Grand Canyon Lodge - North Rim — Hotel in Four Corners States

TLDR: No WiFi, tiny showers, tiny bathrooms, stiff beds and pillows, mouse traps in my room, no outlets, ancient heating systems, limited hot water, limited food options. But at least the trails are good, so that makes everything better, right?

I wonder how many people actually stay here versus just enjoy the views here because the views are astonishing, truly. I loved the lookouts and many accessible trails nearby. However, actually staying in these cabins is a different story.

I hiked rim-to-rim, which is not the experience most people have, but I'm still going to share my feelings about it. I completed my 21+ mile hike and got to my room just wanted to shower off and rest. Too bad the shower doesn't have a light above it and is crammed into a dark corner of the bathroom, leaving maybe four or five square to move around in? And as a lanky, 6' 2"ish cow, I'm lookin' to have as much room as I can get. Not with this place. The soap and shampoo were cheap too. So I took my dark, cramped shower. I found out the following day that one of my sowfriends who did the hike with me didn't have hot water in her cabin that morning, so that's cool.

The bathroom itself is tiny as well. Sitting on the toilet caused my knees to hit the wall, which would have been hilarious to me if I didn't have balance myself prior to sitting down due lack of working leg muscles from the hike. Anyway, after the shower, I went to rest in my bed for a bit. Too bad my bed was stiff as hell and the also stiff pillow cranked my neck, so I couldn't get any good rest then or either night I stayed here. And there were two mouse traps near my bed, which is the universal sign for great pest control on a property.

And the only available outlets were two in the bathroom, so if you want to charge your devices overnight, you'd better figure out how to balance them on the tiny stand above the sink. And in the night, when it got to below forty-five degrees, the ancient heating unit in my cabin seemed to not only take a while to kick in, but didn't actually tell you what temperature you were setting it to? It was just a dial. "Do you want it a little hot? Or a lotta hot?" You pick.

And I'm not even at the worst part of this place—there's no WiFi. "But Chocolate," you might say, "you're in nature! You should be off of your devices!" Yes, and I was. However, if you hiked there and planned to hike back, but found your legs udderly unfunctioning the following day, you're going to need to reserve for a shuttle out of there for the following day. Can't do that without WiFi. Also, rim-to-rim is a 21+ mile, dangerous hike where someone dies every two weeks, apparently. I wanted to let me loved ones know that I was alright, except I couldn't without WiFi. I'd understand if only the main lodge itself had WiFi to encourage people to be off their phones while in their cabins or just out and about, but no, there's not even that option. There's WiFi at a general store a little more than a mile away, but again, with completely shot legs, that wasn't exactly the easiest ask.

The eatery at the lodge was also quite mediocre for the price. They charge $21 for a bare-bones breakfast buffet and wanted $36 for the most bland salmon I've ever had in my life. I mean I know it's a landlocked state, but come on. The wait staff there is super nice, though, and tolerated with my large group for the time we were there, so shoutout to them for dealing with our nonsense.

Anyway, to make a long story short, since this is the only option for lodging on the North Rim, come prepared, but don't expect to enjoy it. The cabins are trash and without WiFi, do all of your online...

