Alpine Country Motel

After an eight-hour drive, this was a pretty awful room to walk into, especially with another nine hours on the road the next day. The shower entrance was also very narrow between the doors, which would be difficult for anyone who isn’t slim or can’t twist and contort their body. The room clearly hadn’t been cleaned. There were split red pill capsules, opened noodle sauce packets and cigarettes ripped in half on and inside the drawers. The sheets had recent stains, food, dog hair and string on them, and the spare blanket was dirty and covered in dog hair. Dog food was scattered under the bed, by the door and in the bathroom. Dust covered the surfaces and floor, and the bathroom mirror and floor were dirty too. We tried calling the number we’d been given and got no answer. We later found out it was written down incorrectly. The room had been left unlocked, with the key inside, when we checked in down the road at the service station. We returned the key there in the morning and explained what had happened. I was asked to send photos and bank details, and I also contacted them through the booking.com app. Two hours after I’d sent the photos, they asked me to send photos. I said I already had and asked them to confirm they’d received them, but haven’t heard anything since. Not impressed.

We booked the “deluxe queen room,” but while the bed was queen-sized, the doonas were double-sized and barely covered both of us unless we were practically lying on top of each other. The bed also looked as if someone had slept in it before my partner and me arrived. The room was a mess, with dog food scattered around, pills lying about, opened noodle packets and half a cigarette in a drawer. The door was unlocked and the key had been left inside. At checkout there were no instructions about the room or where to leave the key, so we took it back to the place where we’d paid. The two staff members there didn’t seem to know what condition the rooms were being let in. The owner and staff had given us the wrong number to message, and they were difficult to reach. We’re still having a hard time getting in touch to make a complaint. Don’t stay here.

When my husband was asked to write his credit card details on plain paper because the EFT machine was supposedly broken, that raised a red flag. It wasn’t even a check-in form. I don’t understand how key collection could be handled at a service station but they couldn’t swipe his card. It sounded suspicious, so he booked a nice room in town for not much more than this place cost. With credit card fraud a concern and no safeguards for customers’ information, I wouldn’t recommend staying here. Do yourself a favour and book somewhere else.

Really good, and better than I expected. The room was clean, roomy and had all the essentials, with parking right outside. It was a very reasonable price too. You can pick up the keys at the nearby service station, where they also offer complimentary coffee and traditional teas. Singh was a really friendly host there. I’d definitely come back for my next snow trip.