CanadaDH

They were. That, however, doesn't stop some inconsiderate people from ignoring the rule. I did observe a non-compliant guest being asked to put one on. Compliance enforcement of anything can sometimes vary with the individual staff member.

It was explained to me on check-in, that masks needed to be worn. The welcome letter also says the following:
On one particular day, I was riding the elevator down, and it stopped at a lower floor on the way. Some inconsiderate prick waiting for the elevator, just casually asks "going down?", as if everything is normal, and he was about to just step on with us. I was very quick to say, "I don't think so, buddy. There's no way I'm letting you on this elevator with me, if you don't have the respect or decency to put on a GD mask". And I simultaneously closed the elevator doors in his face, and I continued my descent.

ac/elite

I agree with tcook052. The BSH was much more stringent about the use of face masks than the CLL on my recent trip to both. The BSH has signs everywhere reminding people that my face mask protects you and yours protects me, but we didn't see face mask reminders at the CLL. My wife and I noticed only one person not wearing a face mask at the BSH in our 4 nights there, whereas we saw quite a number of people who weren't wearing them at the CLL during our 2 night stay there.

tcook052

I met with a sales staff member at CLL to take a hotel tour and at the end asked about the lack of a mandatory mask policy as it was quite evident only about half the guests were wearing them and the reply was it was only recommended and not actively enforced. (I myself didn't see staff asking guests to don a face mask). This contrasted with the BSH where every single person who entered the lobby was asked to put on a mask and provided with a disposable mask if they didn't have one of their own.

In fact at the BSH there was a COVID kit, as I called it, in the room with a pair of latex gloves, two disposable masks, a small bottle of Purrell hand sanitizer plus a pair of wet wipes packets but didn't see this at the CLL.

CanadaDH

I received a kit at the CLL, in a sealed package when I checked in, exactly as you described, except it only contained 1 disposable mask. Other items, like sanitizer, gloves and wipes were there.. Sounds like there are some misses in the delivery with some of the staff. It wasn't left in the guest room, but handed to me with my room keys at check-in. I wonder if they ran out of them by the time you arrived? They are running at a much higher occupancy than they expected. There was an article in the local Banff newspaper, suggesting that Banff National Park has been seeing visitor traffic at 80% of capacity, and they were expecting less than half of that with the border closed. The Town of Banff is currently considering making masks mandatory, not just inside the buildings, but also when walking outside on the 100 and 200 blocks of Banff Avenue.

That's also an interesting communication difference regarding masks from different staff members, because the written letter included in my check-in package, is worded exactly as I posted above, which says "...masks are required when inside...". It doesn't say recommended. It says required. And that's on the printed welcome letter handed to me at check-in. The only exception noted is when dining or drinking. And I did see a guest asked to leave the lounge and return only after putting on a mask.

The two hotels really should have the same policy, as they're commonly owned and commonly managed. The GM of the BSH is actually the immediate boss of the GMs of the CLL, JPL and the Chateau Whistler. No excuse or reason for the procedures not to be exactly the same (and if you go by the written letter, they are the same). If BSH is taking a stricter enforcement tactic, I wonder if that's because of the soon-to-be mandatory mask municipal order, which wouldn't apply to Lake Louise?

tcook052

I received a letter upon check-in which says in the fourth bullet point only that masks are "strongly encouraged" and it does not say they are required. See the actual letter below.



It could be that the sanitizer packet wasn't given at check-in as my room wasn't ready so I went for a short hike, the Fairview trail, returning around 4 PM and was given my room keys by the the Concierge who was trying to help with the line-up at the front desks.

I very much enjoyed my stay and don't meant to make too much of it however found it curious that two hotels of the same brand with the same management so close together would have slightly different policies or applied the policies differently.

At any rate, my stay was wonderful as I was upgraded to a fifth floor Junior Suite with King bed overlooking the front driveway but with mountain views. No AC in the room but a quiet and efficient ceiling fan cooled the bed off on a warm Summer evening.The deep tub and separate shower stall were very nice.









After some hiking, I devoured a chorizo & blue cheese flatbread at the Lakeview Lounge which offers both indoor and outdoor patio dining.



The hotel pool was a bit of a let down as it's small, only 5 ft.at the deep end and dated decor. Note that due to capacity controls, guests must phone and reserve a pool time in advance. Also, as the pool change rooms are temporarily closed, guests are asked to change into swimwear in their room and wear a robe to the pool.



