Bow View Lodge

Older hotel, not the nicest rooms, but the AC worked great and it’s priced accordingly. Great location, walking trail along the river right behind the hotel, and very quiet location.
Helpful, friendly staff.
Visited over COVID, and the pool was closed, so I don’t know what that part of it was like, but the rest of it was decent.

So upon booking through a third party app I accidentally booked for the wrong day, upon discovering this and trying to change the dates the hotel was not willing to work with me or the booking site I used. Luckily the booking site stepped up and just refunded me. So we rebooked for the proper day and paid for a 1 queen bed and 1 single bed room. When we arrived the room was clean and all was good there.however the bed looked way too small to be a queen and sure enough the bed was in fact a double. Again the booking site stepped up with a small credit to offset the cost of a double to queen. And again the hotel was unwilling to help in any way whatsoever. It was the most inexpensive option for the night and it was clean, but their unwillingness to help a customer, and false advertising has really put a bad taste in my mouth for this particular establishment.

Tried to book online, said there was rooms but would not let me book online, so messaged the staff to double check and repeatedly got the dates of travel wrong, tried to charge me for extra nights and could not confirm why their system would not let me book online.

Still waiting on a $230 refund due to am admin error from April 2023. Bow View have ignored multiple emails.

This is a very terrible hotel to stay in. Too pricey, we paid over 600 CAD per night. There is no air conditioning, the rooms are damp and stuffy. Over all, this is a terrible place to stay in.

I would give this place 10 stars. The room was gorgeous. Jacuzzi tub. French press! Gourmet tea! Clean. Incredible gym. Sauna. Steam. Free laundry! Amazing staff! Free wood and fire pit with blankets! Wish we could have stayed a week! Can’t wait to come back.

Friendly staff, room is decent size, great location, comfortable beds, access to a microwave and fridge in room. THE BAD - no air conditioning, creepy shared balcony where people smoke so you can't leave your patio door open for air, rooms extremely warm. Definitely not worth the $500 a night.

We had a bad experience in the motel. Our check in time was at 4pm on July 14, but we got the room one hour later. Two bottles of beer were the compensations for that. At a price 350$/night, we thought the breakfast was free. In the elevator of the motel, I saw free breakfast advertisement of the motel. Before breakfast I showed my room card to an employee in the dining room without any question. While we leaving the dining room after the breakfast, an employee ran after us and asked for payment. We paid 25$/guest.

Good location near river and walking distance of town businesses. Can get view of river or car park depending on what you pay. A little old building and fixtures, but bed comfortable and shower functioned well. No air conditioning, which normally is not an issue but with fire dust at time could not open window.
Ok for price for Banff.

Good location with Affordable price
Staff was very helpful
Just one bother they provide all toiletries (shampoo, body lotion, soap etc) except toothpaste.
I recommend them to provide that too

Why is this hotel price so high? Nothing has been updated in decades! You walk in to decor that is straight from the 1980s, from the carpeting to the wall hangings to the wallpaper! The beds are garbage and haven't been replaced in just as long.they don't even give you a full sized pillow! Definitely just a giant price gouge because of the hotels location! Spend the extra money and stay at a decent hotel. Ive been in nicer motels than this place! Wish I could have got a refund and left as soon as I walked in

1. Good location, near Bow River, Tims and the restaurants in the center.
2. Parking is convenient.
3. Professional and friendly staffs.
4. Spacious, clean room with a table for checking emails. Although TV looks out of date, but it is OK.

It exceeded my purpose: have a quiet room for sleep.

It's not a high end hotel but the staff was friendly and helpful. The rooms are a little old fashioned but had everything we needed. I would go back.
Super close to Banff Ave.

Good stay at this hotel. The room looked a little dated, but it was clean and comfortable. Quiet too, but be prepared to hear the train horn frequently. The best thing about this place was the location, five minutes walk to almost everything, there’s a mall and a grocery store nearby. It also is far enough from the action on banff avenue to be quiet to take a rest. Staff was kind and accommodating. Would stay again. Thank you!

Easy and straight forward checkin. Tight parking spot. Rooms are dated but nice clean and convenient. I will return for sure with a deal.

Despite having a reservation confirmation, there was no reservation that was recorded in their system because I had used a third-party provider to book. Reservation had been made and confirmed 7 months ago. They were fully booked and we ended up having to switch to a different hotel late at night. Poorly handled by both the third-party provider and the hotel.

Nice little spot next to the river. Beds were terrible, though. It's in walking distance of many restaurants and shops, too.

