Element Bend — Hotel in Bend

Fantastic!!! If I could drop a mic, I would!

Now that we are older, we no longer camp and have long-since sold our rooftop tent and RV. The kids now want to do their own thing or have other responsibilities which keep them from coming with us so, we’ve started travelling, whenever we can, on our own.

This trip we decided to stay at hotels and motels of our choosing. We’ve been saving up for this for a while. As members of the Marriott hotel chain, we had several night’s stay available to us. So, coming to Bend, we decided to put those points to good use.

Enter The Element in Bend. We’ve stayed at Element hotels before and they have all been near excellent! The Element in Bend is Excellent. Everything, from staff, to service, to cleanliness, to helpfulness, to amenities, this hotel ticked all my and especially my wife’s boxes.

Front desk staff (Sol, we are specifically talking about you) were very down-to earth, super nice and friendly and knowledgeable of their craft and city.

Kitchen staff, from those setting up to those cleaning up and in between; especially the short-order chef whose name escapes me - I’m so sorry - is an amazingly caring person who creates menus that match the activity levels of the area and customers and treats customers as if they were her own family. So caring of people’s well-being, nutritional needs and happiness. She knows customers by name!!!!You have to go and have her breakfasts every day. Chat with her and you’ll see I’m not making things up. Speaking of breakfast, this Element has limited short order options made freshly for you as you wait, as well as other popular options like hot and cold cereals, breads and bagels, fresh fruits and yoghurts, fresh juices and a variety of milks (cow,oat,soy). Lots of choices.

When we were there, she made seasoned egg-white puffs with turkey sausage links, or French toast with either fresh strawberries or blueberries and whipped cream. You could have more than one of each but it is so delicious and filling that you probably won’t need more than that.

The room was very clean a and well thought out. It boasted a full size fridge, small stove and oven and microwave. There were dishes, pots and utensils. The bed was king-size and very, very clean and comfortable, like lie and immediately melt comfortable. The blankets were heavy and warm. Two other blankets were available for use in the closet. The closet itself holds an iron and ironing board, hangers and two drawers as well as a programmable safe.

The shower was clean and modern with a rain-type shower head and a wand. Something that I’ve seen in other Elements (Edmonton/Calgary) is a bidet and wish they had this option here but not necessary. This is the first bathroom in ANY hotel I’ve been in where the water from the shower didn’t end up outside the shower.

It is a newer hotel and it is noticeable. Still, it is also a very busy hotel since they house tourists, firefighters helping out with the forest fires, as well as many construction workers in to capitalize on the booming construction industry that is Bend.

This hotel has a decent gymnasium and pool with hot tub. They also rent single-speed bikes which seem heavily used as their tires are a bit flat-topped but are belt driven to make them quiet, clean and trouble-free. Since the hotel is near the downtown area, they are a nice way to travel and look around on nice days.

Lastly, they offer outdoor and indoor sitting areas which are comfortable and relatively quiet. The outdoor seating offers the choice of comfortable outdoor mini sofas around a gas-lit hearth or tables and chairs under umbrellas and heaters.

I don’t have photos but will try to borrow my wife’s to add to this review. Do yourself a favour and stay here. You’ll enjoy the slower pace and...

We were very excited to visit Bend and stay at this hotel. In fact we decided to stay there over other hotels based on raving reviews. The hotel is gorgeous, new and clean!

Pool had very strong smell of chlorine. And was out of pool towels. There were kids without adults supervision.

The check-in lady wasn't very welcoming. Didn't mention anything about evening reception (we run into it by accident). Still not sure what tea reception is, nobody advertised it but another front desk lady said they forgot about it that evening.

Upon entering our room we noticed no bath towels, not a single one! Had to go downstairs to get it (glad I checked and didn't find out when leaving the shower... Was actually checking to make sure we have 4 towels and not just 3 as some hotels have nowadays).

Our room had only 2 forks. While I like open concept kitchen, I didn't feel it was suitable for the hotel as shelf where plates were on was covered with dust. Microwave had "replace filter" light on, small red light that was annoying at night.

Worst part of the room was AC. It was living it's own life, turning on and off whenever it wanted, switching for cold to heat. The vent is located right across from the bed making it very unenjoyable to be under blowing cold air.

Ice machine on our flood was out of ice so had to go to another floor for ice.

Breakfast (hot) was a let down as nobody in my family cared for sauteed kyle, dry corn, three small pieces of sweet potatoes. This is what was served the morning of our stay. Each also had an egg, all cooked differently (without asking). Chicken sausages were very small and dry too. The way hot breakfast works is you come to a cooking person, she tells you what she is preparing today, asking if you would like it, takes your name and you wait. In our case it was 15 minutes wait. Cold breakfast was ok, some items were hard to find, like cereal in one place and milk in another. Pastries were all great! There were no spoons left so we had to ask for it. No cups for juice ether - run out of it. They run out of orange juice as well as hot water and breakfast area wasn't even busy.

Paying over $230 a night for that experience was upsetting especially based on so many good reviews.

Update: both my children are showing symptoms of norovirus. After ruling out everything else like food (we all had the same food), the only thing they did what we didn't was the use of pool and spa at this hotel. Symptoms started within 48 hrs after using pool. Called our doctor, explained all symptoms and very first thing she asked was about the use of pool at the hotel/water park within last two days. Very upsetting to catch norovirus at the hotel...

I came to this hotel for a convention. We were supposed to be set up with roommates. When I arrived the power was out no big deal. The convention went on without power it did not affect our ability to work. As the day went on the power came back on and they were able to start preparing rooms. Throughout the day / night they came in and told people their rooms were ready. 8:30 at night the convention was over and I had never heard anything about my room. I went up to the front desk and said hey I'm ready to check in get into my room etc. I had driven from Salem and was kind of tired. This is my first time to Bend I am not a native Oregonian. She searched could not find me. They were fully booked and did not have rooms available. She called some other hotels that are within the sister/ family hotel in Bend they were also fully booked. At this point I was a little bit worried and stressed out and honestly tired I had been in a convention all day and was now ready to go to my room and go to bed. I ended up having to get a hotel room at another hotel. The whole thing just kind of seemed unorganized and not professional. The stay at the other hotel was great and fine, got in there easy peasy. Went back to the hotel the following day for the second part of the convention and that went well. I had other classmates in the convention complaining of the holding fee that they were asked to provide It was more than the rate of the room which seems kind of strange. It seemed as though there were a few points of contention throughout the convention with the hotel. Another thing that I noticed and was really annoying, was that we broke up into groups. My group was in a lounge area with a bunch of couches in the foyer. The staff was extremely loud and talkative and it made it really difficult for me to be able to hear what my counterparts were saying. The following morning I went to the front desk and asked them if they noticed us breaking into groups and having to talk outside of the main room if they could please keep it down. They did not. I don't run the convention that I went to but I probably would not choose this location. There were just lots of issues and problems and the staff were not able to fix them. It was not a great stay in fact I never even saw a room. That being said if I feel strongly enough to write this without ever having seen a room you might be able to tell how poorly my visit to...