K-7 Bed & Breakfast — Hotel in Pahrump

As several other reviewers said, the K7 Bed & Breakfast is not a true B&B. It’s more like a motel with a café. The owner explained it had to do with some zoning or business code and they had to call it a B&B even though that isn’t what it is. Pahrump is such an odd governmental situation that I’m not sure I understood. It is a census-designated place, a title usually associated with tiny rural settlements. Pahrump is a CDP because it is unincorporated even though its population has metastasized to 30,000, with a resulting explosion of unplanned, almost helter-skelter growth and uncontrolled use that has caused so many eyesores around town. It’s almost a full day trip to the county seat if you have any business to conduct, suggesting that there isn’t a lot of county oversight, so it isn’t surprising that building issues get muddled.||||Anyway … I did stay at this place. I am not partial to Pahrump and tried not to stay there, but I was taking a two-day class for Death Valley and Ash Meadows park personnel that was held there. I considered staying at Death Valley Junction or the Longstreet in Amargosa Valley, but those would be a half hour trip on each end of a 9-hour day, so I defaulted to Pahrump. This was just after Thanksgiving and all the motels had high rates – at least more than I thought a room in Pahrump should cost, especially after seeing some motel reviews mentioning noise from other rooms or the attached casinos, or tobacco smoke, a deal-breaker for me. When I found the K7 on the internet and on Google maps, I discovered a place I had not known existed – and I thought I knew Pahrump.||||This is at the south end of town in an area of ranches, fields, and a few scattered residences, 10-15 miles from the main parts of town (Pahrump has no true downtown or town center, so I’m referring to the business areas, which are mostly small clusters or strip malls). It was about 8 miles from the class location. Google views made the area look pretty nice. I reserved on-line for 3 days, sight unseen, at a little over half of the cost at Best Western and Holiday Inn Express, and hoped for the best. ||||On arriving, I found a complex that included a main building, barn-red in color, containing several guest rooms and a café; several other buildings with rooms, and a shaded picnic area. The office was closed, with a number to call, but the manager (turned out to be the owner, Patty, the “mom” of the mom-and-pop operation) appeared while I was looking around. My room was in the red building, and Patty said it was by the road and there could be vehicle sounds. Looking at the area, totally rural and maybe a mile from Hwy 160, it was obvious this would be, at most, a tiny problem.||||The room was clean and comfortable, with easy-care synthetic hard-surface floors, plenty of storage space, simple but adequate furnishings – comfortable bed, a microwave and mini-fridge, a large TV, a table and two chairs. The wi-fi worked well. The bath was a shower only – no tubs for liability reasons, according to Patty. Although this section was in the same building as the café, cooking odors or noise were never an issue. The K7 has no posh amenities: no pool or exercise room, housekeeping only if requested – they don’t even go into the room unless you ask for something. There is a laundry, but you pay cash for detergent and use of the machines, so neither the office nor the guests need to worry about having enough coins.||||On my first night, my time to relax and get ready to start class the next day, I went to the café for dinner and found a short menu: steaks, chicken, pizza, and salads. It had obviously been a nightclub, and the small stage for performers was still there. Patty explained that she and her husband retired from storekeeping in California, moved to Pahrump, and bought this place that was only a bar/nightclub and a store. After the 2008 recession they decided they needed to retool the business to stay solvent, so they closed the store and used the space for the first few motel rooms. They turned the bar into a restaurant, and when Nevada restaurant laws banned smoking, the locals mostly quit coming which was fine with her. When the motel was a success, they added three more buildings over time. I had dinner twice (once a NY steak with potato, once a grilled chicken breast with rice, both with mixed veggies), and only once was there another customer there. Patty was also working there, with one other employee – in a mom-and-pop business, no one is a specialist and no one spends hours doing nothing. They also serve breakfast, but not lunch.||||I was away during the days, but in the mornings and evenings I could see the Resting Springs and Nopah ranges with a good coating of snow (Shoshone and Tecopa are on the other side); and before retiring at night I enjoyed strolls around the grounds. It was cold, of course, and people were not out and about as they would be in warm weather or at a place with more outdoor amenities – and there weren’t many guests at the time. Although it got dark early, stargazing wasn’t great because of the lighting around the grounds. Still, it was pleasant to be out and walk around the quiet, almost unpopulated area.||||Would I stay here again, if I ever need to spend another day or two in Pahrump? Would I recommend it to other people? I enjoyed this place. It didn’t “feel like Pahrump.” I like some occasional eccentricity and don’t need the lap of luxury. I stay at Best Westerns or Quality Inns, and an occasional Motel 6 for an overnight off the freeway, but it can be refreshing to find a place like the K7 off the beaten track, with real folks who work their tails off to run a small business but have time to be friendly with the customers, and other customers who are escaping the corporate hotels and having a fun offbeat experience. If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, then I’d certainly recommend the...

The room we got was very clean and comfortable. The description of the room however was not accurate. It said there were two queen sized beds in the main room and a twin in a separate room off the main room. And a separate bathroom. This would have been great, and the reason we picked it, because my 32 year old nephew and I were traveling with my 82 year old mother. Instead there was one large room with three queen beds and a separate bathroom. This meant we all slept in the same room. The breakfast, as in bed and breakfast, was only a choice of a breakfast burrito (which was very good and homemade); a sausage, egg and cheese on an English muffin (which was good); and cereal (no choice of which kind); fruit(1 piece, no choice; pastry(little gem doughnuts, honey bun); orange juice and milk; all were left the night before( I do not fault them on this part as it is difficult to find help for dining in). What I didn't like is that for the first night, we got in late, I said just give us one of each(burrito, sandwich, and cereal. I was told they would call me the next day of text me to see if I wanted anything different. By the time I got back every evening, it was too late as they had dropped off the same food. Yes, I could have called them, but I was busy and they said they would contact me. Other than that our stay was fine. Next time I visit my family in Pahrump, I'll probably stay closer...

Due to weather conditions during our Death Valley trip, we stayed one night in Pahrump and chose K7 Bed and Breakfast based on the excellent reviews. Hard to understand how this place got rated "excellent" on several booking portals - it is an average motel at best, with very nice grounds and friendly host, but rather modest rooms and everything kept at bare minimum. Our room was large and clean, but sparsely furnished, the closet placed in the bathroom, a tiny fridge and microweave in a corner. The heating/air conditioning unit new and fairly quiet, but no heating in the (chilly) bathroom; bed unconfortable, with cheep synthetic sheets and covers, no extras. No amenities to speek of: WiFi was very weak and sporadic, breakfast on the cheap, with milk in papercups in the fridge and a few tired "continental" items on the table upon arrival. Should have paid more attention to previous comments on this, and especially to the host's response, blaming all problems on workforce issues since over a year now! Nevertheless, it is a quiet location (although walls a paper thin, so bad luck if next door people are noisy) and good enough for a short stay, but nowhere near the level ratings and...