El Vado Motel — Attraction in Albuquerque

So there I was on my way to my umpteenth trip to the Albuquerque area. I have stayed in ABQ many many times in the past, often staying in hotels that were sanctioned by previous employers. I have stayed by the airport and near highways as usually, my past stays were one night as I was arriving in ABQ or one night as I was leaving ABQ. On this trip, I wanted to see Old Town ABQ as I hadn't been there in a very long time. During my search of hotels in the area, I came across the El Vado Motel on Central Avenue SW, and very close to Old Town. The rate compared to other hotels in the vicinity was very reasonable and upon further review after visiting El Vado's website, I made my choice.

The El Vado is a very unique hotel, it was remodelled with Pueblo Revival architecture, with stepped massing, irregular parapets, vigas, and buttressed, stuccoed walls. Which made this hotel very appealing. When I arrived on a Saturday night I took a walk around the property and noticed a well-designed space called The Plaza in the middle of the grounds for guests to chill out, a multitude of small restaurants ( Food Pods) and shops and of course the infamous El Vado Taproom.

Upon checking in there was an issue with my room, as my reservation was for that night which my confirmation email confirmed, however, the El Vado's reservation system has me booked the following night. No worries though, as the young lady who checked me in, was very accomodating and fixed the problem and I actually ended up with a very nice King Suite. The lobby and the connecting rooms are very well laid out, the Tap Room is right of the lobby and easily accessible. There is a dining area as well with New Mexico themed paintings, murals and wooden tables where you can enjoy a pint or a meal.

Next up was checking into my room. Beware, friends, as parking is limited, and the parking spaces are very close together, I found a great spot to park but there was one of those pimped out pick-up trucks and an SUV on each side, I tried to park in that spot but there was no way to get out of my car. I parked in the condo parking lot and entered through the event space, which is one of the entrances to the rooms at the back of the hotel grounds. I found my room quite easily and went in.

Now to the room!! I was very surprised at how well these rooms are laid out, the rooms themselves are not huge but set up in a way that makes you feel like they are roomier than they really are. The decor of the room is minimalist, with a fine blend of antiques and modern furniture. Historical, New Mexico, and Southwest themes are placed meticulously on the walls, giving the rooms an artistic flair. The furniture is well placed with enough room to move around. My room had a divider separating the living room and work area from the bedroom. There was access to each room from both sides of the divider. Be wary folks as the rooms have large glass walls along the entrance sides of the rooms, so keep those blinds closed and open at your discretion. My suite also had two little alcoves one which housed an antique dresser and a coffee station, the other housed the bathroom sink. Some other noteworthy points about my suite, it had a pull out bed, a desk and chair, a very clean stand-up shower, a large TV, and the wifi even in my room at the outer edges of the hotel had a very strong signal.

The courtyard called The Plaza, of this hotel is really something to behold, it looked like something out of a luxury travel magazine. It screams 'be social' as the design of this area is made for hangin out and enjoying time with your friends and family. The former carport has polished concrete sidewalks, rock and cactus gardens, benches, chairs, loungers, tables, firepits, and a splash pool, not deep but just enough to cool off from the hot dry New Mexico heat. This is a place to chill out and have...

Edit #2: Most of the reviews folks have left here are not for the motel. They're rather for the fun happy hour food and tap room. My original 5-star review was exactly this. After being a guest in the lodging, I've drawn a drastic distinction. That is edit #1 below the 5-star "happy hour" review below. My take on staying as a guest is in Edit #1 afterwards.

(Original review, having not stayed as a guest) Really awesome spot! Bosque Burgers has some amazing burgers, Zendo has the great coffee they're known for, the patio is awesome, the tap room is a great respite from a long bike ride down the river or strolls through the zoo and biopark!

Small boutiques line one side of the building. The bleach-white stucco and blue window trim take you to 1955 Palm Springs motorlodging heydays! More of this kind of community revitalization is sorely needed and this is a fantastic addition to the neighborhood.

Edit #1: Was 5 stars after the grand opening; but now I've stayed as a guest.

Pros: pretty nice bed; tap room open until 10pm, some food options on site--though merchants don't keep regular (or posted) hours and those that do pretty much shut by 7pm. Also, $14 for a burger....a GREAT burger, but not a $14 burger in this hood. (It's Albuquerque, not LA). It has a small swimming pool. It's walking distance to the bosque! Yay!

Cons: rooms are so small they don't have a desk to do any work, etc; no fridges or microwaves in standard rooms...not many food options after 7pm Rooms are dirty: sticky floors with obvious spills that never got mopped, stains on walls, they don't clean much other than making the bed. TVs are cheap and remote controls for them don't work. They do not enforce "guest parking only" spaces for parking, so you might not have a place for your vehicle. Pool is "heated", but not much even though it's June in the desert; Still cold, also no hot tub. Parking area isn't secure and I've seen several vagrants on day two of five of my stay.

Final thoughts: I'd recommend it for an overnight stay for someone wanting to be near the river/zoo/biopark. I'd not recommend this motel to anyone otherwise; too many other...

I really wanted to like El Vado and was looking forward to seeing the property and soaking up the history, but this was not a great stay. A standard king room for around $200/night does not come with a fridge or, in our case, a working TV. (There is a cable box, yet just an error message showed up for us) No rooms have parking. There are fewer than 10 spots labeled for motel guests and we had to drive around the block a few times before scrambling to get one in the public lot next door. Then, we had to cart our luggage through the event center because neither gate between the lobby and the rooms was operable. This wasn't a huge inconvenience, but was awkward when the event space was booked for a graduation party and we went rolling through.||We arrived on Friday evening, planning to take advantage of the food options on site before a very early start the next morning. There was a band performing, and many large groups of friends and locals in the main plaza area, ordering food and drinks. Of the several on-site dining options, 5 were closed well before 7 pm and the one we went to in hopes of eating was closing to catch up on all the backlogged orders for the large crowd. We had to go across the street to a restaurant to be able to eat dinner. What we thought was going to be a fun, vintage-inspired stay turned out to be the local Friday night party scene. Definitely not what we were expecting! ||The room was fairly clean, but smelled a bit damp, and the bathrooms could use some attention to detail and possibly nicer linens. All in all, I would not recommend overnight travelers book here. Swing by for a beer and the local people watching and to check out a few fun design elements, but stay elsewhere. Guest experience is clearly not...