Having spent the previous night at the wonderful Hinton Holiday Inn Express & Suites just outside of Jasper National Park, I made my way back down south to the outskirts of Banff National Park to the Holiday Inn Canmore.
The crack of dawn at the Holiday Inn Canmore
Holiday Inn Canmore: The Redemption
Now, one of the first things you’ll notice when trying to reserve the Holiday Inn Canmore is its popularity. This is likely due to its location (which I’ll get to in a moment). As such, rewards nights are frequently “not available”. That was exactly the situation I found myself in. So I made the executive decision to use my Chase IHG Rewards Club card’s free annual night for the redemption.Â
Okay. I know what you’re thinking: You wasted an IHG free annual night on a room that costs $166 CAD?
Yes, I did — but for four good reasons: 1) To prove that I could get an entire free Canadian Rockies vacation (accommodations) courtesy of the Chase IHG Rewards Club card, 2) rewards points redemptions were not available for my dates at this popular hotel, 3) my annual night was about to expire, and 4) it really wasn’t that bad of a value being that $166 CAD (or $133 USD) was still about three times better than the $49 annual fee of the Chase IHG Rewards Club card.
The Location of the Holiday Inn Canmore:
As mentioned above, the Holiday Inn Canmore is popular due to its strategic location between Calgary and Banff National Park. The Holiday Inn Canmore is a 25 minute drive to the Banff National Park visitor center in the town of Banff.
(Image courtesy of ihg.com)
Review: Holiday Inn Canmore
The Check-In:
The check-in was fine. I was recognized for my status and asked which welcome gift option I would like (I went with the 500 points), and handed me my room key (no upgrade this time). It didn’t matter though, I had planned to hit Banff National Park first thing in the morning after breakfast.
Here’s where things got a little – weird. Members of the front desk staff (who will remain nameless) were perhaps a little “flirty” with each other when I had asked about breakfast. “Included” they said as if I was interrupting their conversation. “Awesome, good night”, I replied. (I’ll come back to this in a bit).
The front desk
The lobby
Holiday Inn Canmore: The Rooms
The first floor room was standard, typical, but it was located ground level right outside the parking lot and the window shades didn’t close the entire way leaving the room exposed “line-up style” (bright on the inside, dark on the outside). I thought about asking for a room change, but decided to see if I could figure out a work-around. Luckily, a hair-clip did the trick.
The room was otherwise clean and comfortable.
The bedroom
The entertainment center, fridge, microwave and desk
The Coffee Station:
The Keurig
Selection of coffee pods of the Columbian variety
The Bathroom:
Bathroom sink
The shower
The toiletries
The Trail Restaurant:
The Trail Restaurant (image courtesy of ihg.com)
Fast-forward to the next morning: I headed down to the Trail Restaurant when it opened at 7am. I was handed an a la carte menu , and I said, “I’m having the complimentary breakfast”. They asked to see my room key, and then told me, “you don’t seem to have it, but you can eat the breakfast buffet here for $24.99 – each”.
“Hmm, let me check with the front desk”, I said. Sure enough, the front desk staff member informed me that breakfast was not included with my reservation (despite assuring me that it was included the night before),”but you can eat at the buffet for $24.99 – each”, she said. “No thank you”, I said politely. “I guess we’re going to Starbucks”.
Then it got weird again. The front desk attendant appeared to get very annoyed with me, then said “ugh, fine, I’ll just give you both free breakfast then. Would that make you stay and eat here?”. “Sure” I said, surprised and confused. Free sure is better then $50. She handed us the free breakfast buffet tickets still visibly annoyed. The situation was just plain awkward. We walked into the restaurant and handed in our tickets, “What was up with that”? “I have no idea”, I responded.
The Bottom Line on the Holiday Inn Canmore:
Despite the front desk weirdness, the hotel itself was fine. It was a standard “middle of the road” hotel with a key location close to Banff National Park, and I couldn’t really ask for more than that.
When I did end up getting my free breakfast, the food was good, and the service staff there were really nice. The restaurant was fully packed by 7:10am, but then again this was the National Park crowd and the hotel was fully booked up.
The Holiday Inn Canmore: Recommended
