Wendy L.
Yelp
I was a bridesmaid in a wedding in Sun Valley, and the bride's family generously put me and all of the other bridesmaids up at the condos at the Sun Valley Resort. When you walk into the lodge, it feels like a real lodge - lots of dark wood, old school carpeting and upholstery but everything was very nice. There is even a year-round ice skating rink (apparently Nancy Kerrigan was skating on the fourth of July) which you can see from the Terrace. (But there's also no air conditioning in the lobby.)
We stayed in the condo/apartments on the property, and our three-bedroom apartment was gorgeous and recently renovated. The living room is huge with two large couches and plenty of armchairs and seats and has high ceilings with floor to ceiling windows. The living room opens up on to a relatively large patio that overlooks the Sun Valley property. The living room (and all of the bedrooms) had a flat-screen TV and gaming devices (don't ask me what kind - I don't play video games). The kitchen has granite counter tops and a sub-zero fridge which would (theoretically) be great for entertaining (we didn't use anything in the kitchen). Each bedroom has its own bathroom which was a huge (and welcome) surprise for the bridesmaids since bathroom time is usually the operational bottleneck in getting ready. The bed was comfy, and our room even had an armchair and ottoman; the bathrooms were roomy with lots of counter space (which most hotel rooms don't have!). The only complaint about the condo was that it didn't have air-conditioning which I would imagine isn't a big problem in the winter, but when it's ~100 degrees outside (no joke), it can be hot. With all of the ceiling fans going on and windows open, it cools down but really only at night. Overall, the accommodations were lovely and over the top.
The service we encountered at the front desk was pretty mediocre. We checked in on the day of the rehearsal dinner, and we were hoping to get into our rooms on the early side. We arrived at the resort at 11 a.m. for brunch at Gretchen's and tried to get into our rooms then; check-out wasn't until 11 a.m., but they said they would get the rooms ready as quickly as possible. We checked back again after brunch at about 2 p.m., and the rooms still weren't ready, but they said they would get housekeeping over to the rooms. We didn't realize that check-in wasn't until 4 p.m. which is probably one of the latest check-in times I've ever heard of. We checked back at 2:45 p.m. and found that housekeeping still wasn't cleaning our room yet; I realize that check-in isn't until 4 p.m., and I shouldn't expect to get into the room early, but I wish they hadn't kept telling us that it would be ready early. They offered to let us change in the locker room, and as we finally got all of our stuff together to get ready in the locker room, they told us our room was ready. I'm glad they did get us into our rooms 30 minutes early, and the bell boys were great in storing our stuff and getting us over to our rooms quickly. The bell boys will take you and your luggage over to your room (since the property is pretty large and much of it is only accessible from walking paths); the bell boys were really courteous, friendly and helpful. The staff at the front desk was really confused when I called for a late check-out; apparently, I'm not as good at getting things done as my friend is because I couldn't get us a late check-out ("Could I get a late check-out?" "I can't do that for you, ma'am." "You can't do that for me or can nobody do that for me?" "Nobody can do that for you."), but she was able to secure us a late check-out after a very long conversation with the front desk, walking them through the process.
The locker room facilities were great - nice big lockers to store stuff, a private changing room within the locker room, and it was all very clean. I didn't check out the sauna, but the pool was pretty, large and circular with lots of lounge chairs and umbrellas. The lounge chairs are light and very mobile (with wheels on one side) which made it easy for me to move my chair into the shade.
The Sun Valley Resort doesn't have much to worry about. They have an almost monopoly (or complete monopoly?) over all of Sun Valley, so they don't have to provide the best service because they are the only game in town. Especially because the bride's parents had spent a lot of money with the company, I would have expected stellar and over-the-top service. But everything went well and according to plan, so while there were a few annoying moments, overall, I had a great experience at the lodge. I was less than impressed with the services but the facilities were amazing.
P.S. No room service to the condos. But on a positive note, free wifi throughout the lodge and the condos (not sure about the other parts of the property)!