Fairmont President's Club - New Years Eve at Fairmont Hotels Info/Experiences Etc.

I thought it would be fun to here about others NYE Celebrations at Fairmont Hotels. I've done Chateau Whistler a few times, I avoid the village on NYE and usually have some drinks and food while enjoying the live music and then head to a party or back to the cabin.

Last year we did Banff Springs ball. It was a formal affair with 5 course meal, unlimited booze, midnight spread, fantastic live music and dj. There is a children area they setup about 25 feet from the ballroom so parents can checkup on their little ones with ease. If you ever go and want the smoked salmon midnight munchies just tip one of the waiters to let you know when they are being served so you can get there before all the Russian women!

At Banff they also have an option to join the party after dinner which is much cheaper and includes drinks and midnight spread. Since the ballroom is quite huge this helps with the atmosphere.

This year we are heading to Lake Louise. They do have a $95 four course meal but I think we will head to Stube for some fondue. They don't have a formal ball which shocks me. Our in hotel options seem to be the Lakeview Lounge and the Glacier Salloon below it for midnight. You can't make reservations for either so I'm not super stoked but sometimes when you don't have a plan it works out best.

We did NYE last night at the Chateau Laurier. A disappointing experience overall... Unlike many of the other Fairmont's, they had a simple (but excellent) table d'hôte dinner ('celebration dinner') with a small band (spent more time on break than playing...), a glass of 'champagne' at midnight for those that stuck around and a paper hat. The service was slow - way too few staff who were therefore not very attentive. Last dinner seating was at 9:30 PM which meant a lot of dead time between 11 and 12 waiting for the clock to strike 12... We got there at 8:30 so it was a slow night. Not worth the $500 we spent.

Late to the party but..

Fairmont San Fran is nice on NYE, and Fairmont Banff Springs.. view of the fireworks off Rundle Lounge..

Stayed at the Fairmont SIN over NYE and was pretty happy with the experience.

If you want to view the fireworks from your room, you´d need to book a room with a harbour view on a high floor (only a pretty limited number of rooms would have a good view IMO)

You can see the harbour/fireworks from a few balconies of the club lounge located on the 22nd floor (though most of the lounge doesn´t have a particularly good view), nice atmosphere, and there were comp. canapes and champagne form 11.30p.m.-1a.m.^

Various pre-fixe dinners and NYE buffets at the hotel were advertised, but didn´t take part in any of that.

Overall I was pretty happy with the NYE experience at the Fairmont SIN!^

Jasper you are making me jealous mentioning complimentary champagne and canapes!

We ended up with a few other couples at Louise to bring in 2012. Had a really nice meal at the fondue spot walliser stube and then headed back to the room to pop some bubbles.

Since the hotel has no NYE ball, your in hotel options are the pub downstairs and the lounge. Well the pub was at capacity, if you ever go this route I suggest go early to get a table. If you don't have a table you will have to wait an average of 15 minutes to get a drink from the bar since there is always about 40 ppl ahead of you and limited bartenders.

This place had a dj, balloons above the dance floor and a very broad range of ppl from youthful employees to many senior couples who were all there to party. No cover charge either which is rare on NYE.

The lobby lounge was pretty much dead around NYE, maybe 20 customers in total at that time.

Overall I wouldn't make a point of going back to Louise for NYE, but the champagne tasting from the day before was excellent fun. Gala at the Banff Springs and the Mallard Lounge in Whistler were much more memorable and fun events.