The Inn at Death Valley — Hotel in Beatty

Reservation: Online reservation was easy, but what was totally unclear from the website -- and this is important -- if you reserve more than one cottage unit, you would want to know that each duplex contains one king room and one double queen room. Every larger family we saw, did not realize this and ended up in two different buildings, thereby sharing two front porches with strangers rather than sharing one front porch with each other. |Check-in: the woman who checked us in was unfriendly and rude, but somewhat efficient. She snapped at my 82-year-old father when he asked why he was running his card twice (we reserved two rooms on the same reservation). She told us about the every-other-room sitch above, to which I said "I wish I had known that", she seemed annoyed by that and pretended she didn't hear me. |The Cottages: Front porches are SO nice to sit on. Units are very nice, contain a comfy bedroom, a pull-out couch, a microwave, and a refrigerator. (The website does not mention the microwave, but it's in there. Would have been nice to know given the abysmal food service at the property; read on.) No daily cleaning or service, but we locked ourselves out once and the staff were friendly and quick to respond.|The Pool: Huge, clean, and beautiful. Plenty of towels. Large deep end. Adequate seating.|Borax Museum: Old carriages and trains in an outdoor area (open to the outside, there is no door or admission gate). |Playground, basketball, pickleball, tennis, shuffleboard: Fantastic. We played pickleball every day. |General store, gift shop, outfitter: Very nice to have. The general store is like a convenience store, especially convenient in the middle of the desert. |Restaurants: This will be long and detailed; summary is that food (the few choices that they actually had in stock) was good, individual servers were good, but they DESPERATELY need a proven, highly-experienced food and beverage service director. This should not be hard to find given that Las Vegas is only a couple hours away; plus -- it's a relatively easy job due to a captive audience -- virtually everyone who stays on property eats on property, and vice versa -- so the management always knows how many patrons to expect. We had lots of problems, all of which can easily be traced back to bad (or lack of) on-property food service management. Every venue we went to (we went to all the restaurants at the Ranch, plus the Dining Room at the Inn) was severely understaffed and under-supplied. The host at the Saloon told us he "wasn't sure he could get us in", a full hour before closing time on a night that was not very busy (we got seated within a few minutes). The ice cream parlor was out of chili (thereby precluding maybe 25% of dinner menu items), out of relish packets, and out of whipped cream (on a Friday night during peak season)! Further, it took them around 45 minutes to scoop our ice cream after we ordered it. Buffet: food was not good, but that was expected. The soups were the best part, but on our first visit they were out of bowls; second visit there was no soup ladle. Also the staff forgot to set out desserts and decaf coffee (of course we had to walk back and tell the cashier all of this because no one was monitoring). Further, the labels, including soups and salad dressings, were all either blank or leftover from the previous meal (obviously incorrect). The Golf Clubhouse Restaurant: a sit-down bar and grill in a nice setting. Walk in, get ignored for around 10 minutes. No sign that says "seat yourself", no host, no manager or bartender saying "welcome in, sit anywhere you like". Finally we had a few other customers walk by us and sit down, so we did the same. Waiter was great, but it was a large, crowded place (noon on a Saturday, at a golf course!) and he was the only one working. Everything took forever, but the food was really good, perhaps because we were so hungry. The self-service water station was very nice so that we didn't get too thirsty waiting for service. After we started eating, a manager stopped at our table, and offered us -- of all things -- water. That was the only thing we didn't need because we got it ourselves. BTW you can't just leave the property and drive to McDonalds, it's at least an hour away. The one place you can drive to -- the Inn. Where we went on our last night. Beautiful space and fine dining prices. Oh boy. We made a reservation (allegedly required) and parked. Followed signs leading us to the "tunnel to elevator". Walked through the tunnel; next sign "elevator out of order. use stairs". The restaurant is on the THIRD floor. So walking up three flights of hotel stairs with my 82-year-old parents was the first part of this fine dining experience. Again, waiter was nice. The first thing he says is "we are out of ALL pork products". Take a look at the menu -- this cuts down your options quite a bit. Again, slow service, good food, then dessert. There were three choices. You guessed it -- they were out of 1/3 choices. At that point, it was just comical. These two properties obviously share a very incompetent food and beverage management team. Ended our fine dining experience back in the...

At the end of the first week of our American road trip it found us leaving Las Vegas and arriving at Death Valley and as you can imagine, this new destination was the polar opposite of Sin City.

The journey to the Inn at Death Vally was superb, dropping into some of the many spectacular visitor attractions on the way. Before calling into the hotel, we did drop into Furnace Creek visitor centre which was just a mile down the road and worthwhile doing.

Next, we arrived at the hotel. This place is within a beautiful setting, an oasis in the middle of nowhere. A real treat to the eyes.

The main carpark at the front is ample and easy accessed. To enter the hotel you can either walk uphill to the front or, take the old miners tunnel underground to the elevator. The elevator takes you straight to reception.

This hotel is uniquely different, quirky and it has a style and class of its own. The hotel dates back many years and you can immediately tell it was once a popular retreat for many of the old Hollywood stars. The design, materials and workmanship ooze a discrete charm.

