The hotel from the outside looks amazing and the indoor spa, pool, lounge, restaurants look amazing. THEN you get to your room and it's average or even less. There was wallpaper coming off, the treats left were awful, and the room attached was open so the person next door could easily walk into our room. The safe did not work, the remote did not work.
WOULD not stay again!

Last August, my family and I travelled with Brewster Transportation from the Westin in Calgary to the Rimrock Resort and Hotel in Banff, Alberta, located within Banff National Park, where I had not stayed in almost 20 years. The resort, nestled in a “sea” of conifers on the side of Sulphur Mountain. Right on Mountain Road, is arguably blessed with the best view among all other hotels in Banff. It has a panoramic view of Rundle Mountain to the East; Tunnel Mountain, Bow River Valley and parts of Banff to the North-North-East, and a mountain chain to the North.

Check-in was tardy, but when we entered our attractively-furnished rooms with comfortable beds, we enjoyed the same stunning view we had already seen prior to check-in. After we had regained our “bearings”, we had a late lunch in the Primrose, one of the resort’s two dining rooms, followed by a drink in the Larkspur lounge, one of two lounges.

At check-in we learned that, if one presents the Rimrock room keys, one may ride free of charge the hybrid-electric Roam buses. Route1 buses operate from/to downtown Banff to Sulphur Mountain, in other words the Rickrock. They operate until 23:00 h. We made ample use of them.

Although he resort has an indoor pool and a whirlpool, we decided to visit the large outdoor thermal pool of The Banff Upper Hot Springs, fed by heated water deep in the earth’s crust. The “Springs” are located a hop and skip just above the resort across Mountain Road. The Pool is open daily from 09:00 to 23:00 h. Adult admission is $7.30 ($6.30 for those 65 and over). Swimsuits, towels and lockers are for rent at $1.00 each. One can theoretically swim in the pool, were it not for the large crowds of bathers, using the pool as a socials gathering place like the ancient Terme di Caracalla in Rome.
Fortunately, we only had to queue for about 15 minutes, compared to an hour or more at peak times. The resort allows its guests to use room towels, when visiting the “Springs”.

After a restful night, we enjoyed breakfast (a la carte or Buffet) in the award-winning Eden fine-dining room, before pick-up by a Brewster Transportation van that took us to the Brewster Bus terminal, where we boarded a luxury bus for a full-day tour (“Mountains, Lakes and Waterfalls”), a most enjoyable and worthwhile event, which we.
highly recommend.

On our second day, we dined in the Eden and were fortunate to obtain a table by the panoramic window, offering the same view we had already enjoyed in our rooms. The dinner and wine menus are extensive, designed to please the most demanding palates. The staff is courteous, efficient and knowledgeable. I ate venison, while my family members enjoyed Alberta beef. The only challenge is that, while sitting by the window and admiring the stunning scenery, one has to tear oneself loose from the scenery, lest the food becomes cold. To gain the necessary “bed-weight”, we spend time in the Larkspur Lounge.

The next morning, I enjoyed the extensive and varied breakfast buffet, while my family, still sated from the prior night’s dinner, decided to the visit The Rimrock Café for juice, croissants and coffee.


Check-out was quick, and our bill correct. What us always impresses when visiting western Canada is the friendliness of its denizens, mirrored only in Atlantic Canada.

While we were somewhat sad to leave the report, the anticipation of riding the Rocky Mountaineer from Banff to Vancouver consoled us, together with the hope to return to the Rimrock

My husband and I just returned from a 1 night stay at the Rimrock, a sort of mini "babymoon", or one last weekend away together before our baby is born. We booked on expedia and only found out the hotel name after booking.

The night before my husband called the hotel and spoke to a male manager and asked if they would be able to do anything special for me, as I am a couple of weeks away from giving birth. The man he spoke to told him that he should be able to upgrade us and that he would make a note on the account.

We arrived at the hotel at 3:45 pm, and my husband inquired as to whether or not they had been able to arrange an upgrade, and learned that no note had ever been added to the reservation, and nothing else was available. My husband was quite disappointed, not with the lack of upgrade, but with the fact that his request was never noted.

