We liked the spacious suite, the king size bed, and the location however we were concerned about the drinking glasses that are not sanitized and wrapped to protect from undesirable germs and to protect against the spreading of disease. Especially in a hotel situation with all kinds of people coming from all over the world it is imperative to have a clean environment. Simply rinsing or washing these glasses does not kill the micro organisms. We would not use them at all and purchased paper cups for the duration of our stay. We would like to see that situation rectified if we were to utilize this hotel again.

As a solo traveller, I was taken aback to find that I had a 2 bedroom suite, complete with kitchen facilities, dining table, lounge area. Two huge plasma TV screens, one in the lounge and one in the main bedroom. Attractive modern bathroom. Two bathrobes in the wardrobe, ironing and hairdrying facilities. Decor less than inspiring, but with all that space, who's grumbling! Very central (good view of skyscrapers and construction sites building more of same). Don't bother with the Eau Claire Market, it's a complete non-event. Not impressed with what I saw of Calgary, but as I was only there the one night & left very early to catch the Rocky Mountaineer train, I can't really offer an opinion. I ate my evening meal in the hotel and it was good and reasonably priced.

My girlfriends and I were all ready to go see a hockey game in big Cow Town, and we got an amazing deal with the International Hotel. All of my friends and I work in hotels, as a Housekeeping Manager, Front Desk Supervisor, and a Customer Service PRO! Check in was okay, although they never offered to help us carry massive hockey bags up the stairs required to walk up to get to the elevator?!?!? When we arrived in our room, we were surprised with the size of the room, it was MASSIVE! As a Housekeeping Manager, as much as I hate it, I have to check the room out first. It was immaculate. The only problem was that there was a broken cupboard door that was "placed" nicely on top of the screws and fell on my foot. I was planning on dying my hair and requested that Housekeeping bring me some threadbare of ripped towels to use so that I wouldn;t ruin theirs, (they're expensive) and I was transferred to 4 different people. No one seemed to understand what I was requesting, so I used their towels. I certainly did get a dirty look from the housekeeper that morning, what do you want me to do? Other than those small issues, it was okay. Nothing special, but not horrible.

Let me start on a positive note, the room was very nice. My wife and I arrived at the Calgary Greyhound approx. 5:30pm Friday September 21, 2007. I had said to my wife that I should call the hotel ask if they have a shuttle service for guests who stay at the hotel. So I called the hotel and a lady answered the phone she was somewhat incoherrant and I proceeded to ask about the shuttle service, the young lady said NO there is no shuttle and the call ended. I said ok whatever we'll call for a cab, cab service came to about 8 bucks and the trip was maybe 10 minutes. We enter the hotel and proceed to the Front Desk no in front of us we greet the young woman versus her greeting us and proceed with the check in process. We had a complimentary 2 night stay with breakfast that my wife won at her Staff Christmas party. The young lady performing the check in was a bit confused on how to do the check in and was not certain if the Breakfast was for Sat and Sun. Meanwhile another female employee made her way behind the front desk and answered the phone and was talking to her friend on the phone making small chit chat for a couple of minutes while a young man behind me was waiting to be helped. She got off the phone and said to the young man "Can I help you?" instead of May I help you sir or How may I assist you? (I'm thinking, I'm sorry that work is interferring with your personal life) The young man shows his ID and gets his room key. We are still not done with our check in process, so I'm looking around the lobby and out the front window where I noticed a Cadillac SUV, Royal Blue or similar in color with the words International Hotel of Calgary. Look a courtesy shuttle for guests staying at the hotel. I asked the young lady is that a courtesy shuttle for guests who stay at your hotel? She looked me with that look, where this is the guy who called about our shuttle earlier and I told him No. Then she said yes that is our shuttle but it is for really short distances. A Complimentary 2 stay to show off the products and services that the hotel has to offer to guests to create future guests, revenue and a positive reputation and we were lied to by the very first employee which was our first contact and first impression of the hotel. What would happen if the person who phoned about the courtesy shuttle had been the VP or something of your ownership group or the GM your hotel. We asked were the elevator was and were directed correctly. The young lady made no effort in informing us of where the restaurant, lounge would nor was there any mention of pop machines,ice machines or excerise facilities. We get the room 1902 very nice, just a couple of small things though there was a small needle sticking out of the carpet near the bathroom door, could of been missed big deal and the sound from the flat screen in the living area sounded like popcorn popping or more similar to the little room coffee maker brewing coffee. We go to dinner outside of the hotel, why? it was not promoted. We had come back about 11pm Friday night and went to the pub/lounge not a soul in there. Me my wife along with her friend and her husband sat down to have drink. A young lady came along and took our order brought our drinks to the table and made 3 of the four drinks incorrectly. The Cosmo was brought back to her to be made correctly. The young lady during our visit was sit at the bar playing cards with some guy instead of checking to see if we wanted another round. She gave us last call about 11:45, dropped off the bill at the table with a pen that belonged to the Travel Lodge. She came to collect for the bill and was asked why was she gave us a pen from the Travel Lodge and her response was "That is how we get our competition by taking all there pens" She unknowingly did more with one action to promote another property then she did in one hour to promote the property that she is working at. We get back to the room, we want some soft drinks and look in hotel directory to find where pop machine is located. The machine is in the Sub basement ok fine, I found the machine all the lights are off on the machine, look for the outlet, found it cord plugged in not lights still. Ok the TV right next to it is not on may it is just a breaker, turn on the TV it works and it is plugged into the same outlet as pop machine. Pop machine out of order great, go back to the room empty handed. Saturday Sept. 22, 2007. We got up for breakfast and raced down because we thought it would be full house. The restaurant was a ghost town. Probably because it is located in the basement of the hotel and I guess most people would it can not be very good because it is in the basement. The service in the restaurant was ok and the Eggs Benny were very good. Me and my wife decide to go the zoo the zoo is a short distance from the hotel and we now know that the hotel has shuttle. So at roughly 1pm I went to the front desk to ask for the shuttle. Guess what the Front Desk associate said. No, we don't have a shuttle today, the driver is not here. Wow! another cab to the zoo and LRT to get back. The Cab and LRT so far much more reliable and efficient VS. the shuttle service for guests staying at the hotel. We had gone out to dinner came back to our room later that evening and remembered to call front desk to ask for a late Check out for 1pm on Sunday. That should not be a problem right what is an hour anyways. I called down a young answered and said No, I asked why? she replied "Because the morning staff don't like it when we put a late check out for the guest the night before so what you can do is call back when you wake up and maybe they can do something for you" Call ended. Wow again, there is a definite lack of training here. Sunday Sept. 23rd 2007 Check out day. Silly me, when I woke up I called the front desk to get a late check for 1pm. Once again I was told "No, you can't because we need to get all the check outs done in time" I said come on, it is just one more hour, check out is at noon. She said No, check out time is 11am. I said I need to check out at 1pm she said ok 1pm then. Call ended. The Hotel Directory in the guest room in black and white says check out time is 12 noon. We were actually off the property around 12:30pm. Lied to upon arrival and Lied to at check out. It was a two night complimentary stay and we were willing to pay to stay at the Westin just seconds up the road.