The North Rim is spectacular! The park, roads and trails well taken care of. The two patios at the lodge are fantastic and the perfect place to have a drink and watch the beautiful sunset. (bartender at the Saloon makes a great Manhattan) Also, there are A LOT less people than the South Rim which is soooo nice! Unfortunately that's where the love affair ends. We stayed in the Pioneer Rim View cabin #4 on Sept 5th and were booked for 3 nights. Check-in is at 4pm, but they don't guarantee that time. We got our cabin at 6:30pm. I wonder if they do that on purpose? Where else will you go after you see the room at that time? Cabin doesn't have much of a view as there are trees in the way. The only good thing about this cabin is that you don't share walls with any neighbors which I've heard from others sharing walls that the walls are super thin and you can hear your neighbor whisper. The bad was that our cabin was absolutely disgusting! I had read the reviews and cannot believe how people give these cabins rave reviews. What kind of squalor do they live in? Read the bad reviews, as those are the ones to believe. There were spider webs EVERYWHERE! We killed 3 spiders that first night. The log walls were dusty and the carpets beyond dirty. They had 2 mouse traps in one corner. We didn't see any rodents, but that didn't make me sleep any easier. No a/c, so we had to keep the filthy windows open to get any air and there was enough space around the screen windows to let insects in. One screen had a big hole in it. Having to keep the windows open, there was also a garbage smell which I believe came from the area where the lodge keeps their garbage cans, which was in close proximity. Food at deli was high priced and not very good. Breakfast buffet in the dining room for 2 was $40 and also nothing great. Had dinner in the dining room one night and because of water shortages, my $40 ribeye (which didn't have much flavor) was served on paper plate with a real steak knife, but plastic fork. As if that wasn't enough, I lost my appetite when I saw a bat flying around over our table. There is an apparent staff shortage and the staff that is working, do as little as possible. It felt as though they've all quietly quit. (except for the bartender in the Saloon, wish I could remember his name) You're basically held hostage unless you bring your own food. Honestly, we could've dealt with the poor dining experience if it weren't for the condition of the cabin. After 2 sleepless nights we made the decision not to stay a 3rd night. We've stayed at the South Rim twice (Yavapai Lodge) which was great, and after years of wanting to visit the magnificent North Rim, we left extremely disappointed with the accommodations. I don't go on vacation so I can stay in filth, worry about what can bite me in the middle of the night, sleep with the lights on and spend my day with a headache because of sleep deprivation. Honestly, the back seat of our car would've been better. It's the worst place I've stayed in my entire life! I would visit the park again because it's stunning, but I will NEVER stay or eat at the Lodge again. I'll stay elsewhere. I cringe at the thought of what our foreign visitors must think. You'd be better...

It was with some trepidation that I booked a room at the GC Lodge after they were closed for many months and just reopened on July 23 which was the night we stayed there. What a disaster from the beginning. Visiting the Grand Canyon was on my bucket list for forever, but the stay at the GC Lodge was a disappointment. First issue was the check in/reservation problem. Checkin for the hundred plus guests was a disaster! I (and many others)waited over two hours to check in. There was a "computer problem" so only one person behind the desk could actually verify guest reservations, then another staff member took credit card payments. Meanwhile while the staff members behind the desk with deer in headlights looks, basically standing around, the manager was sitting behind her desk looking cool as a cucumber. She must have sent her assistant, Kimberly, out to multiple times to apologize for the wait, but Kimberly was of no help until we begged her to move along the two women at check in who took 25 minutes to pay with their credit card. Finally, after two hours, when it was our turn to register, it took just two minutes, which is what it should have taken for everyone else. I booked a Western Cabin, but was given an Eastern Cabin, which was not what I paid for. Then to make matters worse, when I got to our cabin, I went to wash all the bugs out of the tub, and the middle faucet shot off the wall of the tub and water came pouring out of the tiled wall everywhere. I called the front desk to ask to have it fixed. Two hours later, I called again, spoke to Gail who sounded super annoyed that I called again, but again promised to send someone over to fix it. Finally, as we were heading to dinner, hours later, the nice maintenance supervisor showed up. It was fixed by the time we got back from dinner which was hours later. Dinner RSVP"s, another customer service disaster....we made reservations for 8:15, but when we get to the restaurant to check in the cheeky hostess told us to come back in a half hour because they were really behind. Needless to say, we were starving, but we came back, and we were the LAST patrons at the restaurant. Thankfully Addie, the nice hostess and our waiter Rocky were the stars of our stay there, apologizing over and over. What we paid for our cabin, which was not the cabin I booked was definitely not worth almost $400. The Lodge is trying to be an upscale, 4 star hotel and it is just not. With the lack of customer service and attention to detail, it never will be. I would definitely NOT Recommend staying there. By the way, ARAMARK should be embarrassed about this hotel and customer service and fix it. Also, I am still waiting for the manager to call...