La Posada de Santa Fe, a Tribute Portfolio Resort & Spa — Hotel in Santa Fe

We've been coming to this hotel for a few years now and love it, but I keep putting off leaving a review because of the atrocious housekeeping. Every time we stay I can come up with an excuse for why the housekeeping was abysmal, but after all of our visits being awesome except for that, I've come to the conclusion that housekeeping is somehow broken. Issues that constantly frustrate us are: having our room skipped or not being serviced until very late in the day, not having towels replaced when the old ones left on the floor (we usually recycle ours) were taken, not having used toiletries replaced (and we NEVER take any as souvenirs -- would just like to actually have more than a used, half-bottle of shampoo available for a family of three), not having the in-room cups and glasses replaced or even cleaned, not having old bar glasses left by the used coffee cups taken, and most importantly -- this only happened once -- not having our door left completely open for the entire day, especially since our room was right off the street and sidewalk. Also, and I think this may be a hotel thing and not a housekeeping thing, but although there are separate bins for trash and recycling in the room, everything is put into a single trash bag for disposal, so the recycling program is either been ignored by housekeeping or is only a pretense by the property.

That all being said, we absolutely love La Posada. Each room on the property is different, with most of them being part of rambling adobe casitas with anywhere from a standard room setup, to a full two-bedroom, two-bathroom flat. (Plus there are the specialty suites that are even bigger.) Many of the suites have working kivas, and the resort provides wood, newspaper, and firestarter bricks, as well as being more than happy to get a fire going for you. I'm pretty sure every room we've stayed in has had a mini-fridge in it, and there is a great Keurig coffe/tea setup in each for sure. Since each room is different, though, the management is VERY accommodating to help you find a room that better meets your needs if there is availability.

The best part about staying at La Posada, however, is the staff. Such awesome people, and although I'm sure they must be briefed each day about who the returning guests are, it is striking how some of them have put forth some serious effort into remembering you and calling you by name as you drive into the property. The valets are your first impression of La Posada, and they go above and beyond, and look cool in their unique Santa Fe "uniforms" -- especially those hats they wear in cold weather! These guys get your car in no time, and are also happy to drive you nearby for free in their van, even if it's only a few blocks down to the Plaza because you have been walking all day and just don't want to walk any more. Special shout out to Richard for the spectacular care he always takes of us.

And then there's the Staab House. The warm, cozy, wonderful bar where sometimes you have to jockey for a coveted position by one of the wood-burning fireplaces, even in the summertime. This is the original house that the resort is built around, and has dark walls covered in funky, colorful local art that is available for purchase. There is a lovely patio with deep sofas and cool gas fire pits that looks out onto the restaurant courtyard. You can order almost anything on the restaurant menu to be brought into the bar, which is what we typically take advantage of since it's our favorite place to be. We LOVE the interesting drink selection, and after a number of visits have "our" drinks that just mean Santa Fe. I can't tell you how many Facebook posts we have of the same two drinks, because that means our vacation has started. All the bartenders are fantastic, but we have a very special place in our hearts for the guy who tops them all -- Eric. Drink-crafter Extraordinaire! He is THE guy to go to for anything you want, although all we ever want is a Vieux Carre and a Market Gimlet, with a scoop of ice cream for our daughter.

You must check the resort activity sheet so you don't miss s'mores over the fabulous fire pit (or "cauldron of fire" as we tend to call it) on the patio, or inside in the giant fireplace if there's inclement weather. We've done a couple of wine and cheese tastings, and I know there are more activities, but we tend to stay rather busy while in Santa Fe. The restaurant is VERY good, too. I tend to be too picky about hotel restaurants, but this one stands out as interesting and fresh. Nothing on the menu is "standard fare", so we are quite pleased with the food, and the service is excellent as well. Also know that you can get a s'mores kit brought to your room through room service anytime!

As a family we had been planning to buy a property in Santa Fe, but after staying at La Posada we changed our minds. Why take on a house when you can be cared for like family at a place like this. First-rate, despite the crazy housekeeping, as evidenced by the five-star review. Thank you, La Posada. See...

I am a Marriott with elite status for life. I have stayed in Marriotts throughout the world for years and years … probably over 1200 nights this far. I feel like I have some credibility when it comes to hotels.

The PROS: Very friendly staff Very friendly valet Courtesy shuttle within a 2-mile location Great location with easy walk to EVERYTHING

The CONS: Rooms are dated and SMALL. we asked for a larger room before check in. Allegedly we got a larger double queen suite. It was so small we had to store our luggage in the bathroom. Absolutely not worth the money. So I asked to move to a suite or decided we would check out 5 days early. They found a suite which was twice the size. Second floor (no elevator)

Restaurant is grossly overpriced with underwhelming service. Asking for a glass of water or a lemon multiple times is frustrating. The restaurant staff are untrained and the manager needs to work on it. I ordered hot tea but the tea choices were terrible so I switched to ice tea (which was old and awful) and was charged for both. Asking for utensils. Asking for ice because they put water but don’t have ice. Getting up from table to get our own menus. Unacceptable.

