Otter Hotel

We just stayed at The Otter, in a Mountain View King Suite, 5 nights in mid-July. In the plus column, we really LOVED the design of the hotel — it’s warm and chic. The pictures online don’t really do it justice. The location and parking garage were excellent along with the complimentary bus passes. I found the bed to be very comfortable and the room amenities good.
Overall the staff were warm and friendly. However there were a few at the front desk that were not. IMO the front desk should always have warm and welcoming staff so this was disappointing. I found myself avoiding going to the front desk unless absolutely necessary.
Along with those few front desk staff, in the minus column, there wasn’t enough clothing storage in the room. The air conditioning unit in the room was directly next to one side of the bed which was noisy and uncomfortable. Lastly, the elevator was painfully slow.
Overall it was a good experience.

The staff were all very nice. The entrance, common areas, and options for hot morning beverages in the rooms were great. The real issues were the rooms and the design of the property. If you had an unobstructed view of the street or behind the property I am sure it would have been great. However many of the rooms have their balconies facing each other which gives no privacy at all! The rooms did not have enough drawer or shelf space for the bedroom or the bathroom. Finally there is no privacy as you can hear every word that anyone says in the hallway and sometimes next door as well. Parking is free but the lot is awkward. It is too expensive for what it is.

We have just returned home after a fortnight staying at this fabulous hotel. Everything was perfect, all the staff were very friendly and nothing was too much trouble. The views from the hotel of the Rocky mountains will take your breath away. Our room was directly in front of Mt Cascade, so sitting out on the balcony every morning and evening was a delight, not only did we have the magnificent view of the mountains we had deer wandering around the streets eating the hotel plants! The rooms are beautifully decorated, triple glazing provides a quiet and peaceful nights sleep. Bath robes and fresh towels were lovely and soft and the housekeeping was 5*. The rooms are well equipped with tea and coffee making facilities. Fresh ground coffee, tea (various choices) and hot chocolate was provided via a welcome pack when you arrive at the reception. Further orders can be delivered to your room daily by request. The hot pools are amazing, you can relax with views of the mountains. Around the pools are plenty of relaxing seating areas with fire pits, there is also a lovely sauna and well equipped gym.
Dogs can stay at the hotel and also receive a welcome treat.
You will definitely receive value for money and want to return again and again.

The rooms were definitely on the smaller side, but the overall vibe of the hotel and the service were amazing. The location is also a huge plus, very close to everything, with breathtaking views that made the stay even more enjoyable.
One downside was that the hot tub and gym closed at 10 PM, which felt a bit too early for a vacation destination since many guests are out exploring during the day and would likely want to enjoy those amenities later at night.
Other than that, I would absolutely recommend this hotel. I do think it’s better suited for couples rather than families or larger groups, but overall it was still a great experience.

A very clean and spacious hotel.
The outdoor hot tubs were very nice, with an incredible view of the mountains. Robes were provided but are quite tiny.
Our room was clean, comfortable and quiet. Our A/C worked well.
A decent spot on the strip but we still had to take the complimentary bus "downtown". We also got complimentary coffee that we had to steep/brew ourselves and unfortunately was not good.

Stayed here for our anniversary. They gave us a lovely anniversary cake and a food credit which we used at their sister Hotel next door. We went for the happy hour. The hot tubs and fire pits are outside which was such a nice experience. Location was good as they gave us bus passes to get into town. That was a nice surprise. We would stay here again, but I would upgrade to a view room. Our view was looking into the rooms of the sister Hotel.
You can get coffee and tea from the front desk to make in your room.
The only real negative was housekeeping. Our room was not cleaned well there was long hair. Alot of long hair. In the shower. When the housekeeper came in the only thing they did was make the bed which I had 90% done.

We celebrated my wife’s birthday here and had a wonderful experience. The hotel surprised us with a birthday cake and birthday credit to use at the restaurant, which was a very nice touch. The room was great and the bed was very comfortable.
The location is also convenient, right at the entrance of Banff and about a 20-minute walk to Banff town. We especially enjoyed the hot pools. Overall, we had a great stay and would definitely come back.

Loved our stay here. It was clean, modern, new and the bed and room was so cozy. The hot tubs and fire place on the rooftop were a highlight with a beautiful view of the mountains.
We dealt mostly with Tia at the front desk who was exceptionally accommodating helpful and pleasant.
We also had breakfast at the Good Folk restaurant. The eggs benny was delicious and the atmosphere was modern and new.

