I booked at the Banff Avenue Inn to take advantage of their 'Breakaway' package - billed as a relaxing getaway for Mom and Dad. The $139/night price tag included breakfast, admission to the Hot Springs and a 30 min massage. All staying in the Queen suite with a fireplace and jacuzzi. Sounds great, right? My first issue was our room - right by the lobby and dining area/bar and it would seem our door was hastily constructed of tissue paper, as we heard everything that transpired out there until about 12:30 am. Not a room I wish to relax in. Secondly, the bathroom. Neither of us were willing to use the jacuzzi - it just wasn't clean enough for me to get into naked. Hard water stains were all over the tiles, crusted on the knobs and partly obstructing the faucet. I think the grout used to be white, but is now some shade of yellow. A bottle of CLR and some elbow grease would go a long way. My third complaint was with the TV in our room. When we went to turn it on, it wasn't working. My husband went to the front desk to inquire and was told 'Oh right, we knew about that. Sorry, we forgot to mention it when you checked in. Did you want to watch tv?' Our stay was booked several weeks in advance...they knew we were coming and didn't bother to repair/replace the tv. We waited while they brought us another one. Not a big deal if it just happened, but again, they knew about it. Overall, this hotel might be fine if you aren't worried about cleanliness and want a place to put your head at night while you ski all day. If, however, you want a smidgen of peace, quiet and/or a clean environment, this isn't the place for you.

We stayed here on a snowboard trip recently and were happy with this hotel. We stayed in a family suite which has two bedrooms/fireplace/jacuzzi tub for a great price. The only downsides for some would be small dinning room and no elevator. We went out for meals and don't mind the excersize so this didn't bother us. This is not a fancy hotel but is perfect for groups looking for a clean modest accomodation on a snowboard/ski trip. Covered parking is great and staff are excellent.

This is a great hotel for a skiing vacation but not for a weekend away retreat.

Upon on arrival the staff were quite friendly but it ended there. We stayed for three nights and our room was only cleaned once. They claim to have wireless internet but the truth is that there was no signal (not even a weak one) from our room. Our room overlooked a gas station garbage can bin. We booked weeks in advance and the hotel was not full so I was dissapointed in the room they gave us. Parking is at a premium in Banff and this hotel does not have allot of spaces to park in which I can see being a huge problem in high season.

On the positive side, everyday there were fresh baked goods each afternoon - very nice touch. There is an open bar with very reasonable prices although we never tried it out. The free breakfast has a variety of options and is a good continential spread. Although the rooms are older they are in decent shape..some staining on the carpet but overall clean.

Basically, you get what you pay for. It's cheap and if you are not spending allot of time in your room then you will probably be happy with it.

Booked this place through Crystal for 15 people have written a complaint to them as the brochure is very misleading.Spent 10 nights there and we have been skiing together all over Europe for 10 years and this was our first trip to Canada,Hotel is by far the worst we have stayed in.
Good points:Rooms were the largest for a family of 4 we have ever stayed in.
Evening meals were great a choice of 2 dishes for every course ordered in the morning.
Hotel in main high street,5 mins. to shops & right next to bus pick-up to ski slopes in the morning.
the hotel is extremely warm(especially dining room),bedrooms get too hot during the night but you cannot open the windows as the noise throughout the night is continuous(dustman at 6.00am).
Bad to absolutely unbelievably bad points:
Room was never cleaned properly or hoovered , only enough hanging space & drawers for 2 persons not 4.
Breakfast was a continental type,if you asked for a cooked one you needed a microscope to see it (1/2Tomato, small piece of bacon, 2 Mushrooms).You always had to ask for more butter,Jam,Bread etc. as the staff never kept an eye on the stock.Orange & Apple juice run out after 2 days and was not replaced for 4 days.
Evening food was great but although the brochure says you have a choice of 6.30 or 8.15 you don't as they tell you what sitting you can have if the hotel is full, which it was.
there are no childrens meals at all.
Wine and soft drinks are supposed to be complementary with your meal but one night while still eating they refused to give us any more wine & the waitress(who had obviously had no service training ) eventually gave us another carafe but it was pretty obvious it had been watered down.
The dining room is extremely small and cramped whilst the reception area/lounge area is extremely small and sits about 6 people it also has a computer with broadband which costs $10 a week although this packed up 3 days before we left and nobody especially the female manager seemed interested in getting repaired. Both these areas in the brochure are described as 'COSY'.
The skiing on the slopes is fantastic, wide runs,deep powdery snow, Sunshine is the best.So your boots can become a bit wet,when you get back to the hotel,no boot room.
Hotel is 3 storeys high,no lift! Mondays the staff have the day off,gives you the chance to look at other hotels and restaurants,try either Tony Romas or The Keg great food. Do not ask for a room near the ice machine it has the same decibels as a boeing 757 aeroplane!
A lot of the staff were devoid of any personality,the receptionist was going back to England as she had just qualified as an accountant (does'nt that tell you everthing) I'm sorry but there are so many better hotels(hostels as well) to stay in Banff than this one.
Good job we had a good set of friends with us to ease the pain,
Terry