The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel is world-renowned as the luxury Castle in the Rockies. With a level of luxury unsurpassed in Banff National Park, the Banff Springs Hotel is rightfully one of the most expensive hotels in Banff. This Banff Springs Hotel review focuses on our stay in a Fairmont Room, the most affordable room in the hotel.
It’s true that a luxury hotel the caliber of the Fairmont Banff Springs attracts some guests who don’t need to consider the cost. But there are many regular folks (like us!) who would love to stay at the Fairmont, but are wondering is the Banff Springs is worth it vs. other Banff hotels. (If you are curious, you can see where we ranked it on our lists of the best hotels in Banff and the best luxury hotels in Banff).
As you glance at the Banff Springs Hotel room rates, you may be wondering what a stay in a Fairmont Room would be like. We have been fortunate enough to stay at the Castle in the Rockies several times, and we are eager to share our experiences with you in this honest Banff Springs Hotel review.
Every effort has been made to ensure the information below is accurate, but please confirm your details when you book your stay at the Fairmont Banff Springs. This post contains compensated links.
Why We Chose the Cheapest Room at the Banff Springs Hotel
The Fairmont Room series is the most affordable type of room at the Banff Springs Hotel. Scattered throughout the 5-star resort, a Fairmont Room is a wonderful place to stay on your trip to Banff.
Every guest at the Fairmont Banff Springs is treated with the highest standard of service, regardless of the room category you are in. To us, staying in a Fairmont Room at the Banff Springs Hotel is an excellent idea, as you win both ways: you still enjoy staying in a luxury Banff hotel room, plus you get to enjoy all the same public areas of the hotel as the higher-paying guests.
Who This Banff Springs Review Is For
Most visitors come to Banff for the Rocky Mountain scenery and the chance to be outside. If you plan to spend your days hiking, skiing, or sightseeing, you will not be in your room very much. In that case, paying for a premium room with a big view may not be as important as simply staying in a comfortable, well-located room inside the castle.
A stay in a Banff Springs Hotel Fairmont Room is the perfect solution for a visitor who wishes to stay at the best hotel in Banff, without spending a ton of money.
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Room Size, Layout and View
What Kind of View Do You Get?
The primary reason a Fairmont Room is the most affordable room at the Banff Springs Hotel is the lack of a view. Many of the more expensive rooms at the Fairmont provide guests with a million-dollar view of Banff National Park and the peaks of the Canadian Rockies.
The views from a Banff Springs Hotel Fairmont Room are often limited and may be of the forest, hotel grounds or other parts of the hotel.
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How Big is a Fairmont Room?
The Fairmont Room is listed at 220 square feet, which makes it one of the smallest room types at the Banff Springs Hotel. What does 220 square feet feel like?
In practice, some rooms feel a bit larger than this official number. It’s small, for sure, but it feels like a normal European-sized hotel room. The Fairmont Rooms are definitely one of the smallest hotel rooms in all of Banff, but it’s still big enough for a king-sized bed or two double beds.
In a Banff Springs Hotel Fairmont Room with a king-sized bed, there’s roughly four to seven feet of space between the edges of the bed and the walls. We’ve stayed in plenty of smaller hotel rooms around the world, so by comparison, we felt the Fairmont Room was more spacious than we’d expected.
It should also be noted that although the Fairmont website lists the Fairmont Room as 220 square feet, this may be the minimum size and your hotel room may actually be bigger. The Fairmont King Room we stayed in measured roughly 15’ x 16’, measuring 240 square feet (plus hallway and bathroom).
Inside the Fairmont Room
Bed and Decor
Fairmont Rooms at the Banff Springs Hotel come in four different bed arrangements: King, Queen, Twin or two double beds.
We stayed in a Fairmont King Room at the Banff Springs Hotel. The king-sized bed mattress measured 78” x 72” (198 cm x 183 cm) and had a very tall fabric headboard. The mattress was firm, yet soft and provided a very comfortable night’s sleep. The king-sized bed also had 4 pillows.
In addition to the king-sized bed in our Banff Springs Hotel Fairmont Room, there was a small desk with a chair and lamp, a sitting chair, two bedside night stands (each with two drawers), three lamps and a hutch with a flat screen tv on it.
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In-Room Beverages
Guests who stay in a Banff Springs Hotel Fairmont Room have a decent selection of complimentary hot beverages:
Each room has a hot-water kettle and 7 different flavors of tea from Lot 35 including Imperial Breakfast, Egyptian Camomile, Decaffeinated English Breakfast, Kyushu Japan Sencha, Creamy Earl Grey and Flora’s Berry Garden.
In addition, you’ll have a Keurig coffee maker with 3 Colombian medium roast pods and 3 Colombian decaf medium roast pods.
- There are two creamers in the otherwise empty mini-fridge.
- Packets of white sugar, raw sugar and sweetener.
- 2 coffee cups.
Amenities and Bathroom Details
- A window that opens for fresh Banff National Park air.
- 6 easily accessible and available power outlets.
- A spacious closet with real, removable hangers.
- A full-length mirror on back of the hotel room door.
- Three glasses for the filtered, never-bottled local Banff tap water.
- An extra-large bathroom mirror.
- An ironing board and iron.
- Two folding suitcase racks.
- Two Fairmont bathrobes.
- Two pairs of Fairmont slippers.
- Blackout blinds.
- In-room safe.
- A Fairmont pen and pad of paper.