Our stay at Otter Hotel was unfortunately very disappointing overall.
On the positive side, we did like the room itself and the view l both were beautiful and exactly what we were hoping for. The space was comfortable and visually appealing.
However, the service completely overshadowed the good parts of our stay. I specifically booked a room with “VIP access, ” only to find out that this doesn’t even exist. That was extremely misleading and frustrating from the start.
The room also lacked very basic amenities there was no coffee in the room, no coffee machine, and no microwave. For a hotel at this level, those are standard expectations.
The biggest issue was the service response time. Every time we needed something, it took at least an hour sometimes longer. We had to call at least twice for the same request because no one would show up. At one point, we waited an hour and a half just for clean robes. After all that time, a staff member finally came to the door asking what we needed because the front desk had told them, “They keep calling, go see what they want. ” We had been very clear on the phone multiple times that we were simply requesting clean robes.
The lack of communication and slow service made the experience frustrating and disappointing. While the room and view were nice, the poor service and misleading VIP booking made it hard to fully enjoy our stay.

If you’re considering staying here, don’t hesitate one bit! We stayed at the fairmount before coming here and this was ten times better, hands down. The amenities are amazing, the hotel is extremely nice, and the rooms were really well done. They give you complimentary bus passes so getting into town is super easy! And, there are amazing restaurants just next door and downstairs in the hotel. We will definitely be staying here again!

Excellent hotel, great location. Parking was good. Renting skis, they were dropped off and collected by the SkiBig3. Food was excellent. Although the breakfast menu needed some smaller plates and more variety for international guests. But well cooked.
All staff we helpful and gave assistance. We stayed for 12 nights, and the room was cleaned every day. Some days we didn't need it cleaning and skipped it. I would recommend this hotel. Here are a couple of suggestions. The room heaters are a bit noisy; we figured out to turn them off while we slept and the room never dropped below 18 C. The hot pool area and Sauna are great facilities, and I would install a cold pool for 1 or 2 persons for the Sauna. The gym is good for a hotel. We used the indoor cycle machines and they were excellent. The hotel is twinned with the Canoe and in there is the Sudden Sally restaurant and snack area. This was great if you wanted an alternative menu or just wanted a grab and go coffee and pastry. The coffee was good Melbourne standard!

Loved our stay at Otter Hotel. The rooms were modern, cozy, and spotless. The location was perfect, walkable to downtown and surrounded by beautiful mountain views. Staff were friendly and welcoming, and the rooftop hot tubs were amazing. Would definitely stay here again!

Loved my stay, best hot pool with a view. Friendly staff especially Josh at front desk. Clean rooms. Will totally stay agian. Not a bad walk to downtown plus you get free bus passes that we took to the gondola.

I didn't like that for that price, they didn't even put two tea bags in the room and there were no slippers! We also forgot toothpaste, and I was surprised there weren't any disposable toothpastes. The rooms are relatively expensive, and the amenities definitely don't match the price. The air conditioning in the room is incredibly noisy. We've stayed at cheaper hotels before, like the Sanalt, and we were more comfortable there. There was also a jacuzzi and a fireplace on the premises, and breakfast was included. There were also problems with the terminal: we couldn't pay for the room, we used 3 cards, we were told that the bank was not processing the payment, but in fact the system just didn't work, something like that. Of course, it's easier to say the bank isn't processing the payment, even though we just paid for our purchases at the store a few minutes ago and everything went smoothly. We won't be returning to this hotel again.

My family and I really loved our stay at Otter Hotel. From the moment we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by the friendliest front desk staff — Tia was incredibly kind, accommodating, and approachable. You never felt intimidated to ask questions.
Dave, who assisted us in the evening, was equally wonderful. He was very kind, genuinely welcoming, and always had a warm and positive attitude. His friendliness truly made us feel at home and well taken care of.
The amenities were great, but the service truly stood out. Even the housekeeping staff were always smiling, which made our stay feel extra special.
We will definitely be coming back a lot 😂

So pleasantly surprised with Otter! The vibe for a winter Banff trip was amazing!
The rooms are nice, good pillows!
The roof top hot tubs are THE BEST part. Used every day!
The location worked really well for us, first stop for most shuttles and busses so we always got a good seat. Made good use of the free bus pass.
We didn't make use of the restaurant but did go for cocktails — which we loved!
If we ever go back to Banff, the Otter is where we will go! Amazing value for the price we got during a slow season.

The room and stay were fine, but I’m leaving this review because of how a lost-item situation was handled. We left bathing suits in our bathroom and called as soon as we realized (the next morning after checkout). The staff response felt dismissive, we were told right away that they didn't find anything but to call back the next day and when we did we were put through to housekeeping and left a message but heard nothing.
It feels like there is zero ownership of the issue by the hotel and it's hard not to feel like the items either weren’t properly checked for or weren’t handled honestly and there wasn't clear lost-and-found protocols and timely follow-up or even a feel that they cared. This experience really impacted our trust.