Beaver Meadows Resort Ranch — Hotel in Laramie

This is my second time staying here and coordinating a trip with family. And overall, we really like it. But in order for us to continue to come back, a number of things need to change. I'll start with what we like: It is easy to get to and a beautiful location. The grounds are well maintained with the exception of some trash that blows about. The trails are great for hiking and horseback riding (not as good for mountain biking but its possible). The trails are also within walking distance so no need to drive anywhere. Its quiet and there are a lot of different types of lodging options so theres something for everyone, even if you have "non campers" in your family. Clara at the barn is super nice and helpful for anything horse related. The rooms have always been very clean. They provide high quality soap, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion. The decor and updated rooms look and feel nice. The food at the restaurant is good if you are lucky enough to try it. Now what I'm hoping will improve: With how much they charge, there are some expectations that come with that...even the campsites are more than average at about $45 a night and they dont include electric or water hook ups. The camping bathrooms are not well maintained and pretty dirty. We have stayed in the condos, lodge, and campsites. The lodge rooms do not have ac which is typical for mointain cabins. You usually open the windows and/or use a fan at night to cool things down and close them and the blinds in the morning to keep it from getting too warm during the day. Thats not the problem. The problem is our window did not have screens so when we opened them, a ton of insects flew in. I felt like i was getting bit all night long. It would be really helpful also to either provide a plug in fan or install a ceiling fan. Additionally, one of our ceiling light fixtures was broken. Thankfully the light itself worked, but again, for how much is charged, I expect the room to be in order. Communication could improve. Thankfully we called before leaving to ask about the restaurant. Every time we called we got a different answer but finally it was determined it would not be open at all during our stay. We had to scramble the night before to prepare food since we only have a mini fridge and microwave in the room. That would have been fine except our mini fridge didnt work...we have a toddler so this made things exceptionally difficult and food spoiled which was a waste. Then as we were getting ready to leave, we saw the restaurant was open... even though they said it wouldnt open until later. Additionally, when I booked, I had added on a package for "breakfast pastries." This was reflected in my confirmation email. When we arrived and i asked about it, I was just told "no" but there was also a language barrier so I forwarded it to the customer service email and never got a response. Its fine if they dont provide it anymore, things change, but let us know ahead of time. Without the restaurant, the expected breakfast, no grocery near, and a non working fridge we were in a bit of a bind. Little things like cleaning the dead bugs off the windowsill, cleaning the spider webs, and providing tissue boxes also would have made the stay more comfortable. For an unknown reason, It also strongly smelled like sewage right outside of our room. We didn't notice it anywhere else on the property but it did make sitting outside to watch the sunset less enjoyable. Lastly there was a safety issue. By complete accident, we found out our room key opens the room right next to ours...which makes me concerned that all the keys open all the rooms. Also without the screen or fans, it makes it that much easier for someone to crawl through our open window (we were on the ground floor). I also found it strange that when I went to check in, they didn't ask for identification, just handed me my key.

The place was pretty empty while we there, which I'm not complaining about, but it did make me think they charge too much for demand. Or maybe others have also had negative...

I wanted to love my stay here. When I booked my room, whoever I talked to was super friendly and helpful. I was staying with a newborn, so they helped me pick the perfect room for traveling with a baby. I had to call back twice with questions, and the people I talked to were very kind both times.

When I arrived to check in, the gal working there was helping another customer. I decided to use the restroom while I was waiting. When I came back, she was gone. Apparently she was also tending bar at the restaurant. She wasn't gone very long, but again, I had a newborn, so I wasn't really keen on waiting. No worries though, we are on mountain time and I understand being short staffed. She was very friendly and helpful when she came back.

I got to my room and everything looked great at first glance. I stayed in an upper lodge room and it was a great set up for having a baby along. However, the door to the porch didn't lock, nor did the window. The door between the adjoining rooms was unlocked so people could walk right through. Only one of the locks worked on the front door. That made me feel a little unsafe. Then I realized that there was no internet and no phone, so I couldn't contact anyone if I needed help or had any issues without packing up my kiddo and driving back to the office.

We went off and did our thing for the day and came back in the evening. When we returned, I realized that there was mouse poop all over the room. Colorado is especially known for rodents carrying Hantavirus, so that was pretty concerning. However, it was already dark, there was no way to contact the office, and I was super tired, so I didn't want to pack up all the baby stuff and move rooms.

The next evening, I found the mouse as it was running past my baby. Gross!! It hid in the mini fridge, so I had to drag that outside to try and get rid of the mouse. When I moved the fridge, it was clear that no deep cleaning had occurred in a very long time. There was a ton of mouse poop behind the fridge. There was also poop on the bed and the chairs.

Further note on the lack of cleaning - there were used beverage cans on my porch, trash stuffed down in the recliners, and visible trash from prior tenants around the corners of the room.

When I went to check out on Sunday morning, the office was closed. My confirmation email says check out time is between 8-11am, and I was there at 9:30am. I walked up to the restaurant just in case people were over there, but that was also closed. Another guest told me that no one had shown up until 10:30am the day before, so I just had to leave my key in the late check-in box at the office door.

On the plus side, the view of the meadow was absolutely stunning! We have a friend who stays regularly and doesn't have issues with their room, so hopefully my experience was the exception, but I doubt that I will give Beaver Meadows my business...

The disorganization and lack of communication exercised by the new owners made my wedding day much more stressful and frustrating than it needed to be. As someone who has been visiting Beaver Meadows since I was a kid, it is incredibly disappointing to witness somewhere I've made cherished memories be driven downhill by this new ownership.

I was told there would be another wedding a short walk down the dirt road from my own wedding site. I was told they've not had to do this before, but that the other couple had a conflict and needed to reschedule. I thought this was a bit inconsiderate but decided to overlook it since the other couple should be able to have their day too. Come the day of the wedding, my now husband showed up in the morning to check us into a cabin we had reserved a year prior. I receive a text from him saying Susi wants to move us to a different cabin. I told him no and that I wanted that one for nostalgic reasons and also I'd already told people to meet me there, and there isn't great cell service at the ranch. While my mom and I are driving up, my husband texts me again saying she is still trying to move us, so I called and asked to speak with her. She told me she wanted to upgrade us to a bigger cabin, and when I tried to explain why I didnt want that she was not willing to accept my answer and tried to persuade me into the bigger cabin. At this point my husband asked if she had double booked the cabin we wanted, and she said no that the dishwasher was actually broken and needed parts and a repair man would be coming by. I told her it didnt matter because we wouldn't be doing dishes and I didnt want to be moved.

15 minutes before my wedding is supposed to start, I get a phone call from my mother whose been running around frantically trying to find our cake. When she finally found it, Susi's staff had allowed it to be set up at the other wedding and decorated with the other couples flowers and topper. Again, lack of communication and organization. We got the cake back to my site and decorated accordingly, and the wedding proceeded as planned. It was absolutely beautiful and I wouldn't have pictured it any other way. However.... Later that night when we were in our cabin, my husband informs me that when he showed up to check in, the kid at the front desk asked if it was for the other groom. I saw his name on the back of their "just married" vehicle. Also, there was no dishwasher in the cabin. So I was lied to about that. The next day I wanted to have lunch at the restaurant; I was excited to try some new menu items the owners have introduced. Our waiter informs us that they are only serving sandwiches and salads because, since they had 2 weddings, they ran out of everything else. They knew they had 2 weddings and should have...