So my husband and son stayed here at Big Sky Lodge two years ago on their guys' trip out West and…read morewere pleased enough with the accommodations to book it for our current week long stay in Rapid City.
Now, I'm a bit of an admitted hotel snob, but my husband & I have been married over 25 years and he knows my limits and flexibility. He assured me the place was clean enough for my standards. We are Disney timeshare holders (DVC) and also patronize Airbnbs where we can. Otherwise I generally prefer at least a 3 star, Hampton Inn/Hilton Garden experience at a bare minimum. Sorry not sorry.
This place is NOT that.
It seems that since my husband's stay in 2018, and even since he booked our reservation earlier this year, ownership of the lodge has changed hands. While I'm appreciative that new ownership and the changes it brings, especially in this new normal of COVID, the service we have received this week has been dismal.
I wasn't exactly impressed with the exterior when we arrived - the place is pretty 'vintage'. We were informed that there would be no routine room services performed due to COVID, and we found that we had had to repeatedly ask for things like towels, toilet paper and trash bags. This morning we specifically asked to have the room serviced since we've been here 4 nights now, yet we just returned from being out all day to freshly made beds, and nothing else. No towel restocking, no trash was emptied, no other cleaning, no supplies (hand soaps, in-room coffee supplies, etc) nothing. In my opinion this is pretty abysmal and completely out of the norm for a service industry. If a guest requests a room to be serviced, the staff should, at a minimum, prepare that room to a new guest-ready/turnover level.
I was willing to overlook all the other stuff but today's experience was just a nudge too far. Who in the service industry goes into a room and ignores 3 trash cans that need to be emptied? Dead bug in the sink? We have 1 washcloth for 3 people. Nothing was vacuumed or wiped down and nothing restocked. We got a decent rate on this stay, but not good enough that I'm porting my own trash out on the regular and going to Walmart to buy toilet paper. This isn't a timeshare or Airbnb stay where more autonomy is expected on the guests' part.
The hot tub is closed, which again, in the age of COVID is a no-brainer, but the area looks janky with a bunch of large rocks on the spa's lid. The front office hours are hit or miss and the 'breakfast offerings' are meager as well, with a few danishes and what looks like whatever yogurt cups were purchased the night before. No rhyme, reason, or standards. Interactions with staff have not been especially friendly or outgoing, odd behavior for a family-owned and run service-industry business.
We have 3 more nights here and future return trips to Rapid City will be booked elsewhere. 2 stars because the view of Rapid City from up here is nice. Otherwise 1.