Sitka Hotel and Restaurant

The front desk staff were a bright spot, especially Alex, who was personable, helpful, and fun to talk with. The rooms are basic but fine. If you need to sleep with the windows open when it’s warm, be aware that the “view of the water” rooms also look onto a parking lot where people gather at all hours. Like most of the hotels we stayed at in Alaska, this one has no air conditioning. If you’re in Skita, stay here.

We spent hours waiting for a room that was supposed to be ready at check-in. After dropping our bags around 10 am on Sunday, the desk immediately told us check-in was at 3PM, without even saying hello. They let us leave our bags in a closet, which was fine. At 3 PM the room still wasn’t ready, and when we came back at 7 PM we waited another 20 minutes before being told it was finally available. The room smelled, there was body hair in the bathtub, and it wasn’t the deluxe room we’d booked. When I reported the hair and said we were going elsewhere, a cleaning staff member seemed upset and offered to reclean it. We’d already waited four hours past check-in and didn’t want to wait longer. We booked two nights, but despite excellent help from the customer service representative at Expedia, the hotel only refunded half because of its booking policy. They didn’t provide a reasonable check-in time or the room we paid for, and the cleanliness was severely lacking. Sitka is a beautiful, walkable town, and spending so much to visit shouldn’t end with a ruined vacation. Stay at a different hotel.

The shuttle never showed up at the time I was told to be ready, 5:35am, ten minutes early. I waited until 6, then started running to the airport in the rain. The shuttle driver happened to pass by, and only apologized after I brought it up. There’s no breakfast, the TV didn’t work, and the room had no chair or desk. The bed was about full size, and there was a pretty bad smell between the restaurant and hotel.

We probably wouldn’t stay here again. The location is good and the rooms are simple, but the service was our main problem. If something’s wrong with your room, don’t count on much help. The front desk person wasn’t rude, just seemed unable to troubleshoot, and stayed on their phone instead of trying to sort out the issue. I can see the rating being higher if you barely need to deal with staff. Just my opinion.