I spent a few idle hours relaxing after my hikes lounging in the big muskoka chairs on the front terraces soaking in the famous lake view.



I lucked out and had warm and dry Summer weather during my stay which made for ideal hiking and sightseeing conditions, including the shuttle bus ride one morning to nearby Moraine Lake.



My visit was midweek and had no trouble reserving for a spot the next morning for the shuttle departing to Moraine Lake at 9 AM with a return at 11:45 AM which was perfect to check out and drive home.

CanadaDH

We may well have been sitting on that patio at the same time!

For air conditioning, you need to be on the 7th or 8th floor, some of the rooms in the Glacier wing, or any room in the Mount Temple wing. But, even in mid-July, overnight temps are single digits, so A/C is rarely a requirement. We even saw snow falling on one of our days last week, while out and about and up at a much higher elevation than Lake Louise. While we did have our A/C running at times because it was there (but could have lived without it), we also had the heat on at times overnight!

The weather was pretty good last week, and was certainly comfortable for hiking. But, I would rate the hiking conditions as 'fair' at best on many trails. The trail conditions are wet and muddy in many places, and there is still significant snow in places on many trails. It was such a slow and wet spring, combined with a very heavy winter before that (which made for great skiing), that things are not drying out. Rivers are swollen, and fording streams in places can be dangerous. Even over at Emerald Lake, which is at a much lower elevation than Lake Louise, the trail along one side of the lake was very sloppy due to the rainy spring and constant snow melt coming down from above. And many of the higher objectives, which would typically be coming into shape right about now, might not be accessible at all this year. Conditions are still unsafe on many mountains, and people are thinking that the snow will start accumulating again before the snow from last year disappears. I was watching many people back country skiing last week up by Parker Ridge. And, sadly, a skier was killed last week at Moraine Lake on the couloir between Bowlen and Tonsa mountains (#'s 3 and 4 of the 10 peaks), which is actually visible in the photo you just posted of Moraine Lake.

Yeah, the pool isn't great. I've only used it once in >100 nights there, mostly just to check it out. They actually do have change rooms, but they're closed due to COVID restrictions. But, I go there for the climbing, hiking and skiing.

The hotel would like to improve the pool offerings, and in fact has wanted to build a new spa for a long time, similar to the Willow Stream at BSH, but Parks Canada doesn't want to allow any additional development. It's very much a give and take relationship. The whole reason the derelict structure of the old outdoor pool is still there, which has been closed for over 50 years, is because if the hotel removes it, they're forced to reclaim the land. That's where they would like to build the spa, with a continuous connection to the Painter Wing of the main building. When they built the Mount Temple Wing and the parkade, they got permission by giving back a different plot of their land lease on the northwest side of the hotel. And an earlier wing of the hotel only received permission to be built, because the CLL used to have a lease right to the waters edge, and Parks Canada badly wanted the public to have access. The hotel returned several meters of their exclusive lease right at the lakeshore for a public right-of-way in exchange for land and permission to build an additional wing. It's a long process to get permission to do anything there.

The Lake Louise Ski Area just recently got approval for a major upgrade and expansion plan, also in exchange for making other concessions giving back certain pieces of land in exchange for others, and relocating a mid-mountain lodge in a prime Grizzly corridor, up to the Eagle Ridge area. If you have something that Parks Canada wants, and can demonstrate that your plans are a net positive to the park purposes, you can get things done. Otherwise, it's difficult to change anything. They only removed the old Olympic chairlift last summer, which has been out of service for a great many years, because their long range plan was approved last year, and they were keeping the lift towers and an old cable there, just to hold the claim as a bargaining chip. Even when they installed the new Ptarmigan chairlift on the backside of Mt. Whitehorn a number of years ago, they didn't put in a high speed detachable lift, because Parks has a say on all sorts of details, right down to things like lift capacities.

tcook052

During my hotel tour I heard about the new spa plans for the old outdoor pool which can be seen in the photo below. The large window arches and bigger overall square footage could make for a really great enclosed indoor pool like the indoor one at BSH with a connection to the Painter Wing.


