I stay here a few nights a month and have been doing so for the last 3 years.

The good - The BREAKFAST Buffet is is great !, The dinner buffet is ok, but too $$. The rest of the menu is good. Service in the restaurant/bar is very good.

The hotel is much better since the renovations have been completed - they even have an ice machine that works now !

The Bad - if you dont get a room on the third floor - the rooms arent very good. The water pressure throughout the hotel is terrible, It used to be much better before they turned the pressure down. Nothings worse than working 12-15 hours in the cold and you cant get a decent shower - makes it even worse when you think about paying $200-250 a night !!

I have stayed at a number of other hotels in the area and have a few others that I would rather stay at.

I have been spending 1 week a month in Fort Mac for the past 4 years. I have literally stayed at every hotel up there.
For the price, the Sawridge is the Best. You get an unreal free breakfast buffet. No other hotels every comes close. The rooms are outdated, there is a problem with water pressure in the showers, the pool is not the greatest.
But when you consider how hard it is to staff a hotel wear the average person makes $80,000 a year, the staff are trained very well here. Other hotels they are not.
Other places are newer, have nicer beds and blankets. But the service at sawridge cant be beat and the free breakfast is great.
They have a $30 buffet dinner that is always awesome. No other hotel in town has the same level of food.
Thats why the sawridge is always packed even though other places are newer and nicer. Also, other hotels gear towards alot of crews, which can be loud. The sawridge has alot of bussines clients stay there. So the atmosphere is a little better.
I always stay here now when I go to fort mac.

Staff are friendly and helpful at this property, food at the Grill is good overall (BIG portions but straight-forward food - you know what you'll get).

Not necessarily a hotel with feminine touches or that caters to female travellers but not necessarily expected in this location. The deadbolt lock on my door was broken, although they did have a chain lock. There are also key card locks for each wing, but people frequently leave the doors open so this isn't a great security feature. Parking can be a bit of an issue. They have a huge lot but it always seems to be full so you often have to park far from the building and the lot is unlit.

Lobby and public areas are warm and look like they have been upgraded in the last 5-8 years. They offered complimentary cookies and juice/water at afternoon check-in.

The rooms are another story. Although clean, the decor is very dated, bedding is old-style (no duvets here), etc. Not sure the thermostat in my room worked very well, it was cold and there were no additonal blankets or pillows. Luckily I had a two-bed room so grabbed the blanket off the other bed. It was nearly impossible to set the temperature on the shower (hot, then cold, cold then hot...).

Fort McMurray is ridiculously expensive, and this is a mid priced (by local standards) hotel. The lobby and public areas are very nice. We stayed here for two nights, and enjoyed a hot buffet breakfast each morning.