Runner123

I wrote to the Banff hotel management, and heard back. They were very sorry that the check in took so long, and that there was an issue with the check out. They again apologized, refunded the money (so my stay became zero other than the money paid for dinner through my $100 in dining certificates and the $32 in certificates they gave me, assured me that my suite upgrade certificate was not used, and gave me a $50 certificate to use for food at my upcoming stay at the Fairmont in Washington DC.

I am very happy with the resolution, and hope to be back at Banff again, although it won't be as soon as I would like. I think the problem in may have been too many people working on it, and not talking about it together.

kilbornr

Just a few data points about using the chase certificates at this hotel during the summer. I attended a wedding at BSH last weekend. When I found out about the venue, I signed up for a Chase card for the free nights. Here is what I learned:

(TL;DR For the most part summers are blocked. Keep looking at the last minute though. You may get lucky)

1) Wedding block - The wedding room block consisted of "Fairmont rooms", but they required a one night deposit and I didn't have the certificates yet. I didn't book since I wasn't sure if the deposit would be refunded. The date to book the block lapsed before I received the certificates.

2) Fairmont View Room - Later with certificates in hand, I booked a "Fairmont view" room online and tried to apply a certificate. The phone rep said no. If you read the cert terms and conditions literally, "Fairmont view" rooms are not specifically excluded, but they still wouldn't budge. I cancelled the Fairmont view reservation.

3) Waitlist - The phone rep said the hotel had a waiting list for Fairmont rooms and they would call me if one opened up. They never called.

4) Searching - The hotel was sold out of Fairmont rooms for the entire duration I was searching closely (April to July). Thursday had availability on my dates, but Friday and Saturday did not. I checked a few times a week. The hotel was mostly sold out for the weekend in question when I searched, but occasionally "Fairmont view" or "gold" rooms would become available for a few days at a time.

5) Last minute opening - I booked another hotel in town instead. 3.5 days in advance of check in and 8 hours before the cancellation deadline for the other hotel, a "Fairmont room" opened up!!! I made a reservation online and called in to apply the certificates. Success! I had checked twice the day before and there were no Fairmont rooms available.

In hindsight, I probably should have booked the wedding block room with the deposit and then later applied the certificates. The phone rep said the deposit would have been refunded or applied to incidentals in that case. I didn't know about the widespread room blocking at the time though.

BSH is definitely intentionally or unintentionally blocking certificate use during the summer by assigning all of the fairmont rooms to large groups. There is nothing in summer 2017 available as far as I can see, so they do this blocking well in advance.

My advice for others is to be flexible and keep looking until the very last minute.

I wonder if you could call the hotel and say you were having a wedding/event in town and ask for a room block for your guests? Maybe then they would open some Fairmont rooms for your "group" and you could use a certificate...

CanadaDH

I don't believe they are blocking anything intentionally. I know a few people rather well at the BSH, who I trust to give me an honest answer, and they're telling me that they really are hitting record levels of bookings. As you can imagine, the blocks taken by large tour groups book out the cheaper base Fairmont rooms first. But it's not just Fairmont rooms needed for certificate use. There are many days this summer where all rooms at the hotel are sold out. This year is a banner year for tourism in the Canadian Rockies. Nearly every room at all hotels in the town of Jasper are basically gone for the rest of the summer, and people are booking rooms an hour's drive away. Banff, being a bit larger, isn't quite as bad, but it's still pretty full.

I expect 2017 to be even worse. With the CAD still low compared to the USD, Americans are finding Canada to be comparatively cheap, and many Canadians may find travelling abroad too expensive. Combine that with the fact that access to all Canadian National Parks will be free for 2017 (on account of Canada's 150th birthday), so no park passes required, I can see things getting booked solid very early on.

That's why I booked my Banff and LL reservations for both next winter and next summer over a year in advance.

