Postcard Cabins Skagit Valley, Outdoor Collection by Marriott Bonvoy — Hotel in Mount Vernon

It is 1:30AM and I am still awake. This is the most uncomfortable cabin I have ever been in.

I booked 1 night with Postcard Cabins as a rest night after spending 3 days in Whistler (Nita Lake Lodge, highly recommend). I didn't want to drive the extra 2 hrs from the Canadian border to our house, so why not try this?

It is advertised as private, with great views, so sign me up! In reality, it's a slightly elevated camping experience. Definitely not glamping since service is non-existent. It's run like an Airbnb in that everything is self serve with non-existent customer service (especially after hours).

They have sent emails regarding provisions being free, and having snacks and s'mores kit. Well, it's actually 2 long sticks. That's it. No marshmallows even. There's one chip bag in the pantry and several coffee and tea that looked pretty old. My son and I ended up "roasting" our Tim Horton's donuts just so he can have fun.

The cabin is actually a tiny home on wheels. My FIL's RV is larger than this. Unfortunately, the cabin is so small that my 110 lb Newf took up the entire floor space. Her noises (snoring, grooming, general dog noise) are amplified in this small setting with wood paneling everywhere. I can't leave her outside at night since it's raining on and off, safety concerns regarding wildlife aside. I can't leave her in the van either due to the rain (can't keep windows down, too much trapped heat, etc).

Cabins are so close to each other, and because they are dog friendly, all your neighbors have dogs. It's hard to keep dogs from barking at each other when they could literally see each other as the cabins are only a few feet apart, regardless if you have an even-tempered dog or a crazy ball of energy. Honestly, our state parks have more distance between campsites than Postcard Cabin's layout. I'm at the Anna cabin btw.

There is nothing recreational to do. 2 short hikes to dried up tiny waterfalls.. and the "breathtaking views" that were advertised? Dry shrubs and weeds. A few trees. My backyard has more evergreens. Not at all spectacular for the hyped up marketing and insane price to value ratio. There was also a period of time where planes were flying constantly and you can hear the jets rumble loudly even inside the cabin.

Lastly, the AC. It is the reason I am still awake typing this. I made sure that these cabins are climate controlled as I have heat intolerance. The AC blows directly on the only table you can use. It was almost 90F outside and so it constantly blew cold air, rendering the table colder than the mini fridge while the rest of the cabin was still warm.

At night, when the temps drop, I still want AC as there's no air flow in the cabin at all and it's not as cold as I like it. Plus, with the dog near touching distance, I would prefer to have some air circulation to keep her wet dog smell in check.

Unfortunately, there is no way to have the AC on constant "on" mode. I placed the thermostat on the lowest setting, beyond 65F which was the lowest.. which normally keeps the AC always on, but that didn't work here. Changed the fan settings to auto, low and high. Nope, it still reacts to ambient temp even if it's not cold enough for me! So I'm here sweating, with the AC turning on every 30-40 mins or so, jolting me awake every time I try to fall asleep. The AC unit is right beside the bed.... It's at ear level when you lay down on the bed. It's horrible for light sleepers.

Overall, I would not recommend this place for those who already live in the PNW (shockingly useless views), light sleepers (the AC blower is VERY loud), owners of large dogs or dogs that react to other dogs (even in a friendly way!), people who don't like to be under a flight path, and people who like their AC cold, always on, and quiet. For 260/night, I expected more than an illusion of quiet and privacy and comfort.

Edit: It is the next day and the AC decides that it could automatically switch from cool to fan on low. Great. It's too late after...

good place but absolutely horrible marketing -

We arrived when it was dark, so it was quite difficult to find our cabin as the location is quite remote. We shouldn't really see any view from the cabin until the next morning but that was fine.

What was upsetting was that there is a little postcard to tell you to enjoy all the amenities in your stay, so I drank the hot chocolate and tea thinking they were included. It was raining the whole time, so I even took the log bundles because again, it says it's included. But guess what? One day after they sent me a bill of $68 because NOTHING is included. Note that I would not have touched anything if that note isn't there.

