Skyland — Hotel in Luray

Unfortunately, I doubt I'll be staying at Skyland again, which is an absolute shame because I really used to love it. I will try Big Meadows, though operated by the same company, and hope for a better experience.

Room: We had a renovated room, which looked very nice but was not well done. The bathtub appeared to have been placed on top of another tub or bath fixture. When stepping into the tub, there was a noticeable step up and when stepping out, a noticeable step down. It felt really unnatural. There were stains on the wall in front of the toilet. My guess is that someone was having a both ends kind of situation and one of them ended up on the wall. Luckily, we had bleach wipes and cleaned it ourselves. The sink faucet leaked. Again - allegedly a renovated room. Balcony was nice but, as others have mentioned, there is no way to request a room/building that you know you'll like, even well in advance and for an additional cost. Some rooms have better views - charge more for them and let people book them directly. AC worked great Wifi was an unexpected treat

Service: The people working the front desk were very nice. I received some of the absolute worst service of my life at the restaurant. I will write more on that in the restaurant's review, but my guidance is to avoid it at all costs. The Starbucks was adequate for quick snacks. The general manager did respond to an email describing my horrific experience at the restaurant and attempted to resolve our issue by providing vouchers for a free dinner. Unfortunately, those vouchers were not able to be used for lunch (which is weird because lunch is less expensive) and after another bad experience at lunch, we opted not to use the vouchers. The manager did ultimately adjust our room bill to account for that, but they did not ultimately take responsibility for the shortcomings of their staff.

Pet Policy & Safety: There was exactly no enforcement of resort policies surrounding pets. We brought our dog and kept him on a leash at all times, but 50% of the other people with dogs let theirs roam off leash. This is a huge safety risk. Pro tip: If you have a policy that is intended to keep occupants - both human and canine - safe, you don't enforce it, and someone is injured or worse, your policy does not protect you. You, as an individual responsible for enforcing those policies, are responsible for the outcome of the policy violation and you company will not defend you when you get sued. Liability insurance does not typically cover negligence.

I'm sure someone from corporate will see and respond to this review. I am not seeking money back or credit towards another stay - like I said, I will likely not stay at Skyland again. I don't want promises of better service next time. Frankly, all of these shortcomings are ultimately the responsibility of corporate - not the GM or the restaurant managers or anyone physically working on that property. The fish stinks from the head.

If you want to prevent someone else from having this experience, staff your resort properly. Train your employees. Teach the how to de-escalate instead of further escalating issues brought to them. Pay them well. This resort had all of the telltale signs of poor management at the highest...

We spent a total of two nights at Skyland in a 2 Queens Premium Room.

Finding the lodge was simple, but the registration desk is sorta hard to find when approaching from the parking lot. It is not in the building where the Pollock Dining Room, Mountain Tap Room, Starbucks, and the Gift Shop are located. It is instead in a building just to the left of that one. Check-in process was easy, and the staff were quite helpful and were very friendly.

Our room was located in the Hazeltop building. The building had a small parking lot located just in front of it with one space allotted per room. Our room required going up a few steps to reach the door. This seemed to be how it is for all the buildings. The room is an average sized space, not cramped, but not very large either. The over-all condition of the room was alright, you could tell there had been some improvements made over the years, but there is certainly more work to be done. The space is cozy and somewhat rustic, but could be much nicer with just a few more updates.

Our room was equipped with a mini-fridge, an air conditioner, a ceiling fan, a 46" TV with DirectTV, a Keurig coffee maker with a selection of coffee pods, and a small table with two chairs. There was also a very large, but awkwardly placed closet. The room lacks electric outlets, most likely due to the older age of the buildings. They tried to compensate for this by adding a power block on the nightstand that has 4 outlets as well as some USB ports for charging. The A/C was quiet, but it didn't work very well. The bed was acceptable, but had seen better days and will likely need to be replaced by next season. The room itself was very quiet. The room had an exterior balcony that had a beautiful view of the Shenandoah Valley which was perfect for watching the sunset.

The bathroom was on the smaller side, but was quite functional and looks to have been remodeled in the recent past. The water pressure was some of the best we have had at a hotel. The hotel provides shampoo, conditioner, and body wash via a dispenser that's mounted to the wall. We tried them, and found that the body wash was pleasant and did the job, but that the shampoo and conditioner were lacking and we would suggest bringing your own.

The room was mostly clean when we arrived as the floors were free from any dirt or debris and all the bathroom surfaces were clean. We did find that 3 pillows on one of the beds smelled of urine when we arrived. Since we didn't need that bed, we were able to set those aside and get them replaced. The staff apologized and suggested that it was likely due to a pet of a previous guest since the room we were assigned was one that they allow pets in.

Overall, we had a pleasant stay as the room had enough space for us, provided a beautiful view and was quiet. The location for visiting the park is great. But note that the price paid for what you get is quite high, as you can book various Hilton, Hyatt, IHG or Marriott properties that include many more amenities for less money than you'll pay...

First off, I would rate this 3.5, but didn't see the option. And the one thing that kept me from rating it a 3 or lower was the fact that the lodge is located in an achingly beautiful (borrowing from Chesterton) setting at at high point of the breath-taking Skyline Drive. We arrived at the desk at 3:30, a half hour before check-in, and we were informed the room wasn't ready. Fine, check-in technically was 4 p.m. We took a walk, came back at 4:30. The room still wasn't ready. We were informed we would receive a preferred room "upgrade" in the Birmingham building Once we got in -- and we had a heckuva time with the antique key, it was quite an attractive, clean room, with a spectacular view to the west. Sunlight flooded the room, which made it much warmer than the air outside. The air-conditioning was running, loudly. It was so beautiful on the porch that we decided to open the door and turn off the a/c. Except it wouldn't go off. The only way to stop it was to unplug it. After dinner we watched night fall spectacularly, and the stars took the stage. When we turned on the light we got a shock. I thought we were at a news conference, the LED bulb was so bright. Also, we had no place to sit. We stayed in bed in the darkness and watched the night. But when one of those LED lights went on in neighboring units, lights flooded the landscape. Fortunately, they didn't stay on long. If you go, we'd recommend bringing your own lights, or headlamps. The rooms in that building didn't have wifi, although it was available in the office's comfortable seating area. Our room was equipped with a large-screen TV, and personally I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to watch TV in this magical envirornment. The bed was quite comfortable, and we enjoyed the mystical glow of the deepening night sky. Regarding the shower, I'll say you won't suffer third-degree burns. I waited and waited for the water to get warm. In the end, many things in life are worse than a cool shower.

A word about the food. We had lunch in the dining room, and I ordered the humus platter. It was edible, basically supermarket-level baby carrots; cucumber; and, of course, hummus. The highlight was a generous serving of good olives. The lowlight was the refrigerator-cool naan. Our server, Jose, was excellent. We went back for dinner and the spectacular view of sunset. I ordered the "Roasted Root Vegetable Stew." It allegedly included sweet potatoes, parsnips, carrots, onions, kale, and cherry tomatoes. Whatever they might have been, they all were cooked beyond recognition. I would say the wild rise pilaf was a gruel-ing experience. I kicked in an extra $6 for five or six pieces of chicken. If I've had drier chicken in my life, I don't know when that would have been. In short, the food was no match for the view. On the positive side, Jose again was our water. In retrospect we were sorry we didn't bring our own food, and lights. But, again, this place is...