Paradise Resort Club and Spa

A vacation should be a chance to relax, not wash your own towels or be told staff can’t provide basic service. We had two rooms for a week, but room service refused to replace the towels even once and insisted we wash them ourselves. The facilities are a bit old and run down, but that’s forgivable. I feel for the owners, who seem to have invested a lot, because poor service brought the experience below an acceptable standard. We booked the rooms at the same time, yet they were as far apart as possible, a floor apart and two long hallways away. It felt like little care had been given to the guest experience. If I owned the place, I’d be embarrassed by such careless, lazy service.

The second night was much quieter after my wife worked out which room was causing the racket and spoke to the residents. They hadn’t realized their kids were making so much noise and agreed to keep it down. But my son and his family, including their 14-year-old daughter, had been kept awake until after 3 am the first night by guests upstairs. He tried the front desk, but it had closed at 11 pm, and the notice said to call the RCMP for noise complaints. He wasn’t going to call the RCMP over noise. The front desk staff were helpful, but couldn’t resolve it, and although my son asked for the manager to call, the manager never did. My wife and I also asked, including at checkout, and it’s now been more than a week with no call, apology, or follow-up. That’s why I’m leaving this less-than-stellar review. We had booked two two-bedroom suites at Paradise Resort for a Christmas Eve and Boxing Day celebration with our family of 10. The accommodation was practical and fairly clean, with everything we needed. One bed had to be remade on arrival because of hair on the sheet, and two sheets had rips, though they were clean. My son was ready to cut the family visit short because of the noise and lack of response.

The beach was combed daily, the pools were great, and the kids loved the slides so much they stayed in the water right up to the 9 pm daily closing time. The staff were wonderful with my mom, nieces, nephew, and me. There were 10 of us at each meal and gathering, and they accommodated every request, even joining three tables for us each time. The food was amazing, and the waiters went above and beyond. It’s a great resort for a family vacation, and we highly recommend it.

I often take the stairs when elevators are slow or busy, and once found a pile of garbage bags at the bottom of the stairwell. They left a pleasant smell throughout the building. The check-in was also a poor experience. I’d booked four nights at the Canmore location through bookings.com, and my confirmation email and app both showed paid in full. On arrival, they said there was an extra $65 charge I hadn’t known about and wouldn’t let me into the room until it was settled. It seemed like a glitch involving booking.com or the resort club, maybe expedia.com, though I’m not sure why they were involved. I felt I’d done what a normal guest should: booked, paid, and showed up. I didn’t want to spend my time sorting out someone else’s mix-up. After about 40 minutes at the desk with a manager and, I assume, someone higher up on the phone, they let me go to the room I’d already paid for. A guest asking to see another room interrupted things too, delaying me a little longer. Lodging should make the guest experience smooth, and if there was a problem on their end, I think they could have let me go to my room while looking into it. I can’t recall getting even a simple apology for the mix-up or how long it took. Not for me.