Blue Lake Ranch — Hotel in Four Corners States

My family and I are from the south where it snows maybe once every 10 years and it is maybe 1-2 inches deep. We decided to take a trip to Colorado to see what real snow looks like. We planned our trip around the Polar Express train ride in Durango, so I wanted a place near there. After doing a Google search, I found Blue Lake Ranch. The pictures online looked amazing and the ratings were excellent, so I took a chance. It was the best decision I ever made.

When I first called, it was after hours and Brent was leaving the office, but he still stopped to answer my call. I must have grilled him on the phone for over 30 min. I explained that I was from the south and not sure what to expect from CO weather. I also explained it was my family's first trip to CO. He gave me some suggestions for things to do and advice on what to pack for clothing. This alone impressed me about how much he cares about current and future guests. I called back the next day and booked a casita. When we got there, we quickly realized the online pictures did not do this place justice. It was absolutely gorgeous and peaceful. There are hiking trails and ponds on the property. We didn't get to explore all of it, but I look forward to going back to check more out.

Brent is amazing and upgraded our lodging. The breakfast truly is a gourmet meal and there were a lot of options on the plate. My picky eater never complained about the food. The food was brought to our door every morning, and it was always hot. After we were done eating, the staff would come back and take the dishes away as well as any trash bags. Brent's suggestions for activities were perfect. We went to the hot springs, the Powerhouse Museum, and drove around in the mountains. My kids LOVED playing in the "real" snow. We also went to Silverton and explored an old abandoned mining town near Silverton.

My kids are remote learner's in school, so before going, I signed up for hotspot on mine and my husband's phone, just in case. We never had to use it. Ironically cell reception is spotty in CO, but the wifi internet at Blue Lake Ranch was perfect. The kids were able to do all their daily assignments and keep up with everything without any problems. I LOVED that there was no TV in the living room. They also provided a bunch of board games, which really helped in getting all of us unplugged and spending more quality time together. There was smaller TV's in cabinets in the bedrooms with satellite TV, but we didn't use them all that much.

There were a couple things that confused me, but it was not anything wrong with Blue Lake Ranch. When we first got there, we couldn't figure out how to adjust the temperature in our lodging. Turns out the fireplaces were the heaters. After we figured it out, we loved the atmosphere of having a fireplace in each bedroom and in the living room. It was very calming and soothing. The other thing that confused me for a few days was the whipping sound I kept hearing anytime I sat outside. Then I realized it was the ponds freezing and ice cracking. Not something I had ever heard before. Lol. After I realized what it was I thought it was so cool to hear.

If I could give them 100 stars, I would. Out of all the vacations we have gone on, it was by far the best vacation and the best lodging we have ever experienced. I have already recommended Blue Lake Ranch to all my friends and family. My husband and I are already talking about when we...

It took me a few days to decide to write this review. I have been going to Blue Lake Ranch for the last seven years. My past experiences have been so memorable. I looked forward to going every year, which was mainly for our wedding anniversary. The Ranch has been a first-class little piece of heaven. But my last visit in May was so disappointing. I had to clean my room and patio before we got settled; dirt, dust, from not being maintained, ants in the bathtub, cobwebs, and hair from the last guest. As advertised, so much for being thoroughly cleaned after each guest because of COVID. The breakfasts were horrible, and the portions were small. By 9 am there was not much left, with most items gone. In the past the breakfasts kept us until dinner time.

The main area with the office, kitchen, dining room, common room, etc. were dirty, e.g., dead flies on the floor, dust, and dirt under furniture, messy in general. We were in the main reception area on a remote baby shower and guests and customers kept coming in looking for the Innkeeper, who assured them he would be in his office; we never saw him while we were there.

The Innkeeper is new, but I get the sense that he does not have any experience managing. When we talked to him about our complaints, he told us he did not like confrontation with the staff. He did "make it right” but told us the owner was not willing to discount our stay because we were already getting “off season” pricing. Speaking of “off seasons”, that was the excuse for most of the issues we described to the Innkeeper. My opinion, they should not be open for business if they do not have the staff to maintain the resort.

For the last several years we have boasted at how wonderful Blue Lake Ranch is, so my sister and niece decided to join us. When they checked into their room it was not equipped with all amenities the other rooms provided. They were directed to where they keep supplies and told to get what they needed. The storage area was dirty, with dead flies and cobwebs, the shampoo bottle had smashed dead flies’ guts and a hair on the bottom of the bottles . In the room, the furniture was dirty and soiled, the sofa bed was overused and not comfortable, you had to hug the shower wall to shower. They had other issues, but I will let them write their own review.

Again, I am so sad to write this review. I think what prompted me to write the review was the reaction from the Innkeeper and Owner. If they had acted with remorse and good customer service, I probably would be making an eighth stay next year. But, my memories of this vacation are so bad, I will not be back. We were going to try and schedule a family reunion next year at the Ranch. We will be finding...

We had a bit of bad luck during our one night stay, but the property looked beautiful. When we first arrived (after a 12 hour drive) we couldn't find our casita anywhere. We drove in circles for what felt like forever. It turns out that another guest was parked right in front of the sign for our accommodation. Thankfully, they ended up leaving or we would've never seen it. We put our things in our room and then hurried back to town to get dinner. When we got back to our cabin, the mechanism that unlocks the door was malfunctioning and we could not get inside. We called the number provided but there was no answer. We called the next number that was given out via VM, and still no answer. We finally ended up calling the owner's phone number and she answered the phone. She was very kind and did her best to help us get back in to our room. After exhausting all efforts, she sent us to another room. The new room was absolutely beautiful and even more cozy than the first. We were exhausted from the second part of a long road trip, so we rinsed off in the new room and went to sleep. Despite not having clean clothes, allergy meds, toothpaste/toothbrushes, supplies for my eye contacts, or anything else that we needed, we were grateful to be in a warm and comfortable bed. At some point after we had fallen asleep, we received a phone call letting us know that they had opened our room. By then, neither of us were feeling up to getting back up and shuffling things around, so we stayed put. Definitely not an ideal situation, especially when you're paying money to stop off and be comfortable somewhere after such a long drive. We could've stayed at a Best Western or something in town, but we were desperate for something cozy and comfortable. Having to go to sleep without any of the basic necessities was really hard. I guess it's a good thing we were so tired. We woke up to a beautiful mountain view, got our things (brushed our teeth!!), and went down to breakfast. Breakfast was delicious. You can tell that they go to a lot of effort to provide a wonderful breakfast that is full of variety. Everyone that we encountered seemed very nice. We even got some tips for neat places to stop as we headed towards our destination. Would definitely like to give it another try sometime. Under different circumstances, it seems like an extremely relaxing...