The Lakefront Anchorage — Hotel in Alaska

UPDATE: GM got involved after travel agency contacted them. Said credit to be issued. Instead of crediting the $558, a $100 pending charge was added 7/16. They then gave pending credit of $558, said the $100 won’t finalize. Checked daily. Took 12 days after checkout to clear.

Summary for those who don’t read the long review: —Charged $558 for prepaid room. —Another guest was booked into our room, tried to get in 10 minutes after we got in room. Mgr called us with accusatory questions, challenged our right to be there. —Room was prepaid through travel agency. We gave charge card for incidentals, but we had a $658 pending charge on the card. Mgr said she’d fix it, but never did. —Day after we checked out, a second pending charge was placed on our credit card, $558 (it became final 2 days later). I called. No mgr available. Told mgr needed to fix it. Now 4 days later, not fixed. No contact from hotel mgmt.

Full report: Our room was booked by travel agency and prepaid for 2 nights. On arrival, we were checked in by clerk with an indifferent attitude. I gave a credit card for incidentals. Couple traveling with us then had same clerk unable to find their reservation. She did find second room booked in our name.

About 10 minutes after we got in our room, a single, young lady attempted to get into our room. She was terrified to find us there. She showed her keycard slip, which confirmed she was mistakenly given our room. She apologized and left. We then received call from front desk challenging our presence in the room. The caller finally accepted that they must have double-booked but we got no explanation other than we weren’t “in the system.” No apology.

I became concerned and read some online reviews. Found several cases where rooms were double-booked (how hard is it to have procedures to prevent that?). Also, complaints about improper charges. I then checked my credit card app and saw that instead of the expected $50 pending charge, it was $658. I called desk, spoke to mgr. She told me she could do nothing that night because “finance” had to fix it. Said she’d follow up. Lost sleep worrying.

The charge was still there when we checked out. I asked for a receipt showing no outstanding charges. Clerk said I could not have one because the travel agency paid for the room. When asked about how our stay, I said “I’ve never been treated so poorly.” I retold issues, no explanation, charge still pending. Clerk said there must be a misunderstanding because they showed no credit card linked to our room.

I brought up credit app on my phone, showed the $658 charge. She got mgr(same one I spoke with previously). They determined that they had our room booked to the second couple and their room booked to us, but couldn’t explain the $658 charge. She again said she’d fix it with their finance unit.

I checked my credit app periodically that day, but saw no change to the charge. The next day, the $658 charge was still there AND ANOTHER CHARGE WAS ADDED! The second one is $558.

I called the hotel. Was told no mgr was available. Person I spoke with expressed concern and did some research. Said she thought she knew why I was charged, said it was an error but needed mgr to fix it. I was told mgr would call.

It’s now 4 days after I checked out. The original $658 charge was removed but the $558 charge is now finalized. I’ve received no contact from the hotel. I’ll have to fight to get it removed. Additional observations : —Shuttles available to/from airport, train station and downtown. Shuttles were on-time and drivers were excellent to deal with. —Disappointed that restaurant offered only a $25 buffet for breakfast. It was subpar. Lousy coffee. Omelet I had was so tough that it couldn’t be cut with table knife. I squished through it to separate. —Room was acceptable. Room is dated, as others report. I’m very, very fussy about beds. I got a good sleep (except the hours I missed the first night). Bathtub floor flexed when I moved in...

Are you debating staying here? Do NOT fall for it and stay here, there are so many better places in Anchorage! Please read this if you’re thinking about staying here. This is not one of those reviews that “just had a bad/picky experience”. This place is kind of a dump. To be honest, I’d be much more enthusiastic about this place if it were a budget priced hotel. For $100 or even $150/night I would be overall fairly satisfied.

We expected SO much more and it really failed to deliver for our last night in Alaska, after being told by a travel agent it was “her favorite” and “so nice”. She obviously has never stayed there (or maybe stayed there 20 years ago??) and they pay to have Alaska Tour and Travel say that. For context we stayed at three different places in Anchorage due to our travel plans, and this was BY FAR the worst! Stay at one of the smaller B & Bs, you will be SO much happier. Don’t fall for the “lakefront” name, first of all. When we got to the desk to check in, I asked if there were any complimentary upgrades available and reminded that I had paid for a view. The lady told me “all the rooms are the same” and didn’t seem to know which had views. The room she put us in barely had a corner of the lake in view and was so old you would think we were in a budget motel. Originally she was going to put us on the first floor with no view. Most rooms are pretty far from the main elevator to the lobby, (they need more elevator banks and staircases!) making it extremely difficult if you have any kind of disability or cannot walk a long way. We saw an elderly lady struggling to make it down the very long hall to her room.

