Sun Valley Resort — Hotel in Sun Valley

Having never been to Sun Valley, I was curious as to how the town and resort would stack up to the many other mountain destinations our family has traveled in other states such as Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. |In short, we were pleasantly surprised as to how much we enjoyed the town and the Sun Valley Resort. |The town is quaint and laid back and the resort, set about a mile off the down town area, is very subdued and low key, in a good way. |We learned that the founders of SVR intentionally put limitations in place to avoid over building of the area. What forward thinking vision when compared to other over crowded ski towns. |We stayed in the original Sun Valley Resort. The resort/hotel is meticulously clean. The staff is friendly and helpful. |The resort hotel is the centerpiece of a preplanned walkable “village” that surrounds the resort hotel. This village is charming and accessible. |There are numerous dining venues in the resort hotel and in the village. We ate at several, including the Ram, Konditorei, Gretchen’s and the chocolate shop. They were all outstanding with the Ram being our favorite. (Book a table ahead). |We booked a celebrity suite. The website leaves much to be desired when booking, as it doesn’t allow you to pick which suite and leaves out important details. When we arrived, we were assigned the “Marilyn Monroe” suite. I’d submitted their pre-arrival form requesting a quiet room that did not have a connected door. Well, I guess the hotel management doesn’t read these forms they send, as our suite had a connected door. That said, the front desk manager was very helpful and arranged a swap to another suite, the “Averell Harriman”. This suite did not share a connected door. The suite was well positioned in the building, having a third floor view of both Bald Mountain, Dollar Mountain and the ice rink. The bedroom is situated in a way where the wall abuts a stairwell so there was no noise. The room consisted of two separate sitting areas, a fire glaze, coffee bar, two closets, bedroom and bathroom with deep soaking tub and shower. The room is very well decorated and comfortable. There are three separate verandas off of the sitting room. The room, named after the founder of SV, has numerous photos and information about Mr. Harriman. We thoroughly enjoyed the room and found it to be quiet. |The only down side to our stay was the logistics of skiing. Both ski mountains are separate from the hotel. The hotel is NOT ski in ski out. There are NO ski support services at or in the hotel. The major issues is getting to and on the mountain. The hotel will NOT drive you to the mountain nor pick you up. Seriously! They stuff you off on the public transportation system. We had a rented car and drove our selves one day. It was a disaster, as there was hardly any parking and we needed up having the trudge through a muddy parking lot about a mile from the slopes lugging our ski equipment at Bald mountain and then at Dollar it took over 30 minutes of circling the small parking lot to find a spot. We rented skis at the base area of Bald Mountain and the shop SVR runs called Pete Lane I believe. The service was average at best and for some regrettable reason, they refuse to store your ski boots at the end of the day. So you’re left with a scenario of either remaining in your ski boots as you trudge through a muddy parking lot to your car or bringing shoes to change in to and then carrying your heavy and wet ski boots to your ca. which brings up the point of if you bro g shoes, you have only a non-secured rack behind the restaurant to leave them while you ski. I’ve never been to a ski mountain (I’ve been skiing for 35 years and skied all over the country) that doesn’t have an option of ski boot storage at the base of the mountain. It creates a complete cascade of logistical problems. You can also wear your ski boots as you stand or sit on the packed public transport and then WALK back to the hotel from the bus stop and trudge back to your room on your ski boots. It’s just really unfortunate the SVR is so clueless to this seemingly simple issue of mountain access and logistics of boot storage that would make such a big difference in their guest experience. Other hotels in the area had private pickup at the ski mountains. With the SVR being the premier lodging in town, they epically fail in guest experience as it relates to skiing and mountain access. |Will we return to SVR, probably so to visit. Will we return to SVR to ski, probably not because the hassle of mountain access outweighs the benefits of the multitude of other, better, ski...

The WORST HOTEL MANAGEMENT EVER that I have experienced in my many years of travel. Sun Valley Lodge failed miserably to professionally address their own breakdown of proper service.

Upon our arrival at the Ketchum airport at 5pm, our group of four (three adults & one child) connected with the driver of the Sun Valley Lodge shuttle, but the driver informed us that he had to wait for a bus arriving from Twin Falls with more passengers before we could head to the Lodge. We asked why he couldn’t just take us now to the Lodge and come back for the others. But he said that his bosses assured him that this bus would arrive within minutes. After approximately 15 minutes of waiting, both the gentleman in the other group (which had two children) and I asked the driver to just take us to the Lodge and return for the bus passengers. He again said that he was told this bus would arrive very soon.

