The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, Alberta

If you are coming to Lake Louise, the Chateau should be the place to stay. As if it was a house, location, location, location. In all the world there is not a more iconic hotel. Unfortunately, this "Fairmont" is nothing like the rest of the brand. From a challenging check in, to nickel and diming including $30 for self park and EVERYTHING is as an add on. the hotel itself is a little dated with chipped furniture, a mildewy steam room, and the smallest bathrooms I have seen in a hotel. I think I had a bigger bathroom in an Econolodge. The real turn off is Fairmont's promise of service excellence and extraordinary stays. Despite asking for a service three times through the Fairmont Presidents club, it never arrived. I asked for reservations in advance at a restaurant 5 minutes walking from here and the concierge could only suggest restaurants in the hotel complex. Fairmont did "turn this moment into a memory" as their tag line goes. It was a bad memory. Overall it is an amazing location that is entirely overpriced and not worthy of the Fairmont name.

........the place really exists!! Almost passed out a few times because i forgot to breathe; it's that AWE inspiring. Lousy ice cream spoons, though ... Cheers mik

I am English and this was my first time in Canada. I fell in love with Canada from day one and our time in the Fairmont Chateau was out of this world. The service was beyond compare. Staff were the friendliest I have ever encountered. The chateau itself is breathtaking with an interior decor that makes you feel very humble, but the staff soon put you at ease and make you feel very comfortable. Overall no words can express how much I enjoyed my stay. If I am extremely lucky one day I will return.

I loved everything!!!!!!!! Great food!!!!!! perfect place for everyone!!!!!! it was great i enjoyed it very much. it was great.i loved the hotel! it was great!!!!!!!! i loved it!!

We endured a myriad of issues from poor service in the restaurant, an odor in one of the reserved rooms with little help to resolve the issue, a room that had carpet stains and required other repairs and billing issues even after we left the property that required multiple phone calls to resolve... Based on the price per night, none of this should have been part of the package since the rates are very high for the "lake view" rooms. We even booked months in advance and noted that this was a golden anniversary celebration but the rooms were still on the first floor and had trees in the way of the lake! I would recommend staying at the Deer Lodge just down the road since the accomodations are a fraction of the price, the lodge is still a historic building and is 5 minutes away from the lake for which you are being charged the perverbial arm & leg. This was a very different experience from the first time we stayed almost a decade prior. We decided to leave after the first night. I know now it is not worth the money...

The setting is absolutely breathtaking, but the lake was smaller than it appeared in the photos. The grounds were immaculate as was the hotel. We drove here in a rental and were informed upon arrival that there was an additional $27 parking fee! It's not like we're in New York City where there is limited parking. We thought this took away from the experience because they were nickel and diming us. However, this hotel is a must experience for one visit, we would stay at Emerald Lake in the future.

The hotel and staff were wonderful. We were there for our 25th Wedding Anniversary and stayed for one week. The hotel upgraded our room to a one bedroom suite and gave us complimentary parking ,which is usually $26/day. I assume it was because we stayed for a week. Most people stay 1-2 nights. Food tends to be very expensive at the hotel. Breakfast is around $20--you might as well do the breakfst buffet for $25/person and eat all you want. Dinner is very expensive. Soup is $9, a steak dinner can cost $35. We flew in to Calgary and rented a car. We often went to Banff for dinner. There are many restaurants to choose from and more reasonable prices. Use highway 1A--the scenic route. You will see more wildlife usually the animals come out around 8-9pm. The lake is sensational. People dress rather casual for a 4 star hotel and casual dress is accepted in most all of the restaurants. Hiking boots are the norm. A must is the drive from Lake Louise to Jaspar. Incredible--make sure you see Peytoe Lake.

Considering the well-known hotel chain for its expensive rates, one would expect impecable service and maintanance at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, in Alberta. It was surprisingly disappointing finding out that this was the worst hotel service I have had the chance to experience. My husband and I have been traveling throughout the world, from Europe to Asia, to Americas and we have never experienced such lack of cleanness and poor management and maintanance. My husband and I decided to visit Lake Louise to celebrate one special date - October 2005. When we checked-in ( the hotel has a late check-in time), we were left waiting for about 15 minutes for our room to be ready, while the receptionist - in training - looked for a room to accomodate us. Once we entered the room, it was clear the lack of cleanness. The room had dust all over, from the fan to the mirrors' surfaces, to the tv, tables and frankly the whole room was covered with dust. The carpet looked like it was not vaccumed and at the corners you could see the dust accumulated. When I entered the bathroom, I was amazed to noticed the tiles, you could see black in between them, a clear sign of total lack of cleanness. Disgusting!!! The room was the smallest hotel room I have ever been. We promptly claimed and we were given another room, which was supposed to be renovated. The room, although cleaner than the first one, still had a dusty surface and lack of proper carpet cleaning. The bathroom seemed cleaner, but had a bad smell. I noticed that the cleaning crew was constituted by teenager boys. Now, I ask you, sensible reader; what does a teenager boy know or care about cleaning rooms (refer to your own memory if you have ever entered a teenager room)? The boys seemed nice, and they are probably trainable to do a better job, however it doesn't seem they have proper (if any) supervision on what they are doing. The next day, my husband and I spent the morning and part of the afternoon out of our room. When we came back at 3:30 pm, we could not entered in our room, because the card-key - which is computer programed to open your room - would not work. That was totally unacceptable. We asked for a hotel employee to open the room for us. When we entered our room, it was exactly the same way we left it in the morning. I called the manager, they sent new keys and the boys to clean the room. When we were supposed to be resting as we have had planned, we were "forced" to leave the room again to be cleaned. In the evening, when in bed to sleep, I noticed the sheets had not been smoothed undercovers and you could see the mattress. If you like to be in a clean and neat bed as I do you know how irritating that can be, especially if you are paying a great deal for that bad service. That afternoon were sent a bottle of wine probably as an attempt to make us "happy" for the mistakes the hotel made. Frankly, a bottle of wine will not make up for an unpleasent time. During one of our meals, we had an attitude from the waiter serving our table, after politely reminding him about our drinks (diet cokes - it couldn't be easier), which we had been waiting to arrive for about 15 minutes. The good part of our staying was the 2 evening meals we had at two of the hotel restaurants, however in one of the evenings our table was located beside a glass door from where you could hear and see the staff working station; with the staff hitting the door with plates and glasses as they worked, it was noisy and disturbing for a romantic dinner as we planned to have. It was with disappointment we realized that the best part of our staying was solely the view, and for that one does not need to pay lots of money to have a poor service.

A once in a lifetime experience everyone should have! The scenery is unique, the service is beyond superb. You will feel like the rich and famous coming down the staircase. Splurge!

If you enjoy natural beauty and creature comforts, this is about as good as it gets. It can be pricey if you go during peak season, but it is a great option if you are heading up. We like to head in after our hiking trips. We stash our "nice" clothes here before our "camping/roughing it" trip, then return stinky, unshaven and sweaty for a couple of days of R&R here.