We stayed at the hostel in Lake Louise for 4 nights while skiing in Canada. We had a private double room (shared bathroom), which was not cheap (about $110 per night). The room was very basic and functional. Nowhere to unpack our stuff so we had to live out of our case. I know its a hostel and we weren't expecting luxery but it was more basic than I expected.
The other disappointment was that the hostel advertised activities every night. This was one of the reasons we thought it would be a good place to stay. But in the 4 nights we were there, no activites were organised.
On the plus side, the staff in the hostel are so friendly and helpful. There is a good lounge, TV room and Bill Peytos cafe is a great place for breakfast and dinner. There are also facilities like internet and a laundry room.
I would recommend the hostel to single travellers, as dorm beds are not expensive and it is quite sociable. However, I won't stay there again. I much prefer a B&B where rooms are more comfortable, usuallly cheaper and you get a great breakfast included.

A friend and I stayed at the Lake Louise hostel for two nights in February 2008. We paid $100 CAD for a twin room with a shared bathroom. Terrible value.

When we checked in, one of the other guests overheard the room number being assigned to us, and told us to make sure we were quiet as we were right on top of him. We were lucky to have a room on the top floor, because it seemed from the construction of the building that rooms on lower floors could hear everything on top of them.

Our room temperature was 11ºC inside. We asked for extra blankets, but the employee at the desk told us to come back later, when the night shift started (which was past our intended bed time). I spent the night huddled under my parka, while my friend wore her tuque to bed. I got home with a severe cough and cold that kept me in bed for two days.

The toilet in the shared bathroom was incapable of flushing down the most basic of things and a sign posted in the bathroom blamed this problem on the altitude. I have never had a problem flushing other toilets in the Rockies.

As for the rooms, they were filthy. The hostel needs to do some serious vacuuming and dusting.

I would not recommend this hostel to anyone. If you are on a budget, stay in a cheap hotel in Banff.

HI Lake Louise is a pleasure to arrive in. It looks like a log cabin outside and feels that way inside too.

The common room is a large loft with comfy couches, a pool table and tables near outlets for laptop users--free wireless is included. The room we got was a private dorm for 3 people, and it was amazing! One of us was on a mezzanine level accessed by a ladder' it was like a different apartment up there, double bed and all!

We had a bathroom which was shared with the room next door and the shower rooms were spotlessly clean and plentiful--no waiting and loads of space for clothes and washbags.

The kitchen was massive, lots of benches and tables and lots of cooking stations with hobs, ovens, plenty of coking equipment. Activities are great too! I can't say enough good things about it--best hostel I ever stayed in.

Only small downside was the scatty girl at the front desk who boked us in for the wrong date and then charged the credit card we used to hold it although we requested to pay cash. She also quoted us the wrong price for the room. Manageress was very nice about it, responded to our email immediately and refunded the difference.

STAY HERE! You'll realy like it!

Upon arrival the staff were not prepared for us. Rooms were jumbled up with half our group finding their allocated rooms occupied, electronic keys didn’t work (ongoing issue) and it was 12 midnight. This large group booking (nearly 20) had been planned and confirmed for several months.

We had 60 year olds expected to climb high loft ladders to get to their bunks but the hostel did eventually accommodate a change of room for 5 of our group 2 days into our 4 day stay, although the rooms were clean and comfortable and it was also an attractive, well appointed accommodation, in a beautiful setting.

There were however, several food thefts from the main kitchen. When reported there was total disinterest by the staff, as well as denial that any thefts occur at this hostel, in fact there was also defensive behaviour by one member of staff and a point blank refusal to even put up a sign to warn other residents that theft was occurring or a sign threatening prosecution of the thief when caught (as in other hostels). The staff recommendation was to store our food in our rooms which was against hostel rules due to risk of bear attack and would not deal with cold storage.

I have not yet received the promised communication from the manageress either - I guess you get what you pay for!