Illya F.
Yelp
Madness, Covid, Threats and Grief.
I am a frequent traveler, with overnight travel most every month.
When I booked my 1-night stay at the Sky Ranch Lodge I was hoping for some peace, quiet and rejuvenation. Instead what I received was madness, threats, probable exposure to Covid, and grief.
Sky Ranch Lodge represents the worst America has to offer. The quality is somewhere below the level of Motel 6. It's located high atop a mesa (and right next to the Sedona Airport!) and is the single worst night I've spent in ANY hotel in more than 45 years.
The reason the stay was so terrible is simple- the lodge is too cheap to pay for any STAFF to be present after 7:00 PM. They do offer a phone number to call in case of problem or emergency, but if no one answers the phone, or returns calls, that is a real issue and safety concern.
A raucous wedding party had booked out several rooms of the lodge, including one right next to mine. Despite asking them nicely and repeatedly to please either keep the loud noise, drug use, and live music to a minimum or move to one of the other rooms that party occupied, my polite requests were ignored.
I had two young children in my room trying to sleep, but the wedding party kept up the noise, drugs, and music until after 4:00 AM.
There were several vacancies at the property. I attempted to contact the management a dozen time to PLEASE change our room. But no staff would answer the phone or return any of my calls.
When staff did return the following morning they had no answers as to why their 24-hour emergency line was not answered by anyone. There was also no offer to make amends, and they did not care about my experience. When I asked to speak to management, I was told that the people at the desk "were the only people available."
When I refused to leave without speaking to someone in charge, a woman in her mid 60s or possibly early 70s with dyed blond hair, and a bad attitude appeared. For the purposes of this review, let's call her Karen.
I failed to mention that during my stay it was the absolute height of the pandemic, and when "Karen" emerged from a back room she marched around the desk and got within an inch of my face. Naturally, Karen was maskless, and she seemed to take great snarly joy in spraying my face with saliva as she yelled at me to "get off the property, or I am calling the police."
Every time I tried to speak, she yelled louder- "get off the property or I am calling the police." So I did just that.
I failed to mention the rest of the staff wore masks under their chins, and from what I overheard of their conversations they also were squarely in the anti-vax camp. As far as they were concerned, social distancing was "stupid" and I was contemptible because I was wearing a mask.
The business model of the Sky Ranch is quite clear. It's about selling expensive wedding packages. It's really not about serving any non-wedding guest. In the morning I met several other people also unlucky enough to have stayed the night. 2 of whom informed me that they would never be staying at that lodge again. They also had called the "emergency" phone without a response.
One other guest told me about the surprise they received at 6:30 AM, construction workers right outside their window. The workers were using hammers and power tools. When they asked the workers to stop, the workers told them "If we stop working we won't get paid."
Yes there is a nice view, but you can get exact same view for free from a vista point, 50' before the driveway of the lodge.
Given the option I would choose sleeping in a Wal-Mart parking lot instead of spending another night at Sky Ranch Lodge.
