Our visit to this hotel was for a Holiday Christmas Party - my husband's employer graciously provided our rooms and an evening of entertainment for both the adults and children. This hotel provides holiday parties, where different companies can share in a large Christmas Party for both staff and their kids. It is a great idea and has economy of scale written all over it.

However, with all things this large there are opportunities for people to fall through the cracks and on this occasion those people were my children. While all of us were registered, names of children provided etc to the hotel well in advance, when we showed up to drop off our kids at their holiday party, for which they had built up much excitement, we were told they were not on the list. Then we were told by a very condescending and rude Children's Party reception guy that they could likely "accommodate us" since they were not fully booked that night. This of course implied that had they been fully book the hotel's error would have resulted in my kids spending the night in their room rather than having fun with other kids. As you can imagined this made me and my husband’s boss furious.

Well over an hour later, with failed attempts to secure details from the hotel employees, as of course all of the conference staff had long since gone home, we were finally "accommodated" and the kids did end up having fun, likely because they did not have to deal any longer with the reception guy.

While there were other hiccups in the party booking, for us that was the big issue, this mix up by the hotel staff caused not only my kids, my husband and me and his boss to be upset for the first few hours of our evening, it left a bad taste over the entire booking.

Now, of course this hotel is beautiful and most of the staff we talked to were very nice but the difference is in the details - and they fell short on this visit.

We will stick to the Rimrock - our tried and true hotel of choice for Banff. I suggest others do the same!

The Banff Springs really is a historical landmark - people from all over the world come to gawk at it and take pictures. But what's it like to stay there you ask? Well - it's pretty good - it won't blow your mind but it's not disappointing either.

The first thing people will tell you is that the rooms are small - this is true, but they're very clean, pretty and comfortable. The beds are comfortable and the linens are really nice. The washrooms are tiny and there isn't much space to spread out your stuff - so make sure you bring a toiletries bag with a hook you can hang up. The shower head has nice water pressure (a big plus on my list) and plenty of hot water. The staff are extremely friendly and helpful, the pool & changerooms were clean & well maintained. On a Saturday night the hallways were very noisy with returning party-goers until about 4am - I wished I had brought earplugs. Other than that I found the hotel quiet and never heard anything from the rooms beside or above me (it was pretty full that week too).

The room service is pricey but so is everything in the Banff Springs - including snacks in the Castle Pantry. I found the little convenience store across the street in the Conference centre a better choice (they really have everything too). I ate at the Rundle Lounge several times and found the food to be so-so (I ordered the steak salad and the greens were long past expired and have mushy-sticky bits on it - I did get a mediocre caesar salad for free about 20 minutes later).

One tip I will give: join the Fairmont Presidents Club - its free and you get lots of little perks when you stay - free wifi, free gym access (usually pretty pricey), a newspaper every morning, upgrades after so many nights etc.

Like all the great Canadian Pacific Hotels across Canada, the Banff Springs opened up the country to foreign visitors when it was built. As various owners (CP, CN, private individuals and pension funds) passed it on from one Canadian owner/operator to another, it grew less-and-less the national icon it once was and more-and-more out of Canadian ownership/operator hands.

Now managed by Fairmont (owned by Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal bin Saud) who has never visited any of the Canadian Fairmont flagships, (or if he has - he would have noticed that everything has slid into a morass of corporate bungling and low life service). There are few Canadians working in the Rocky Mountain resorts, mainly Aussies and Philippinos. The Aussies could care a stuffing for their clients and show it all too well.

But the worst experience is feeling like a corporate dummy being forced to pay ridiculous over-the-top prices ($4 for a bottle of water) where the connection between guest and service provider is a fraction of the value. A $165 massage in the Banff Springs Spa ends up as only $50 in the hands of the therapist after the owner/managers rip off their fees from the money that should have gone to poor guy/gal doing the massage.

Gone are the kilts, the Canadian bell boys and waitresses who remember your name and don't have their hand out every five seconds. It has turned into a rip off soup kitchen for overpriced everything. The fake smiles and over-arching cheerfulness are simply a cover for "I'm going to rip you off in every direction you turn. The gift shops sell "Made in China" overpriced garments costing ten times their value. Nothing is made in Canada anymore.

The Banff Main Street is just as bad with mainly owned/operated by Korean and Japanese junk shops. it feels about as Canadian as Florida. Little wonder that Parks Canada have lost their Canadian audience and pander only to the foreign tourists.

Canadians go to Canmore, Hinton, and especially new destinations like Valemount, Sky Peaks, Revelstoke, and Blue River giving the National Parks a drive through and a very wide miss.

Shame, shame, shame.

Where is any overnight accommodation in Maligne Lake? This is the most beautiful and photographed Lake in the world with no overnight accommodation. Shame on Parks Canada!

Mr. Horne would be rolling in his grave if he knew a Saudi Prince was stealing all the profits from tourists in his Rocky Mountain Hotels. The value for money was ZERO. The feeling that this resort is located in Canada would be lost and forgotten on any visitor today.

How could one not rate this 5 stars, almost regardless of the personal experience! One of Canada's iconic hotels, so full of the history of by-gone eras. Don't miss the tour of the hotel. I was lucky in one way to have a room at the end of the corridor, with a window to the majestic Rocky Mountains. Was very cruel and sent my wife a picture! Downside of the room location was the end of the hot water pipes. Shower was fine, not the sink. No big deal, and worth the view.
You could wander around this hotel for hours, exploring every nook and cranny, the variety of lounges - just to "lounge", not necessarily drink.