Bison Peak Lodge at Puma Hills — Hotel in Four Corners States

Edit as of 11/7/2022:

It has been over a year since our wedding took place here, and we still have not received the refunds we are owed for pre-paid cabins that were unavailable when family members arrived on our wedding day, despite monthly check-ins with the venue. I really do not recommend hosting an event here.

We hosted our wedding here on August 5th, 6th, and 7th, 2021. The views and scenery of this place are breathtaking! The reception tent and ceremony space are set up nicely. But sadly, that is the only thing I can currently recommend them for. During initial talks with the venue, we received timely returns to our phone calls and were able to set up a tour quickly and easily. But after our contract was signed, communication was extremely lacking. When the time came for our big day, the staff failed to carry out some important aspects of our event. For example, we had planned to have a champagne brunch on the morning of the wedding -- so that our wedding party could enjoy light drinks and some food while we all got ready. Instead, we ended up eating a good breakfast (the chefs were actually great, even if they did have their children in the kitchen with them) and there was no sign of the champagne and red beers we had paid for until the next morning when everyone was packing up to drive home.

Putting communication and the forgotten elements of the wedding day aside, Puma Hills still has room to grow on the campground side of things as well. One of our groomsmen was injured when an unsecured staircase leading to the outdoor restroom gave way underneath him. The only response from staff was an offer of a Band-Aid (which he never got) and an “out of order” sign on that bathroom trailer. This left us with a total of two working bathrooms for 100 people, since 3 were already marked “out of order” upon our arrival on rehearsal day.

During our tour and at every step along the way, we mentioned to the venue Manager Cristina that some differently abled family members would need help getting to the ceremony space from their lodging. We were assured this was perfectly fine and nothing to worry about. Upon arrival, we were happy to see that a large party bus was available to shuttle guests and wedding party members to and fro. However, this ended up being one of the most disappointing parts of our time there. Guests needing rides were never able to find the driver, and when someone was finally able to hitch a ride, there was no air conditioning in the bus and the windows did not open. Some very important family members of the groom waited 40 minutes to get a ride to the ceremony from their cabin, while several wedding party members saw the driver and other staff standing around, not apparently busy with anything. One guest was physically unable to walk down the large hill their cabin was on, which was actually a backup accommodation for them, since we were told one week before the wedding that the original cabin they booked back in April would be unavailable for the wedding.

If you love the views and glamping aspects of this venue, my only advice is make sure you get everything in writing, down to the small details. This will probably be an uphill battle due to the lacking communication from the staff, but you will need emails as backup if they change policies suddenly on you. In our experience, most decisions discussed over phone calls were ignored or forgotten. If something is important to you, you'll want it in writing for sure.

There are many more things I could say about the execution of our wedding here, but this is getting really long! Simply put, I just cannot recommend this venue in its...

A lot of small issues that could have easily been avoided with a little communication on the venue's end, and some safety issues that could have been catastrophic.

Had the best day of my life marrying my best friend. The views and scenery are amazing. This was the perfect day DESPITE the venue and management; not because of it. We stayed Thursday night and had a (forced) catered rehearsal dinner. We married on Friday and left Saturday morning. I'll list the larger issues that are still bothering me, in no particular order.

-As wedding season began, our communications with the venue's manager Cristina became rarer and rarer, and eventually ceased for weeks on end while the venue made last minute changes and left us waiting to find out how exactly they would work.

-Had a groomsman sustain an injury on the venue's bathroom trailer that had improperly secured steps. Instead of fixing the issue, the 3 restrooms were shut down. This left the 100 guest wedding to use 2 toilets because others were out of order the entire time. I'm grateful it was a young man who fell and not a young child or an elderly family member.

-Were told by the owner that we would be allowed to use the lodge and kitchen (that we paid for) to host the rehearsal dinner. got told 2 weeks before the wedding that we had to have it catered and spent thousands on a small dinner for 40.

