Sandman Signature Downtown Edmonton

Recently, a friend and I decided to visit Edmonton over Halloween weekend to attend Scream Music Festival.  Since my friend had to work weekdays, we could only attend the event Saturday night and leave Edmonton the very next day.  That means we only needed a hotel for the 1 night and did not an accessible hotel room with a roll in shower.

The Hotel

the double doors to the lobby did not have any automatic doors or any wheelchair door button

I decided to book the Sandman Signature Downtown Edmonton since I had a family and friends discount for the booking.  Once we arrived, we noticed there was no wheelchair button for the double doors to the hotel lobby.  This hotel has 313 rooms on 26 floors and the front desk area looked really nice with a chandelier in the middle of the lobby.

nice lobby

The hotel is actually connected to MNP Tower and that building actually has a wheelchair button on the door.  The parkade is also in the basement of this tower and costs $25 per night.  We had to park there since the hotel does not have their own parking lot.  The doors to the parkade did not have a wheelchair button either and was a pain to get through the tight double doors to get to the hotel.

there was one accessible parking spot by the building doors

Room

spacious room

When we checked in, we were told that if we wanted an accessible room with a roll in shower, it would only come with 1 king bed instead of 2 queen beds.  We chose a regular room since I did not need to shower so that we could get our own beds.  The room still had enough room for my wheelchair to get around.  There was the usual TV, dresser, coffee maker, microwave and dressers.  The bed was quite comfortable and was a great height for my friend to transfer me to the bed.

another view of the room

I knew the bathroom did not have a roll in shower but was really surprised my manual wheelchair could not even get through the bathroom door.  I needed to get to the toilet to have my leg bag emptied but have to do it on the main floor in the restaurant.

we didn’t choose a room with a roll in shower so we could get our own beds since I did not need to shower staying the 1 night

Amenities

view of Chop Steakhouse from the second floor dining area

This hotel has a few great amenities that includes a business center, free WIFI, a fitness center, an on-site restaurant, Chop Steakhouse, parking, and a few meeting rooms.  We had a delicious prime rib dinner and some great happy hour appetizers at Chop Steakhouse and did use the one wheelchair parking spot at the attached covered parking lot at MNP Tower.

amazing prime rib dinner from Chop

Pool

There is both an indoor pool and hot tub at the indoor rooftop area.  Unfortunately there is no elevator to this level as it can only be accessed using stairs.  Even though we did not want to use the pool or hot tub this visit, that could be a deciding factor for other disabled guests who wish to use the facilities on their visit.

Location

The address to this hotel is 10235 101 street NW.  Since we arrived to the hotel late afternoon and had plans to go to Scream almost right away and will leave at the noon checkout time, we did not have any time to explore the area.  It is located in the ICE District and is only a 5 minute walk to Rogers Arena where the Edmonton Oilers play and many concerts and trade shows occur.

The MNP Tower & Parkade is attached to the hotel

There is many shops, restaurants and other hotels surrounding the area too.  It is also very close to City Hall and the Art Gallery of Alberta.  If we had more time, we could definitely keep busy and not even have to leave the surrounding area.

Final Thoughts

I did like the Sandman Signature Edmonton Downtown Hotel and am a bit shocked they did not have a wheelchair button for the double doors to the front lobby.  The button doors are located in the building next to the hotel but can be only accessed during certain hours.  I didn’t get to see what a roll in shower room would look like but would book this hotel again to review that room and because I really like the location of the hotel.  Being in the ICE District and so close to Rogers Arena is a huge bonus.