I have stayed here 3 times, when I have been unable to get reservations at my prefered hotel. It is overpriced, but so is everything in GP! They are constantly building hotels in this city, and they are constantly booked solid, so they can charge what they like. The location is good as it it easy go pretty much anywhere from the hotel. There is an Earl's and a Shark Club right next door, both have good food. There is a Denny's in the building, but it is not open 24 hrs, and neither the food nor the service is good. The staff at the hotel is very good, friendly, fast and efficient. I find the building to be a bit noisy, and the rooms are not overly spacious. But it is well kept. There seems to be a shortage of parking, due I think to there being 3 restaurants so close.

It did not have the frills of the other place I stayed in GP, i.e., pool, super large conference rooms, etc.. But then again, I did not need those. My only complaint would be that the wireless internet was slow at times. But if it got too slow, I would just go down to the business center and use the wired connection there. Very good location as it is about as downtown as downtown gets in GP. There is a Denny's connected to the hotel (but independently run) that was nice for when I wanted to grab a bite to eat and did not want to brave the cold. Like all hotels in GP, a little pricey, but I got a good deal via one of the one line booking sites.

Grande Prairie shows many of the problems associated with excessive economic growth. One of these is a shortage of hotel rooms allows hotels to charge exorbitant rates, with a night in the Grande Prairie
Holiday Inn costing almost twice as much as a night at the Edmonton Westin. This problem may be accentuated by the near-monopoly in hotels enjoyed by the local Pomeroy Group, which owns & operates local hotels both in its own name and using many well-known franchises, including Holiday Inn.

The Sandman Hotel is one of the few hotels in town not owned by the Pomeroy Group, and perhaps coincidentally offers rates substantially lower than equivalent Pomeroy Group hotels. Avoid the rack rates; Corporate and ‘Over 55’ rates are particularly good.

The hotel itself is a large, modern building on the edge of the town centre, backing onto a railway line. Guests at the rear of the hotel had better be railway enthusiasts as they will be woken by the train that makes its way noisily across town in the early hours of the morning. Many Alberta towns (Canmore, for example) have local laws that prohibit trains using their horns in the early hours, but in Grande Prairie such restrictions are apparently only for cissies.

Rooms in the hotel are entirely adequate, with the exception of the air conditioning units, which are unable to cope even on moderately warm days.

The hotel’s ‘Deny’s’ restaurant exhibits another of the problems afflicting Grade Prairie. There is a chronic labour shortage in town (even petrol pumps flash up messages offering users a job), and employers have great difficulty both recruiting and retaining staff, yet alone suitable staff. Because of these problems this is the only ‘Deny’s’ restaurant in North America that is not open twenty-four hours a day, and the service is terrible, as it is in most shops & restaurants in Grande Prairie.

While being transferred to GP, we had to wait for our furniture to arrive. So we booked a stay at the Sandman in Grande Prairie.

We had an executive Queen room, which was spacious, with a kitchenette, sitting / living room and seperate bedroom.

The room was clean and very nice. The only drawback was it was located directly above the laundry room. The heat generated downstairs by the commercial washers and dryers was intense to say the least. The temperature in our room was almost 35C by midafternoon.

The air conditioner had died prior to our arrival, so the front desk switched us to a different room.

All in all, it was a good stay. The room was reasonably priced, clean, well furnished and the room layout was very appealing.

It was not a perfect trip, but the staff corrected every bump in the road once it was brought to their attention.

Corporate rates are available, don't forget to ask the Front Desk Manager as she can give better deals than the clerks.