We've just returned from another trip to the Canadian Rockies, split between Banff, Jasper and Lake Louise.

Lake Louise was the final stop on the trip, and we once again booked a Two Bedroom Lakeview Suite. There were 6 of us travelling, including 2 youths, so this configuration is perfect for us, with a King bed in one bedroom and two Queen beds in the other.

This stay was actually a combination of two separate bookings. I booked the first week under my name, and put the second week under my wife's ALL account. This was done for efficiency of ALL points earning. I'm currently sitting at 65,000 status points for the year, and my wife is right around 56,000, which gives us each 12 SNUs for the year. Had I booked everything in my name, we only have 12 SNUs total, since they max out 54,000 points. But even with two bookings, the hotel was able to somehow link the stays, avoiding the risk of possibly having to switch rooms mid-stay, or end up having to change room keys. I did have to do a mid-stay checkout, and ended up with a room invoice under each account, but that was fairly painless.

One advantage of having two bookings, is we ended up with 6 ALL drink vouchers when we arrived, and then got 6 more after I paid the first bill and switched to my wife's account for the second half! Maybe there's a deliberate strategy hidden in there somewhere for future stays .

Arrival and check-in went smoothly. When booking a suite here, both self-park and valet parking are included, and we decided to valet the car. The bell staff promptly unloaded our bags, and we were off to our suite.

We were given suite 459, and it was my first time in this two bed lakeview suite. I've been in 859 thrice, four times in 759 on Fairmont Gold, one each in 659 and 559 pre-renovation, and now 459. They layout is essentially the same for all of the Two Bedroom Lakeview Suites. There are some subtle differences in the layout of the bathrooms and the positioning of the closets, but essentially, I would rate them all as being equal.

Below is a video walkthrough of the suite.


Here are some photos of the main salon.




They included a bottle of wine in the room, as usual. More wine would show up throughout the visit.




One thing you may notice in the above photos, is the view out the window is just a bit hazy. It's the result of one renovation I don't particularly like. The hotel has replaced the windows, and instead of the old windows with a small opening window at the bottom and a large picture window above, they now have a full-height awning window. I suppose that lets in more air, but it also means they had to install a full-height bug screen over the window. I much prefer the clear glass view. Below is a photo from the outside, and you can see they have replaced all the windows on the Painter and Barrot wings, and are now working on the Glacier Wing. I will admit that the new windows do look nicer from the outside of the building, but I like the screen-free view out from the old style windows.



The master bedroom in 459 looks much like past reviews I've posted of 859 and 759, but the closet is to the left where the old pre-renovation hallway was, that allowed this room to be booked as a standalone King room.




The closet was large, including a nice bench with storage drawer.



The bathroom had separate bathtub and shower, and toilet in a water closet behind a glass door. The vanity was large and with two sinks. The shower was large, at about 4 feet by 8 feet in size.





There was a nice table in the hallway, just opposite the powder room.




As mentioned earlier, more wine would appear throughout the stay...



There is construction going on at the hotel, which will continue into 2024 and possibly 2025, as they build their new Thermal Wellness Central. Honestly, I never found the construction bothersome, but I am looking forward to the opening of what I expect will be a fantastic facility, built into the hillside of the property.



Before and during the stay, the Suite Concierge was in regular contact for any arrangements, and it seemed like no request was too much. I'll give a few examples...

On our visit last year, I found the lines to be seated at breakfast were problematic, if you happened to arrive at a popular time, and they don't accept reservations for breakfast. I asked if anything could be done about that. After checking with the Manager of Louiza (where breakfast is served each morning), they said they'd make an exception for our group, and would book us reservations every morning, and we could simply skip the line and they would have a table waiting for us. Everything worked flawlessly.

We also had a final evening dinner in Walliser Stube, which is my favourite restaurant here. But, I know from past experience, they do not seat tables larger than four people in the front room by the windows. The Director of Dining agreed to reconfigure the restaurant at the beginning of the night for us, and built a large table in the front room and held it for us.

The service levels here are fantastic. No request ever seemed to be too much trouble.

Here are some photos Louiza at breakfast. The first photo is of the breakfast buffet. The second photo is a menu that comes with the buffet. You may order anything on the menu, which is the brought to the table. This is so these selected items are fresh when served. Daily Breakfast is included for any guests in a One Bedroom Suite or higher category room.





Here is Walliser Stube, in the front room. Not shown, where I took the photo from, is our special long table they built for our group.



And here is the Fairview Bar and Restaurant. While I never asked for it, and was expecting to sit in the upper section of the restaurant where the larger tables are located, we arrived to find a large round table for six ready for us, right by the window.





One improvement made this year, is at the canoe rental dock. The hotel has always had a priority line for hotel guests, and a regular line for day visitors. That always helped, but sometimes it would still take a while to get through, as they alternated by lines. The hotel guest line was still shorter, but there was a wait. This year, the still have the two lines, but they take two parties from the hotel line for every party from the regular line. When we lined up to go canoeing one morning, the regular line looked to be up to an hour wait, but we only waited 5 minutes before we were checked in.



One of the best services of the hotel, is the guest shuttle to Moraine Lake. Unfortunately, Moraine Lake has gotten so popular that you can't drive there anymore in your own vehicle. Parks Canada runs a public shuttle bus system, but the Chateau Lake Louise uses their fleet of shuttle buses (primarily used as ski shuttles in the winter) to take their guests to Moraine Lake. You need to prebook them, but it couldn't be easier. Head down to the bell desk before departure time, and get shuttled over to Moraine Lake. Shuttles leave and return about every 2 hours throughout the day.



It was a great trip, and it is nice to see the hotel continuing to make ongoing upgrades to the physical property, and to see the service levels are as high as I've ever seen them.