Bryce Trails Bed and Breakfast

The night sky was packed with stars, and the place felt so peaceful and homey. Liene was a warm, welcoming host, and she made the most delicious breakfasts. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Bryce Trails B&B and highly recommend it.

The Bryce Trails B&B is appealing from the driveway and well located for Bryce Park, stores, and restaurants. Parking and getting inside were easy. Breakfast was good and there’s an espresso machine. The room, Fairytail, was downstairs beside the kitchen and living room, a detail not included in its description. It was spacious and clean, with okay bedding, fine towels, and a nice Jacuzzi tub. I could have used better pillows. The main problem was noise. Sound carries badly through the floors and walls in this room. The first night I could hear the upstairs TV, footsteps, doors, and conversation, as well as people using the kitchen right next to me. The white noise machine didn’t cover it, and it went on until almost midnight. At nearly 9 the second evening, people were still walking and talking upstairs, using the espresso machine beside the room, and doing dishes. I don’t know how the upstairs rooms are, but I wouldn’t recommend Fairyland downstairs unless you’re fine with noise, late nights, early waking, or can sleep through anything. I’ve stayed in other B&Bs, including one in Zion, where quiet hours were 9pm-6:30am and I could barely hear anyone. That place also had carpet in the upstairs rooms, which helped insulate the downstairs. Bryce Trails had no clear quiet hours. I suggest setting them, telling all guests, adding carpet upstairs, and not doing dishes or using the kitchen and living room after 9pm. I found some earplugs I’d forgotten and planned to wear them with the noise machine, hoping for more than five hours’ sleep. Check-in was supposed to be at 4pm. I’d driven from Zion, hiked at Bryce Canyon after arriving around 10am, had a late lunch at the lodge, then hiked more to fill time. I was exhausted and looking forward to a shower. I arrived around 4:20 and checked the instructions emailed that morning, but the key wasn’t where it was supposed to be. No one answered when I called. I then spotted the keys on the kitchen counter and found mine, but couldn’t locate my room. The owner came downstairs and asked if I’d called. After I explained, she said a plumbing issue had been resolved but my room needed about 20 more minutes. Things happen, and the delay wouldn’t have bothered me if she’d let me know beforehand. A quick text would have done it. She said she’d give me a discount, but I don’t know if that will happen. The next night, the noise again made it hard to sleep. I wouldn’t stay here again because of this experience.

The location was the one thing I liked. I’d rate the place below average, and I don’t understand the good reviews. The room was okay, but dated and well used. The shower could be adequate one minute and pathetic the next, depending on the water pressure. We arrived at 3:50, though the sign says check-in is at 4. Only two rooms needed preparing for new guests, and there’s no daily service for current guests, but we still waited until exactly 4 for our key to be hung on a hook. Nobody greeted us or explained how anything worked. Guests were told to be at breakfast by 8:15am, but on both mornings the food didn’t come out until after 8:30. Nobody was there to greet us, so we had to find the coffee, juice, and everything else ourselves. There was a Breville coffee machine, but no one offered a latte or espresso. No one asked what we wanted for breakfast, or about food allergies or dislikes. There was no cereal, toast, or anything similar, and the milk came in a supermarket gallon jug. All 12 guests got the same food at once, and both breakfasts were awful. On day one, someone said he couldn’t eat the meal and was given an untoasted bagel. The meal was an unsalted, tasteless egg casserole with a croissant and no butter or jelly. The next day, a guest who couldn’t eat egg yolks asked the cook for scrambled egg whites after seeing what was being prepared. She said he should have told her in advance and seemed really put out, though none of us saw her except at breakfast, so there was no chance to ask beforehand. Breakfast was eggs, bacon, and tater tots. The eggs were cooked hard with no choice offered, and the tots were mushy and oily. All 12 guests left most of their food both days. This felt more like a cheap motel than a B&B. If a restaurant served food like that, people might refuse to pay, which could explain why guests have to pay in advance.

I like B&Bs for their breakfasts and the innkeepers, and the setting here had beautiful views on a residential street. But the woman running the B&B was extremely unfriendly. When we introduced ourselves, she answered with a grunt and didn’t give her name. During our two nights, she seemed distracted and genuinely unhappy whenever I saw her. She never asked where we were from, what we planned to do, what else we were visiting, or whether we wanted local or park advice. She did give dinner recommendations when I asked. Breakfast was okay, nothing special, and the eggs Benedict on the second day were ice cold. The kitchen was dirty, with leftovers from the previous meal all over it, and she left eggs out overnight. Our room’s coffee pot had no filter. She said coffee was always available in the main room, but I’m pretty sure it was the same pot for our first 36 hours. It was nasty. On the second morning, I went into the common area for coffee and found the kitchen and dining area full of smoke, with a pot actively burning on the stove. A teenager, possibly the innkeeper’s daughter, was coughing and opening windows as flames came out of the pot. I asked where the innkeeper was; the girl said she couldn’t find her and told me to go outside because it was too dangerous, then ran out. I turned off the stove and carried the burning pot outside. Later, when I asked the woman about it, she brushed me off and said there were smoke detectors. Maybe there were, but they clearly weren’t working properly. She gave no explanation and didn’t thank me for helping. NOTE: The response to my review contains a serious inaccuracy. There was an active fire, with flames extending 12-18" above the pot. I was a professional firefighter for 32 years and know what an active fire is. It wasn’t smoking butter. I’m shocked the owner tried to minimize the incident, implied my account was false or misleading, and claimed there was no active fire when she wasn’t there to see it. There may have been smoke detectors in that part of the house, but they definitely weren’t working properly or as designed at the time.