Xo

About 6 weeks ago I made a 1 night reservation for Bow View Lodge for my adult daughter and myself as we are two adults I had specifically noted on my request the room have two beds. A little Mother/Daughter getaway from the city which we try to take at least once yearly. The young lady who checked us in was pleasant and efficient. Imagine our surprise though when we opened the door and found only one bed, albeit a queen, 2 grown ladies one with arthritis and the other a very active sleeper could not have had a night's rest in such a setting. Back we went to the desk where the young lady also expressed surprise and even went back with me to the room to confirm for herself that we had not been given the room we had booked and paid for. After giving her a hard copy of our reservation confirmation, we sat back comfortably in the lobby to await her solution. When she came back to us it was one of those good news/bad news moments. The bad new was they were fully booked for the night and had no other room to offer. The good news was, she had arranged for a room at their sister hotel across the road, a higher priced property with extra features like underground parking and in property dining and lounge. Thanks ever so much to both Bow View Lodge and Banff Park Lodge for making our mother/daughter getaway a comfortable experience and so quickly rectifying the reservation foul-up. Kudos!

Really good roomes, really helpful personnel and a good location. A very fair price for the location (about 5 minutes walk to the oldtown) yet relly quiet/relaxing spots within the close area.
No breakfast is a downside bu, but there is a Tim Hortons nearby.

Second time in Banff, first time in this hotel. Very nice, close to everything. If you love trains, the CP train station is just a few minutes walk from the hotel.

Building is very ugly and depressing, but has the basics of your typical cheap hotel (except this wasn't cheap, it was $200 a night during the off season). They also couldn't provide me with coffee filters for the coffee pot the room comes with, or some basic dishes. (Again, $200 a night)

I did appreciate that I could go in to my room relatively early in the day.

A hotel needs to be a quiet place. With that said, we were on the main floor in a wheelchair accessable room (#111 no balcony), 1 queen bed (which was very comfortable) with a view of the river. The staff were amazing! Always helpful, well trained and friendly. The hotel is quite old but you never see because it has been extremely well maintained, unless you happen to notice the retro elevator buttons (which were cool and in pristine shape). It is the only hotel we could find in a decent price range in Banff (Hello! Tourist zone!) that included a fridge (it will freeze your food if you don't keep an eye on it). Kettles are available upon request and I saw a microwave on a carrier so that might be a possibility as well. The hotel is nicely renovated and I was pleasantly surprised by the high standards of cleanliness (because I can be picky about that), hats off to the cleaning crew, well done! The bad news: the walls (on the 1st floor at least) are paper thin, you are going to hear pretty much everything; babies crying down the hall, neighbors doing their thing, everyone's conversations. The doors have no cushion, they close very loudly (this one thing can easily be remedied with felt between the slabs and door frames, management?) so you will hear the doors slam of everyone who comes and goes from their rooms. If your window is open at night you will hear the train as well and there is no A/C that I am aware of (I don't use it anyway). Surprisingly there where no partiers in our vicinity though so we got a decent sleep. Nothing can be done about most of these things; the walls cannot be changed, babies will cry, children will play and your neighbors will have drinks and sing songs after being out and seeing all the sites. You have to decide if you can block out theses things if you stay here. I could, I sleep like the dead. My husband? Meh, he's a light sleeper. He may want something different next time. But I would stay here again for the price and am pleased with what I got for my money. Again, shout out to the amazing staff which helped make everything worth it!

The prime aspect of this hotel is the location. Other than that, it's ok rooms are little smaller and hence probably there are no pictures of the room.but if you don't mind the size probably one of the good deals.

If your room faces the mountains, it's pretty good. The internet is pretty slow but most people aren't going to Banff for the internet. There is room service and the place is clean. But the rooms are small and so is the fridge. It's fine if you are just staying to sleep. The price is low for Banff so it's worth it.

It's perfect if you don't like AC on hot summer days, and want to relive the 1990s. It showcases honey oat furniture with gray and pink sponge effect wallpaper and border (now peeling off in areas) ; the now discolored and stained burgundy carpet is probably not suitable for bare feet anymore. The shower will remove a layer of your skin while your feet will have a nice soak since the drain is super slow. You will be reminded of what big toilets look like and faucet so short that you can only was the tip of your fingers without bumping onto the back of the sink.

On top of that, our room door look would not lock and the shower had holes because the plate covering the handle was not installed correctly. I booked directly with the hotel and the CONFIRMATION DOES NOT SHOW THE PRICE. The hotel is aware of that but has not bothered fixing it.

Terrible room facing parked vehicles -parking lot, no A/C in room, run down in every way imaginable, internet did not work, not worth the $$ would highly suggest staying somewhere else!

Stayed here during peak season as COVID restrictions were lifting. This hotel was one of the more affordable places in Banff. Right by the Bow river, we had a nice view in our room. NO A/C or microwave in our room.

Rooms are very dirty, carpets in room had clearly not been vacuumed. Carpets through out are incredibly dirty and stained. Had to clean the bathroom myself before using it.

The elevator had not been cleaned in a very long time and was visibly dirty and smelled terrible. Especially during a pandemic when touch surfaces are supposed to be wiped down more often.

No air conditioning, which was not at all mentioned on the website and the balcony door had no way to lock it.

Overall it was an uncomfortable stay due to the concerns with the cleanliness of the hotel

Limited parking is a pain and the walls are thin so it can be a bit distracting. And the provided coffee is terrible and no Sportsnet or TSN on the TV. Otherwise good.

