On a more recent trip to Canada, during the Labor Day weekend, hotel room rates were absurdly high (over $400 per night) and I decided to just sleep in my car for the entire weekend. After all, it’s just easier to park next to your photography location rather than drive there at 3 am in the morning. So by chance I looked at the Hotel Tonight app (if you use my link you will get $25 off your first stay) after landing in Calgary on Friday and found a hotel in Canmore for $200/night all in. Given that I had $50 worth of credit on the App, it seemed to be a reasonable trade off to pay this amount to use the Wi-Fi and clean shower. I say clean because I’ve seen some of the campground facilities, they are nothing
Anyway I ended up staying at the Stoneridge Mountain Resort by CLIQUE in Canmore for all three nights thanks to some last minute hotel deals I found on the app and at Hotels.com. The hotel is conveniently located just a little bit off the Trans-Canada Highway leading into Banff and across the street from the iconic Policeman’s Creek view point I was referring to in the previous post:
Check In
The check in process was a breeze with me being handed the keys to my upgraded 1 Bedroom Suite on the 4th floor of the hotel. The receptionist apologized for not having the room I booked, which was something more like a studio I believe. No complaints from me! I was also given a welcome amenity consisting of a bag of chocolates.
One Bedroom Suite
The rather large and modern living space had a kitchen, dining table, and den with a big TV and comfortable couch. The kitchen was equipped with all manner of pots and pans, but the refrigerator along with the dinner plates smelt a bit funky.
The living room also featured a speaker system where you could hook up your own media device and blast music. I do hope people don’t use this feature too liberally because the system was LOUD.
Attached to the suite was a balcony featuring a barbeque grill and a small outdoor seating arrangement. The views from this particular balcony wasn’t as good as the Airbnb, but still very nice. I didn’t use the outdoor space in either case because it was far too smoky outside from all the forest fires that were happening at the time.
Just off the living room was a large bedroom featuring a king sized bed and a master bath with a double vanity, soaking tub, and stand in shower. The toiletries were from some forgettable brand not worth mentioning.
Located in a closet off of the living room was a well appreciated washing machine, ironing board, and dryer with laundry detergent and fabric softener.
I should also note that the Wi-Fi at the hotel was free and quite fast. Free parking was available at the hotel and it was located in an underground parking garage accessed by using the room’s key card. In my experience, there was more than enough parking for all the guests.
Bottom Line:
The Stoneridge Mountain Resort was a modern and convenient base for exploring Banff National Park and the area around Canmore of course. I would definitely consider it one of the finer extended stay accommodations I’ve stayed in recent times. However, rates at this hotel seem to be quite high during peak season so Airbnb may still be a better option depending on how many people are traveling with you. Getting a hotel ended up being a good option for me in the end because there wasn’t much to shoot during one of the days when the sky was full of smoke and ash from all the forest fires. The hotel also helped me save a few bucks on restaurants because I just picked up a few necessary food items (cereal, bread etc) from the Safeway down the road.
