Hotel Gasthof Gramshammer

A cozy, locally owned and operated place that gets the basics right. The location in Vail Village is close to unbeatable, and the rooms are comfortable. There’s a good bar downstairs and a simple European breakfast that’s delicious. It has an old-school European ski hotel feel, in the best way. It isn’t the Grand Hyatt and doesn’t pretend to be, and the prices aren’t Grand Hyatt prices either. If supporting local businesses matters to you, it’s a comfortable option.

We spent my birthday weekend at this dated hotel and won’t be coming back. It advertises a strict no-smoking policy, but during the 1 a.m. hour we woke suddenly to marijuana and cigarette smoke pouring into our room from next door. There’s no air-conditioning, so in summer guests need to leave the sliding glass door open at night for cool air. That left us choosing between breathing the smoke and shutting the door. Our sleep was ruined. I told the desk employee, who said a manager would contact me. No one ever did.

The ski-in, ski-out location is convenient, but getting luggage in and out by car is difficult. The hot wings at the restaurant were probably the best part of our stay. Still, if you want a decent mattress and to feel welcome, I’d choose another lodge. We spent a lot for spring break and rented two rooms, each listed for six people. When my sister arrived on day two, there were only five of us in one room and three in the other, still under capacity. The owner and Barbara at the front desk berated me as though we’d exceeded the limit. Barbara even followed me up the stairs to question me while we carried my sister’s luggage and cooler. I felt treated like a trespasser, not a paying guest. They were extremely rude and seemed to go out of their way to be that way. The rooms were very hot, the carpet was disgusting, and the mattresses were awful. On checkout day, maids banged on our door at 8:30 a.m. to clean, even though checkout wasn’t until 11 and we’d hoped for a little more sleep. I could maybe have put up with the room problems if the customer service had been better.

The gondola is an easy walk away, and the place has so much charm. It reminded me of being back in Zermatt Switzerland.