Well, we ended up WAITING ONE AND A HALF HOURS before that bus finally arrived! Sitting on that shuttle for one and a half hours, tired and hungry after starting our travel in the early morning of that day, was not how to start any type of vacation, especially one that was to be hosted by a self-proclaimed five-star resort.

Well over two hours after our plane landed, we finally made it to the Lodge. When I got to the counter to check in, I told the woman (who had a name tag saying she was a manager) that this hour and a half wait on their shuttle was unnecessary, unprofessional, and inexcusable. And what was her response?

…“Sorry. Now, I need your credit card to check you in.”

That was it. Not even the slightest attempt to show some empathy over what all of us, children included, had to put up with due to their incompetence. Over the course of my fifty-plus years of travels, I have stayed at many different types of hotels, and as would be expected, occasionally problems would occur. In every case, whether the establishment was five-star or one-star, an attempt would be made to correct the situation and to make sure that their guests were satisfied with the response.

But Sun Valley Lodge? All they could offer was an insufficient “sorry” that was immediately followed by a request for my money. Totally unprofessional and certainly inadequate. Not even considering that we were paying $900 a night to stay there, management should have addressed their failure to properly take care of their guests.

Interestingly, the next day when I was asking the concierge for some information, I mentioned how we were treated upon our arrival. She agreed that it was sorely improper, but then she said that there was nothing she could do about it. This was quite stunning to hear. No, she could not directly do something to correct what had taken place, but surely she could have informed management that they had guests who were unhappy with how they had been treated. That she did not feel free to do so speaks volumes about the mismanagement of this hotel.

Of the many people I met on the slopes or in restaurants, I heard great recommendations for Knob Hill Inn, as well as some praise for the Limelight Hotel. Of course, I did not have good things to say about the Sun Valley Lodge. I realize that others have not had to endure the unfortunate situation my family was faced with. But from my experience, one will likely receive better customer care and consideration from a Motel 6 than from the Sun...

Built is 1936, it has hosted notable celebrities- Gregory Peck, Cint Eastwood, Louis Armstrong, John Wayne, Ernest. Hemingway, Janet Leigh, Jimmy Stuart, and others. The hallways near the entrance are lined with photos of the notables, including Hollywood celebrities, sports figures, as well as business and political leaders. ||It has all the amenities you would expect from a location of this caliber. Elegant, but comfortable reception and lounge area with piano bar, drink and food service, and fireplaces (gas).||We stayed in the Sun Valley Condos as part of a larger group (50 people). Our unit consisted of 2 separated bedrooms with their own card access and bathrooms. The “master suite included a bedroom with a walk-in bathroom and closet in the bathroom area. The suite also included a fully equipped kitchen, dining area, and a sitting are with a gas fireplace. The kitchen came equipped with a blender, toaster, coffee maker, and dishwasher. Coffee was provided in pouches that could be dropped into the basket. You can also supple you on ground coffee. Cooking utensils/equipment as well as plates, glasses, and coffee mugs were also provided. The suite also came equipped with a washer and dryer. Laundry detergent and dryer sheets were also included. ||The smaller bedrooms we equipped with a mini fridge built into the dresser. The result was less dresser capacity. Once drawer was dedicated for a room safe. A K-Cup coffee maker with K-Cups were also in the smaller bedrooms. (Tully’s French Roast Decaf cups)||Note: All bedrooms and living areas were off a common hallway accessible from the exterior by a key card accessible door.||The hotel also has an outdoor pool, hot tub, and a bowling alley. Adjacent to the Sun Valley Lodge is a village with shops and restaurant. There is also a US Post Office in the village as well. A City bus stop is also located at the end of the village which provides service to the mountains as well as the Ketchum itself. The hotel can also provide shuttle service into town, as well as to the airport. ||I had no issues with the hotel, other than the exterior door on our unit malfunctioning resulting in our being locked out, along with the hotel staff. None the less the staff worked tirelessly to make the repair and make sure the door was functional. ||The Sun Valley Lodge is a Master Class in 5-star hotel management and presentation. Any hotel company with 5-stars aspirations should have their management visit. ||(Special thanks to Hayden and Isiah for providing outstanding bellman service!) ||Tip: Obtain multiple copies of the key cards as they had a tendency to deactivate themselves. ||Tip: If you are staying at the Sun Valley Inn you can use the overnight ski check at the River Run Lodge area to store your skis overnight...