Hotel – Fairmont Chateau Whistler

During a trip to Canada I planned to drive from Calgary to Vancouver (7-25 Oct. 2026), stopping in several different Fairmont Hotels on the way, namely Calgary, Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, Whistler, and Vancouver.

The Fairmont name itself originated in the United States, with the Fairmont San Francisco, which opened in 1907. In 1999, Canadian Pacific Hotels acquired a controlling interest in Fairmont Hotels, and in 2001 the combined hotel business adopted the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts name. It subsequently became independent of Canadian Pacific.

Ownership changed again in 2006, when the business was acquired by investors led by Colony Capital and Kingdom Hotels International, associated with Saudi Arabian investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Fairmont was combined with Raffles and Swissôtel under Fairmont Raffles Hotels International. In July 2016, the French hotel group Accor acquired the business, bringing all three brands into its international portfolio. Fairmont remains part of Accor today, although individual hotel buildings can have separate property owners.

The Fairmont Chateau Whistler

The Fairmont Chateau Whistler is a resort hotel situated in Whistler’s Upper Village, at the foot of Blackcomb Mountain, approximately 120 km north of Vancouver. It opened in November 1989, originally as the Chateau Whistler Resort, and was developed by Canadian Pacific Hotels as part of the rapid expansion of Whistler into an international skiing and year-round holiday destination. Although its architecture resembles Canada’s grand railway hotels of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the building itself is comparatively modern.

The project originated in 1987, when Intrawest was developing approximately 103 hectares (254 acres) of land at the base of Blackcomb Mountain, an area known as the Benchlands. Canadian Pacific Hotels planned a major luxury hotel with a budget of approximately C$50 million.

The building was designed with steeply pitched roofs, turrets and monumental proportions deliberately recall the Châteauesque architecture associated with Canadian Pacific’s historic railway hotels.

The original building contained approximately 350 guest rooms. Today the hotel advertises 519 rooms and suites, and between 2020 and 2022, almost all of the guestrooms were renovated.

The Chateau was conceived as a complete resort rather than simply a hotel serving skiers. Its facilities include indoor and outdoor heated swimming pools, a spa, restaurants, lounges, retail premises and substantial conference accommodation. It also has a 18-hole championship golf course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr.

Bedroom

I arrived a little early, and had to wait about 40 minutes to get my key. But I must admit I was impressed. Beautiful room, spacious, looked perfect. The sheets were great, and the bed was comfortable (maybe a touch soft for me). Love the headboard, and the decoration was spot-on.

Bathroom

Spacious bathroom, with a separate bath, great shower, and great towels.

A View, but...

Fantastic view from the 9th floor. We can see the winter ski lifts, the mini-golf (closed), and the heated outside pools.

But, they could do a little bit more for the dust in the room… OK, the sunlight was unhelpful, but still…

Food

I stayed with the deli on the ground floor, and started with something called “Perfectly Perfect Porchetta” with porchetta, chimichurri aioli, grilled baguette, all for C$23. The taste was there, but the aioli was too tame, and I left all the bread.