While the concept of this getaway is good, the marketing and false advertising is despicable. I've contacted the business and we will see what they say, but I'm deeply annoyed that they do something like this to scam people to get money out of them. They should remove it immediately and stop misleading their guests.

Ps. Don't drink the boxed water as it tasted weird...

Update 12/24/24: they reached out, apologized for the mix up and refunded me the extra charges. Let me add more details about the place.

Pro: quiet location, I actually didn't hear any other guests at all. Maybe it was a slow season, but most cabins had a car next to it. there are plates, bowls, knives, a bottle opener, a tong, a pour over kettle, foil, paper towels, utensils, salt and pepper and olive oil for cooking. the small fridge can store 1-2 days of food. plenty of natural books for reading, such as two books on how to get away. hot water in the cabin..the temperature can get quite hot. they provide everything on site, so you won't need to talk to anyone unless you need extra. Just make sure they are included in your stay first...

Con: you really can't see anything if you arrive late, and the instructions to get to the cabin could be difficult to follow with the signage being not super obvious. I'd recommend arriving around 3 to enjoy the cabin fully, or you have to wait until the next morning and enjoy the view for a few hours only. while it's remote, it looks very similar to my backyard to be honest. There isn't much to see in the winter, and I've only seen birds flying by once in the morning. Maybe visiting in other seasons would be a better idea. it also rained the whole time when we were there, so no campfire was possible. If you were looking forward to making s'mores, you should make sure the weather is nice or avoid rainy seasons, which is hard in the Pacific north west... the bathroom is colder since there is no heater in there. the cabin is small and fits two nicely, so I believe it would be too crowded for 4 unless 2 people are...

So I had been thinking about staying at the postcard cabins for over a year and when I finally reserved a cabin I was excited till I got there. I paid extra for a view cabin umm not really sure why I paid extra to get a view of my neighbors cabin and a view of a tree and a public open field. So I sort of felt ripped off like I only paid like 15 dollars more but if ur going to advertise a cabin with a view maybe have a view or something besides what I got. I was very disappointed tbh.

I also feel like it's pretty false advertising cause I looked at photos on the website and even YouTube pictures and they made it seem like u have at least a little privacy from your neighbors like trees in between but it wasn't like that at all. From my bed I could easily see my neighbors cabin I had to shut the front blinds to get the privacy I had assumed I was going to get. The main reason I booked this place is I assumed I would get a little bit of privacy and especially cause I did pay extra. My cabin was near the entrance so throughout the day it was constant car noise from other guests and that also took away from the privacy and seclusion i was looking for that i thought i was reserving. Like the first 4 cabins really get a crappy deal cause u get no privacy and constant car noise. So not much peace.

The cabin was very clean which was a pro and the cabin was good size for someone traveling alone or a couple. having a shower was nice but tbh unless you like cold showers you cant really use the shower. The hot water rain out so fast prob within a few minutes so it wasn't super enjoyable it was one of the quickest showers I've ever taken cause the water was so cold. Like I didn't expect the hot water to be constant but the fact that is was for 5 mins or probably less Def sucked.

Also had some random person show up who I thought was my neighbor but he stayed for 30 mins maybe walked around the cabin talking super loud maybe thought about staying there at some point and left just made it odd.

Tbh I dk if I would stay here again especially with how expensive it was and how disappointed I was. Like maybe what you should do is allow people to pick there cabins maybe have photos of each site or something so people know what there getting and they can decide. I Def wasn't happy with what cabin was selected for me if there was a way I could of asked for a quieter cabin I would of but again this is the first time staying here and the fact that I upgraded to get some sort of view and ended up with one of the least privacy cabins with just a clear view of my neighbors like I guess I have a different idea when im told it's a cabin with a view cause I Def didn't get that. Just not how I thought...