Old Faithful Lodge — Attraction in West Yellowstone

I arrived at 6:00 pm Sunday 6/25 without a reservation hoping for a cabin. They had one last cabin for us for $160! It was a twin/single bed and a full-size/small double bed. My sister, my three kids and I had a snug squeeze and they brought us extra linens right away. Dinner at the Obsidian was excellent, as always and just the right length walk to stretch our legs. We saw the geyser before dinner. Our cabin was only about a thousand feet away! They gave us cabin 234 right near the bathrooms. There is only a hand washing sink in each cabin. We didn’t use the separate shower facility but the shared bathroom building was extremely clean and well stocked. We saw another family at the picnic table with a Colman two burner camping stove, coolers and everything for camp cooking. There was a beautiful river flowing right past our cabin. The whole area was peaceful and quiet even though they were at full capacity. It was a hot and sunny day so the cabin was a little hot when we went to bed. The windows were difficult to open due to fresh paint but we were able to get it open just enough. It was a little cold by morning and the small wall heater (with numbers on the knob, not temps) warmed it up just enough and we turned it back off after 15 minutes. I noted a smoke detector on the ceiling which I hope is also a CO alarm. We had breakfast from the bake shop inside the lodge. They had gluten free muffins, mediocre quality packaged baked goods, coffee, tea, bottled juices. It was just barely enough to cover our needs, but the only other option was a long sit-down breakfast. We ate our to-go breakfast watching the geyser one last time! We returned our keys in the key drop inside the lodge and were on our way for our final day of adventure before 9:00! There is no bathroom in the cabin, it is a perfect location, my three small kids had a great time exploring right around the cabin. It was quiet and safe. We could hear the geyser from inside the cabin, I would definitely stay again, hopefully for longer. I told my sister again and again a family with kids could definitely spans a whole vacation at the cabins with so much to see and do in the area and hiking right out the door. Bring extra kids cots if you need more than 3 snug sleeping spots because the beds are small. Towels, hand washing sink, small fan, tissues, bed linens and alarm clock are provided in the cabin. No coffee...

**Cabins Review - We are so very disappointed by the Xanterra Travel Collection’s mismanagement of the Old Faithful Lodge Cabins.

Each cabin is 10’ by 14’, yes, you read that correctly, you are over paying ($223/night) for a 140sqft shack in poor interior condition.

Before the negatives begin, please know you are simply paying for the location of a dog friendly room, a very very small room. You will be steps from Old Faithful, Grand Geyser (our personal favorite), and the park Overlook hike.

If you enjoy hiking, take the short drive over to Biscuit Basin and hike the full loop trail up and over Mystic Falls, the overlook is beautiful.

To the interior failures we experienced and we have provided photos to support our disappointments.

First, the bathroom is disgusting. We reported the concerns to management, we had no other pet-friendly lodging available and chose to stay.

The bathroom was rough. There was black mold growing along the entire top area of the stand-up shower, with some form of red/pink (think undried Kills paint/primer) bleeding through the antique white paint.

Additionally, the exhaust fan in the bathroom did not work, creating the first problem.

Our second challenge came when we went to inspect the linens. One of the four pillow cases had multiple distinct old dried blood (reddish/brown) stains on case, the remaining three pillow cases were ok.

The bed sheets were a joke, looked about five years old, and well worn. A coloration mix of antique white to urine yellow is what we had on the bed.

When you pick lodging at a cold climate location you would expect to have a well insulated blanket to be present, NOPE, not here. Xanterra feels a super thin microfiber 5’ by 5’ throw will suffice if they place it between two flat sheets.

Speaking of flat sheets, the bed was covered with three flat sheets and one microfiber liner, thats all. Apparently a fitted sheet for the mattress cover was not available.

And while we are talking about the mattress, no mattress cover was used to protect the mattress or the customers. The age of the mattress was old and also discolored.

For the rest of the room you should expect to have various stains, marks, and unknown biological indicators throughout the lodging.

Spend, or at least plan to spend, as much time outside as possible, you will enjoy your stay at Yellowstone if you...

I was in cabin 143, which had another cabin with one adjoining wall. Some appeared to be single cabins. |I absolutely loved it. Yes, the walls were thin and it was basic, but that was part of the appeal for me. I wanted that vintage travel feel and felt so lucky to be experiencing Yellowstone in a cabin that travelers have come to this glorious park and stayed in for almost 100 years. |The sink was in the main room and the shower and toilet in the bathroom. The shower was hot and a lot of pressure- questionably too much pressure for me.|There's a fan in the room and a wall heater. No hair dryer. The shower had shampoo, conditioner and body wash. No tv- a plus! Wifi -yes.|There were so many extra touches. First, the door key! I haven't stayed anywhere with a real door key in decades. There was bear-shaped soap, rustic iron shelfing, a desk with a stuffed bison that you can purchase for $19.99. This was cute but had mixed feelings about it for dust mites, etc. Seemed to be fairly new. The wood windows slid open in tracks. A vintage park print on the wall. I so appreciated the attention to details. |This is very convenient to old faithful - a 2 minute walk to the bleacher area and less than a minute from my cabin to the huge lodge porch where you can watch the geyser or just relax. The lodge has decent cafeteria style dining that didn't seem to change much. There was pizza, bbq pork/chicken meal, pre-packaged salads, gyros, soup, hot dogs, and snacks. For breakfast, it didn't open until 11 I think, but there's a quick service beside it that had coffee and donuts and made breakfast sandwiches.|Old faithful inn is a couple of minutes further and I did the tour and highly recommend it. It was offered 4 times a day and was very interesting and included going into one of the original rooms.|During the afternoon, a violinist played on the 2nd floor and filled the lobby with beautiful music. ||This is a very convenient area and there are several gift shops, gas station, some groceries, museums, and bison were right on the grounds.|I only stayed there 2 nights and saw old faithful erupting 4 times just as i was walking back and forth to other places or eating in the lodge. |I was there sept 29/30 and crowds were low.|Staying here really added to my...