Pine Ridge Inn — Hotel in Bend

This is why you shouldn’t stay here

So I gauge a hotel on when things don’t go right. First, I am a seasoned traveler, meaning lifetime high level at Marriott, diamond elite at Hilton etc. however, I love boutique hotels and love to support local when I can provided they give me great service.

I booked a room at the pine ridge. Turns out many bend hotels were sold out on the night I booked but I had other options that I could have booked instead. I booked through a travel agency and I pay an extra fee for this. I checked out the website and although I come to bend frequently, I had not visited the pine ridge. I read the reviews and it looked good.

As travel sometimes goes things went wrong. We had a medical emergency on the plane and made a stop in Boise to drop the passenger off. I arrived late into Redmond and headed to the hotel.

First issue and red flag number 1, after 11 pm, no one is at the front desk, you need to call rent a cop to come and check you in. In other words if anything goes wrong such as medical or fire, well you are on your own between 11 pm and 5 am.

Problem number 2, Turns out rent a cop has no ability to solve any problems. Despite a confirmation and a note on my confirmation that if I CANCELLED I WOULD BE CHARGED WITHIN 72 HOURS, the hotel had no such liability and I was informed my reservation was cancelled because it was “overbooked”. I know overbooking happens, but when it does, a room is lined up for a confirmed guest at a hotel somewhere nearby, often complimentary and at least of equal if not greater amenities.

Problem number 3, Rent a cop informed me at 2:00 am in the morning that no such arrangements existed. He said he called the manager on duty and informed me that no money would be charged to my credit card. So there I am, not sure of what to do next and no help from pine ridge. I started calling, I had choices when I booked but now, every hotel was full!, so next step was to call the after hours travel desk. A wonderful lady put me on hold and started calling hotels for me.

Problem 4, when they create a problem it’s your problem. Meanwhile, I sat in the pine ridge parking lot, on hold. I turned off my lights on my car and waited on hold. Evidently, despite showing mr rent a cop my reservation, I posed some threat. After 20 minutes, he came to my window and informed me I needed to leave the property. Not knowing the city, and wondering if I would be sleeping in my car, I informed him I would leave when I found a place.

About 20 minutes later, an angry bend policeman appeared at my window. I was now trespassing. I explained I had a reservation and after a bit of back And forth the officer realized that Pine Ridge had screwed me.

I was also fortunate that the travel agent came back on the line to let me know she was still looking and informed the sales officer that “in 25 years, she had never had any hotel do this to a customer” in other words cancel their reservation.

Yet Mr policeman after conferring with rent a cop, Informed me if I didn’t leave I faced arrest. At this point at 3 am. I suggested he should do it because it would give me a place to stay.

He pointed out that the hotels actions were civil but mine were somehow criminal. He suggested that I could go find a street to park on.

Problem number 5, they really don’t care about you. Zero follow up to problems. When I attempted to check in, I found the general managers card with his cell phone. I of course called him twice and left my number. So far no response. Allegedly they tried to contact me, but the travel agency has no record of contact from them. So Tom Wisniewski, Mr GM, if you want to call Tom his number is 541-610- 4xxx.

Bottomline, if you want a hotel that cares about their customers, this is not your place. If you care about your safety this is not your place

If you want a “free” overpriced beer or wine, it is less expensive to stay...

We stayed here while driving up to Seattle, stopping in bend for a night to see a show. Was excited to book somewhere local, and the reviews read great so we were super excited.

While this inn has some nice things about it, namely a good bed and small patio, we found ourselves quite frustrated with the other parts of the stay.

We brought our dog along, having checked that they were pet friendly and made arrangements to have the correct room. He is a calm, well trained, adult dog who is used to stayed in hotel rooms since we have spent a lot of time on the road. I , as always, read into their policies as available through Expedia and their website and found there would be no reason to expect anything different from our standard experience with other hotels.

However, during check inn the women at the front desk asked what I was going to do with our pup while we are at the concert. Confused by this, she explained to me that their policy is not to allow dogs to be unattended in the room. She asked if I was going to leave him in the car (it is early September, and the heat would - as we know- make this extremely dangerous and possibly lethal for my pup). She additionally admitted that it would be hard to find that they hold this policy by simply looking through their website. In fact, the pet policies do NOT state that the pets are not allowed to be left in the room.

Assuming we would have to cancel our plans for the night as to not have to leave him, we were extremely disappointed. Luckily, I was able to drive 45 minutes out of town to bring him to a family friends house until after the concert. This being said, this is not standard and is not conducive to being a “pet friendly” hotel if patrons are not able to leave their dog while going to dinner or an other activity. I even asked if we would be able to crate him and he could wear his e-collar (used for off leash work on our farm, but will guarantee he will not bark) which was declined. The women at the front desk was always kind, but unconcerned as to how this affected us and that we were not properly notified of the policy (nor would any other customer be). If we did not have family outside of town, we would have had to find somewhere else to stay or cancel our plans for the night. This policy needs to be made clear at booking.

Besides for this, we were unimpressed with our room as it had a notable unpleasant smell when we walked in and had more than 10 bugs in the bathroom at all times. Including dead ones on the counter. The air in the room did not work, which especially frustrating during wildfire season as having a cool breeze come in is not an option when the air quality is extremely dangerous due to the smoke.

Save your money and simply stay at the Hampton inn or one of the other...

We visited Bend in the middle of a 21-day road trip with two cats. Pine Ridge Inn was by far our best experience with a hotel in regards to welcoming us and our cats. They provided a nice pet-welcoming package on the bed: food and water bowls, soft fleece blankets for each cat, large soft cotton sheets to throw on top of the bed (their request, and I was happy to do so), and towels. The package not only was useful, but just made us feel unusually welcomed as cat owners. As for the hotel, it was lovely. The pet-friendly rooms are on the first floor with sliding glass doors to a small sitting area with grass (great for dog owners). The bed was soft and cozy, there was a very comfortable seating area with a gas fireplace. It was hot out, but I put that on for a little while just because one cat had never seen a fireplace and I wanted to see how she would respond - she was mesmerized. The bathroom had a nice large tub and the water pressure was great. We were there at the height of a heatwave in August, but stayed nice and cool in air-conditioned luxury. The room was very clean, had the expected accommodations (mini fridge, coffee maker, etc). Nice little bonuses of a free cooled beverage during the stay, spa quality bathroom products, and some delicious little cookies waiting in the room by the coffee maker. The breakfast was excellent - a wide selection of filled croissants with a microwave so you could briefly heat if desired. They also had delicious homemade yogurt with fruit compote and granola topping. There was a nice little outdoor balcony off the breakfast room, but I had to pass as it was already pretty full and I was trying to maintain Covid regulations for social distancing. The hotel is a bit off the main strip, but worth the little extra drive to go across the river. As a small hotel, there is no gym/pool available, but there is a nice little path to walk to the park and get in all your exercise in...