Otter Hotel

This is an amazing hotel! Very clean, and modern! The outdoor hot pools are amazing! We will be returning!

Fabulous hotel, highly recommend. Staff was amazing, hottub outdoors area was the best. Rooms were comfortable clean and bright with great amenities, including daily coffee service.

Aside from the heating issue, we also experienced these other minor things: 1. I’m not 100% sure but their queen beds felt much smaller than usual. 2. I found a hair stuck to one of the towels in our room. Also found make-up stains on a “fresh” towel I got from the pool area. 3. Food was delicious but service was slow and borderline rude at the Good Folk. 4. The description says there’s an in-room refrigerator. There was no fridge in our room. 5. As a 4-star hotel, they do not provide toiletries aside from soap. The reason provided was because “they are located inside a national park”. Quick google search tells me this is not the case for other hotels in Banff. It would have also been nice if they shared this information in the automated message they sent prior to our arrival so we could have prepared better. 6. The beds are on the hard side, the duvet was thin and light/sound from the hallways would creep into our room (thankfully there was no high traffic outside our room specifically). 7. We paid for a “mountain view” upgrade but the room was basically facing the hot tubs. All in all, this did not felt like a 4-star experience, and their response to the heating situation was appalling.

TLDR: Otter Hotel says it’s “normal” for a pregnant guest to be woken throughout the night due to temps dropping in their room. They are fully aware of this issue, have heard complaints from other guests but have decided to continue their practice to restrict heat to “control humidity”, prioritizing room decor over guest comfort. We stayed for 3 nights in early Sept. On the 2nd night, I woke up twice in the middle of the night due to the cold. Although the temperature had been set to “Auto” to 21 degrees before bed, I woke up twice to the temperature dropping down to 18 degrees (outside temps were low 10s). I had to increase the temperature for the heat to trigger again. When we told front desk, they said they’ve heard about this issue before from other guests. They sent someone who spent 5 mins checking the thermostat, told us he had no idea how to fix it and left. The same situation happened again that night. The next morning I spoke with the front desk manager who told me my experience waking up cold in the middle of the night was normal, the thermostat is working as expected. There is an override set by their management to control the temp and prevent humidity in the room. Since the room had wood paneling, my guess is humidity control is a priority for them. The manager did offer to waive the food charges off our room but it was upsetting to hear her stand firmly that my experience being waken from the cold while staying at a 4-star hotel ($700+/night) was normal.

Great hotel, excellent staff. Convenient location opposite the bus stop; about 15min walk to downtown if you don't take the bus. Hot pool was excellent after a day of hiking. Breakfast was delicious. Overall an excellent stay with spacious and clean rooms, excellent tea and coffee, small signs of wear and tear in the bathroom. The only thing that could be better is sound-proofing in the rooms, could hear everything in the hallway, especially when hikers start really early.