Prince Of Wales

Recent Reviews: 2596

• User:Steve R

  Trip type: Family

  Excellent Stay!

  24 May 2026

  My wife and I arrived for a two night stay to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. We were greeted warmly by the receptionist and given a run down of the hotel and amenities. Our room was cozy and the beds were comfortable. What really made the stay for us wasn't just the amazing views, but the staff. They were very kind and informative, from the lobby sitting area to the restaurant and front desk. There is a great hike just down the main drive and town is a short walk away. I understand that some reviewers were not happy with their stay due to loud guests or not having the amenities they are used to in a chain hotel. You stay here for the ambiance, views and charming atmosphere. If you want a TV, a pool for your kids or a hair dryer in your room, look elsewhere. Yes, if you have young children staying in an adjacent room, you will hear them due to thin walls. The hotel is all wood, so the floor creaks when you walk. All I can say is our stay was exceptional and the staff is incredible. I highly recommend this hotel and we will be returning.

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• User:anjadasi

  Trip type: Family

  Over promises, under delivers - but still an iconic hotel in an absolutely stunning setting

  22 May 2026

  The hotel comes with an overpromise but under delivers: Starting with the arrival experience of a gentleman welcoming us in a blazer, but then in black jeans, room amenities are very basic, almost non-existing; no TV, no kettle or coffee maker, cheap shower amenities which are single use plastic, while bulk amenity holders are set up in the shower but left empty, the hotel needs new windows, cold drafts everywhere you go, and no isolation between rooms (our room on the 2nd floor had two connecting doors, and we had very little sleep SAT night, having a loud couple on side, and a crying child on the other, you can hear every single word from those rooms). Yes, we did see the earplugs (more single use plastic) but I dont like wearing them so that's no help. Why does the hotel use Fairmont wash clothes? Servers in the lobby lounge took a long time to notice us and were then unable to identify meats on the charcuterie board, and the bread was missing. But the biggest disappointment was meeting Dianne, the F&B manager, who also doesn't know the menu very well and needs urgent training on how to handle guest concerns and on non-verbal communication (her body language and facial expression were very condescending and left a very bad taste in our mouths, beside the food, especially the cheeses, being amazing). Because of how we were treated by Dianne, we changed our plans dining at the hotel and went to the townsite for every meal. Now, the good: can't beat the location and the beauty of the hotel itself, both absolutely stunning, including the lake views! Room was very clean and you can tell that cleanliness has high priority here. The gift shop is great and the bellman speech on SUN was great, too, he did a good job! Terry and bedding in our room was top notch, and low water pressure in the shower gets corrected with the adjustable showerhead! Yes, we would recommend the hotel and maybe even stay again, but this "iconic" hotel does not deliver on a level other iconic hotels in Canada do, for example the Banff Springs Hotel, while it easily could with some upgrades and training. Thank you!

