Having stayed at the Fairmont Vancouver at the airport when arriving in Canada from the first time from Hawaii was a pleasant experience. When we arrived, the front desk upgraded us to the gold floor - which gave you a beautiful view of the airport and planes arriving and a complimentary lounge area that offered a seperate "gold" front desk and free beverages as well as light dessert selections and a continental breakfast. This was great - but arriving and staying at JPL was a memory never to be forgotten but one that will be intently savored.

My husband had arranged the details of our entire stay - from the time we arrived at the airport in Vancouver, to our train ride on VIA Rail (which was horrible!!!), to our return to Vancouver and subsequent stay again at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport - with the concierge desk, specifically Lorraine Brash. At JPL, we received an extremely warm welcome from Lorraine, even exchanging friendly hugs. After arriving at our gorgeous lake front room, we received an extra welcome from Lorraine through the gift of a very sincere card to welcome us and a few fresh flowers to make our stay a happy one. We then took up the very generous offer of having a warm fire made up for us and within a few minutes someone was there - very hospitable and happy- exchanging very pleasant small talk. The extremely and sincerely friendly staff at the bell desk WOWED us!! Whenever we called up to the lodge to request a ride from our room to the main building it was no more than a few minutes wait that someone was humbly and happily at our door happy to give us a ride. This level of service was incredibly consistent through our entire stay at JPL. We requested our fire to be lit so many times because we are "city folk" - as many as six times! - the response was always that is was their pleasure and if we needed anything at all else to please ask- and all that with a smile!!

We also MUST mention how divine and fresh the food was and how exceptionally friendly the waitstaff was. Food preparation and presentation was exceptional and the service was very efficient and even reminiscent of a having long time friend serve you or being by someone who sees you all the time. People remember your name here and always stop to say hello and ask you how your stay is and if you need anything else.

We live in Hawaii and have stayed at places such as the Grand Wailea on Maui, the Halekulani Hotel in Waikiki ("we were married there), the Maui Hyatt, The Kaui Hyatt, The Ihilani, etc. and have found JPL surpasses each and every hotel as far as what we think are important when staying away from home.

I cannot stress how un-rivalled the service is at JPL. Here's why - During our stay of approximately a little over a week, Lorraine (now one of our dearest friends!) took us on her day off to tour Canada, driving a total of eight hours there and back to Fairmont Banff in Banff National Park. She also insisted that on her next day off, which was two days later, she take us to see the West Edmonton Mall, one of the biggest malls and deservedly so. She not only drove another eight hours, but on both occassions, she regaled us with information about Canada as we continued to build our friendship on our long journey. She made us laugh and taught us so much and consistently maintained her professionalism with a very friendly disposition, preparing brochures and handouts to share with us before each road trip about all the activities we were interested in. To begin our road trip, she even went out of her way by arranging the rental of our travelling car through her credit card and picking up the rental car so she could pick us up at our room - with the least imposition to us on our stay.

I know these sound like extroardinary occurrences I have described, but I have full faith in the folks at JPL and Lorraine that the service the have offered me and my husband is the level of consistent service that they strive to share with all the visitors to JPL. During our stay we were also introduced to Rob White, who I think is in charge of Sales, and he welcomed us as well with a little note and a friendly bottle of their house wine. Marie, if she's still there, will definitely take good care of you- she's very friendly and made our first meal at the Emerald Lounge a great start to our stay! The guys at the bell desk were very jovial, friendly, and sincerely happy to welcome us each time they saw us. Alain and Tim are a few names of the awesome staff at the bell desk that we do remember, but everyone there, through there personalities and sincerity, was what created sucxh a great experience for us. We love them so much we sent them a big box of macadamia nuts and Hawaiian gifts for Christmas. I can't tell you how much they've given us, only that you cannot go wrong at the JPL!

PS- Don't go there when it will be hot, because it is a lodge in a National Park, so there is no air conditioning. But that's all that's missing. Our room was extremely updated, warm and cozy with new looking fixtures beautiful drapes, and a beautiful barthroom with a glass shower, marble everything, and double sinks.

I have stayed at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge on many occasions, in each and every season. I am absolutely bewildered at some of these negative comments and reviews: I have always found that this uniquely beautiful place and friendly staff exceed my expectations again and again.

The colleagues at the "JPL" are enthusiastic, professional and truly seem to care about the well being of their patrons: I was sick with a cold on one visit and before I knew it, there was a staff member at my door with complimentary hot soup and tea, with a personalized card that wished me a speedy recovery, along with an offer of assistance. The motto of the colleagues seems to be "nothing is too much trouble" and it shows.

I brought along my puppy dog ($30.00/night charge to a maximum of $100.00 total, to cover the steamcleaning) and was pleasantly surprised to receive a personalized letter for the dog, a trail map outlining the closest trails, along with the dog park, and a cellophane wrapped pack of Iams dog treats! Now truly, this is service at it's best and nobody does it better: the dogs aren't allowed in the dining rooms but there are pet friendly areas where we could enjoy a refreshment, with our puppy close by.

Last minute deals are to be had if you are a member of CAA or AAA or Aeroplan and many, many more. If you are heading to Jasper, call last minute and ask about rates: they are flexible if they have the availability and always do their best to complimentarily upgrade me. I ALWAYS get called by name, thanked for visiting and wished a safe trip home: the staff are easy to talk to and you can tell, they love being there.

For families, there are endless opportunities for fun. The Lodge has a Scavenger hunt book whereby kids can get various stamps from different outlets in the hotel, when their book is full, they get to pick a toy from the treasure chest...fantastic! This helps keep the kids occupied, the parents love it and the memories made are priceless.

Do yourself a favour, even if you're not staying there: stop in for a visit and enjoy a beverage in front of the fireplace...it will only motivate you to return for another, perhaps longer visit and it will become your favourite getaway ever...it has been absolutely outstanding, each and every time and I wish I was there now...

After arriving on the RM train we were looking forward to a nice stay at the Fairmont.
We were taken by cart to our room and opened the door to find a twin room (2 single beds) which is not what we paid for. After a phone call and about 1 hour later (they fogot about us, their words) we were collect and taken to another room.

Sure this room had 2 double beds but the room was over 100 degree's. The Fairmonts do not believe in air conditioning so with the front door and windows open and a fan it made for a very hot and noisey night. The traffic around that place was incredible and then there was the party goers coming home at 3am too.

The second night wasnt much better the room was slightly cooler and with a splitting headache I waited 1.5 hours for some ice!!

We really where not impressed with place at all, the best thing was the room did have a teapot and tea, room service was good and the food arrived hot.

Nice location, poor service, NO AIR CONDITIONING.

After a trip with the RockyMountaineer we arrived at the Jasper Park Lodge.
My first impression was that the whole lodge-area was very large. The hotel-staff were driving with golf-cars from house to house to ensure that you get from A to B.

We were absolutley sure having found our room and so we entered it. The keys worked. But suprinsingly it was not our room! There was luggage inside and then we realized we entered the wrong room, because we mixed up the room numbers. We were shocked that our room-key worked with a totally different room. And at the Park Lodge they don't have these code-cards that hotels used to have.

Our room was good, but not extrodinary. We've had a junior suite, which was very expensive, but not really worth the price! The bathroom was very small and looked very old, the floor was not clean. Pro's were two TV's, a fireplace and a beautiful view of the Lake.

The restaurant was good, the breakfast-buffet offered a lot. The whole area had a very nice atmosphere. Living in the rockies at beautiful lake. But the price doen't reflect the quality of that Fairmont Resort.

Pro's: atomsphere, nice location, friendly staff. Con's: Security-Problems, Price - Value