This article may put things into perspective. I don't recall seeing this before, but Parks Canada was blocking access to the road to Lake Louise due to traffic congestion on the holiday weekend, only allowing cars to pass who are guests at the hotels by the lake.
http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-...-perfect-storm

CanuckFlyHigh

The Fairmonts in Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper are not only hitting records, they are absolutely shattering them. An occupancy rate Oxford (owner) could have never dreamed of, which is good, since most of their Calgary office buildings are emptying.

kilbornr

I politely disagree. I didn't check every day, but from the dozen or so dates I checked in 2017, there do not appear to be any Fairmont rooms available in June, July, August or September. There seem to be plenty in May and October. I find it hard to believe that all of these rooms are booked already. It is more likely that the hotel is holding back every Fairmont room in anticipation of future group bookings.

My friend started planning their wedding earlier this year and they were able to get a block of Fairmont rooms about 6 months in advance. I didn't search the website at the time, but I think it is likely these rooms were not available to the general public at the time.

I can't blame the hotel for doing this since they anticipate, and get, sell outs. It just devalues the potential use of free night certificates.

CanadaDH

I have empirical evidence that rooms are (or were) available to the general public. I have 2 reservations (1 for a Fairmont Room and 1 for a One-Bedroom Suite) for Aug 13 through Aug 20/2017. Booked straight off the Fairmont website. I have the week after that booked out at the Chateau Lake Louise.

My brother was able to book July 16 through July 23, 2017. Again, booked straight off the Fairmont website.

You just have to book early. In my case, my Aug/17 reservation was made in March/16. I think my brother booked his Jul/17 stay mid-May/16.

kilbornr

Fair enough. I'll concede that June and July 2018 are currently available for Fairmont rooms. This upcoming weekend also has Fairmont rooms that have just opened up. I guess it is like Cathay Pacific first class award space. You either book when the schedule opens or just a few days in advance.

I still think something fishy is going on if a wedding group can get Fairmont rooms 6 months in advance, but us commoners need to book 12+ months in advance.

CanuckFlyHigh

Maybe they are holding some rooms back for weddings. They certainly have alot of them, and if someone is willing to spend $200K on a wedding, their guests should have access to rooms

CanadaDH

That would make a lot of sense. It wouldn't surprise me either, if they didn't have any Fairmont rooms available, but instead made the decision to overbook the room category for the wedding, expecting a certain number of cancellations, and when the time comes, the worst they have to do is give some free upgrades to the extent the base rooms were overbooked. Calculated overbooking decisions are a part of the travel business... airline seats, rental cars, hotel rooms. I can't see them turning down a wedding party, when they have enough open rooms in the hotel overall, but just not all in the desired room category.

If there are a lot of guests like me, who will book a Fairmont room and then upgrade to a suite when the new upgrade certificates post to FPC accounts, then shortly after March 1 might be a good time to look for available Fairmont rooms returning to the inventory pool!

groundhog

I am trying to book Banff or Lake Louise for the next summer, but it shows the whole month of June and July is not available to "Fairmont rooms". But the end of May (till 05/31) is fully available. Is it because June and July are not loaded yet or they are really fully sold out???

mahasamatman

No way to tell from the website, but they typically have rooms available a year or two in advance, so those rooms are probably all spoken for. Have you tried calling?

Jasper2009

The various properties in the Rockies are already solidly booked for next summer; demand and prices are higher than they have ever been IME.

I was making a booking for a client at Lake Louise the other day for next Aug. and the property already was almost sold out.

That being said, it is quite possible that various tour companies (and/or in-house reservations) are blocking some Fairmont room inventory, ao it's definitely worth checking availability on a regular basis.

CanuckFlyHigh

I agree with Jasper. Most rooms are probably blocked for groups until a certain "drop dead" date when those groups need to give Fairmont final numbers. Check back in the new year, and check regularly.

groundhog

But when will they "drop" them? I can't book my trip this way. I need to make a lot of other arrangements.
End of May is fully available, but I am afraid it is still cold in May.
I have called them, but they are telling the same story - no standard rooms available in June and July...

Jasper2009

I guess you're hoping to use your free night certs?

It's really hard to predict: Availability for Fairmont rooms may open up 3-6 months in advance IME, or not at all if the tour operators manage to fill the rooms - which wouldn't surprise me at all given how crazy demand for the Rockies is. I've never seen availability this scarce and rates this high; rates for a Fairmont Lakeview room at LL currently are in the $800-$1000/night range (if there's availability at all) which is just insane IMO.