Howard Johnson Ponderay/Sandpoint

The breakfast was next door in an eatery, and it was absolutely amazing. Best hotel breakfast I’ve ever had! Our room was spacious and comfortable, with a nice window seat. The place has lots of good amenities too: a fenced dog run for the fur babies, a pool, 2 hot tubs, a fitness area, and a pool table. I’d stay again.

We had a great time in the Family Suite with our large group. The room was clean and worked perfectly for everyone, and the staff we met were super friendly and helpful. We went in January hoping for snow, and got it. The hotel has sleds you can rent free from the front desk, plus a fun sledding hill behind the pool area. After long days with the kids, the indoor pool and hot tubs were great. Downtown Sandpoint is less than ten minutes away by car. The free buffet at the restaurant next door was an amazing bonus, and the man running it was really nice and attentive without being pushy. The food was much better than the usual free hotel breakfast: pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, potatoes, biscuits and gravy, toast, fruit, and a yogurt bar. We’d stay here again!

The staff are so nice, and it’s always clean. There’s a great little breakfast, and the location puts it right among the things we like doing. We really enjoyed our stay and would definitely go again.

The little walking area and fountains outside past the pool were really the only good part of our stay. We checked out at 2:30 am, regretting the reservation, and after staying at the Best Western across the highway on a previous trip, we’ll book there instead. At least I earn reward points there, and they have a nice breakfast spread. This was meant to be a belated anniversary trip for my husband and me, and we’d booked the whirlpool suite. One reason we like coming here is the breakfast vouchers for the farmhouse kitchen restaurant across the parking lot. On arrival, we were told those were no longer available because of a management change, but there was nothing on the website about breakfast changing. The continental breakfast at the hotel wasn’t anything special, and the coffee was okay. I’d also chosen the suite for the fireplace ambiance, but ours had an out-of-order sign plastered over it. I went to the lobby to ask about another suite, and the woman said, “oh I thought they would've fixed that by now.” I’d been looking forward to that relaxing amenity after a long week, so I was really pissed off. Nobody offered to check another suite or fix the fireplace. Then I got into the whirlpool tub and tried the jets. They didn’t work either. It sucks having to laugh it off at the time, but after that I was just so disappointed. The beds were VERY firm, and the lighting would benefit a lot from softer bulbs. If the fireplace had worked and given off that nice light from the “flames,” I probably wouldn’t even mention the lighting.