Willow House — Hotel in Manuel Benavides

5 Stars for aesthetic but 2 stars for overall service.

We booked two casitas for a 3-night stay but were only given one code to access our casitas via e-mail confirmation. We arrived at 9 pm after. Driving 8 hours from New Mexico only to find out that we should have been given a separate code for the second casita. We called and messaged multiple times but nobody answered. By a stroke of luck we guessed the key code for the second casita. The property boasts of an on-site manager but nobody answered our call nor came to our aide to address this issue at a timely manner. If we have not guessed the code, two adults would be out jn the middle of the desert with no place to sleep. That is the most careless and worst experience we’ve had at any hotel.

Someone replied to us from Willow House “Did you figure it out?” at 10 am the next morning. That is unacceptable and very dangerous for your guests.

Second point: Safety and Security. Judging from the fact that we guessed the passcode for the second casita, this is poor security for your guests. You don’t seem to change the passcodes for your casitas. Anybody can just key in the passcode and enter even when someone is staying inside and even when they have locked the casita from the inside. There is no physical lock that prevents anybody outside from entering your room.

Third point: Rule enforcement and public space maintenance. The communal main house refrigerator was filled to the brim with unlabelled food from God knows when and where. There was even dog food inside even though Willow house states there should be no pets allowed on the property. We saw a golden lab brought by one of the guests. They used the plastic cover for the microwave as a water bowl for their dog.

As a suggestion, someone should clean out the fridge every 3 days or have dedicated bins for each casita so that each group has a chance to use the fridge. You should change your casita passcodes and install physical locks and have your manager actually stay ON-SITE. You should have at least one staff physically present on-site. Lastly, work on your customer service and response times.

We are a very low maintenance group and we never call for any service at any hotel. The fact that Willow house failed to provide a passcode for a casita and have failed to respond to voicemails and multiple calls speaks volumes to your service quality. Willow house is luxurious only on...

What a magical place! An absolute marvel! This was the perfect end to our 9-hour drive into Big Bend, and it's close proximity to the park makes it an even more lucrative option. But the House itself is a work of art, and to be experienced at least once in your life. It's sleek, modern, minimalistic look is bound to leave an unforgettable impression on you. The main house is set up as a communal space. The moment you enter, you realize not a single detail is skipped in putting together this piece of well-designed House. In fact, it is such a marvel, you forget entirely you are sharing the space with total strangers. Yet the communal nature of this House is what makes it so unique and fun at the same time because it's a great way to meet like minded people who, like you, made the drive out to in the middle of nowhere to be present in the beauty of Big Bend. To begin, the kitchen is well stocked, more than any I have seen. The communal space is huge and so calm, peaceful and inviting, with lots of windows to enjoy the scenic beauty of the landscape at all times! There are plenty of sitting areas to accommodate large number of guests and to give each party it's privacy, inside and outside the House. And a nice BBQ spot outside if you want to enjoy some BBQ out in the wild. The nearby grocery store offers everything for everyone from GF, vegan, etc., a great place to stock up on supplies so you can indulge in some cooking at the House. The rooms are small but not uncomfortable in any way. There's just enough space for the amount of people in one room. The beds and linens are super comfortable in fact amazing quality! Had the best sleep ever. You can situate yourself in white chairs randomly placed around the property to enjoy the beautiful views of Chisos mountains. And there's a floating bed nearby to add to your experience. All in all, there's not a single element of this property we did not enjoy. In fact, my friend and I are even thinking about staying at the Willow House as an annual ritual to recharge our batteries and get one with nature in uber style. BTW The maintenance staff is on the property and they respond right away to any issues or concerns you may have. They are very friendly and helpful. We had a few issues with the room which were taken care of right away without any delay. This is definitely one of the best resorts we have stayed in. A must see for...

As so many others have described, the property is just beautiful. The casitas are finished out very well and the communal kitchen and common area is really a neat space. Unfortunately, the quality of the stay is really dictated by the other guests and, for us, the the ability for the caretaker to manage the guests and the owner's dog which was on site. The owner was not on site, but responsive via email and the caretaker was a friend standing in temporarily. When in the common areas none of the other guests nor the caretaker wore masks nor did they make an effort to social distance. Obviously that's difficult to manage for business owners, but we saw no visible effort to better enforce their own policies and this made my wife and I very uncomfortable. There were two dogs on premise during our stay and they were left to roam the property. It was our understanding that one dog belonged to the owner (not present) and the other dog belonged to the caretaker. The owner's dog, though very friendly, was relatively invasive. He is young and wanted to play and would simply stand and bark until someone engaged him. My wife and I tried to sit by the fire pit while he barked at us for about 30 minutes. We even tried to put him in the common kitchen where the caretaker was engaged with some friends, but he simply went out a separate door. It was not until we raised our voices saying "no" that the caretaker eventually came over and got him. Finally, I am early riser, and went into the kitchen on the last day of our stay to make coffee only to find a real mess - the kind of "the party ended late and every one went to bed tipsy mess" you might find in a fraternity house. Apparently some guests had gone to the kitchen for late night drinks and coffee and not cleaned up after themselves. By 8:00AM it was taken care of, but it's super challenging for the owners/caretaker to police guests who aren't considerate in the overnight hours. Overall, I don't think there is a much nicer property in Terlingua and we'd like to stay there again. However, we certainly wouldn't until COVID is under control and the we might ensure that the owner would...