Krystal W Sak

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| map-marker Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Early morning wake up by employees when checkout isn't until 11:00

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This past weekend we visited Yellowstone National Park for our tenth year wedding anniversary. On Saturday night we splurged on a room at Lake Yellowstone Hotel.

Reservation number 1706****. Additionally we booked horseback riding and a fishing charter. The activities were wonderful. Where our visit fell SHORT was our stay at the hotel.

Check in was fine.

The young man was very kind. The bellhop people were not. We were not allowed to borrow a luggage cart for moving our luggage and they did not offer to assist us in bringing in the luggage either. So after two trips to the car we finally arrived at our room.

Imagine my surprise when we found that we had a PARKING LOT VIEW to the tune of $557.98 for the night!

The price we were charged was the price of a LAKE view. We didn't complain about that since it wasn't the hotel that actually booked our reservation. It's still not right. The base price before fees was $489.

That was your PUBLISHED price for a LAKE VIEW room.

The room was very clean and actually much nicer than I had expected for a national park. However the lady that I had spoken to on the phone to make the reservation several months ago was not clear that the hotel did not have air conditioning. She made it clear that the lodge and the cabins didn't have air but I don't recall her giving a straight answer about the the hotel itself. I'm not sure I would have paid the price had I known that there was no air conditioning.

Fortunately there was a fan and once the sun went down it was perfectly comfortable. As feedback - it would have been far more comfortable if the windows had been able to be raised higher than three inches. We understand that safety measures but if the upper windows could have been lowered, the safety measures would still be in place and more air could have moved through the room. Additionally the transoms above the doors were non working.

Our family home was built in 1911. So we understand old buildings. If the transoms could have been opened, that probably would have made the most difference in moving air.

All of the critiques above are just feedback. The purpose of this letter is really to bring attention to the manner in which the hotel and services are run there.

Checkout time is 11:00 a.m.

Saturday had been a full day of sightseeing, hiking and horseback riding. By the time we went to bed we were exhausted. We had a fishing charter scheduled for 10:30 in the morning and planned to wake at 9 or so, to allow time for breakfast and travel to the marina. At 0800, one of the hotel employees woke us by knocking on our door to see if we had departed!

AT 0800!!! We were just dozing off when at 0815 another hotel employee knocked on our door to see if we had departed!!! FIFTEEN minutes between the two knocks! CHECKOUT WAS AT 1100!!!

Do the hotel employees NOT communicate? Did one employee NOT tell the other that we hadn't left yet? Perhaps YOUR employees knock every fifteen minutes starting at 0800 to run hotel guests off BEFORE checkout!?!?!?! Regardless it was a RUDE way to start our Sunday and an even RUDER way to end a > than $500/night stay!

We finally gave up and went downstairs for breakfast.

When I made the hotel reservations over the phone the lady helped me to make dinner reservations. When I asked about breakfast I was told it was buffet. Good enough I thought. Buffets are easy in/easy out.

We arrived at the dining room and asked about a table. The restaurant was clearly not full and about 1/3 of the tables unoccupied! We were met by a borderline rude hostess who curtly reminded us that a reservation is preferable and that we would have a 45 minute wait!

At that point, we decided to go to the coffee shop on site. The young men staffing the coffee shop were clearly working hard but it was more clear that they were absolutely clueless on how to be efficient.

They were all talking and problem solving together - which is applaudable but it literally left us waiting over 20 minutes as the SECOND people in line. One was stocking the sandwich case; two were trying to make a coffee; there were others in the back kitchen doing whatever they were doing. After 20 minutes of them NOT taking our order, we gave up and went to checkout. We were the SECOND couple in line!

TWENTY MINUTES wait to NOT have our order taken!

At checkout, we asked the same young man who checked us in about the knocks on the door. His answer was that guests will sometimes leave and not checkout, so the staff has to knock on the doors. He had absolutely NO good answer as to why this occurs at 0800 in the morning followed by ANOTHER knock fifteen minutes later. He also had no answer as to what would have happened if we had tried to go back to sleep after the second knock.

By this time I was so upset that we asked to speak to the manager. If the woman we spoke to was the manager then she has a LOT of learning to do. She looked extremely young and also had ZERO answers to why we were awaken by TWO different employees that morning. Her answer?

Same as the young man's: "I'm sorry."

Please allow me to express my utmost displeasure and anger over spending OVER $500 a night to be treated like a motel guest. I would expect this type of treatment from a Days Inn or Motel 8 but I do NOT stay at those establishments. We also do not normally spend $500 a night for a hotel because it's a stretch for our budget. However, it was our ten year anniversary, so we splurged.

You have a duty to ensure that this does NOT happen to other guests that stay at the Lake Hotel or ANY hotel for that reason! I want feedback that this has been addressed!

View full review
Loss:
$558
Pros:
  • Beautiful old hotel with well appointed rooms
  • Lake views from the lake side are stunning
Cons:
  • Inexperienced staff
  • Buffet is apparently reservation only
  • Young

Preferred solution: Refund, price reduction, ANYTHING other than another "I'm sorry." accompanied by a lame excuse about guests leaving the rooms early without checking out. Seems to me the knocks on the door wouldn't happen then until AFTER checkout time NOT before!

User's recommendation: Put your DO NOT DISTURB sign on your door *** before going to bed AND plan ahead for your own breakfast

2 comments
Guest

Stay at home if you cannot afford things.

Shandy Gbr

You are asking for a lot of free stuff... You should be ashamed of yourself.

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