The Explorer Hotel

The location and view is good. Almost every tours can pick up here. There’s a microwave in the room. There are shuttle services which helps a lot to link international travelers. I took the earliest flight at Yellowknife at 05:20, it’s catchable by taking the first shuttle bus at 03:30. Don’t need to worry about.

Pretty decent hotel as the selection in Yellowknife is rather limited.

I arrived when Yellowknife had a blackout. The bags were brought into the airport one by one. I went outside to see the hotel shuttle bus pulling out and drive right past me. I had to wait 30 minutes for its return, with me being the only passenger. The hotel had no power and I was told by reception that people can go up the lift but it is not guaranteed that you wouldn’t get stuck in it. Really had no choice as 7 floors is a lot of steps. The room was very hot, so I went do to the foyer. However, you could not get anything as their eftpos was not working. All places downtown were shut. So nowhere to eat or drink. The power came back on after 11pm. It was not a great start. The rooms were roomy and the king bed was comfy but the bathroom was incredibly small. First time I have seen a shower where you pull the bath faucet down to change the water flow to the shower. It took a while and google to sort this out. The coffee machine was ok. The hotel window was dirty and spoiled the great view. I liked that the room had a microwave and bar fridge. The staff were staff, nothing stood out as exceptional service. There is no porter service or doorman, so no help with luggage or doors. The lobby was ok but taken over by a theatre group the first afternoon, so not a lot of seating. Remember this is touted as a 4 star hotel, but the service doesn’t match. Housekeeping is only done in the morning, if you want to sleep in, after getting back after 2am from Aurora tours, you will miss out. There is no free water or water stations. A bottle of water costs $5. There are many vending machines. Overall, I found this hotel average.

Wonderful stay! The place was very nice, clean, friendly staff, great food! We had an amazing Aurora experience! The only thing was getting accustomed to the cold temperatures of Yellowknife. However, the Aurora came out spectacularly every evening, making it all worthwhile!