Aquarius Inn — Hotel in Bicknell

Stayed just last night and overall good experience. Not the newest of places but certainly comfortable and suitable for a temporary stay. No breakfast, so heads up. One of the best indoor pool and hot tubs I've seen at a hotel/motel. Other than the really terrible Wi-Fi (none of our phones would connect more than once an hour for a minute at most) the only negative thing that happened occurred while we were swimming. My younger brothers, my wife and I were swimming and there had been a large group of very young teenagers who were not being supervised by any adult from their group. They were playing fine for a while and then all went from the pool to the hot tub very loudly. There had been some adults in the hot tub who didn't appreciate that, left and complained to the manager. The manager (could have just been an employee) comes storming in and kicks all of the kids in that group out. We had been playing in the pool on the furthest side from the hot tub on our own and she threatened, while pointing her finger at us, to kick us out too, yelled at us to behave "end of conversation" and stormed right back out. All in the span of about 15 seconds. She did not even ask us if we were in the same group or anything about anything that took place. Just came in very rudely when we had no association to the problem and my wife and I had been properly supervising our group. She didn't even give us a chance to explain and if we had tried she was CLEARLY not in a listening mood at all! Later, we were searching for a clock and saw what ended up being a thermometer that seemed really condensated so my brother tried to wipe it off with his hand the in order to read it. The same woman, who had been outside on a smoke break and saw him touch the thermometer, opens a door and rudely yells at him, again without even asking what he is doing. My brothers felt just as scared of this woman as they would a bully and I don't blame them. She should have gone to the root of the problem--those who, by publicly posted pool rules, should have been supervising them. Very unprofessional, very low class, very unwelcoming and just not what you would expect from any hotel/motel. Don't know if this woman was the manager or not and perhaps she'd had a really rough day. Perhaps the other employees are more professional. However that experience alone would be the deciding factor for me not staying again in the future. Other than that though it was a really nice, quiet place that made an enjoyable stay! I really...

Our stay at this motel was fine until they called me 20 minutes after we checked out and accused me of lying about not bringing our dogs with us. We chose this place because it was pet-friendly, but we ended up leaving our dogs at home with one of our teens who decided not to come with us. Despite informing the front desk that we didn't have them, a fact that the lady at the desk could have verified if she had just looked outside as we were unloading our car, they called me after we checked out two days later to claim they found dog hair "all over the room" and in the bed covers. The cleaning crew made the accusation, which was ridiculous of them, because they were cleaning the room next to ours as we were packing up to leave, and there's no way they would have missed seeing our two big dogs. The cleaning guy who was sitting in the parking lot and smoking would have especially seen us getting our dogs into the car, we had the door to our room open the whole time, and our car doors were open as we were going back and forth. So if they really found dog hair all over, they must not be cleaning the rooms very well between guests. The room was spacious, but the carpet was very worn out. My kids enjoyed the pool and hot tub, and having a mini fridge and microwave was convenient. I would have left a positive review because of those facts. However, the accusation of bringing my dogs and finding pet hair in the room was absurd. I will monitor my credit card for any extra charges because when we checked in, we were told we would not be charged the extra fee for pets. I will dispute any extra charges they try to bill us for. I will also share this experience with others to caution them about...

Love this place.

Short version: clean rooms, low prices, good location, good amenities, pool, hot tub. Read on for more...

OK, so this isn't a Marriott with brand new, shiny rooms. The buildings are older (and sometimes show it), but they aren't delapidated and they've always been clean & they don't smell funny like many older motels often do. We've stayed here around a dozen times & never regretted it.

Sure, a knob or two may be wobbly or a door might stick a little, but nothing which significantly detracts from making it a good place to stay. The beds & pillows are comfortable, even the pull-out bed in the suite sofa.

On the down side, WiFi is sketchy depending on what room you're in. But there is cable TV if you didn't bring DVDs to watch.

The rooms are big, all with mini fridges, microwaves, LCD TVs & DVD players. If you stay in the suite there is a full kitchen, TWO bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, queen bed & TV, the living room has a single pull-out bed & yet another LCD TV.

Pool & hot tub is heated, located in a big glass atrium building with plenty of towels available.

Apart from being one of the most affordable places anywhere, for tourists it's nicely located. There are multiple state & national parks, all close enough you could drive there from the inn, see all the sights & make it back to the Aquarius Inn by dinner, or bedtime at latest. During one visit we stayed a week & saw at least one different park (or destination of note) every day.

For breakfast & dinner you'll want to check out the Sunglow diner, two blocks East.

I suggest calling ahead for reservations. During peak season it's often fully booked since it's...