IanA63
Google
This was our first experience of the Fairmont Gold experience. We booked a particular room, a suite, with ‘Club Lounge’ which meant ‘Gold’ in the Fairmont world. ||The Gold experience entitles you to a separate check-in/out on the ‘Gold’ floor, access to the Lounge each day and particular rooms that are labelled ‘Fairmont Gold’ which are spread throughout the hotel. ||Our room, a suite, had a lounge area, but not a separate room. It provided a food space for us to spread out and relax. However, our room was very dark, even though it had 2 windows, so we didn’t spend much time in it, choosing to base ourselves in the well lit top floor ‘Lounge’.||The Lounge was well spread out and felt roomy but in fact was often ‘full’ of seated guests. The breakfast options were good and plentiful enabling a full breakfast experience. The savoury items through the day were limited, think nobles and choc chip cookies. The canapés were just that. Yes, if you are a lot of the canapés you wouldn’t need dinner but, unlike, the Lounge in Vancouver ‘Castle in the Sky’, wasn’t a meal, so to speak. Similarly, the desserts were limited but very tasty. ||What was especially appealing about the Gold experience was the attentiveness of the staff. They were warm and friendly, making a point of catching your eye to greet you and check on you. Further, the maid service noted your interests and treated you where possible. So, for example, they noted my journal and left me a bookmark one day. A lovely touch demonstrating an eagerness to delight. I so appreciated the gesture. ||The room was well priced. This was the second of 3 Fairmont stays during our trip and it was by far the least expensive whilst providing us with a very -positive experience. ||Two things we found strange was that all alcohol consumed in the Lounge was charged to your room via an honour system of filling in a form. We’re not used to that in Australia as our Club Lounges include alcohol. Further, we weren’t able to have breakfast in the our room or in the Hawthorn restaurant without paying for them. Sometimes it’s nice to be waited upon when paying for a quality hotel experience. ||The hotel is lovely. Brilliantly positioned in the heart of Calgary and in a magnificent old building, the foyer being especially spectacular. ||We’d have no hesitation in recommending the Palliser and if we returned to Calgary would likely stay in the hotel.