Postcard Cabins Mount Adams, Outdoor Collection by Marriott Bonvoy — Hotel in Hood River

We booked a 3-night stay in the hopes of getting away and reconnecting (kind of your motto). Our first 2 nights were good. We awoke early on our last day to go for a long hike.

In transit from our hike, we received a text from the management group indicating there was a power outage (received around 12:30p). The text indicated that we would receive an update and that staff would be readily available if we needed anything.

We went about our day expecting the outage to be 2-3 hours as this is common in the wild areas of Washington. After our long day, we returned to our cabin around 5pm – still no power.

We attempted to locate a staff member, but none could be found. All staff areas (looks like a private house) are clearly labeled as “staff only” and with the lack of phone service in the area, we were left with 2 choices.

Drive the 4 hours back home after a long day and loose out on our last night where we had a fun evening with games and dinner planned or stay in the dark with no ability to cook. Since we were already exhausted from the day’s adventure, we opted to stay expecting the power could eventually return.

Sadly, we never got another update, no contact from staff on the ground, and the power never came on. So we ate cold veggies for dinner. The raw meat we had intended on cooking and dairy products spoiled.

We took a late evening walk to find that most guests had left which left us with an eerie feeling. It felt unsafe to be completely out of pocket and the few folks that remained were less than happy. There was also a strange man randomly walking up and looking into the cabin windows (not the door), which made us feel even more unsafe. We even heard people screaming bloody murder at one point. We did not sleep much that night.

The power eventually came back on sometime that night while we were sleeping.

We understand that power outages aren’t uncommon in this area, however, this isn’t an inexpensive experience and essentially losing an entire day of power without any reliable contact from staff on the ground is reckless. There seemingly was no plan for this, though it’s common. Yes, I understand that we’re “camping” which we do often, but we didn’t bring any of our normal supplies as we expected lights/power/refrigeration/etc. to be available in the cabin.

Why didn’t the staff come to speak with us? How do you expect people to be advised of the power outage if you only send texts in an area, you proudly promote as being cell-service free? Why didn’t you make an effort to set up a community cooking station? Gas grill? Offer guests a place to store their perishables (meds, milks, raw meat, etc.)? Why didn’t you advise staff to make one-on-one contact with each guest that remained? There weren't many. We did and it wasn’t that tough. Everyone was outside b/c the cabins were dark and hot.

Further, I strongly recommend you implement a process to deal with this in the future. Staff should have been walking around, checking on folks. There should have been a plan to ensure people had food to eat.

This could have been so different, part of the adventure so to speak, but the lack of communication and the odd behavior by the staff ruined the experience all together.

PSA to future customers, you're paying a very high price for what may turn out to be a camping nightmare should the...

Our Mount Adams Base Camp!

We went back and forth deciding if we were going to snow camp on the mountain, make a camp at Cold Springs, or camp at Morrison Campground for our Mount Adams climb. We eventually decided on Getaway Mount Adams Cabins. These Getaway cabins are ~ 1hour 15 minutes from the trailhead, so not "nearby" from a climbers perspective but we chose to use them as our basecamp and these are the reasons why.

We drove up to the Mount Adams trailhead the afternoon before our climb (before we checked into the cabin), so we got a good feel for the road...including its narrowness and the erosion berms (high clearance vehicle highly recommended). This is important as we knew we'd be driving in the dark to start climbing in the dark. To assure you can find a parking space, plan to be at the trailhead by 3:00 a.m. at the latest from the cabin (and you may still get one of the last spots). We also knew we'd be exhausted after our full day climb and would want a shower. We had three people in our party, one couple and one single, so we could easily share the cabin making the cost affordable (can accommodate 4). With an electric stove and fridge available we knew that the post-climb dinner could be made fast and require little cleanup...and best of all was the comfortable queen beds that helped us get a few hours of quality sleep before our climb and gave us all a very comfortable sleep post-climb. And when you drive from the trailhead to the cabin and back you will have some beautiful photo opportunities of the mountain that you don't get staying up on the mountain. We're experienced climbers and this is the first time we've considered "glamping" for a mountain ascent. This is not an opportunity that comes along often...so consider it and treat yourself. We're glad we did.

Now about the cabin....Dolores. It was quiet, clean, fully stocked with linen/towels, beds made, and ready on our arrival. It's a tiny home but was easy to maneuver around and comfortable. I really like the picture window next to the bed. You feel like you have your own private home in the woods. No cell service...and you really don't want it here anyway. Enjoy fully off E-grid. You can enjoy the silence or bluetooth into their radio and enjoy your own music. There are even a couple of radio stations that come in clearly. The shower...was....great...complete with shampoo/conditioner/body wash. Good water pressure and plenty of hot water for the three of us. The kitchen has dishes, silverware, glasses, and a few pots/pans. We make a very specific rice dish pre-climb that requires a 4 qt pot, so we brought our pot, not knowing the size of the pots that were available (we didn't think to ask). We are glad we brought our pot as theirs were smaller. We could have split the dinner into two of their pots if we had too, but glad we had our own....something to consider.

We travelled from out of state and I don't know that we will be in the area to stay in this cabin again. That's why I've made an especially detailed review. This is a really nice place for a getaway for any reason and/or a base camp for Mount Adams adventures and I encourage you to...

After a nice arrival and first night’s stay, the entire town experienced a power outage around 11AM. We were left without any information and had to flag down a staff member as they were leaving their quarters to get any sort of idea of what was going on. We did receive a text message alert saying staff was available to come by if we needed assistance, which would’ve helped a little if the location had access to cell service, which it does not (we didn’t actually receive text until we were long gone and with service), and if staff had made themselves readily available, which they did not. We were informed that this sort of thing happens fairly often and that power should be back between 1 to 3 hours. After waiting 3 hours, we headed back over to staff residence to use the only working landline out front to call and check for updates to no answer, so I left a message detailing our concerns. We could see staff going about their day and tried to wave them down to no avail as the property has signage stating “staff only” and we didn’t want to encroach on someone’s workplace residence.

We waited until 5PM, still no update and decided to cut our losses after running into another guest trying to get ahold of staff to no avail as well. Before we left, I left a message with staff and contacted corporate. The only option when calling corporate is to leave a message, so we did so and left for home before it got too dark. To add insult to injury, as we were packing to leave another guest was walking around our camp grounds (right by our window), wearing a black hood. I’m sure this guest was just out for a stroll and had a lapse of judgement about respecting other guests’ space, but it made us a little nervous to say the least.

Today is our checkout day (we paid for late checkout so we technically have 2 hours left). We arrived home last night around 7PM. We’ve still received no information regarding our issues, just an automated text with a link to leave a “comment.”

Here’s my comment: we paid for a “glamping” experience, we did not come prepared to cook without electricity and we did not pay to be left hungry and wondering if we’d ever get power back to do so during our limited time off for the year. Staff should have kept guests updated and established an alternative communication channel in case of emergency or health concern. I can’t believe how difficult it is to get some sort of management on the phone.

Side note: we attempted to shop at the town general store but of course their power was down as well. The woman at the register seemed bothered by us and I have to wonder if race was an...