The girl then told us that although our room was ready, hotel policy is not to give anyone their keys until 4pm exactly, and she asked us to take a seat. She did say that she would comp our parking as she sensed my husband's disappointment.

We took a seat in the lobby and for the next 20 minutes proceeded to see numerous others be checked in and given their room keys. I decided to go back to the desk and politely asked another young man to explain to me why if hotel policy dictated that no keys be given before 4pm, did I just witness everyone else get their keys.

He seemed shocked, and said that there was no such policy and that the real issue was that our room was not ready. I then asked to speak to the manager and spoke to Amelia, and requested that perhaps in future her staff should just own up to it if a room was not ready, rather than making up elaborate stories about non-existent policies.

At 4:15pm we finally got our keys and made our way to our room. The room was a standard double queen, which was fine as we knew we were not guaranteed any specific room due to booking on expedia. It was clean and adequate, and had a beautiful view, though could have used some updating.

After about an hour or so the manager came to our room and dropped off a special non-alcoholic drink for me and a beer for my husband along with a note apologizing for our check in experience. We certainly appreciated the gesture.

Now for the smaller points:

Room Service: Extremely overpriced, our nachos came to over 30 dollars and came on a regular sized dinner plate, so a very small portion. They were overdone, and the cheese was not layered. I have received better quality room service food at a Holiday Inn.

Pool: We waited until 9:30 pm as it was indicated that it was adult only swimming time from 9:30-10:30pm. We arrives at 9:40pm to a pool full of children. Annoying as we had specifically waited until adult only time. I approached the girl in the spa and asked her if she could arrange for the rule to be enforced, and to her credit she did so immediately. It would however have been nice not to have had to ask. If you advertise something, deliver on it and ask children to leave at 9:30 pm.

Larkspur Lounge: Great service from "Flower", my husband had a couple of drinks and I had sorbet with fresh berries, which was It consisted of 1 strawberry cut in half, two blackberries, and 2 very tiny scoops of sorbet served in a small martini glass.

Spa: EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTING, I had a pedicure and my husband had a mssage. For $95 and $130 respectively, we were expecting quality. My pedicure didn't even come close to my regular $45 pedicures in Calgary. The foot and leg massage was more like a light tickle, for only a few minutes, and my french toenail polish was completely botched, I could have done better at home. My husband's massage was "okay", which is difficult to judge as massages are subjective.

Check Out: We were a bit late coming back from the spa and asked for an extra 30 minutes beyond the 12 noon checkout time, and addressed the parking charge as well. The girl said that no note had been made about the comped parking, but after some coaxing, agreed to remove it from the bill.

When my husband went to pull our car around and come back into the room at 12:20 pm, his room keys were deactivated, which was no big deal, but left a poor taste in our mouths.

Overall the entire experience was very disappointing. The quality and service was not 4 star, yet the prices were 4 1/2 to 5 star. Please keep in mind that my husband and I are by no means cheap, and will spend a great deal of money for a quality experience, however we have a huge problem with paying premium prices for non-premium service.

We will not return to the Rimrock, and have had much better experiences for far less money at other hotels right in town.

I had quite the rude awakening at 5:30am, when this critter woke me up in bed. When I showed the hotel manager photos she was nothing but rude about it. Told me that it was a wood beetle which they get due to renovations. Well, the part of the hotel I was in was extremely outdated, so that seems unlikely. And also doesn't explain the bites i have all in a row (which is typical of bed bug bites). Also, telling me of a known beetle infestation is not exactly a consolation.

She was adamant that this was not a bed bug, meanwhile told me to make sure I don't bring my belongings in my house, and to put everything in the wash on high heat (which is exactly what you do when you find a bed bug in a hotel bed!!)

She offered me a 25% discount which is somewhat insulting considering it ruined what was supposed to be a relaxing getaway & requires a considerable amount of effort on my part to ensure I do not bring the bed bugs home with me. When I said that was disappointing she said "I'm sorry you feel that way".

I understand that these things happen and it's not an easy thing for hotels to avoid. But what really left a bad taste in my mouth was the way the hotel manager decided to handle the situation.

Also of note: The hotel hot tub was filthy.