I stay at the Hotel Arts when I am in Calgary on business as it is a great location and overall a really great hotel. The restaurants are phenomenal - I seriously cannot get enough of the pastries at the Yellow Door restaurant, and the cocktails at Raw Bar are amazing!
Price wise it is really great- around the $160 a night mark. For the location in downtown YYC, that can't be beat. You will often find a lot of business travelers there during the week- so you can't leave your reservation for the last minute (as I have discovered the hard way). Though be warned, when Stampede is in town prices will skyrocket- though its the same with every other hotel in the city, so you can't be too surprised
I have two really big frustrations that make this a 3 star review instead of a 5 star. First, I hate the pillows!! They are too soft that I actually strained my neck the last time I was there and couldn't move it for a few days. I started bringing my own pillow, but forgot on my last trip. I thought I could make out OK, but clearly I was wrong. If they would add a service where you can request a harder pillow at the time of booking this would definitely bump it up to a 4 star review.
The last thing is that wifi isn't free! I understand that since they mostly have business travelers who expense their stay that they can make money off wifi, but COME ON. The motel 6's and 8's all have free internet and you guys can't comp that? My company won't pay for my wifi, because they don't want me to work outside of work hours. So anything I would want to do personally I would have to pay for out of my own pocket.
Two simple changes would make me rate this hotel at 5 stars. I still really like it, and will continue to stay there- but I guess I will spend more time at the Starbucks across the street using their wifi than eating at the hotel itself.