The Banff Centre, AB Review

Normally a good place to stay. However, prices for accommodation on Sunday 17 March 2019 are around $40 more than normal. The 17 is the only day this higher price exists, any other day (weekend or not) around this date is regular price (which is competitive for Banff). Called reservation number and got no help at all. The only excuse being "marketing sets the prices" so no real explanation apart from them ripping off potential customers for just 1 night in the middle of winter

I was there for a conference. The place is good for a occasion like a conference. There is a library which you can spend the time and get some work done. There you can find lots of rooms to place separate events simultaneously. The place has a great view. Specially the dining area.

Absolutely breath taking view. Gorgeous. Banff is so beautiful.

Incredible! The staff, the facilities, the food, the accommodations, the concerts, the art... absolutely incredible!

Superb location, great staff and facilities. Our professional organization held a 5-day conference here in mid-November, and it was great. Excellent meeting rooms, good food, and of course the Canadian Rockies are spectacular. The Tunnel Mountain home is just a short walk up the road from the center, and the views from the top are some of the best in the park.

I have used the fitness facility with my family while visiting Banff. The facility has a great pool and rock climbing wall.

I m very impressed with the staff in the fitness portion of the Centre. They are friendly and very helpful. Great Job! Its nice to deal with people who enjoy what they are doing.

Facility is also very clean.

LOVED IT !! It is very nice !! Beautiful !!! Awesome and pretty bartender who served me the best drink I ever had ! DELICIOUS Food at the Three Ravens !! Everything was perfect !! I would love to spend an other week over therexxx

This is a fantastic place for many reasons. They have a beautiful view being so high up on the mountain and a few restaurants that overlook more beauty! They have or at least had great programs in place for basically co-op students that provided very good hands-on learning experiences. Everyone in the film and media department that was there from 2013 is awesome!! Also deer everywhere always :)

Great accommodations during the day. However two nights in a row there was excessive noise at midnight and 2 a.m.
I would not recommend this site if you plan on sleeping.
The free parkade is not well maintained and resulted in a punctured flat tire.

Have returned many time since 1947, and enjoy the quaint little town. The ten has grown to be a wonderful place to go and spend time enjoying the whole country beauty.

Worse stay ever at this hotel.

Customer service is horrendous, staff is rude and rooms are untidy and not regularly cleaned and changed.

The ONLY good thing about this place is the GYM and climbing wall.

Otherwise i would NEVER stay here nor recommend my worse enemy to even.

Amazing complex! Few restaurants to choose from, breathtaking views from rooms.

Stayed here for a week (Sunday to Friday) for a work conference and training. We had originally been booked into the Delta hotels Banff, so coming here was not what was expected. However, from the outside, while looking rustic and maybe dated, was very clean and well kept. They did however lose my reservation though I am unclear on who's fault, I was setup with a room of my own.

The rooms are very nice, those on the west side with the best view of the mountains, others look at the other wings (myself included). Rooms are cleaned daily, and have all of the essential amenities. The campus itself has been recently revitalized (I believe) and looks very modern, which clean roads and paths leading to all buildings.

Overall, very good - the distance to certain other spaces and the lost reservation are the only downfalls.

Wonderful staff and great facility for dorms and meals.

A truly exceptional experience. Go to Banff and work alongside other creative 'greats'. Truly inspiring!

Great place to stay in Banff. The buffet, though pricey, is quite good and healthy with lots of options for those with food restrictions. I had a great time staying here; the views can't be beat and the recreational facilities were outstanding.

The hotel itself is nice and very modern. I like the style with wood and large windows.

Nevertheless, the service and especially cleaning service is horrible. They either forget your room to clean out do just half of the cleaning. Only after speaking to the GM the service improved. Still, for my colleagues nothing changed. From this point of view the hotel was easy to expensive and unprofessionally managed.

This gym is around $ 150 for 3 months including pool, climbing gym and training room.
In Japan, it costs 15,000 yen a month.

Stayed here for almost a week during a conference this summer. We stayed on the second level of the Professional Development building and our rooms were fantastic - lots of space, comfortable bedding, accessible electrical outlets. The food at the breakfast and dinner buffet was outstanding, as we the meals we had in the McLab Bistro (the bistro also takes care of the room service). All the facilities & rooms for the conference were wonderful and the staff was very helpful.

Very lousy hotel. The room is filthy. The carpet is full of dust. The front desk lady kept yawning when she helped me to check in (at around 10 am). When I tried to ask her a question, she impatiently interrupted me and said "I don't know".

An amazing facility and wonderful arts programs! Love it! Though the employee "lois" is QUITE rude

Amazing place, amazing music art and atmosphere. Check out a concert if you are in the area - you will not be disappointed

Best place to be if you are looking for inspiration and ideas. Located in the midst of mountains, this place is perfect for forgetting all the worries of personal life and indulge in things that you love and get motivated to do more.

