Glacier View Lodge

Unique location and beautiful rooms. We couldn't get a glacier view room but there's a sitting area in the lobby with floor to ceiling windows so we spent a lot of time there. We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of food in the restaurant too, it was extremely good... and the tables have great views of the glaciers. All of the staff we encountered were friendly and helpful.

The Glacier View Lodge does exactly what it says on the tin - you can see the glacier (several actually) from the window! The location simply cannot be beat. The Columbia Icefield Discovery center is on the first floor so guests are right there for tours up to the glacier or the Skywalk. I recommend getting the Pursuit package with the room, which means you'll be on a glacier / skywalk bus for hotel guests only, which makes for a better experience than fighting the day-visitor crowds.||Rooms were nice, clean, and comfortable. Staff at every point were friendly and helpful. The servers in Altitude restaurant were especially good - very interactive and happy to talk about the area, give hike suggestions etc. Food in the restaurant was excellent, which was a pleasant surprise given the relatively remote location.||I would absolutely stay here again, and 100% recommend. Great service and a spectacular location!

It’s not very often I leave a bad review, but here it goes. While the hotel itself is in a spectacular location, the views from rooms are not as advertised. We stayed in a Mountain View room with the description “Enjoy spectacular views of the Rocky Mountains”. You can imagine our surprise when we walked into our room to see the view attached. Straight onto the hill behind the hotel complete with bird’s eye view of the grease pit. Getting into the hotel was also a challenge- parking in the hotel requires a PIN code, which you don’t get until you check in (apparently this was meant to be emailed with the booking but was not) There is a phone number to call at the gate, which is a long way from the hotel, but it’s not much good for international travelers with limited mobile access. Fortunately the driver of the tour bus stuck behind us was able to let us in. Rooms are modern and clean, but have a few issues. As other reviewers have pointed out the temperature controls are set by the hotel and can’t be adjusted from the room. Noise is also a problem - we were perhaps in worst room in the hotel right next to the ice machine, lobby and elevator. We were woken throughout the night. If you must stay here, get a glacier view room and insist on being away from the lobby. The mountain view rooms are a waste of money.

We stayed here two nights in July. We purchased the package and followed its schedule (welcome reception, skywalk, then dinner and Icefields next morning). This was very convenient. The rooms are fresh, new & well appointed. While we really liked breakfast at the Altitude, only one of us liked their dinner and so on the second night we drove up to Sunwapta Falls and had our second dinner there. The hotel is conveniently located in the center of the parkway and is easy to explore from there.

Glacier View Lodge offers a view of the glacier, but that’s about where the perks end. Despite the steep price, there are no real amenities to speak of. Oddly, towels aren’t available until after 8 PM, and the place is quite noisy. The restaurant is just okay, but you can find far better options for the same or even less cost. Other hotels in the area offer more value, better amenities, and a more helpful staff. I recommend looking elsewhere for a more enjoyable stay.

Our booking was cancelled by the hotel but they did not inform us at all. So found out when trying to check in. We had booked Glacier view room and had confirmation of the booking. We were offered a room on the other side when they couldn't find the booking and while we were processing what they just told us, that room got booked and there were no more rooms left. (They didn't inform us the last room was being booked while we were still there at the desk trying to find out what had gone wrong). So the only option was to go to Banff and book a hotel there. Staff did offer to help book a hotel in Banff but it took a long time for them to reach people in their own hotels in Banff and there were not many affordable options left there, so we booked a room ourselves. We had also booked the Glacier tour and Skywalk(Glacier tour next morning and Skywalk after the welcoming coctail thing) and got offered that for free at 14.15 hour but since we now had to go to Banff it did not fit our schedule. At first the staff made it look like we canceled ourselves and ony admitted canceling was done from their side after we told them we did not cancel and had in fact had contact with the hotel June 19th and also had confirmation of our stay in that email. No excuses were given, we were lucky we arrived early because if we had learned this at check in time at 16.00 it would be a lot harder to find a stay for the night and we would have arrived in Banff very late. So if you mde reservations please check with the hotel if they didn't cancel before you go there. Apparently it is normal to cancel a booking and not send an email or call to let guests know before they arrive so they can adjust travel schedule in time. Very bad customer service for an expensive hotel.

I have to admit that when we first walked in to the centre we had low expectations. Nothing could be further from the truth. We were greeted at reception by the most wonderful people. Happy hour was amazing and our room was spacious and clean. We had an issue with our tickets to the glacier which was quickly sorted out. Dinner at Altitude was lovely except for the kids running around screaming. I feel this should be addressed by staff. The best part of this hotel is the staff. Nothing is too much trouble and you really are made to feel special. Shout out to the check in team and to the tour staff. Thank you for a lovely stay.

This was a really cool little hotel. I did not realize that it was in the same building as the discovery center. I wish that were not the case, but they did a nice job with what they had to work with. The service was pleasant and helpful. The views were amazing. The rooms were comfortable. Would definitely recommend. Just avoid the Altitude Restaurant. Would be cool if they had a little bar or drink offerings for the hotel guests to purchase and sit around in the lounge area with the awesome view. Seems like this would be an easy fix.

We really enjoyed our stay here and greatly appreciated the private tour of the Sky Walk and Glacier which they provided for guests only. That made life much easier and we avoided the crowds. The beds were great and the rooms were nicely appointed. A very special treat at a fair price.