), and saw that you almost have to pole vault in to the bath tub. The tub was certainly deep enough for a nice relaxing soak, though (hence the high wall). That, and the jacuzzi jets were the only reason we chose a room in the main lodge instead of a stand alone cabin. That being said, it -was- tough to climb in to the bath tub with jello legs after hiking 15+ Kilometers, and the jacuzzi was obnoxiously loud. I spoke with the desk attendant after our first night, and they did something that made it a little quieter, but it was still not worth the noise. I'm not usually a jacuzzi kind of guy, so perhaps they are all that loud - I'm not sure. The bed wasn't that comfortable (a little hard, not comfortable-firm, just hard), and there was a porch light that we had no control over, but it would shine in to our room and bed. I just took the bulb out so we could sleep. Our second morning, I had hot water for a shower, but then no hot water for dishes or for my wife to have a bath - that's a first for us in a hotel. All-in-all it would have been a decent stay, if the price was about half of what we paid. We have stayed in one of the cabins before (4-5 years ago), and were much...

Better options may be available at the same price. We would not recommend this place due to their lax customer service.

On our first night, we could not get the fireplace to work nor could we reach the front desk (since they close after 9.30pm). We spent the very cold night (around 9 degrees) without any heating. Found out the next day that the fireplace pilot was not turned on, something that could easily be checked by the staff after every guest leaves and before another arrives. A staff had to enter our room, who didn't take their shoes off and didn't wear gloves, to open the fireplace cover, to turn on a button. Clearly an inconvenience during the pandemic.

Through our 2 night stay we were able to reach someone at the front office 1 out of 5 times we called. No one called back either.

As for the location, it's right in downtown Jasper. We found that this provides equal access to most attractions in the area. The tradeoff is that the area around the lodge is not very scenic.

The rooms were as advertised. It seems like the lodge is taking some measures to keep guests safe during the pandemic (ex: self check-out, some parts of the check-in process are online, sanitizing the room before hand, etc.). Based on our experience in other hotels, they...