The Banff Centre is a lovely campus venue with breathtaking scenery, and I can imagine it being full of inspiration when surrounded by other creatives. I was here for a professional conference though, and the centre's layout made it more difficult to network with new colleagues than at other venues. My accommodation in Lloyd Hall was nice - typical dormitory style; however the building was under construction so I can't give an honest review until that work is complete.
Directional Signage around the centre was a little confusing, and I got turned around several times looking for where to check in, and park. I would have been completely lost without a map. Regardless of these points, now that I have been there, and know my way around, I would jump at the chance to return with my paint brushes and surround myself with the splendour of the mountains.

Great for activities or to stay in the hotel. The Banff Film Festival is taking place here once in a while and its worth to see.

We stayed in the Professional Development Centre for a week in late September. The room was comfortable and plenty of room for a family of four. With no air conditioning I don't know if I would choose it in the heat of the summer. Staying here gives you access to the Athletic Centre's pool and climbing wall which our kids loved. The staff were great. While no meals were included, the Maclab Bistro was great for a late evening snack and the local restaurants were incredible. You are a little out of town here, but it is so peaceful at night I would definitely recommend it.

Maclab Bistro overlooks a beautiful Banff Mountain life. Very nice setting, very good breakfast with good value for money knowing that we are in Banff. I highly recommend being bistro.

The staff were very helpful and friendly. The place is quite big and it has amazing views everywhere you look. We didn't book our room ourselves, it was booked through someone else and so we didn't have a chance to choose the room. We stayed at the Lloyd Hall building and it wasn't a good experience. The room was tiny, there was no bath tub, the room felt cold but when I turned the heating on it was too much when we were under the bed covers. So room temperature was kind of weird. Nothing compared to the room in the main building.
I would avoid staying at the Lloyd Hall building if I have chance.

I have just seen your youtube video with the very skinny older man who was almost naked and on all fours. A Asian man than opens up his back and plays a key board which causes the old man to make weird noises. What ugly nonsense. It is discouraging to witness people influencing society to become dark and stupider. All that beauty around Banff and that commercial is suppose to be creative? Yuck.

Great place to have a choral retreat. Great facility. Great service and fabulous location. Loved it.

Rooms are to expensive for how they look, staff is great, but room service didnt clean room our room very well. Sorry we are just not happy.

Great location with awesome rooms - very comfortable beds!!! The restaurant (maclab)onsite is awesome too. They also have a pool and fitness centre!

Great place to hold big conferences. Facilities very well designed as innovation center. People managing the place are really friendly.

A truly amazing and breath taking facility. As this facility is the intersection of a convention centre, resort, and Arts school it provides a unique experience.

As a hotel, our rooms were clean, staff were friendly and professional, and given that you are in the heart of the mountains: reasonably priced. (did I mention the full length pool).
As an arts school, there were local artists in their permanent collection, and the current exhibit showed environmental stewardship, combined with challenging, and interesting visuals.
As a convention centre, our group event went off without a hitch, the food/turkey was great, staff were on top of the service, and the event room was an appropriate size for a large gathering, combined with an amazing view: the venue was top notch.

The Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity provides a unique and unparalleled experience.

Came here for a conference. Very nice view. It is very high compared to other places as well so be prepared for a real hike if you stay at other hotels in the area.

The staff and fitness facilities are a great plus but the rooms have Terrible soundproofing so depending on who your neighbours are it can be quite disruptive (professional center)

The centre is amazing and the music created there sounds wonderful, workout rooms are also awesome

Great dining, ok rooms with flimsy racks ready to collapse. Great pool, gym, climbing wall, wonderful vistas.

My god what a place. I've known it for over 20 years but finally got to stay there. A more beautiful setting I can't imagine. Away from the hustle and bustle of Banff (but not too far away) into this beautiful amazingly beautifully designed sanctuary with a vibe as inspirational as the surrounding wow mountains.

There are so many beautiful places to stay in Banff that you cannot really go wrong. This place is no different. It has beautiful views and the people here are pretty exceptional. One of our biggest annoyances though is that THERE IS NO PARKING available anywhere. It was so difficult to find a parking spot, we had to park a few ways from anywhere near our conference and the road did not feel safe because cars blocking both sides only allowed room for one lane and put us quite close to the traffic. We were constantly late and ruined our shoes :( Thats not their fault of course, but shopping for shoes in the Bow Valley is NOT an easy task. And you need a good pair of shoes because this campus has a lot of outdoor trails (uphill, and the buildings are pretty far apart) and it is SO DIFFICULT to find your way around.

We tried out a few of their restaurants and Vistas was our favorite by far. They had a few different themes each day and the food was OUTSTANDING. Le Cafe has a few made-to-order sandwiches with very generous portions but there was not much variety and they weren't our favorite. MacLab had tasty food, we tried their chicken tenders and burgers and enjoyed them. However, ALL were quite expensive. It is better to just head to town to eat, there are so many more options for less money (and more parking!).

