I find many historical properties have the issue that some rooms are very far away from the main entrance, as hotels were not designed as space efficient as they are today. The X00s and X80s rooms at The Empress require walking a minute or so to reach the elevators. I also find the elevators a bit slow and it's common to wait a minute or so. The lower numbered rooms (X20s and below I would say) in Chateau Laurier in Ottawa are also quite far from the elevators though the round stair helps.

I did notice that they setup a podium at the south entrance of the lounge on some days, and I am not sure if they allow non Gold guests to walk through the lounge to get to their rooms. I get that first floor is the best place for lounge because of the patio, but not a good floor for rooms as most rooms have roof view, and the lounge takes up the prime spots for harbour view rooms. The current setup makes sense IMO as most Gold rooms are between elevators on floor 2-4, with some oddities on the first floor, and probably only half of the X40s rooms. Maybe they can use the southwest corner entrance for Gold and setup desks there, but that entrance isn't accessible by car.

Regarding the history, many locals are not happy with the most recent renovation, such as the removal of ivy on the wall. I get that it's necessary as the plants were corroding the bricks, but it made the hotel look quite different. I think Fairmont has been taking reasonably good care of the historical properties overall, as many non Fairmont managed former grand railway hotels have become quite generic and boring, such as Westin Nova Scotian.