FRIENDLY ADVICE FROM TOM PRIESTLY ON ACCOMMODATIONS

 

Banff is a popular tourist resort and rooms are not always easy to find. Whatever accommodation type and establishment you choose, book as soon as (a) you know for sure that you will be coming and (b) you have your flights reserved. Book earlier if you wish – as long as the hotel (or whatever you choose) allows cancellations without penalty.

I. CONFERENCE SITE

 The conference will be at the four-star Banff Park Hotel [BPH] on Wolf Street: see

http://www.banffparklodge.com/index.html Adjacent is Bow View Lodge [BVL] on Lynx Street; this has three stars and is operated by the BPH: see  http://www.bowview.com/

 Web booking procedures

You may book by going to http://www.banffparklodge.com/ and choosing Reservations make your conference reservation. For this you will need a "Group ID" and a "Password". All program participants have been sent these two items. Anybody else wishing to use the BSS conference rate should first check with Tom Priestly at tom.priestly@ualberta.ca. Our official group name is: Balkan and South Slavic Conference 2008.

The BPH is holding a block of 40 “Superior rooms” for BSS XVI participants for the nights of May 1, 2 & 3. For those who wish (see “TRAVEL”) to arrive the night before the conference and/or stay the night afterwards, we have 20 of these rooms available for the night of April 30 and again for the night of May 4.

The BPH conference rate is $135.00 (plus taxes) per room per night, based upon single or double occupancy. This conference rate is VERY much less expensive than the regular hotel rate.

Anything more than double occupancy involves bed sharing, since Superior rooms have two Queen beds or one King with a sofa (queen) pull-out. Maximum occupancy is 4 and there is a $15.00 plus taxes surcharge for each additional person over double occupancy.

As for the BVL, virtually all the rooms for the first week of May 2008 were long ago booked in advance by coach tour companies. “Standard” rooms in the BVL, if available, will cost $115.00 plus taxes per room per night, based upon single or double occupancy.  If any rooms become available, I will be informed; if this information is of interest to you, let me know! The BVL, at the conference rate, is comparable to some other hotels (see below); its advantage is its proximity to the BPH (and its relatively secluded riverside location).

The BPH is five minutes on foot (and the BVL only two minutes further) from Banff Avenue, the main street in town; if you find that the BPH or the BVL strains your budget, you can with little trouble find places to eat (breakfast, for example) inexpensively. (The BPH breakfast menu is at http://www.banffparklodge.com/u/chinook/index.phtml)

 

II. OTHER HOTELS (&c.) IN BANFF

There are over 50 hotels, motels, inns, lodges and hostels in Banff, some much more expensive than the BPL, some much less expensive. I’ll not list them all here. I encourage you to explore what is available on the internet, at

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-191501838-banff_hotels

or at any of the other sites that you will find when you google “Banff Hotels”.

Examine the location of the listed hotels which (because of their rates, for example) catch your eye. Some, e.g., the inexpensive Bumpers Inn, are a very long walk from the BPH. The hotels closest to the BPH are:

 

Homestead Inn

Brewsters’ Mountain lodge

Mount Royal Hotel

Banff International Hotel (Do not confuse it with the Banff International Hostel, 3 km away!)

Banff Ptarmigan

 

For locations, try this: go to http://www.maps.worldweb.com/BanffMap.html

then zoom in as far to the next-to-most-detailed view;

then click on “Hotels and Motels”.

The above are shown on this map. Many other accommodations will appear if you click on “Inns”. BUT: these web-pages are NOT good for bed-and-breakfasts!

 

III. “BED-AND-BREAKFASTS”

These are private houses which have one or more rooms for overnight accommodation. (A sample of explanations: Bulgarian стая в частна квартира със закуска, Slovene soba v privatni hiži z zajtrkom, German Privatzimmer mit Frühstück). Not all actually serve breakfast. They vary enormously in standard, in price, and in the quality and quantity of the breakfast provided.

A google search of “Bed and Breakfasts Banff” will yield many different web-sites: most of these pages provide information on just a few such places, and you should look at several to get a good selection. The most comprehensive list that I know is at

http://www.banff.ca/visiting-banff/maps-directions/visitor-maps/bed-breakfast.htm

but this has no direct links to individual establishments: but just google the name of an establishment and the word “Banff;” almost all have their own web-pages.