Whats really cool about this place is that there is a wonderful library and a very cool gym. The library was free but the gym (and pool) was an additional cost. I am rating this so low because the higher than average cost of everything and the limited parking left a pretty bad taste in our mouths.

We wanted to go home but then they did an encore for 15 minutes

Best conference destination. If you ever have the chance to attend/stay here, go for it! Facilities are world class, and it s smack in the middle of nature. It s a 5min walk from the town centre and city buses are nearby too. If you have the time, highly recommend doing the Banff gondola. You ll be able to see Banff centre from the top :)

A herd of elk comes to rest on campus at nights, so that s pretty cool. It was a really enjoyable stay for us

such a great place in the rockies, provide great services to visitors and residents of banff at reasonable prices.

Our stay here was not too bad. However, they did not provide bottled water at the rooms. Most hotels provides you with a complimentary bottle. In the morning, we were awaken by a very loud noise. I think someone was sweeping the snow off the side walk. Since its a hotel business, I suggest investing in something quieter so guest could sleep quietly.

Our Christmas Party dinner was not that great. The service was lacking. The buffet kept running out of food, coffee was not being served, there was not enough plates, and we were missing a whole table, so some of my colleagues had to eat standing up. Not cool at all.

This rating is for the hotel. We were in room 213. Do not stay in this room. It's right near the front doors where people unload their luggage. It's very noisy day and night. Unfortunately you have to have the window open in the summer as there is no air conditioning. Fans are provided in the room. The room itself is spacious and beds are comfortable. There is a fridge and coffee maker is the room. For some reason there is no luggage rack so have fun with your suitcase on the floor. The front desk staff was helpful. I realize it's an arts centre but you still run a hotel business. It's conveniently located in Banff and there is a large free parking lot.

This place is a educational institution subsidized by the government. Lots of conference rooms and food options on site. But the hotel rooms they offer need an update.

Banff Centre has modern and comfortable accommodations for hotel-goers, an amazing buffet breakfast with breathtaking views of the mountains, free access to a gym/pool and all at a reasonable cost. My husband and I stay here every time we visit Banff.

Beautiful setting, excellent accommodation, friendly quality service, excellent meeting services. Can't be beat.

This is more for their website and contact system more for the facility itself. First off, the website. Like most educational sites, the homepage predominantly displays promotions, press releases and alumni in the news rather then a program and staff directory. (A program list is shoved off to the left and is categorized by discipline). The site is difficult to navigate, and if you want to find a program you want to register for, you're better off typing "banff arts centre [program name]" in Google to find the program you want to register for.

If you want to contact some one, there is only one place you can contact- The Office of the Registrar. The lady or man who answers will politely state his or her occupation, and will regularly not know the answers to your questions since it will be mostly about their programs (stuff reserved for the program heads). They will try to direct your calls to the office of the program head, but they will never be there. Personally, I have no care for their state of business or influence, this is unprofessional and more secretaries and fill-ins are needed.

About the arts center in question, I visited it and it's not so bad. There are lovely views of the mountains and the place seems well-maintained (Keyword "seems"). A disadvantage would be that it is completely accessible only by car, unless you want to walk, bike or skateboard along side cars on roads that have little clearance. It is also farther from the main centre of town then it looks. I also noticed lots of First Nations people around. I'll let you be the judge on if that is a bad thing or not (some Natives can be a troubled bunch).

The BEST Conference facility in Canada. Period.

Been coming to the Banff Centre for Conferences for 18 years and it is simply the finest gathering place in Canada for groups - period.

THIS year however I was blown away by the Lloyd Hall renovation! Small rooms but highly contemporary wood themed design. New washroom too, stand up shower with a rain shower head!! I was in heaven all week falling asleep and waking up to a huge window at the foot of the bed. And there are gathering areas on the third and first floor, also bright contemporary spaces.

Here s another bonus - Lloyd Hall used to be dingy/studenty type lodging so no one stayed there - NOW with the reno it s also attached to the Vistas Dining room AND the Sally Borden building underground so you can walk over in Gym/Swimming gear!

If you are a meeting planner or new to the Centre the Kinnear Building is an outstanding place for meetings and conferences.

MacLab Bistro is THE place to have a glass of wine and enjoy a view like none other.

Vistas Dining room is no cafeteria! Each day brings new creative delights of local and healthy but delicious and delectable food. You will need to hike and swim each day :)

The Sally Borden building has a full gym, massive swimming pool with hot tub and steam rooms as well as a full climbing room and daily yoga.

Lastly, you can t visit without being greeted by the gracious Jim Olver. A king of a man he is the living embodiment of the Banff Centre and the master of hospitality. Seriously, take his number and text him any time.

I m part of a professional business community ( called CAGP ) who have been coming to the Banff Centre for 29 years and our thousands of members think of it as a second home now.

Always improving, consistently memorable, affordable and unforgettable.

It is a support center for talented artists and creative people. It has a place for six months, and a housing and support program. The surrounding landscape is excellent