Marie-Christine Desjardins

We loved our vacation! The snow and mountains were breathtaking. We really enjoyed skiing the second day. Two of the three of us had never skied and an instructor was imperative! We had Christopher at Lake Louis and he was excellent. We had to secure the lesson through the Fairmont concierge however- Julie was amazing and we were so grateful for her help! We loved both hotels but the Caribou was under construction and they started banging away on the scaffolding Monday morning.
There were a few times we were frustrated:
The car rental company was not clearly communicated. We had to go searching for any clues as to which company it was and found it on a receipt. We asked for help but I guess because it was the weekend we did not get a response until Monday.
One of the museum sites we wanted to visit and that was suggested was closed the two days we were in Banff (Mon and Tues)
The hotel did not give us ski lift tickets for the second day and this was not clearly outlined. The itinerary stated to pick them up at the “hotel”. Since we changed hotels and the first hotel had our first set of tickets, we assumed the second hotel would have the second set. That was not the case.
We wished some activities were suggested to us prior to the trip. There were a few things we would have liked to do and tried to make reservations for however everything was booked up.
In Banff we didn’t have any direction on the best places to eat (which all required reservations).
We also wish we were told that we needed to make dinner reservations at the Fairmont restaurants ahead of time.
I admit we had very high expectations after our Italy trip; but this was why we used Kimkim again for this trip. We were less impressed this time but still loved the trip and plan to return during the summer at some point.

Hotel Reviews

Banff Caribou Lodge and Spa

Banff

We loved the big, crackling fire in the lobby! The restaurant was excellent and the room was big and roomy. The heat did not work well at first but it was repaired quickly. the hotel itself was under repair so there was scaffolding built along the side we looked out of. We could not access the balcony or even open the doors because of this and the workers started banging away Monday morning. They should have mentioned there was a floor heater for our use. That helped a lot. The spa/hot tub was awesome. The desk failed to give us both sets of lift tickets. We did not know they had the second set and we had already traveled to our next destination without tickets. It was just a headache we didn’t need.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

Lake Louise

Amazing! So beautiful. The staff were incredibly helpful, especially Julie at the concierge desk. She helped us secure a ski instructor at the last minute and that made our whole trip! We are so grateful for her help. The food at the new restaurant was excellent. We were really happy with our stay here.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Arts

Calgary

Very cool hotel in the heart of downtown. We weren’t here long but it was a comfortable stay and the staff was very friendly and helpful. We walked right around the corner for dinner at Ten Foot Henry; outstanding food.

Authenticity & Character

Loved the art!

Location

Staff

So helpful and friendly

Cleanliness & Comfort

Our sink would not drain but otherwise, excellent

Activity Reviews

Take the Banff Gondola to Sulphur Mountain

Canada

Breathtaking! We really enjoyed this!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ski/Snow rental

Canada

Loved our instructor Christopher! The lodge was cozy and vibrant. We had a lot of fun.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Good communication and when we had to make changes due to forest fires the team came thru!!

Overall our Rockies Road trip (Banff & Jasper) was a wonderful and unforgettable experience. Our specialist Marie-Christine quickly understood what we wanted and tailored a trip plan to suit our needs, including booking hotels, rental car and the Banff Gondola ride (which was amazing!) .
The drive from Banff to Jasper and back was exhilarating. Even though we only stayed overnight at Jasper It was worth doing - the views of the Rockies on the drive were fantastic and we stopped off at several places en-route to see the sights such as Maligne Canyon, Athabasca and Sunwapta Falls and lake Peyto.
On the negative side, picking up the Budget rental car was not smooth Their rep (whose English was not good) said no cars were available for 1-2hours and actively tried to encourage us to try the other rental companies! Also I am glad we got a Parks Pass online for the duration of our stay on advice from a friend rather than buy as you go as suggested by M-C. It is cheaper and saved us having to queue at the highway checkpoints. Also it was not pointed out that you have to book online for a Lake Louise Excursion to get a slot for the park & ride. LL is so busy that we missed a morning slot while doing this process and, unfortunately , the day turned out to a damper in more ways than one as we were caught and utterly soaked by full a Rockies thunderstorm :( . Apart from this we were lucky with the weather.
We have returned with wonderful memories. If you are thinking about doing this - do it!