-Requested a mimosa brunch for the morning of the wedding, so that the bridal party could sip a drink while getting ready. Instead we were served an admittedly good breakfast and no alcohol. Then on Friday when we were contractually obligated to be out of the property by 10:00 AM, the staff served a mimosa brunch while everyone was in a hurry to leave; lest we be charged hundreds of dollars per hour. Breakfast was not ready until 10:00 AM. The venue manager Cristina was nowhere to be found on this day.

-In short, we overpaid for alcohol and received what we didn't want because of the venue's breach of contract. Our contract explicitly said that the venue had no liquor license and that we'd have to find a caterer with one. A month before the wedding, Cristina told us that they had obtained a liquor license and we would not be allowed to use the caterer that we had signed a contract with; but she guaranteed that we wouldn't pay more and that we'd get the same alcohol options. When they ordered the liquor, they changed the selection of beer, wine, and liquor without our approval. Our original contract with the caterer also allowed us to receive the unused alcohol when the event ended; and that was never returned to me by the very unprofessional bar tender who served to minors.

-The shuttle service that we were promised for our differently able family and friends ended up being a party bus with no air conditioning on a hot August day. It easily took an hour of waiting sometimes for my elderly family members to get a ride up or down the hill.

Despite these issues, and others, I do believe that the owners have a truly wonderful property. They're clearly putting a lot of time and money into constructing and improving many aspects of the venue. The area is amazing for views and atmosphere.

If you can roll with the punches as we had to, if you can deal with VERY limited communication and having to fly by the seat of your pants, and if none of your guests are elderly or differently abled, then Puma Hills may be for you.

If you want management that will make a real effort to make your perfect day absolutely perfect, I would...

My husband and I decided to have our wedding at Puma Hills and I’m struggling to find all the words to describe how absolutely WONDERFUL our weekend was and how grateful we are for everyone at Puma Hills. Puma Hills was the first and only wedding venue we went to look at! We absolutely fell in love the first time we stepped foot on the property and thought “we either need to get married here with everyone or we need to elope cause we can’t get married anywhere else” we decided to have a wedding with our families and loved ones at Puma Hills and looking back we wouldn’t change a thing! Bison Peak Lodge was the most wonderful place to have our special weekend- like I said, it’s hard to even put it all into words with how wonderful it was! Cristina, Myrna and Lily were so accommodating for any and all of our ideas/wishes for how our day would go and they truly made everything happen in the most beautiful way! It was even more beautiful than we could have hoped for! We know our day was as magical as it was because of the utter beauty of Puma Hills, the surrounding area and the beyond incredible staff that was so accommodating and kind. We had 124 people at our wedding and about 110 people stay on site- many of which were from the east coast and had never been camping! The staff went above and BEYOND for every single one of our guests to make them feel welcomed and comfortable. There was so much for our guests to do on site and nearby (hiking, ATVs, horse back riding, kayaking/canoeing, bon fires) that everyone was able to find something to do that made them happy and it was so special having everyone together for a whole weekend and not just a few hours for a ceremony and reception! The accommodations are all wonderful and most importantly comfortable!! Tipis, tents, cabins and the lodge rooms are all different but equally amazing and comfortable. Our guests were a little worried about the shared bathrooms with everyone getting ready for the wedding but there were plenty for everyone to use and get ready the whole weekend and they were also very nice and clean! The food was also great!! We really enjoyed every meal that we had the entire weekend and they were so accommodating with each individual dietary restriction which with 110 people was quite a bit! So many of our guests could not stop talking about how much they enjoyed the weekend! The ceremony itself was held at the most beautiful look out and the cocktail hour/reception was under the most beautiful sail cloth tent. The decorations that puma hills have compliment the beauty of Mother Nature so well and are simple, elegant and stunning and the ceremony/reception looked so beautiful even with the minimal additional decorating that I did! And best of all it is all on site and so close so people were able to walk back to their tipis and get their dancing shoes and be back on the dance floor in no time! It was such a unique and special experience for us and our guests! And it was so special having everyone together, away from cell phone service and the chaos of daily life, and just spend time together celebrating in the beautiful Rockies. If you’re looking to have a wedding weekend with your guests all in one area- Puma Hills is absolutely your place! We are so looking forward to returning for our anniversary- if not sooner! We absolutely love...