Stayed here 2 nights. The room was a good size for 2 people and was clean. The heat worked well, which is important in Banff in the winter (was -16 the second morning).

The location is conveniently walking distance to everywhere downtown.

The underground parking garage is great. Was nice to not have to shovel snow off the car.

There was a problem with the room card keys. They didn’t work 90% of the time so we constantly had to get them reprogrammed. They said being near cell phones wipe the cards out. Very strange.

It's interesting to find such mixed reviews for Irwin's Mountain Inn. Some people's experiences have been excellent while others have been not so great. We too, experienced mixed reactions at this hotel.

On the positive side, our room was very nice, the bed was comfortable, and the room quite clean. We were in a corner unit so things were very quiet. The balcony overlooking Banff Avenue was a nice feature.There was lots of hot water and water pressure for showers, but the sink was in the room, not the bathroom, which I thought was a little weird. There was a fridge in the room and vending machines in the hallway, so we could buy and refrigerate drinks if so inclined. There was free parking in the back of the hotel and in the underground but the spaces were very tight. We only had a one-night stay so didn't take advantage of all the hotel's amenities. We did have breakfast in the El Toro restaurant, though, and it was extremely good. In general, the hotel's location is good - it's out of the busy and crowded downtown streets but not too far away from all the amenities

On the negative side, this hotel suffers from incredibly rude and blunt staff on the Reception desk. On the day we checked in we were slightly early and, after driving much of the day and feeling exhausted, we arrived and asked if it would be possible to check in a bit early. I was greeted with a very curt and abrupt "NO!" from the woman on the front desk, and was further told "You CANNOT check in now. Wait till 4:00 o'clock!!", at which point she turned away from me. Nice customer service, thanks a lot Irwin's Mountain Inn. If I hadn't had a confirmed booking there for which I'd later be charged, I would have left and never come back. When checking in to a hotel, a bad greeting like this is such a turnoff. I have travelled in several parts of the world and stayed in many hotels, but I've never been treated so rudely as I was at Irwin's front desk. Fortunately when we came back and were allowed to check in, the rude woman was nowhere to be seen.

Would I come back to Irwin's? Maybe, maybe not. It depends on who's working on their Reception desk.