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• User:Richard W

  Trip type: Couples

  Beautiful hotel but stay was impacted by many small problems

  17 May 2026

  It cannot be understated how wonderful this hotel is. It has simply the best view I've ever seen from the lobby. When you walk in, the timber lobby is silhouetted by an absolutely breathtaking view over the mountains and lakes. The timbers creak warmly with the years of service it has given to many travellers.Unfortunately - probably in part due to the hotel being old, there was a problem with tepid water coming from the shower. Don't worry we were told, just run the water for longer... We had, for 10 to 15 mins. It didn't get warmer. On the 2nd day, we again asked for help. We were going out for a walk for an hour or so, and maintenance were going to take a look at it. We got about after 90 mins and maintenance had only just started to look at it. We'd done a lot of walking that day, had a meal in the restaurant booked for 8pm and needed to shower. What we would have expected would be an assurance that it would be fixed and an offer of free drinks in the bar or something at least, to make us feel like the issue and its impact was noted by management. Also we would have expected to be told when the problem was resolved. This didnt happen, it was up to us to chase the issue up with staff.We were told it was sorted and went back to our room on the 4th floor, only to find the issue was no different. Back down 4 floors to speak to the front desk we were eventually moved to another identical room meaning more time collecting all our things. Finally we had hot water. Unfortunately the lovely view from the window of the new room was slightly ruined by the dead flies on the window sill. We sighed. Oh well. Lets go down for dinner.In the lobby we were shown to the restaurant by the staff, but as we went, both myself and my partner noticed a rodent, dashing from under one lobby sofa to another and then again. "Oh my God you have a mouse!" my partner said. The staff member laughed casually and assured us someone would be informed. We found out when checking out that they had not informed management about it.The meal was lovely, but that experience was slightly ruined by the loud conversation coming from the kitchens. Someone in the staff there did not seem happy about something.When we checked out, we had to ask the staff for a discount due to the problems we had and the fact that we had to chase things up so much. There wasn't a manager there but the staff member said we would be given some sort of discount. Later the money debited our account and it seemed we had been given only a $50 discount which didn't really seem fair given 3/4 of our stay we had had no hot water. So we went back to the hotel to speak to someone more senior. Tired and needing to get on the road, we accepted their offer of $100 though honestly in hindsight this was still not really good enough.Then the following day, we noticed that they had debited the bill from our account twice wiping our all our remaining funds. We were now in Lake Louise and without any phone signal. We've had to do a lot of juggling around with accounts to make sure we could fund the rest of our trip. The only way we could get in touch was by email which we did on Weds or Thurs last week, but have still, not had any response and its now the following Monday.It's such a shame. The hotel is amazing. The effort they have gone to to create a very traditional service, a hotel that has the service and atmosphere of the early to mid 20th century is commendable. The problem is the lack of joining up all the bits of the service. If someone has no hot water, you don't just radio maintenance to say 'go and have a look at that', you make sure that it happens, that it is 100% fixed before the guests are sent back to the room, that you keep the guests informed, that the guests are looked after in the meantime, making sure to offer suitable compensation, not just a few apologies. When something goes wrong, make sure something happens that makes it better than it was. Like, when moving guests to another room, given them a better room and a free meal. Then they remember the amazing service not the problem!I get that this was the first couple of days since they opened for the season and so things would have been very busy for them, I did wonder if there is some overreliance on staff who are completely new to the hotel. I guess over the weeks things will get more joined up as people get more experience, but that doesn't help those of us who unknowingly arrived on day 1.Again, I can't stress how wonderful this hotel is. I really hope they make changes to prevent this sort of thing happening to others and that one day we can return and have a better experience. Pursuit Collection, Guest Services / Front Office at Prince of Wales Hotel, responded to this review Dear Richard W,Thank you so much for taking the time to share such a detailed and thoughtful review. It genuinely means a lot that you can see and appreciate what makes the Prince of Wales so special.That said, I'm truly sorry for the way your stay unfolded. What you described, the hot water issues, the pest in the lobby, the noise from the kitchen affecting your dinner, and the billing concerns, these are not small things. These issues make up the entire guest experience, and we sadly fell short. Not just in fixing problems, but in how we communicated and took care of you throughout your stay.I'm glad we were able to get the hot water resolved once you were moved to room 421, but I recognize that getting to that point took far too long and required too much effort on your part. Regarding the pest sighting, I want to be transparent that this was communicated to our F&B team at the time, though I understand it was not followed up with you directly. That's a gap in our communication that we're addressing. Being located within a National Park, wildlife and pests can occasionally make their way inside, but that makes our vigilance and response all the more important. On the billing concern, what appears to have occurred was a credit card authorization rather than a duplicate charge.I also want to acknowledge the compensation. We're glad we could offer something, but we would have welcomed the opportunity to work through that with you more fully. Had we known you left feeling it wasn't enough, we would have happily revisited it. You deserved to feel valued, and that's on us. I'll be reaching out to you personally by email to ensure you are satisfied with the follow up of any outstanding billing concerns. Your feedback has been shared with our leadership team. We hold ourselves accountable to it, and we're committed to ensuring future guests don't have the same experience. We'd genuinely love the opportunity to welcome you back under very different circumstances. When things go right here, this place is truly unforgettable, and you deserve to experience that.Sincerely, Bronson AlbanoGeneral Manager Prince of Wales Hotel

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• User:Shaune L

  Trip type: Couples

  It was good

  14 May 2026

  Iconic hotel, loved the history and atmosphere. Room was small but cozy, view of mountain was fine. Staff were helpful, bed was comfy. Food, nothing spectacular. Only complaint was on the 5th floor we had no hot water ! Sink had hot eventually but the shower was unbearable for cold. I get it its an old place, creaky and lots of stairs but hot water for the price we paid would have been desirable. Note....we did get a giggle from the supposed haunting : ) Pursuit Collection, Guest Services / Front Office at Prince of Wales Hotel, responded to this review Hi 55shaunel,Thank you for taking your time to write a review. We're glad you overall enjoyed your stay, but we would like to apologize for the lack of hot water in the room. We have fixed the issue, but we do regret that we weren't able to solve that for you during your stay. I'm not sure if I would personally describe our hotel as haunted, our ghosts here are friendly!Thanks, Alex

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• User:Fred e

  Trip type: Couples

  Seriously underwhelming experience. Royal tea...

  12 May 2026

  Went to have an amazing experience with their royal tea service at The Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton National Park. Very mediocre... stale pastry, awful tasting sandwiches. Desserts where very substandard, with many selections hard and dry, barely edible. All for $180.00. Save your money. Pursuit Collection, Guest Services / Front Office at Prince of Wales Hotel, responded to this review Hi Fred,Thank you for your review, I'm sorry for your experience and I have passed on your comments on to our culinary team.Thanks,Alex - Front Office Manager

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