Sedona Village Lodge — Hotel in Sedona

This was one of the most bizarre and unbelievable experiences of my entire life March 2024. An elder woman with shoulder length white hair and glasses was very friendly and pleasant to the family in front of me in the lobby, then she took a very long time showing them to their room while I waited for her to return. She came back and got behind the desk and started looking down at some papers, I approached the desk with no greeting or eye contact yet, and she became very curt and abrupt. She tossed the room key at me after the check in was complete. I went to my room and was over taken with the worst chemical smell Id ever smelled in my life. My eyes and nose started burning and running and my throat closed up and I began gasping. It was as though I had walked into a bug bomb fumigation or something, it was as strong as pepper spray. My lungs were burning by the time I finsihed bringing my bags. I also noticed the room was filthy with stains all over everything and the bathroom was disgusting with grime buildup all around the shower. I opened all the windows and ran back to my truck. I called the front desk and she didnt answer so I left a message explaining what had just happened and that I was outside. I sat in my truck for an hour. until I could open my eyes again. It was as if I had been pepper sprayed. I walked to the room and the smell was gone. I went to the office and she was in there so I said “yes Im the one who just left you a message about my room’s chemical smell” and she blurted at me before I could finish- “yes and YOU CAN LEAVE” -I was shocked. Then she started yelling at me that there was nothing wrong with the room. I couldnt believe it. She said she didnt believe me so I showed her to my room to show her how dirty it was even though the chemical smell had dissipated. I showed her how filthy the bathroom and bed linens were, there were stains every where and she shreaked at me “well you must just be a neat freak! I bet your home is immaculate! Is your home IMMACULATE?!” She said I had to leave and she was kicking me out of the room. At no point was I combative or difficult at all. Other guests were walking by the room and looking in at her screaming at me but no one stopped to help of course. I couldnt believe what was happening so I started filming her. She changed her tone when I started filming and began a very sarcastic and condescending “We are so sorry for the condition of your room but youre welcome to leave” speech. I told her I was not leaving as there were no other accomodations available and it was now after dark and I had traveled half a day. I wanted another room but she said no. I couldnt believe this was even real. Finally she left the room but was still being combative toward me. She said she was going to have me kicked out of the room. I slept with all the windows open in the room and the next day my lungs were still on fire and burning.I went to the front desk again hoping to speak with a manager and complain. It was a stoner guy with dead eyes and zero reaction who acted like he didnt believe a word I was saying nor did he care. He said shes “normally really nice” so he didnt really believe me. I went back the next day and again another hippie guy who acted the same and also said shes nice and he acted like he didnt believe me either. Finally on the third morning I got one of the owners, he was much more polite and listened to my story and gave me one free night in the room. He actually apologized and acted appalled and said he was going to talk to the lady about her behavior. He was actually a nice guy and didnt treat me at all like the staff but he seemed like he wasnt totallly in charge of hiring or firing either and like he probably wouldnt do anything. I still cant believe the whole thing even happened, and of course she stopped screaming at me when I started filming so of course I have no witnesses or film of her bizarre behavior, just the sarcastic part. Not only that, I sustained a burning feeling in my lungs for like 2 days. It was out of this world, I...

Update from original review written on 6/20/2022:

I am disappointed to read your response to my review because it contained only one obligatory sentence of an apology and the rest was defending your subpar customer service while accusing me of lying about events that actually occurred at your establishment. It seems that you are not open to receiving constructive criticism, but if you care to improve your leadership and training your staff properly, see below:

I am a frequent traveler and your claim of stopping housekeeping service since/during the pandemic along with other hotels is false. Your hotel was the only one that did not offer housekeeping and I visited many other similar hotels around the same time all over the country. I would have known such norm of hotels not offering housekeeping service if it actually were true. Furthermore, you inaccurately assumed that I would have been informed of this "new preferred policy" by your staff at check-in, but that was not the case which justifies my surprise of this lack of service. My report is ACCURATE regarding your front desk staff explaining to me the reason behind absence of housekeeping service at your hotel: She literally said, "we do not offer housekeeping since we offer best rates around." Do you think there would be any incentive for me to make this up?

When I requested for housekeeping, I was told to dump the trash myself outside the building and I was not given the option of leaving the trash outside of the room and your staff would "gladly pick it up."

Your statement, "we cannot imagine our staff member would have physically frowned upon any request for toiletries or otherwise..." accuses me of lying because I actually saw the physical frown on their face and heard them sigh when I made the requests. How would you know if you weren't there to witness this interaction?

On the contrary of what you stated, my experience was NOT due to a lack of understanding nor incorrect perception based on how you assumed to be my unrealistic and high expectations. I stated only the factual events as they occurred at your establishment and it is unfortunate you are not capable of accepting them at face value. It is unprofessional to place the blame on your patron to cover up the unsatisfactory customer service your staff provided.

Please do not bother to reply to this, I will not be reading any of your replies to defend your business.

Originally reviewed on 6/20/2022: Conveniently located and affordable pricing. However, I did not like how the owner/front desk lady did not have a clue about their own amenities. Moreover, the worst part was that they would not offer any turndown service if you are staying multiple nights. The lady told us to empty out our own trash cans and we had to keep asking for more toiletries (which they frowned upon) due to absence of turndown service. Their reasoning was since they offer affordable lodging, guests would need to provide their own turndown service. This is an unacceptable and flawed explanation for not doing their job! We felt that we did not get what we paid for.

I would not want to go back there if their business philosophy is refusing to provide the basic...

Everyone said a trip to Grand Canyon would be incomplete without a visit to Sedona, so I opted to make our last AZ night a Sedona night, and booked this lodge after researching places on tripadvisor and google. And I am so glad I did! My kids were overwhelmed (as was I) with the hugeness and beauty of Sedona. And this place is the perfect little place to enjoy the surroundings. Some other reviews mention that all rooms are ground level. That's not true. We had the double queen suite on the very end corner upstairs (that's our window you can see under the sign in the picture of the front of the building). The view was spectacular, despite the construction fence, which I now know is in preparation of their impending expansion. I only hope they retain the feel of the current property when they expand. It was like a small apartment. The living area was very comfortable and roomy. The kitchenette counter was a high-gloss (concrete maybe?) stone with southwestern designs. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of it. The only thing I would point out about the kitchen is that the fridge is really tiny. Didn't really have a usable freezer section, which we needed to refreeze our ice packs. But I would imagine they might change that with their renovations. The bathroom was huge with great lighting. Decent counter space. Showerhead was a good height. Bedroom had a small dresser with tile countertop next to a pretty mirror, which doubled as a place to get ready so others could use the bathroom. Could have used another plug by the bed so you could charge more than one phone AND still have the lamp plugged in.The beds were comfy and the light through the windows in the morning was beautiful. I think it was the owner Mitch who checked us in...he was very friendly and gave me some great pointers on restaurants, trails, vistas, etc. They even contacted me once we returned home to let me know they'd found my son's wallet and they mailed it back to me. Yes, accessing the rooms is a little awkward, as the office is upstairs, which you get to by walking around the building, and then most of the other rooms are accessed from the parking lot. But it wasn't terribly inconvenient. All in all, I'd definitely...