Hotel Reviews

Coast Canmore Hotel & Conference Centre

Canmore

Helpful staff. We enjoyed our stay there as a base into Banff (only about 30km away)

Authenticity & Character

Location

Easy access to H=highway to Banff

Staff

Prompt response for more coffee and tea

Cleanliness & Comfort

Layout of room.

Jasper Inn & Suites

Jasper

Beautiful Swiss style Inn Hotel.

Authenticity & Character

Our split level suite!

Location

View of the peaks from our bedroom window in the morning - breath-taking!

Staff

Friendly and attentive waitresses at the Inn's diner

Cleanliness & Comfort

The suite was presented to a high standard!

Applause Hotel by CLIQUE

Calgary

Good place to crash overnight. Well designed rooms.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to airport with free shuttle service

Staff

Man at reception (Shehzad) was polite and extremely helpful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

The shower head!

Activity Reviews

Explore around Banff

British Columbia

Banff is obviously the main tourist hub town. On our first day we did not find the rep at the Visitor Information Centre helpful - he was more interested in selling us multi-day bus passes which was irrelevant since we had a car. Anyway we figured it out ourselves by the second day.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

See comment above on Visitor Information Centre

Transport

Availability of parking space (except Lake Louise).

Take the Banff Gondola to Sulphur Mountain

British Columbia

Super way of seeing Banff, Bow River Valley and the surrounding peakis.

Quality of Experience

The whole shooting match!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Staff are helpful and efficient.

Transport

Plenty of parking space next to Gondola station.

Marie Christine was super to deal with. She was attentive and listened to my requests for destinations. All of our accommodations exceeded our expectations.

The only disappointment was the itinerary said breakfasts were included, when in fact most of our accommodations did not (there is a discrepancy from the itinerary and the information about the hotels.). If I had noticed this at the beginning of the trip, I may not have taken advantage of the KimKim service as pricing was now higher than what I had expected.

Hotel Reviews

Best Western Plus Merritt Hotel

Merritt

Convenient, clean and friendly hotel. Nice to have a great selection for the breakfast which was included.

Authenticity & Character

Large room, great shower!

Location

Convenient to the highway

Staff

Friendly front desk staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Rooms were spotless

Kelowna Bed and Breakfast

Kelowna

Fantastic place and friendly hosts.

Tips for future travelers

Book it before you miss the opportunity to stay here!

Authenticity & Character

Spacious room with private patio!

Location

We could easily walk to downtown Kelowna. Beautiful neighbourhood

Staff

Made sure we knew where everything was located and made us feel at home.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Spotless!

Fairmont Banff Springs

Banff

This is a unique hotel and the rooms are much smaller than newer hotels. We stayed here because of the history of the hotel.

Tips for future travelers

The rooms are very small - we went for the ambiance of the building and the grounds.

Authenticity & Character

The history of this hotel is amazing.

Location

Bus stop outside the hotel can be used for free to take you into town. Otherwise it is a 15 minute walk.

Staff

Extremely friendly and went out of their way to make us feel comfortable

Cleanliness & Comfort

Spotless!

Blackstone Mountain Lodge

Canmore

Lovely hotel with spacious rooms. Each room has a complete kitchen!

Authenticity & Character

Large rooms and full kitchen

Location

Close to downtown, great coffee shops and a nice walking trail along the river.

Staff

Everyone was super friendly!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Spotless!

Activity Reviews

Arrive in Kelowna

Kelowna

We arranged a last minute wine tour with Gerry of Wine Boss Tours. He graciously waited while we met him at his first pick up. The tour was fun and Gerry provided great insight into the wineries we visited.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Gerry was extremely knowledgeable and entertaining!

Transport

Clean van and water was provided for us!

Banff to Lake Louise

Banff

Banff is a beautiful town but busy with tourists. We enjoyed the delightful coffee shop and went there twice for the fresh breakfast sandwiches made with their “made on the premises” bread. They were delicious and so was the coffee!

Quality of Experience