Kathryn B.
Yelp
Check-in was a complete debacle. We arrived after a long and stressful drive from Flagstaff shortly after 3:30 PM; check-in time is 4:00. Our room wasn't ready until well after 5:00 PM.
Meanwhile, many other guests were in the lobby waiting for their rooms which also were not ready. Our luggage had been put into the hotel's luggage vault but, as more and more guests arrived, the vault filled up and luggage was accumulating in the Lobby. The issue was resolved eventually but the underlying cause was not enough help in Housekeeping.
Mark was the only Valet / Bellman working when we arrived Saturday at 3:30 PM. Saturday. In July. At check-in time. Mark is awesome, friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and works his tail off.
At 4:30, I went to the Level 5 Bar. I wanted to pay cash for a drink but Ariana hadn't yet set up her cash drawer. She suggested I charge the drink to my room. As I had not yet been able to check-in, I didn't have a room number to which to charge a drink. We agreed to put my drink on a credit card but, when asked to sign the charge receipt, I found that Ariana's pen didn't work. I ended up paying cash, "Keep the change."
Want breakfast? Not available! You must either leave the hotel or order room service. Which leads to an incestuous arrangement. The Sawmill Market, directly across the street from the hotel, opens at 8:00 AM. There are several places inside the Market where you can get breakfast. Guess who owns the Sawmill Market? The Heritage Group, which owns Hotel Chaco.
There are no clocks in the room. No way to know the time; no way to set an alarm clock.
There were no robes in our room and no turndown service.
None of the bars open until 4:00. The bars don't open at all on Mondays and Tuesdays!
We initially thought there was a refrigerator in our room but it isn't very cold. I asked the Front Desk to have Dan the Maintenance Man stop by to see if he could make it colder. I was told that they are not 'refrigerators,' they are 'coolers,' intended to keep stuff from getting hot; they are not intended to keep things cold.
There is one restaurant inside the hotel, Level 5. Because we had been in the car all day, the last thing we wanted to do was get back into the car, so we ate at Level 5. We hadn't made a reservation; the only available seating was outside on the roof where the wind blew hard and constantly. In my opinion, the restaurant is over-priced (the Chicken Breast is $40) and the menu is pretentious.
Neither the Front Desk nor the Valet line answer promptly when we called to have our car brought around. It took several attempts to get an answer - more than once.
On the plus side:
I have never had a cleaner hotel room, thanks to Housekeeping Manager Valeen. And the bed, oh the bed. The sheets are white white and look as if they'd been ironed! The mattress, however, is beginning to break down in the center.
The bathroom is stocked with lots of towels; and the bath towels are large. They are not dingy. They look and feel clean. The water gets hot. The shower is nice. A dim bathroom light stays on all night. There is a magnified lighted make-up mirror.
Our safe wasn't working but the Maintenance man arrived promptly and quickly resolved the issue.
The lighting in the room is more than adequate. As a traveler with bad knees, I appreciate the height of the toilet.
This room has wood floors which, to me, is great. Carpeting in hotel rooms is just gross; you can never tell if it's actually clean.
Huge shout-out to Shamise at the Front Desk. As 5:00 was approaching and our room still wasn't ready, she came into the bar and told Billy to comp us a round of drinks. She apologized so sincerely, without making excuses, that she managed to turn our frowns upside down.
Valeen also came into the bar, introduced herself and apologized for the rooms not being ready in time, also without making excuses. The room was so clean, it was worth the wait.
The GM Liz seems to sincerely want guest feedback.
The Lobby is lovely. It's nice to walk inside a hotel and not feel as if you've been in this same lobby hundreds of times. The design and décor throughout the hotel are unique, beautiful and honor the local heritage of the Chaco culture. Same is true of the room.
Checkout was uneventful and the invoice was accurate.
I think Hotel Chaco has potential. Hopefully, the issues are primarily driven by hiring challenges related to the pandemic and will eventually be resolved so that service and amenities will be as good as the design and decor.