I'd agree that guests don't go to the CLL for the pool with all the natural wonders literally in front of them however having a better one I think would add to the overall guest experience.

dagnolet

We’re venturing to the hotel in mid-late September. We’re currently booked in a Lakeview Suite and can ‘upgrade’ to a smaller (non-suite) Gold Floor room for the same price. I’ve stayed on Gold before and understand the benefits but wondering if we should take advantage of the larger room or switch to Gold for the breakfast, drink and canapés. As well, does anyone know if the complimentary canoe usage (as seen a few posts above) is for Gold only, and if that is still being offered or was only special in the early day’s of reopening?

CanadaDH

I suppose it depends on how you value space vs. lounge access? The 1 Bedroom Suites are nice and big, and with large bathrooms. The Gold Lakeview Rooms (assuming you get one on the 7th and not 8th floor) are about the size of a non-Gold Junior Suite. Don't make the switch because of the lounge breakfast, because all bookings in 1 Bed Suite categories or higher, receive "Suite Life" benefits. That means you will get daily breakfast in the Fairview restaurant as part of your Lakeview Suite booking. You wouldn't get the evening canapes in the non-Gold Suite, but that wouldn't be enough to make me want to switch. If you're in a Lakeview Junior Suite, then that's different, because it doesn't include daily breakfast (unless it is part of your rate, as there are many breakfast-inclusive rate packages).

If you want to study the floor plans I posted in a different thread, it might make it clearer. See link below.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32607175-post5.html

The 1 Bed Lakeview Suites are the X19 rooms. The Junior Lakeview Suites are X81 and X83. The X57/X59/X61, which looks like it could be a 1-Bedroom Suite (and used to be sold that way), have been converted to 2 Bedroom Suites only in the renovation a couple of years ago, and sold just as X59. You will see the Gold Lakeview Rooms on the 7th floor plan, are generally larger than a non-Gold Junior Suite, with the exception of 775, 777, 779 and 785. If you did go for the upgrade to Gold, I'd put in a request for something in the 705 to 771 range.

If it were me, I would take the 1 Bedroom Lakeview Suite over a Gold Lakeview Room. I would take a Gold Lakeview Room over a non-Gold Lakeview Junior Suite. There is no longer a Gold 1 Bedroom Lakeview Suite, other than the various Signature Suites. The Gold Junior Lakeview Suites (719 and 723) would also be really nice options.

The other consideration would be the decor of the room. Much of the Chateau Lake Louise has been renovated, including the Gold floor rooms, all 2 Bedroom Lakeview Suites, and many Lakeview Junior Suites. I do not believe the 1 Bedroom Suites (X19 numbered rooms) have been renovated yet.

As for the unlimited canoe rentals on the Gold floor, that's new since COVID. In the past, in a non-Gold 1 Bedroom Lakeview Suite, while not a published benefit, they still always gave me a couple of vouchers for a free canoe rental. If you ask the front desk agent nicely, I suspect they'd give you a couple of canoe rental vouchers, if they didn't do so automatically. I've never had to pay to use a canoe at the CLL before.

dagnolet

Thanks, super helpful! I'll dig in a bit more but appreciate your comments and feedback.

CanadaDH

I should mention one other benefit of the Gold room... They're now providing an alcoholic drink for each guest with the evening canapes. I'm not a drinker, so I forgot to mention that one. But, for some people, I suppose that adds a bit more value to the Gold room.

Ubud

We just returned from staying at CLL, Gold floor, last week. They had run out of canoe vouchers, so you had to bill to your room and request the credit after the fact. This was done with no problem. As an aside, if you happened to book the "Together Again" rate, one canoe rental was also included with that, separate from the Gold benefit.

The Gold floor drink benefit entitles you to 1 wine or beer per adult, and they had a reasonable selection of both.

CanadaDH

Not just beer or wine... I was travelling with 4 others who do in enjoy a drink, and they we ordering all sorts of different drinks over the course of the stay. By the end of our 10 nights there, between the 4 of them, they probably had just about every drink available. I just had the Diet Coke, and sometimes, I was told what to order, so someone could have a second!

Ubud

They definitely had other alcoholic drinks available, but they weren't part of the free drinks as explained to us by a couple of the lounge staff. Anything beyond 1 beer or wine during the canape time was part of the (paid) honour bar.

dagnolet

We’re staying next week and I’m ALL Gold. Are canoe rentals comped for ALL or just if you’re on the gold floor? Can’t find a definitive answer but some other posts alluded to this. Do you also need to pre book canoes or are they as available?