It’s one of those places that is just so old it never looks clean. Plus, there was a room service dirty dish on our floor for our entire stay (one night-who knows how long it was there before), no one had checked or cleaned it up. Overall they seem to have very little staff, and the staff do not seem happy working there. Not that they were particularly unfriendly, but the vibe in this place in comparison to others is just kind of miserable, it shows when people are underpaid or poorly managed, it shows, and is no reflection on the employees trying to do their best, but a reflection on the hotel ownership. No one asked us how everything was at checkout. We wiped all the surfaces down in the room when we arrived because there was a visible small layer of dust on everything, even some salt or sugar on the counter, as if the room was quickly cleaned a couple weeks beforehand (but the hotel was pretty full to our understanding). The photos of the food in the elevator look so terrible it entices you NOT to go there. The beds/mattress though clean was old and way too soft, we did not sleep well. The lamp was crooked and missing a piece, the window was rotting, and the shower (though nice pressure) squealed. The AC is a window unit, and there is no thermostat. They don’t offer daily housekeeping either, you have to request it 24 hours in advance (at least they have a big sign saying that at check in). The worst part, however is the old electric wiring. There was only a plug on one nightstand, so my boyfriend plugged his phone in elsewhere in the room. Now, we had noticed earlier that by turning off the main light switch, the outlets did not work (a HUGE flaw and so outdated if the room already wasn’t bad enough), so we knew that. But he plugged in his phone and at some point, the outlet stopped working or something happened because we only woke up to my alarm and his phone had DIED overnight!!!! Imagine missing a flight because of poor wiring after plugging in your phone to charge! If he had been alone, or I had relied on his alarm like I sometimes do, we would have missed our flight due to the poor quality of the hotel directly. This place is in dire need of renovation and redesign upgrades. There was nothing wrong with the charger or the way it was plugged in. Don’t stay here, I promise you will be so much happier elsewhere, it’s a greedy...

Made us wait 52 minutes to check in. Okay, great, you have a check in at 3p policy. That’s neat and all, but you have a line of people waiting at 2:30p. There is no reason you couldn’t stagger checkins when you’ve had people leaving since 6a to catch flights and opening up rooms all day. My wife and I are here for a potentially crippling shoulder surgery. We’re exhausted from early flights, and we got to sit in the parking lot waiting for thirty minutes, and then stand in line for almost another half an hour— a line that wouldn’t have existed if you’d let people check in as they arrive instead of making them all check in at the same time.

Then I get to the room and discover that the obnoxious $300/night price tag only includes free low speed WiFi IF YOU SIGN UP FOR THEIR SPAM EMAIL!

To get high speed internet like that offered for free at the Motel 6 across the street is an additional $10 a day.

How about no? Every hotel I’ve stayed in for the last fifteen years in five separate countries has included WiFi with the cost of the room and not forced me to give my email to a marketing company.

As soon as I return home I am placing this hotel on the not recommended for military use list. There are other, cheaper hotels that don’t price gouge and offer amenities like WiFi without forcing you to give your information to a spam company that will never remove it.

The room is a basic hotel room. It’s not any better or any worse than any other hotel room I’ve stayed in. It’s clean, as expected. Theres nothing here that indicates this room should be $300 other than price gouging during the tourist season.

Furthermore, they force a $22 “resort fee” onto you. For this fee you get:

Two bottles of water. $10 off from food in their obnoxiously slow and chronically overcrowded dining rooms (but you can only use one coupon per day per party.) “Complimentary” shuttle service. Which isn’t complimentary BECAUSE YOU MADE ME PAY A RESORT FEE FOR IT! In room high speed internet— provided you sign up for spam and as previously noted this should be included in the room price.

Every single employee of this hotel I’ve spoken with has been surly and argumentative when they’re not apathetic and dismissive. Oh, and it’s currently 76° in my hotel room after the air conditioning has been running since 3:30 yesterday afternoon and set to 60°. The windows don’t open, so cooling the room enough to sleep is difficult. After dealing with the service staff here I chose not to bother talking to them about the A/C not working. They can find it out after the next guest they price gouge calls the front desk to complain about the temperature in their room at 3am.

The apathy of the employees is demonstrated by the cookie cutter replies to these complaints on this very app. Note that most of the complaints are from 2024 and from May to July (Today is July 28), and most have been answered with a lame apology and an explanation of what they “strive for”. No real concrete corrections have been made or solutions offered.

Third day of our trip, no housekeeping service. Same towels and same sheets. Always great to sleep on three day old sheets the day before surgery, right? Called down to the front desk and was met with more apathy and a promise that they’d take care of the room tomorrow. I asked that they change the sheets immediately and he finally agree to send someone. That was an hour ago. The employees at this hotel simply don’t care.

This is the second worst hotel in which I’ve stayed in Anchorage— and the other one I had to call the health...