I am writing this review from the gold floor lounge, on the last day of our three night stay. We are enjoying the free breakfast that is available each morning in the lounge. The selection is amazing, everything you could possibly want and more.
(We also enjoyed the daily hor duerves served at 5pm in the gold lounge, just delightful.)
It snowed last night, hard, so we woke to a beautiful winter scene outside. The views in this hotel are breathtaking,
Here is how our weekend went:
Arrived on Thursday afternoon and were greeted by hotel staff at the gates. We were shown where to park and were greeted by another staff member who helped us with our luggage, and guided us to the gold floor reception for our private check in.
Once in the room, we found a chilled bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. The room was not huge, like a lot of reviews mention, but beautifully appointed. The furniture was really quite elegant, and the European style shower in the bathroom was just awesome. View from the room was facing the front of the hotel, and they leave binocs at your window for viewing the scenery. Nice touch.
Thursday evening, after hor duerves, we hit the Waldhaus pub for a meal an a bottle, and I got to catch the Oiler game, which was nice. Staff were great at the pub. They had a fire lit outside that I could enjoy a cigar in front of. Food was stellar, and some really great beers on tap.
Friday we woke up to coffee and juice being delivered to the room. This service is available through your concierge. Not sure if it extends past gold floor service though.
After another visit to the breakfast buffet, we went back the room to prepare for our day at the spa. The willow stream spa is over the top awesome! Definitely pricey, but well worth it for a special treat. I had booked a full body exfoliation treatment for the both of us, followed by a bath and a full body massage. We enjoyed all the mineral pools and outdoor hot pool before our treatment, so we were there for about 5-6 hours. You get full access to the spa for the day if you book a treatment. What a day!
Friday evening we visited grapes wine bar for a glass (great room, nice list), and then made our way around to the various other lounges. Sort if an in-hotel pub crawl of sorts. Eating and drinking at each stop. Live music in the Rundle lounge was great.
Enjoyed a port flight at Ramsay lounge, and snacks again at the Rundle.
I have to say, Joseph at the Rundle lounge make the BEST Old Fashioned I have ever tasted in my life.
Saturday morning- breakfast at gold floor lounge, relaxed for a while by the fireplace afterward, played backgammon,(many game available to use, as well as books, iPads, newspapers, etc).
After a short nap in the afternoon, we went on the daily historical tour of the hotel. Very informative. Takes about an hour and I highly recommend it.
We then headed down the shops in the hotel, and enjoyed a wine tasting at the wine store. 10 bucks, 4 wines, an some great conversation.
That evening we ventured into town for dinner and drinks. Had fun, typical night in banff, 2 am things start to get pretty hilarious on the main drag, with everyone spilling out of the bars. Most are still very polite compared to bar districts in places like Calgary or Edmonton. Lots of police presence too.
We stopped at Aardvarks for some greasy take out and had no trouble flagging down a cab to take us back to the hotel.
Which takes us to where we are now, again enjoying the great breakfast in the gold lounge. My wife is reading her book while I write this (on my phone lol). I wanted to write this review while still at the hotel and the experience still fresh in my mind.
Overall we had a VERY romantic getaway, in the most beautiful hotel I've ever seen.
The staff at this hotel, are all extremely polite, very helpful, and very professional.
I honestly could not think of a single negative thing to write about the experience.
I've read a few reviews on here that were negative, and I can tell you that those people are nuts. I can't see how anyone lucky enough to stay in this hotel could possibly have a bad stay. Do yourself a favor if you do stay, and upgrade to gold floor. You won't be disappointed.
Special thanks to Joseph the bartender at Rundle, Jackson the bartender at Waldhaus, and Mike n Mike at gold floor reception, for helping to make our stay as wonderful as ever.
Thanks for reading, and forgive the spelling or grammar errors. Typing fast on an iPhone!

We just returned home last evening from a week long stay. My husband and I traveled with 44 other people from our ski club and had a wonderful, refreshing stay!
Although I do not ski, it was so peaceful and relaxing to walk around the hotel banff springs is truly a place everyone should stay at 1 time in their life!

Highlights : the best views of the Rockies!
awesome breakfast buffet!
Castle pantry London fog for tea lovers!
Homemade ginger ale must be tried !
Friendly gracious staff!

Rooms are well appointed but bathroom area is very small, thought the bed was comfortable
Carpet was stained and should be replaced. ( but then do not sweat the small things)
Enjoyed rundle lounge very much had a nice time chatting with the staff!

I would return in a heart beat Canadian Rockies are fabulous in summer or winter ! This was my 3 rd time to this area

An amazing old castle/building and the location can't be beat. Old buildings come with foibles and you know that going in. If in Banff you really must make a visit to this historic spot but might be better off sleeping elsewhere.

Speed of service in the on site restaurants and bars was horrific. 30 min to be noticed. 20 min to bring simple drink orders. Just make sure you order two because if your servers do return it'll be a while and then longer again before they bring your next order.

Our room smelled of stale old sewage. Facilities and housekeeping apparently had a look and sprayed some flowery scented coverup but didn't ever solve or address the issue. Moving would have been the only real solution as there were no current malfunctions, just something that must have happened in the past and would take some serious work to fix.

No matter what, the result was an unacceptable room and a wholly unacceptable response by Fairmont. Given that we had more than 80 guests in our group spending more than $100k on the visit and I heavily influence out choice of where to go, they should have been more accommodating and the result will likely be our business going elsewhere in Banff in the future.

We stayed in the Fairmont Banff Springs in February, 2013 and the service from the moment you walked into the lobby was outstanding. Nothing was too much trouble. Yes - it is expensive, but it is what you would expect of a hotel of this quality. The views from the bedroom window were spectacular, the rooms were spacious and comfortable. Exploring the hotel was part of the fun! It is so big and there are so many historical nooks and crannies with beautiful antique furniture. Take the historical tour - the guide has worked in the hotel forever, and know everything! An experience not to be missed.