A Banff landmark has a new lease of life. Rimrock Banff, perched on the mountainside above the Bow Valley inside Banff National Park, has reopened as the second property in Accor's Emblems Collection — and its first in North America. The collection debuted at Lucknam Park Hotel & Spa in the English countryside, and for opening number two it picked another established name rather than building from scratch.
The resort keeps its original structure but has been extensively reimagined around one idea: the view. Its terraced architecture steps down toward the Bow Valley, and inside, beds, seating and quiet corners are all angled at the Canadian Rockies. Interiors lean on local materials — warm wood, natural stone, tactile textiles — for a residential feel rather than a glossy hotel lobby vibe.
There are 320 rooms, including 57 suites. The top pick is the Infinity Two-Bedroom Suite, which opens onto a wraparound terrace of more than 1,260 square feet equipped with a barrel sauna, a fire table and panoramic park views. Wellness Studio suites cater to recovery-minded guests with movement amenities, wellness minibars, sleep-focused details and access to the resort's gear-lending Expeditions programme.
The headline addition is the 9,600-square-foot Bathhouse, billed as Banff's first luxury hydrothermal spa. It pairs indoor and outdoor thermal zones: vitality and hot pools, a mountain-facing infinity pool, a salt sauna, an aromatic steam room and glacial cold plunges. A suspended meditation room and an Aurora sensory room round out the quieter end of the offering. Beyond the spa, the resort promises more than 50 seasonal activities, making it a year-round base rather than a ski-season-only play.
Location does a lot of the heavy lifting. The resort sits within Banff National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, surrounded by over 2,500 square miles of protected wilderness, yet it's elevated above the town of Banff, so you get the alpine scenery without being in the thick of the crowds. CEO Maud Bailly framed the property as an expression of the Emblems philosophy — established hotels with their own character, tied closely to their destination — and general manager David Garcelon said the redesign aimed to make the resort feel inseparable from the landscape.
For travellers, this adds a polished luxury option to a park already famous for hot springs, turquoise lakes and the Icefields Parkway. If a thermal circuit with a view sounds like your kind of apres-hike, this is now one of the strongest reasons to book Banff outside the usual ski rush — summer hiking season and autumn larch season both pair beautifully with a cold plunge.
Story via Hotel Designs.
