Hotel Arts

Everything good about this hotel is seen in the ostentatious lobby and the two attached restaurants, considered some of Calgary's best. It all comes crashing to a halt once you get to your room.

We booked a "superior" room. Inferior might be better. I'll list the problems in bullet point form:

- not a single drawer in the entire room - not even the bathrooms. No clothes drawers, no desk drawers, no nightside table drawers, no storage at all, save for a tiny front closet.

- 2 adults booked; one of their vaunted "bathrobes". A call to reception when we checked in (11pm) didn't yield a second one.

- no tourism literature for Calgary either in the rooms, or the front lobby (ie, no "What's On" magazines, or anything).

- Night staff do not seem to know what's going on at all with the hotel. For eg - I asked if the hotel had concierge services, and they didn't know what the word meant.

- Room furniture. Bed itself is amazing. The rest? Think stupid-artsy slabs of wood, paired with horrible chairs (one armchair, one uncomfortable blocky wood "desk" chair). No writing areas, No side / eating tables. Just a buffet table under the plasma tv, and blocky night table.

- Before arrival, I called to specifically ask if there was WiFi in the rooms. Told yes and Told free. I get there, and no wifi (while I was able to see HotelArts8, HotelArts9 etc available, they could not be connected to. Calls to desk during stay said "use ethernet connection in room". We did, and the "free" wifi turned into $10 per day wired connections.

- no room fridge, or safe. Literally no place to stow any valuables in room.

I handwrote a letter the first night, to the hotel manager, raising some of these issues, expecting a response. There was none at all.

On the positive side, they have way cool plasma tvs in the room, and the lobby is gorgeous. The beds are seriously comfortable. By far and away the most friendly staff are the valet parking people. Desk staff was pretty much useless.

I'll never use this hotel again. Overpriced, in a noisy, bad part of town. Go to use the restaurants, or lounge in the showpiece lobby. Stay somewhere else.

Who says that when you go on a trip, its all about going sight seeing? Well if you stayed at this hotel like I did then trust me you won't need to go out at all. The hotel is so jammed packed with different facilities that are offered for FREE!! I loved the spa the best...it was the first time I've ever been in a spa...it was so relaxing!!! The rooms are a bit quirkier than the traditional hotels, but hey with the type of entertainment they provide, you don't need to stay in your room. I stayed for 3 days and I spent approximately 2.5 inside the hotel. Sure it sounds like a waste, but you have to trust me about how much fun it is inside .

This place puts the emphasis on being hip and modern, with young friendly staff. Our room was decorated in dark colours, a lot of black, but all-white linens, a minimalist look. Every room has a large-screen TV, an unusual feature. We were disappointed that the pool and adjoining area had been rented out for a private party, so it was out-of-bounds to us and we couldn't use the lounge chairs etc. - be sure to check this out before you book, if the pool is important to you.