Didn’t get the room I booked and that was described online. Front desk not helpful and rude. Room was not clean either.
Booked a room with a view and got a view of a tree and a couple cars. No info given about wifi or checkout upon check in.
Please note there is no A/C in the rooms. This is not mentioned anywhere online.

Stayed here twice before and everything was ok but won’t be coming back after the last experience.

NO AC IN ROOMS.
Living in Canada for many years, and traveling a lot, missed the point in hotel description. They do not say that there is no AC, they just do not say "Ac in rooms", At list they should say "Fan in every room", this might trigger some questions. Paying over $200 per night, kind of misled me to pay attention for details. Other than that hotel is good, very good location, services and staff. Staying in hotel during heatwave is frustrating.

Right by the beautiful Bow River. I could see mountains from our room. I also saw Deer walking. Parking is hard to find if you aren’t lucky enough. Clean but small room. Smaller than what it looked like in the photos. I called them to ask about breakfast and they said if I book with them I’ll get breakfast. However later I got to know no breakfast is included which was a miscommunication. That’s why one less star. No A/C and no microwave. Friendly staff. Affordable price. I’d recommend.

Horrible desk staff the guy had no clue what to do, beds lumpy and pillows horrible old outdated screen door kept falling off door does not lock carpeting so old scared to wear bear feet shower was good fridge froze all food old room smelt no air just a bad experience be aware not worth money pay extra stay somwhere else the view nice

Very friendly staff very clean place.
Food was at their sister place which is next door food was fantastic.
Little pricey but good.
Not too many TV channels but that's no biggie when you're having fun in Banff.
I would recommend this place.

Pros:
Nice customer service
Decent price
Placed right in front of Bow River
Cons:
Room cards don’t work half the time
WIFI IS TERRIBLE, ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE
No Complimentary breakfast
No AC

Very very disappointed service in 132 bucks for one single night. Not at all worth. Because at midnight when i was in need to use the toilet there was no exhaust fan in the toilet of my hotel room. And when i called the receptionist he said we dont have exhaust fan in any room in the whole hotel. So i went outside and used the public washroom. And even that was also difficult to find. Very disappointed and i never recommend anyone for this hotel.

The best hotel in all of Banff! Good price, good staff, and a great location! Super close to walk all down Banff Ave and grab a drink with your buddies, or walk the other way and walk the trail by the beautiful bow river. All around amazing experience and would recommend to anyone looking for a place to stay in Banff. I’ve stayed multiple times and never had an issue with anything. Always super clean and very Covid safe.

My son had an appointment at the Mineral Springs hospital so I was looking for a place close by. We didn’t need anything fancy, just a decent place to rest for the night. Staff was super friendly and accommodating. Our room was a bit dated (but so am I!). Room was clean with lots of towels - I was very impressed with the cleanliness of the bathroom. Would stay here again.

Great spot to stay in Banff right by the river and all the paths. Its very close to the downtown area but far enough away that it's quiet. Parking is included in the rates. Rooms are basic but very clean. Staff were very helpful with all our requests. Great views on the river side.

My family has been going to this hotel for the last 8 years. Christmas, birthday getaways, and weekend escapes. Since Covid has hit, they have made adjustments to their sanitation practices to enhance safety measures. Their receptionist - whoever it has been - is always amazing, incredibly accommodating and unfailingly professional.
We've stayed at their sister property (Banff Park Lodge) and were tremendously disappointed. While it has a pool, the quality of the rooms is disappointing, some smelling of cigarette smoke and quite worn down. For my mother's 75th birthday I had requested a large screen tv or projector to watch a surprise Zoom session. They fell short on providing anything whatsoever.
We really appreciate the experience offered by the staff and management of the Bowview Lodge and always look forward to staying there! Need an extra towel? No problem! Need a water boiler for tea? They'll bring it for you! No request is too much. We also really enjoy meeting the international staff, and appreciate the hotel embracing such diversity in the employees they bring on board. As members of a visible minority ourselves, it's nice to be welcomed with such warmth and openness by people who enjoy meeting others from different cultures.
We look forward to our next stay!

Nice little place. Nice location. Nice view. It initially seems like the cheapest place to stay but they charge for parking and wifi. Brings the price up. Seems a little underhanded too. Still is a good deal and a nice place after all is said and done.

Chris, the manager, and the staff were very good. They were very pleasant to deal with. I have stayed here three times now and I have recommended displace to my friends. My recent visit during the second week of March, 2021 was very good. I would like to give a special shout-out to Chris. When I visit Banff during the colder months I will always stay here. Thank you for making my stay good.

Stay away. No staff beside the manager knew what they were doing. We were expecting a mounting view room for our anniversary and we got to see the hotel next door. The bed was way to hard and we froze. We cranked the heat when we got in at 430 and went to dinner. Came back my partner put on her snow pants to warm up. We were brought blankets and nothing else. Next morning woke up cold again. Remote to the TV didn't work. All of this in both rooms we reserved. Only good thing was the hot water and pressure in the shower.