Parking. HORRIFIC. forced valet with a lot that holds about 15 cars and yours goes straight to the garage. Then you cannot access it without valet street parking is on a meter. So basically like it or not, you are going to valet park regardless of whether you want to or not. We hated it!! we drove up and parked the car with the valet and went back to our room for about a half hour. We came back in our car was still sitting in the same spot. Idling for 30 minutes. They had the window down so my husband opened the door and turned off the car. Who knows how long they would have left our car sitting idling. Not only is it bad for the environment, it’s not good for cars to leave them sitting running for so long!!! Whyyyyy??!

Rooms. Just not impressive. We got to see a regular room and a suite. They need updating. Our coffee machine didn’t work. The mineral water in the lobby was $7 per bottle. Arghhhh

LOBBY. Small small small!

Courtesy Shuttle. it was nice to have a courtesy shuttle, but it would only take you within 2 miles. Not 2.3 miles. So you were very limited and where you could go keeping in mind, you could not access your car unless the valet went to pick it up. We did use the courtesy shuttle often. One day we took the shuttle to the mall because we had to buy more winter clothes. The driver showed up to pick us up. Everyone of us was holding two HIGE bags in addition, two cases of water cases of soda and all of our coats. The driver sat in the SUV without getting out to help us not even once. That only did he not get out of the car, he did not even open the back for us. So I had to walk around to the driver and ask him to please open the door so we could put away our stuff. When we got back to the hotel, again, he sat there in the car ignoring us while we got out and got all of our stuff out. I was absolutely floored at how truly unprofessional he was. Also never said a word to us the entire drive to the hotel. Weird. No one deserves a tip for that little assistance that he could’ve offered us and it would’ve made a huge difference. It was just flat out rude. can someone please train these people that the appropriate action for a courtesy driver is to help your passengers who are also guest at the hotel? Seriously.

While we were there it snowed. They do shovel the walks but being on the at second floor no one touched our stairs, walkways or balconies so they sat under mounds of snow. Then they turned to ice.

also, the hotel advertises on the app that there is a laundry room on site. We have been traveling for two weeks so imagine our surprise when we learned the only thing we could do is to go laundromat in the area about one and a half miles away.

Kudos to Rafael and the valet guys. The staff is very friendly and they do try to help but this was overall a disappointing...

Update: We spoke to the manager Hector and he was fantastic and understanding. Star added for his willingness to listen to us and be accommodative by providing a new room. I also want to recognize that the property is huge and historic which brings its own challenges, which is understandable.

Alright, one more update. Within 30 minutes we were given a new room and it's awesome. While last night's customer service wasn't great, the majority of the people that work here do care and the room was more of a room problem than a hotel problem. One more star added.

EVERYONE needs to read this, especially Bonvoy Platinum/Titanium/Ambassador members.

There are absolutely no words to describe how terrible it is here, and I've only been here since 8:30 last night and I hate that I have 1 more night here. 100% not worth the price.

We were driving in from Tucson and (with stops) it was going to be a 9 hour drive in total. Before checking in on our phone, we called at 6:30 to see if there were any upgrades available for Platinum Elite members. We were pleasantly surprised when the gentleman on the phone said we had already been upgraded. Great! We can check-in on our phone, go to the room, eat our La Choza enchiladas and pass out.

Problem #1 - this is a forced valet hotel. If you want to park on the property you have to use their valet. However, the young kid who helped us out was lovely and super helpful. He deserves a raise for just being a kind person.

Problem #2 - We have to go to the front desk anyway because they need to see an ID before giving you a mobile key. Which in all reality is fine, just slightly inconvenient.

Problem #3 - We get to the building our room is in and it hasn't been updated in at least 15 years. The stairs are narrow, it's musty AF, and the carpet hasn't been cleaned/replaced in who knows how long. Adding from original review that it is a historic hotel and things like this may exist.

Problem #4 (MEMBERS READ THIS) - We were taken to the same type of room we had booked. NOW, I want to be very clear that we do not at all feel entitled to an upgrade. This is a customer service issue. After we ate and shook of the road buzz we decided to send them just a feedback message via the app. I have attached a screenshot of the conversation.

I simply can't believe the response we got combined with waking up this morning to see that they had yet to apologize for the confusion/miscommunication on their end. We made it very clear that we did not feel entitled to an upgrade and this was just customer service feedback.

Problem #5 - Now, in the light of day I get to actually see our room's condition. I am now convinced that we were brought to this specific room just by calling and asking if there was an upgrade available. I have also looked at other guest pictures posted on Google maps and so many of the rooms look absolutely lovely. Our room is a complete dumpster fire. See attached pictures. Front door not flush to wall; toilet door won't close and there's a gap at the bottom of it; carpet stains everywhere on very dirty carpet; furniture seriously beat up. A ton of stains on the lamps (like, what an easy replacement); walls beat up.

I will be posting this review on Marriott and I hope Bonvoy staff sees it because because calling this a Tribute Portfolio Hotel is not a good look for them.

To the hotel staff, everyone except the valet kid and the manager really needs to get the stuff together. I know the location is good but seriously, what a terrible way to treat anyone, let alone loyal Marriott members.

Update: right after I posted this I found dust CAKED into our...