Over-rated motel that bills itself as a luxury hotel
Written: Dec 01 '00 (Updated Dec 13 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: beautiful background of mountains, lakes, wildlife
Cons: Expensive and over-priced, many facilities are extra
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| maceyr's Full Review: The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge |
Jasper park lodge, as beautiful as it seems from the outside, is nothing more than an expensive motel with facilities usually associated with high class, luxury hotels. It is set against the backdrop of the Whistler mountains of the Canadian Rockies and overlooking the serene looking Lac Beauvert, minutes from the town of Jasper, 17 km (11 miles) or 20 minutes from Marmot Ski Basin. Although transportation to Jasper and Marmot Basin is provided at set schedules, it isn't free.
The Jasper Park Lodge is part of the Canadian Pacific (now also part of the Fairmont) chain of luxury hotels but from what I've seen, luxury was far from it with regards to the rooms, which they call "cabins" but, with a few exceptions, are really "rooms". They have a total of 446 rooms divided over several classes of wooden lodge cabins (usually in groups of rows), with the lowest costing over C$149 during off peak season, and up. There are many classes of rooms and cabins and prices vary depending on the view, location and size of the cabins. There are some non-smoking rooms and accessible rooms.
The cheapest rooms are located near the main hotel building, just steps away from the open parking lot. Each room has the usual cable TV with pay per view movies, AM/FM radio alarm clocks, telephone with voice mail and data ports for computers, minibar, hair dryer, coffee maker, free morning paper delivered daily, ceiling or electric fan, deadbolt locks, iron and ironing and ironing board. They provide little or no view of the nearby lakes as higher priced cabins block the views. The rooms are extremely small, narrow and rectangular with very little space to move around in. For the price paid, I was quite surprised to be placed in a room smaller than most low priced motels. With the squeezing in of two double beds, a night table, TV, table and chair, I had hardly any space to move around at all. And, don't forget about the bathroom too. So, with everything, the room is pretty much "filled" with just a small passage way from the front to the back door. One nice little thing is that there is a small area with chairs outside at the back of the cabin that you can sit and take in the fresh air. Although the cabins are considered "authentic" log cabins, a look at the inside proved otherwise. It looked just like another cheap budget motel room.
Although I haven't stayed in higher priced cabins (and pay through my teeth), a stroll around the lodge showed various cabins that are either individual or duplex cabins with a spacious living room, fireplace, private parking outside the cabins, balcony or terrace, with or without jacuzzi, among other special benefits.
What the rooms or cabins lacked, the main lodge tries to compensate, but at a price. The lodge has four main restaurants, one night pub, three lounges, 4 outside tennis pools, a children's playground, an exercise pool, a heated outdoor pool, health spa which has a weight room with exercise equipment, sauna, whirlpool, shuffleboard, pool table and table tennis, 18 hole golf course, etc. Many of the facilities require a membership so don't be fooled into thinking that you are entitled to many of the lodge's facilities. The lodge offers and arranges other activities, tours and packages such as horseback riding, rafting, sleigh rides, sightseeing tours to the Columbia Glacier Icefields, Jasper and Maligne Lake, hiking tours, boat and bicycle rentals, ice skating on Lac Beauvert, canoeing, etc., also at a fee. You learn quickly that literally everything comes at a fee.
Stepping inside the main lodge from the front doors, you see the lobby with the front desk on your left. Facing you at the end of the lobby is the breathtaking Lac Beauvert. You can choose to step outside and stroll along the perimeters of the lake. There is a set of stairs leading down to the Beauvert Shopping Promenade. Of to the right, directly across from the front desk, is the Emerald Lounge. It provides sandwiches, burgers and lunches as well as alcoholic beverages for a casual sit down. It was there that I tried a Buffalo burger. I found the meat to have much more of a taste than beef and tougher. Separating the lounge from the rest of the main lodge and the sitting area is the Main Fireplace. It is a good sized, wood-burning stone fire place. While sitting at the lounge, you can enjoy the warmth of the heat, watch the burning logs spark and just relax. It's a great place to relax after a long day of skiing or hiking.
Back from the front of the lodge, if you turn right and continue down the corridor, you pass by a conference reception desk, and reach the Great Hall, which is a sitting area with interesting, distinctive, chairs made of branches. I can't really explain the different types of the chairs except that they almost look like they were just made by tying up branches together. Oh well. If you continue on down the corridors off to your right, you will be lead to the various conference rooms that the lodge provides. Obviously, that's where the lodge gets most of its businesses from. On the left is the Beavert Dining Room, offering buffet breakfast and a la carte dinner menu. There is a restaurant called Moose Nook that is only opened during summer for dinner.
If you go back to the front of the lodge and descend down the stairs to the Beauvert Shopping Promenade, you will discover a shopping area with small, retail, souvenir shops and some smaller meeting rooms. At the bottom of the stairs is an expensive golf shop with golf accessories, shirts, etc and a shop that sets up local tours. Turning left, I pass by more shops, a newsstand, and the Recreation Area and Health Club. If I continue on either to the corridor on the right or the corridor ahead, I will eventually reach the Tent City bar & nightclub, the Meadows Cafe, the Palisade lounge and the distinguished dining of the Edith Cavell Dining Room as the corridors are all linked like a triangle. There is an exit to the outside looking over the Lac Beauvert. There is a foot trail that leads goes along part of the lake but turns back towards the hotel via the back of the lodge. Along the trail, don't be surprised to notice wild animals such as Elks, squirrels, etc. Sometimes during Elk mating season, the lodge may close the trail off for obvious hazardous reasons as Elks may be aggressive and charge unexpectedly.
I did not spend any time on the golf course or at any of the other facilities of the lodge and thus can not comment on them.
The Jasper Park Lodge, in my opinion is an over-rated, expensive motel-type accommodation that is not worth the money spent. I would not recommend staying there due to the cramped quarters, the lack of facilities that are available without membership and also for the fact that everything comes at a price. Although the lure of waking up early in the morning and catching Elks graising just outside your cabin can be tempting as a factor to stay there, I can't justify the room's exorbitant price. The lodge can be very relaxing to stroll around with the trails and beautiful scenery of its surrouding but I would suggest staying at an inn in downtown Jasper or better yet, at the much cheaper accommodations in the nearby town of Hinton (pop. 10,000), just short of an hour away and taking your stroll as a visitor. Accomodations in Hinton that's cheaper and better include the Holiday Inn, Best Western (although it's small). There are other accomodations close to Jasper such as the Overlander, Beckers. During the summer months (peak season), many visitors stay in Hinton due to the problems of finding accommodations. Even in downtown Jasper, you can still see many Elks graising near the main road during the early parts of the morning or around dusk. But, beware of the those black, pellet-like Elk droppings!
Thanks for taking the time to read and rate my review.
Recommended:
No
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maceyr
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Location: Canada
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I hardly have time for Epinions anymore but do try to read and rate.
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