I truly belive the only reason this hotel stays busy is its location. Being directly in the middle of Banff Avenue is its sole advantage. If it were anywhere else, I genuinely believe it would struggle to attract guests.
The hotel itself is rundown and poorly maintained. The interior feels like a maze of long, dark, dingy hallways with stained, threadbare carpets and numerous twists and turns that seem to go on forever. The elevators are small, old, and rickety.
To be fair, the front desk staff were pleasant and professional during both check-in and check-out. Unfortunately, this did not offset the condition, accessibility, and maintenance issues throughout the property.
When we required a luggage trolley, we were told to take an elevator at the back of the building. That elevator only got us partway to our rooms. At that point, the remaining route required navigating a flight of rickety stairs, making it impossible to continue with the luggage trolley. We were forced to abandon it and carry our luggage by hand the rest of the way, leaving some bags behind and making multiple trips.
This was especially concerning because we were travelling with a family member who has severe mobility issues.
Originally, we had booked King Heritage rooms, but because the booking mentioned stairs, I called the hotel in advance to confirm accessibility. Based on that call, we were advised to cancel and instead book the Two Queen Suite, which we did, specifically to avoid stairs.
Unfortunately, this advice was incorrect. The suites were in the exact same part of the building. In fact, my daughter, who remained in a Heritage King room, was immediately next door to us. Our mobility-impaired family member still had to navigate stairs, and the handrail was unsafe, with missing screws and so loose we had to physically hold it in place to get them up and down safely.
When I raised this with the front desk, I was told it was “likely an error” by staff and that we could have booked an accessible room, information that did nothing to help us in that moment, after following the hotel’s own advice.
Room quality was also inconsistent. One suite was properly furnished; ours was not. We were missing the electric fireplace in the living area and the table in the bedroom. The bedroom mirror was glued to the wall in a dark, awkward corner, making it impractical to use, particularly when someone exited the bathroom.
The TV in our bedroom was improperly configured, with the image cropped so that the tops of people’s heads were cut off. The remote provided did not allow access to the necessary settings to correct this issue. Additionally, the beds advertised as queen beds were noticeably smaller and consistent with doubles, which was disappointing given the room category and price point.
Additionally, upon pulling back the bedding, we observed what appeared to be a blood stain beneath the top cover, which was not at all enticing and raised concerns about housekeeping standards.
Guests should also be aware that on-site parking is limited. If you are not fortunate enough to secure hotel parking, be prepared to use public parking at $7.00 per hour until 8:00 p.m., and again starting at 8:00 a.m., which adds a significant and unexpected cost to the stay. Accessibility is further limited by the fact that there are only two designated accessible parking stalls for a hotel with 130+ rooms, which is wholly inadequate given the size of the property.
Overall, this hotel feels tired, poorly maintained, and operationally disorganized. The location carries it—not the experience, not the service, and certainly not the condition of the property. For the price, this was deeply disappointing.
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