The Grand Lodge, A Vail Resorts Property

We booked a privately owned one-bedroom suite for four through Vrbo. It was a great spot, close to the shuttle and lifts, though reaching the main lift meant walking over before putting on skis, despite the ski-in, ski-out listing. The kitchenette had one burner that heated very slowly. There were lots of families around; the hot tub jets weren’t working and the steam room was out of order. Snow conditions weren’t great during our visit, so everything felt very crowded.

The location made getting to the lifts easy, just a short walk, and I liked the room, kitchenette, and showerhead. The hotel steam room was really nice. There’s a ski locker, but guests booking through a third party like Airbnb or VRBO aren’t allowed to use it. The Wi-Fi was practically unusable, constantly dropping and very slow.

For a low-cost ski-in, ski-out stay, it does the basic job, but that’s about the extent of it. The hotel feels extremely dated, and the beds and pillows were very uncomfortable. The hot tub was packed with more than 20 people and had an intense amount of chlorine. Don’t count on Uber, even with an advance booking, and the hotel has no shuttle. I was also charged $160.88 in resort fees and taxes after checkout, following a $100 hold on my card. Those extra charges were ridiculous.

We were disappointed with what we got for the price. The room had hard, lumpy beds, a broken coffee maker, mold on the shower curtain, and a toilet that clogged several times. The flimsy plunger barely helped. We’d stayed in older, cheaper hotels before, but could have found somewhere more comfortable and better maintained for the same money. Staff weren’t rude, and they did provide fans because there’s no AC. We’d booked a room advertised on the hotel’s own website and Priceline as having two king beds in one bedroom, but were given two queens and a Murphy bed. Staff said they don’t even have rooms with two kings.