Check in to our surprise was not until 4pm and after a long day driving we were keen to get to our room to freshen up however, the hotel was short staffed so we had to wait. This did however give us the opportunity to catch some lunch in the restaurant just before it closed. Lunch was great along with the staff so this was a great way to spend our time waiting.

After lunch our room was still not ready so we set off exploring the hotel and its grounds. The grounds of this hotels are gorgeous, a lush oasis fed by an underground spring which feeds water courses and ponds as well as feeding the many plants and trees. As you will expect, given this is the only real greenery for miles and miles it attracts some lovely birds to the gardens.

Whilst killing time, we found the pool and sat there until 4pm but on the dot we promptly set off to reception. Regrettably, the room was still not ready..!! This was becoming rather frustrating to say the least. It wasn’t until 4.25pm we finally got the keys.

Once at the room it was very nice, meticulously set out with a high standard of fittings. The history and tradition of years gone by remained which created a special feel to the room.

Later that evening we went to the bar which turned out to be great. The lady bartender was great fun and certainly made the evening. Post drinks we went and sat on the star gazing terrace which again was a wonderful place to sit quiet and observe the night sky. Zero light pollution and the stars and shooting stars produced a great performance.

The following morning breakfast was excellent, plentiful and good quality. Service and waiting staff were superb.

Promptly after breakfast we had to set off as we had a 10 hour drive to our next destination. We checked out at reception and went on our way.

Up to this point our stay at the In at Death Valley was excellent despite the check in delays however, a few days later I checked my card account and found a charge from the hotel for over $250.00 USD. Immediately, I knew this was an incorrect charge as everything we had spent was already clearly noted on my statement.

I tried to call the hotel but could not get through due to poor mobile reception therefore, I emailed them expressing my concern and query over this spurious charge.

Several days passed and nobody acknowledged or responded to my email. Naturally concerned, I contacted my agent who had booked the holiday. A couple of days later he confirmed contact had been established and the incorrect charges would be fully refunded. I appreciate mistakes happen but despite being very unhappy they had ignored my correspondence, I quickly moved on as it appeared the problem was resolved.

Days and days passed without any refund being received which again, was very disappointing. To resolve this annoying matter i have had to contact my card company and lodge a complaint. This is very regrettable as this situation has tarnished what was initially a...

I have visited Death Valley several times. and I've always wanted to try staying inside the park to avoid the long drives for stargazing and watching the sunrises. I'm so glad I did it, it was absolutely worth it! You mustn't forget, this lovely resort is actually situated in the desert, and it's a real hidden gem.||It is interesting to note that they use an automatic system for online check-in, check-out and for providing information about staying.||We got here after midnight and it was easy to get the keys. The receptionist gave us a map of the area and showed us how to get to our room.||I think we were upgraded, even if they didn't tell us. We had booked Standard Queen Room and got wonderful Cottage, 1 King bed.||The cottage itself was absolutely amazing! It's got two separate suites, and each one has its own entrance. While we were there, it was just us who were staying there.||Our suite had its own living room and bedroom. It had air conditioning, which wasn't too noisy, and both rooms had ceiling fans. We've got a microwave, a fridge and a coffee maker. What was above any American hotel standard – a washing machine and a tumble dryer combined! Amazing! The rooms were both really nicely furnished and decorated. It was great that we had USB and USB-C connectors right on the bedside tables.||The whole area was stunning, eye-pleasing, really luxurious, with beautiful palm trees and green grass (in the desert!). It was great during the day and even better at night when the houses were all lit up. The whole resort was lit up and you could see it from a distance.||There was a small patio outside the door with chairs and a table, but it was too hot to sit there. At 2AM. it was 35 °C (95 °F), and during the day it was 42 °C (108 °F).||You should definitely check out the Borax Museum when you visit the resort.||We didn't have breakfast included and didn't want to eat in.|Cleaning is on demand, not daily.||There are two things that are confusing.|- There is a concrete path that leads to the cottages, but there is a traffic sign that says no vehicles can go there (or we misunderstood it). You need to go to the car park, unload your bags, ice cooler, etc., and take them to your cottage. This means you have to do it yourself. I know this might sound silly, no offence but co’mon, this is America. I thought children were born with cars and that everyone drives themselves right to the living rooms. How come it's not allowed to unload the bags next to the cottage and then drive the car back to the car park?||- At first, I was very confused. Booking.com says that check-in is until 10 p.m., but the reception is open 24 hours. Our plan was to get to the airport (LAS), pick up the car, buy some food for the next three days and then get to the hotel between 9 and 10 at night. We didn't have much time reserve and it was eliminated because our flight was delayed by three hours.|As soon as we had finished the immigration check and gone to get the shuttle, I started calling the hotel because I was worried we would arrive at midnight and have to sleep in the car. I used Samsung S22 Note to call the number from their webpage. I panicked when I saw that the Samsung phone said I was calling the fire department. (Samsung has a Smart Call feature that Identifies unknown callers and shows business names.. and Samsung repeatedly claimed me calling Fire Department)|The receptionist assured me that they were open 24 hours a day and that we wouldn't have a problem. I also sent them a message...