The Lost and Found Department at the Banff Park Lodge is just excellent! We had left a dear stuffed animal (or maybe he wanted to extend his stay!) at the Banff Park Lodge, and contacted Lost and Found who let us know that they had it and helped coordinate a shipment back to our home in Brooklyn and calmed us down about the whole thing. They also commented on how sweet the stuffed animal was which brought a lot of smiles to our home!

We had a great time at Banff Park Lodge. It's close to everything in the town, and features underground parking which is such a treat when it's so cold outside!

I have stayed in BPL with my family skiing on the Christmas break for perhaps 5 of the last 12 years. Its prices are on a par with other hotels in Banff, but you get a better quality stay for your money. It is a traditional style of hotel which gives it a classier feel than some of the others. The location is great, it is a very short walk to the town center with its restaurants, shops and pubs, but it has the tranquility of being off Banff Avenue. It tends to be the last point of pick up and first point of drop off of the buses to the ski areas, which is very pleasant indeed.

BPL has always had very good service at the front desk and the concierge, Robin, is truly excellent - widely traveled, efficient, helpful, cheerful. BPL's problem areas when we first started to stay there were the provision of food and drink, and the indoor pool and spa facilities. The first seemed too expensive, and the second slightly dingy. Both these have been worked on in the last decade.

The bar and bar food (which was really good this time, despite one night when the heavily overworked waiter was run off his feet and a little fragile) have made their prices much more competitive. Efforts have been made to make the family restaurant upstairs more attractive as well, but unfortunately the one meal we had there was very poor. My wife's garlic bread was burned black on the underside and needed very strong teeth to bite through. The veggie option, my vegetable curry, was a lot of vegetables like onions and carrots in large pieces basted in a weak dry curry sauce - not much fun to eat though the basmati rice was good. The source of the food is the same, so I wonder what happened. We have never ventured into the upscale restaurant at the back.

As to the pool area, it was thoroughly renovated and redesigned a few years back, and is very attractive now, with a nice pair of stylish locker rooms, with a shower, a good steam room, two spas one hot and one warm and the swimming pool, with some artistic designs on the wall and a lot of wood. There seems always to be a problem with badly brought-up out of control children in international hotels nowadays, but the management has tried to deal with this in relation to the pool by saying kids out of the area at 9 pm, which was welcome. I really appreciate it when hotel management tries to find solutions to such issues.

Just a small cavil. The bed covers were blankets inserted into covers. We were all cold at night and had to ask for more blankets. The material of the covers was very slippery, and invariably they fell off the bed by 3 am. I personally dislike having hot dry air blowing full blast all night as the only way to keep warm, for its dehydrating effects. There should be a solution to this problem.

We have tried various hotels in Banff, but always come back the Park Lodge, for despite the occasional issue as mentioned above, the service is excellent, the appearance is welcoming, the rooms are large, the location is very convenient, and the management is obviously doing its best.

Stayed here for 4 nights and they were all fantastic. The concierge and front desk went out of their way to help and resolve any request. Will definitely stay at this hotel again the next time I am in banff. Was right downtown so you could walk anywhere and yet still had a gorgeous view

Stayed at The Lodge on my second night in Banff. First night stayed at another hotel in-town that offered free internet, free parking, and free breakfast. Banff Park Lodge charges for all these. The room is nice but the pillows were uncomfortable. The pool was crowded all the time with noisy kids who dove into the pool and splashed everywhere. Perhaps a “no diving” sign would help. Only time the pool area was relaxing, was after 9 PM (when it is reserved for adults). Compared to the last time I stayed at the Banff Park Lodge, this was a step down.