Banff Travel Guide
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Pacific Northwest Hotel Guide :: Killer View at the Fairmont Banff Springs
HotelChatter contributing editor Tim Leffel is moving around British Columbia and Alberta in Canada, seeing the hotel scene from a family travel perspective. All prices are in Canadian dollars--which currently trade slightly higher than U.S. dollars. Enjoy.
We have highlighted the Fairmont Banff Springs before as a hotel with a killer view, but our other correspondent was there on a misty mountain day. Here's what the views are like when it's clear and sunny.
It's enough to wow even the most jaded traveler when the curtains open up in the morning and the snow-capped peaks of the Canadian Rocky Mountains are spread out in all their glory. It doesn't stop there however.
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The Fairmont Banff Springs To Get Celeb-Wattage at Their Sports Invitational
The Fairmont Banff Springs is hosting a Sports Invitational from January 17-20th and a handful of famous Canadians and non-Canadians will be on hand to participate.
The event, which supports Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Waterkeeper Alliance will be co-hosted by Kennedy, Tim Robbins, Christie Brinkley, Alec Baldwin, and Pierce Brosnan. Also on hand will be Jason Priestly, Darryl Hannah, Josie Bissett, Kelsey Grammer and Leslie Nielsen.
Over two days, the celebs will participate in traditional winter sports such as skiing, snowboarding, toboggan, cross-country skiing and dual giant slalom races at the Sunshine Village Ski & Snowboard Resort. The made-for-TV event is open to anyone who can purchase a lift ticket.
But if you want to get closer to Jason Priestly (who doesn't? Wait, what? It's not 1992 anymore?), you can purchase a ticket to the Gala to be hosted at the hotel on the last night of the event. Tickets start at $500 CDN per person. The chance to sit with Jason Priestly? Priceless. Or not. A gold table at the gala is going for $10,000 which doesn't actually get you a gold table but rather, tickets for eight guests and the chance to sit with a celebrity and their companion. Call the hotel at (403) 760-1400 if you're interested.
[Photo: SanAndreas]
Tags: Killer View / Fairmont Hotels / Banff Hotels / → All Tags
Room with a Killer View: From A Castle To A Forest in Banff
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
If you're going to in a hotel that looks like a castle and it's surrounded by forest, you're probably going to expect some spectacular views. And that's exactly what you do get if you stay at the Fairmont Banff Springs, as this view from a room shows.
But it's not just the views which are good here: the Banff Springs came in Number 1 on Travel + Leisure's list for the best hotel in Canada when they put together their 2007 list of the Top 500 hotels in the world.
One more pic after the jump, just to prove there's more than one good view from Banff Springs.
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Bad Rate: Banff Rocky Mountain Resort
[Ed. Note: This is the Bad Rate in our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature. This rate was valid on October 17, 2006 and is subject to change. Enjoy.]
Would you like to spend the night in a castle of a hotel in the Rockies, or pay the same price for an iffy 3-star hotel? Get the latter at this week's Bad Rate: Banff Rocky Mountain Resort.
When the pictures of the best newly renovated rooms on a hotel's web site look tired and ugly, you know you're going to be in trouble. At this hotel the worries are amplified by the obvious use of wide-angle lenses in the room photographs.
If you're not in a renovated room, better check it out first before signing the credit card slip, as one guest found out.
"When I went to pull out the couch, something had eaten half the matress, the stuffing was all over the place. The rug was not clean. When I had a shower, I went out into the kitchen and the vent in the kitchen had leaked water all over the floor and stove. Had I turned on the stove without looking , I could have been electrocuted. When this was mentioned to the desk they just stated that they would make a note of it. Not even an 'I am sorry.'"
Plus plan on shelling out some extra loonies at this "resort." There are squash courts and tennis courts, but both come with a $5 fee. Some guests on TripAdvisor have been none too pleased with the facilities either.
"The spa/pool which look so big on the website are across the parking lot (or the road if you're on that side) and are also very,very small and unimpressive, never mind the filthy floors in the change room."
In another sign that the place has a bit of catching up to do, you can't make reservations at all on the web site: only by phoning or sending an e-mail. You can see prices and make a booking at Expedia, but we suggest if you're heading that way, take that $120 a night and enjoy this week's Good Rate at the Fairmont Banff instead.
Related Stories:
· Banff Rocky Mountain Resort reviews [TripAdvisor]
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Good Rate :: A Castle for a Song at The Fairmont Banff Springs
[Ed. Note: Welcome to our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature where we look at hotel prices in the same city and decide which is better worth your hard-earned benjamins. The rate here was valid on October 17, 2006 and is subject to change.]
If you have the flexibility to hit a place during "shoulder season," you can often get luxury for less. Witness this chance to get a $106 room at the spectacular Fairmont Banff Springs in Alberta, Canada. It's a special running through Expedia, for two-night mid-week stays from October 29 through November 27. If you want to stay more nights, it's $126 per night.
You'll have to bump it up to $158 a night to rise above the standard room level, but that's still an attractive deal for a place that commonly gets described with phrases like "heavenly service," "amazing views," and "first class all the way." Whichever room class you choose, it's less than half the usual rates.
Of course the room charge is just the first of many. You'll shell out plenty for parking and one guest notes that "not-so-high-speed internet access is $14/day." But hey, at these prices, you'll have plenty left over for incidentals -- including some indulgence in the 38,000 square-foot spa.
Related Stories:
· Fairmont Banff reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Hotel News / → All Tags
Norwegian Pole Giver Gets Free Hotel Stay
Norway's cross-country coach is still reaping the benefits of helping a Canadian skier after she broke her ski pole last week mid-race.
Bjornar Haakensmoen has been showered with gifts, thank you notes, phone calls and other tokens of appreciation after handing Sara Renner a new ski pole when hers broke during the team sprint at the Torino Games. Canada ended up winnning silver.
Now the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, home of the giant gingerbread house, has offered the coach and his family a week's free stay. The hotel is currently working with their travel counterparts to see if someone will pick up the tab for the airfare.
Wow, he gets a free trip to...Canada. He gives away a pole during the Olympics, helping a team achieve podium and all he gets is a free trip to Canada? They better give him a slice or two of that gingerbread house.
[image Sanandreas/Flickr]
Related Stories:
· Hotel joins in praise of Norwegian's Olympic pole pass [CBC Calgary]
· Banff Springs Resort [TripAdvisor]
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