nmenaker

we just had a lovely stay up the the Banff Springs. The hotel is really ALWAYS great. Okay, I was sick the entire time, so that really s...d, had been looking forward to hiking and climbing tunnel mountain, and fondue at grizzly house, etc., but spent most of the time in the room.

Fortunately, my Plat upgrade was to one of the "spa suites", not sure what they call them now. These are really like medium sized apartments, with a big living room, fireplace, desk area and a dinning area up on an elevated gazebo with 270 degree views of the river, hotel, mountains, pool area, etc. Outside one has about a 200 sq. foot patio with lounge chairs, chairs and a table for eating outside.

Bedroom is good sized (not the focus) and the bathroom is very large with a waterfall shower and a jacuzzi tub (that seems to fill with hot spring water)

I had confirmed this room at reservation and even though the hotel seemed VERY full on the Sat arrival date (it was the wine and cheese festival) the Sun-Tues was fairly empty.

Used a suite upgrade, a fairmont card free night, did the spa package for ONE night (which was 499$ up about 50$ since a couple years ago but great deal with room, bfast, parking, two spa treatments, ALL gratuities free) Basically, this makes the room free for the night.

What I didn't like though is they have started (at least I don't recall from a few years back) to charge a RESORT FEE. I don't know what one GETs for the resort fee, at least not as a FPC or Plat member. I mean, is there anything other than free internet, gym access, paper and local calls to justify this? Or is it just something stupid?

Also, the internet while fast (I recorded solid speeds of 2-5MB) there must be something going on with either their authentication server or doing packet sniffing/filtering since I couldn't maintain a skype call, netflix stream, slingbox stream, larger download, voip call for more than about 7-10 minutes, then it would drop for enough time to break the connection/stream and I'd have to restart all over again or call someone back. I tried all these services on laptops, two ipads, four cell phones, and they all had the same problem. I tried via wired ethernet (using a portable hotspot) and using the hotels wireless, same problem. It was pretty annoying especially since I was cooped up in the room the whole time.

Brendan

I agree that there is no justification for a "resort fee" at this hotel, esp. since it's the most expensive hotel in town already! When I reserved my 2 free nights from the Visa for Aug. 2012, I was informed of that C$12 buxanite fee, but when I got there, I was not charged--probably because award stays are Truly Free per FPC T&Cs??

nmenaker

heck, I had a free night AND a spa night with everything included, so I should get that 12$ per night!!!..

WHAT is the fee for though?

Ancien Maestro

Tipping is included. Tipping and Service gratuities (other than Food and Beverage) has always been included at the Banff Springs, even before the resort fee.

Personally this feature is a big plus to me. Not just because of the money, but the convenience. Often at Fairmonts I'm constantly making change. Its nice to just focus on Quadrant 2 time, instead of feeling I've got to have spare change everytime good service is provided.

Jasper2009

I don´t think the T&C say anything about resort fees on award nights.

I know that when using a free night at the Fairmont Southampton I have been charged the resort fee, the mandatory graduity and mandatory graduity for the comp. breakfast at the Fairmont Southampton which came close to $60 per person per night! Absolutely ridiculous IMO!

I´d guess it´s up to the individual property whether they charge resort fees etc., but it surely doesn´t hurt to complain about those fees.@:-)

Banton

Seems like hotels are going the way of the airlines, trying to find revenue streams wherever they can.

Brendan

OK, Jasper, maybe Hyatt is the hotel chain that forbids resort fees on award stays. Ideally I'd like to see resort fees forbidden everywhere.
I still remember circa 2001 when I paid an "energy surcharge" on a free 4Points stay due to rising gas/electric prices. Then lawyers sued Starwood in a class-action, out of which I got a measly $3 discount coupon !

Jasper2009

As mentioned above, I´m not sure whether Fairmont even has an official policy when it comes to resort fees. IME, fortunately most Fairmont hotels do not charge resort fees, neither on revenue nor reward stays, but yes, I agree that it´s quite disturbing when hotels start charging resort fees and other bogus fees, particularly on free nights, which - big surprise - should be free.

Brendan

Bang-on, Jasper2009! On the principle taught by the Better Business Bureau that "Free should mean free," I have boycotted USAirways' DM ever since they introduced a $25
"Award Processing Fee" on all mileage-redemption tickets! Worse, they charge a $25--50 Phone Booking Fee on all awards involving a partner airline & all awards with an open-jaw because their fecal Website can't handle them! So since the end of BMI, I credit all my *A flights to United or Aeroplan.

swdke

How much is a typical breakfast at Banff Springs Resort? I have some $25 breakfast certificates from a Chase Fairmont Visa and was wondering what breakfast actually costs at Banff Springs. Thanks.

Brendan

I stayed at Banff Springs in Aug. 2012, when the breakfast price was $29. They enforced the rule that the cert.s are worth US$25, which equaled US$23.75 by their exchange rate that day vs. par mid-market. I bet their rate is par today with US now trading 3.5% above Canadian.

swdke

When I log onto the Fairmont website, I see I have two "Complimentary Room Upgrades". How can I, or when do I redeem? For example, I have a reservation at the Fairmont Lake Louise, and a reservation at the Fairmont Banff Springs. My current reservation is for a Queen/Queen. If I wish to upgrade, do I call the hotel, or do I have to wait at check-in to request for possible availability? Thanks.

nmenaker

so, interesting and timely question. I was just about to post about my experience at the Orchid. Booked an ocean view room, upgraded to ocean view exec suite with a suite upgrade (via platinum desk), received an "would you like to upgrade your room" which only really left an OCEAN FRONT suite, the 1500 sq. ft. puppies that are right up on the ocean front trail....

So, i said "any chance of upgrading to that ocean front suite today" so they looked up my certificates and said "well, you could use a ROOM UPGRADE to upgrade to the OF Suite" BOOM, done. .....

So, could have been it was my bday for our trip, could have been cause we're plats, could have been cause it was simply available, but COULD be a predictable process.

Spent_All_My_Miles

Last year, in high season, they upgraded me to one of the named suites, on a free night stay! I had 270 degree views, the largest room at a Fairmont property ever, and one of the largest hotel rooms I have ever had.

Several possibilities:
- Operational upgrade - hotel filled up, and they needed to upgrade someone. I was only Premier though
- Upgraded because I had the credit card - I think they, and maybe another property or two, said people with the card appeared as vips (given how flaky the computer systems are, they may have so few codes that they had to use the same code for credit card holders and true vips
- They thought I had intended to use a suite upgrade coupon. I hadn't, and this was a nicer room than I would have been entitled to

birdyy

I'm sure this has been asked and answered somewhere in the thread, but can someone please address the parking situation for me. Is there a trick to not paying the parking fee? Yes, I'm being cheap.

Thanks.