- Personalized climate control.
- A telephone with voicemail.
- A nearly silent quartz bedside clock.
- Two shower caps.
- A shoe mitten (handy for cleaning dress shoes).
- A hair dryer.
- An in-bathroom makeup mirror.
- Shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, body lotion and 2 body bars from Rose 31.
- Cotton swabs and cotton balls.
- 2-ply toilet paper.
- 2-ply Kleenex.
- Shower and bathtub.
- Towels and washcloths.
- An ice bucket and ice tongs.
- A bottle opener.
TV and Tech Options
Our Fairmont King room had a 42” LG flat-screen TV. Viewing choices include:
- On-demand still-in-theatre movies, normal movies, fitness videos and karaoke playlists.
- Approximately 55 regular TV channels.
- Information about the Banff Springs Hotel.
- Request Hotel Services such as housekeeping, luggage storage, a new pillow and refills on room supplies.
- The ALL Be Well channel, with free on-demand fitness and yoga videos.
- Hotel account review (to look at your current hotel bill).
- Wake-up call, weather forecast.
- A variety of music channels (paid service).
Read More
Are you visiting Banff with your furry friend? You may be surprised to know that the Banff Springs Hotel is one of the best pet-friendly hotels in Banff!
What the Resort Experience Fee Really Includes
The Banff Springs Hotel has a long list of amenities and activities included with every stay at the Castle in the Rockies. As of 2025, every Banff Springs hotel room is charged a Resort Experience Fee of $60 CAD plus tax per night. The hotel values the included activities and services at over $200 CAD per room, per day
The Resort Experience Fee bundles activities and services such as guided tours, outdoor equipment use, daily fitness classes, access to digital newspapers and magazines, Roam public transit passes, and seasonal programs. Specific offerings can change, so always confirm what is included for your dates.
Here is an idea of what registered guests will enjoy:
- Free Wi-Fi in-room and throughout the resort.
- Kids will receive a welcome gift (one of the many reasons the Banff Springs is one of the top kid-friendly hotels in Banff).
- Complimentary 1 hour bike rental.
- Guided wilderness walks, bike tours and hikes.
- Read newspapers and magazines from around the world with PressReader.
- Outdoor fitness classes.
- Discounted hotel shuttle to Lake Louise (twice daily in summer).
- Outdoor equipment rentals (hiking poles, ice cleats, etc.).
- Ski, golf club & bike storage.
- Self-guided scavenger hunts.
- Discover local biking & hiking routes with the RunGo app.
- Take-away craft kits.
- Virtual bingo, trivia and paint nights.
- Tickets for the Roam local transit bus (making it a transit-friendly Banff hotel).
Fairmont values these activities and services at over $200. It’s another fine example of the least expensive room at the Banff Springs Hotel enjoying the same luxury amenities as those who rent the more expensive rooms at the Fairmont.
Fairmont Mountain View Room vs Standard Fairmont Room
Upon check-in at the Banff Springs Hotel, we were offered a complimentary upgrade to a Deluxe King room (which is typically $100+ extra). The hotel staff had no idea we run the Travel Banff Canada website, nor are we top-tier Accor loyalty members. We were just ordinary guests, who got offered an upgrade.
We turned the complimentary upgrade down so we could focus on writing this review for you about the cheapest room at the Banff Springs Hotel. She then offered us an upgrade to a Fairmont King Mountain View room.
We only accepted the upgrade after she confirmed the Fairmont Mountain View Rooms are essentially the same size and layout as Fairmont Rooms, but face the surrounding mountains instead of internal or forest views.
The Fairmont Mountain View rooms only cost a little more than a Fairmont Room per night. This is a small price to pay when you are visiting a place as magnificent as Banff National Park.
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How to Get a Deal at the Fairmont Banff Springs
A stay at the Banff Springs Hotel is a big part of your Banff travel budget. Be sure to learn how to get a deal at the Banff Springs Hotel before you book your room.
Alberta Residents Rate
As locals, we enjoyed a 30% discount on our hotel room with the Banff Springs Hotel Alberta residents discount.
Other Fairmont Offers Worth Checking
If you are not from Alberta, you may be interested to know that Fairmont always has a series of special offers for the Banff Springs Hotel. The deals change all the time, but typical examples are a seniors’ discount, CAA/AAA member discount, golf packages, skiing packages, and much more.
Is the Fairmont Room Worth It? Our Verdict
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in a Fairmont Room in the Banff Springs Hotel. We enjoyed the many luxurious amenities available to us, often forgetting we were staying in the cheapest hotel room in the Banff Springs Hotel.
If you are looking for a wonderful hotel room in a Banff luxury hotel, without spending a fortune, a stay in a Fairmont Room at the Banff Springs Hotel is perfect for you.
We hope you enjoyed our review of the Banff Springs Hotel Fairmont Room. You won’t ever forget your stay at the Castle in the Rockies!
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Dan Brewer, a life-long Alberta resident, calls Canmore home along with his wife and two kids. He is the co-owner of Travel Banff Canada, where he gets to share his passion for the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Dan, along with his family, love being outdoors doing one of the many activities they enjoy in the mountains: hiking, mountain biking, paddleboarding, skiing, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.
When he's not in Canmore enjoying one of his favourite local hikes, you can find him hoping on a plane to explore a new country with his family or working on one of their other two travel sites: Family Can Travel and Baby Can Travel.