This is a great hotel for families. We stayed in a kids' theme room, which was spacious, clean, and our kids loved it. The hotel is close to most places you would want to go to in Brandon. The pool and waterslide are great and the price is very reasonable for what you get (especially with the theme room). Our kids had an amazing time at this hotel and we will go back. A couple of tips: The breakfast buffet in the attached restaurant (Aalto's) is not great and the price is steep considering it doesn't even include coffee or a drink. Try Forbidden Flavours across the street for a light breakfast and a great coffee. Some of the rooms face the pool area and they don't turn the overhead lights off at night. This can be annoying since some of the light comes in through the curtains.

We lived in Brandon, Manitoba for 5 years and moved just before this property was built. Brandon was definately in need of a 4+ star hotel and WOW did they get one. The first thing you notice is how big and spacious everything is. It really is big, bright, colourful and very clean. We stayed in a family suite on the second floor. The first thing you notice when you exit the elevator and start down the hallway is how wonderfully wide the hall is and how clean it all is. The family suite was clean with only a few specks on the floor - so we picked them up and put them in the trash. The beds, though new, are the older spring loaded kind and are full of "bounce." Not bad really, just a little different. The childrens bunk beds (there were FOUR!) had their own room, TV and play station with stero speakers in the walls. Our girls loved it. When we stayed on the 21st - 23rd of March 2008 there was some sort of young girls sports tournament. And with one momentary exception, we didn't hear a peep. In fact it was refreshing to have such polite young ladies all through the hotel and it was a fantastic example for our young daughters - although I realize this had nothing to do with the hotel per se. The only critique I would have of the property was the dining. In short - it borders on the cost prohibitive. My wife and two daughters who are aged 3 & 7 and I stayed two nights and the in-hotel dining effectively DOUBLED the total bill. And that did not include any drinks or anything off the menue. We had the buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And just so everyone understands, the defination of the word "buffet" is something like: a meal laid out on a table or sideboard so that guests may serve themselves. And this was certainly not the case. Basically the hot food (the expensive stuff (including such items as crab legs!)) was behind glass that was clouded over and you could not really see it. You were also required to wait for a staff person to hand you a plate, then you had to hand it back to them and they asked you if you wanted what was behind steamy partition #1, #2, #3 etc. etc. And there were typically between 5 or 6 items you could choose from. So what happens is, all the folks in front of you get to go first - one at a time as there is typically only ONE staff person working dishing out the food, and if they run out they may or may not have more warming up or being prepared in the back. It's all hit and miss. So combine this with the cost (without tip and no alcohol) and we could not get out of there for less than $50 or $60 dollars PER MEAL for the four of us. And remember, our girls are 3 & 7 so really don't eat all that much. In short, a great hotel, but don't be afraid to walk across the street to Applebees or any of the other 7-8 food places or even order in pizza!

We stayed at the hotel for a wedding, and got a good rate through the group booking. There were a few hiccups where they couldn't locate the group price at first, but that got rectified. Then we got charged for 3 nights when we stayed for 2, but that also was quickly rectified. It was a nice modern, clean looking hotel with nice large rooms. The pool area looked great for kids. Was a little disappointed with the buffet breakfast, so maybe check out somwhere else to dine. The food was limited. Other than that, the hotel itself is recommended for a nice quiet stay.

Im not sure why this hotel has gotten so many bad reviews - we've stayed here a couple of times and havent found it to be bad at all. The check-in was smooth and may have taken a few minutes longer because of lineups but thats probably common at any large hotel around check-in at 3-4pm. The hotel is very large for a city like Brandon, and you can tell that its still very new, which is nice. If you get a hotel on the higher floors you can get quite a nice window view of some of the city. The rooms are slightly more spacious than average hotels and the bathrooms are very much so. The pool area is wonderful - with a huge waterslide and big pool as well as a hot tub. It can and does get very busy with kids though, and there was at the time no adult hour either. On the whole we very much enjoyed staying here and would again - the only downfall for some travellers passing through town might be the price which is about $120 a night at the cheapest and a bit more than some of the other hotels in Brandon.

Folks at this hotel seem to exemplify the "its the country, we go slower here" mentality. Forget that Brandon touts itself as a city, they seem to take pride in being slow slow slow. Having said that, most staff we met were friendly, especially the housekeeping staff. Rooms were very clean. Check in was slow, but accurate, as was check out. The rooms were a reasonable size with bathrooms fairly big and well laid out. One of the biggest problems at this hotel was breakfast. The on site restaurant (Aaltos) had few wait staff and long line ups ensued to get a table. The host repeatedly told people there were no tables when it was clear there were plenty. TIP: Just walk in, seat yourself then go right over to the buffet. It is hard to not serve you once you have been eating for a few minutes already! This is what some people in our group eventually did. Another problem: restaurant does not open until 7am, so if you have pre conference meetings, as we did, make sure your group has pre ordered breakfast from the conference or hotel. It may just be coffee and muffins but better than nothing. Finally this hotel is attached to the Keystone centre: this is where there are agricultural fairs and other such events. If you are at this hotel because of an event at the Keystone centre, there is indoor access, however be prepared to be overwhelmed by the smell as you walk through...you are left in no doubt many farm animals were recently in the vicinity!