AutoCamp Zion — Hotel in Virgin

This is the first autocamp I've stayed in. It was...ok? I don't know, the little oddities and quirks made it just ok.

All of the staff were friendly and helpful. We had a large bag with two broken wheels, when they told us they had wagons (super weird to me) my eyes got a little bit but then she quickly added that they have a a cart if needed. This is my first autocamp but its not my first resort style / glamping / hotel but not a hotel experience. This is the first time a ride was not the expectation. But, whatever, whenever we needed the cart it was available.

The Kitchen is horrible. It's basically a school cafeteria menu. Everything is overpriced and nothing is really appealing... they only have complimentary coffee and granola. The granola was also weird, who gives complimentary granola😂??

The airstream was also fine. There wasn't much space to move in the bedroom but could have been if they removed 2 of the dressers. It was pretty, but very basic. It also shook whenever we walked around or if the wind blew. I didn't mind it but, after being there a while, it didn't feel very strongly built. Also, very loud AC that was very finicky.

The only grilling supplies we had was a single mitten and a few utensils. There were no pans or skillets which I thought was included. They also sold firewood and left complimentary matches in our rooms, but there was nothing for kindling. I used the paper towels.

Also, the firewood is sold in the general store. The store seems to be pitched as a one stop shop for whatever small things you could need. It seemed like the store was advertised as having basics and some food. But it had practically nothing of use. There was way too much autocamp merch that took up like half the store. There were other non necessities like $30+ roll on perfumes and 6 flavors of mints.

There were a few refrigerators but only one was consistently stocked...with beer. They sold cup cereal (or oatmeal, can't remember) but they didn't have any milk for sale. They had some microwave meals and ollipops. There wasn't much, if anything at all, for vegetarians. They didn't have basic toiletries like deodorant. Thankfully they did sell sunscreen. It just wasn't a useful store at all. Luckily we found this out pretty quickly about the lack of veg food and were able to grab our food from town.

They don't operate as a hotel. There's no turndown services. Maybe you can request it but I'm just guessing, we weren't told otherwise. They also seem to pitch being a lux experience but don't have the lux-feeling accommodations.

We asked about vegetarian/pescatarian food since they have grill kits and were basically told "we'll try!" We're diamond members so we get small freebies. We got firewood, a s'mores kit, and KIND energy bars. These were pretty good perks.

All of our complimentary perks were in the room before we got there. Which is great, but it felt like they weren't actually listening to our requests since we were told "we'll try" for everything but our experience seemed cookie cutter. For example, we asked if the s'mores kit could be replaced with anything else since we can't have that. It wasn't replaced, even though the general store had decent replacements. We weren't given a credit or anything, or even just leaving it out. It was still in our room.

I don't know, it's not a big deal at all but it didn't really feel like our typical Hilton experiences. My husband explained to me that Hilton is basically only partnered with Autocamp, allowing us to use our Hilton status. But autocamp is its own thing. So that definitely explains it.

Overall, I'm happy I tried this. But I probably won't check out the other autocamps. I've had better glamping experiences for much cheaper. These small wrinkles I mentioned aren't a big deal but you would think, for the price, they wouldn't be a thing at all.

I just have one little edit after reading autocamps response : I fully expected to cook outdoors. But that's still not enough grilling supplies. I guess yall should pack your skillets in...

The losers: Autocamp Zion staff (night shift 7/24), hilton partnership coordinators, and supervisor (shift end 9:00 pm 7/24) The winners: Hilton customer service at 9:30 pm

Two complaints to bring forward that ultimately ended in my staying at the Hilton De Novo 10 minutes away instead, after the 2nd day of spending 12 hours on the road.

TLDR; Terrible staff service and immature 3rd party booking system.

1. Rude, Unhelpful, Confrontational Staff: Hilton double-booked my room at this property, and Autocamp Zion had no record of my reservation. I thought it odd that, upon arrival, it took 3 calls on the callbox before staff answered and opened the gate and my digital key did not work at the camper. When I went in the front office to sort it out (about 9:00 pm), the younger front desk staff worker informed me that they had no record of my reservation and had been booked up for months. I had made a reservation on the Hilton app just 3 days prior, had received a confirmation email, and had received notice of digital check-in in the app.

The worker told me that their partnership with Hilton was fresh, and that these dates had been booked out months prior, with the entire property being used by one large group for an event. She told me there was nothing they could do, and called out her supervisor. At around 9:10 pm, the supervisor provides me with a customer service phone number to speak to Hilton to sort this out. I was on hold for quite a while, and the supervisor grew increasingly agitated because her shift was "supposed to end at 9:00 pm" and she was "only here because [I'm] not technically allowed on the property."

When Hilton customer service wanted to speak to Autocamp was where the interaction turned sour. I informed the supervisor and worker that Hilton would be calling them momentarily. The supervisor said that Hilton did not need to do that, that there was nothing she would do to help, and ultimately let the phone go to voicemail three times. I asked to speak to a another supervisor, and the supervisor on duty said she would not talk to Hilton because her shift ended at 9:00 pm. I asked who the night supervisor is and was pointed to the younger worker, but was informed that "she didn't need to deal with this." I was told that Hilton could call the property again tomorrow and ask to speak to the supervisor on duty at that time instead of being able to sort it out right then even though there were 2 "supervisors" present. I was then told I had to vacate the premises immediately, and I had not yet secured a place to stay. Neither worker would provide me their names for record keeping and to provide to Hilton for resolution.

Hilton customer support found me a room at the Hilton De Novo where staff ended up being friendly and the views were actually much prettier, closer to Zion. My girlfriend came in the lobby to use the restroom on our way out and was turned away very rudely, and then told "you have two minutes, we just told your boyfriend he had to vacate the premises."

2. Autocamp gets an F for outsourcing reservations to Hilton. Autocamp didn't provide blackout dates, does not have a robust 3rd party reservation system, or has flawed record keeping. I should never have been able to reserve a nonexistent room. Do not book this property through a 3rd party website because it seems more like a Vrbo/Airbnb...

I want to preface this by saying my clients wedding was amazing. We were surrounded by love from their family and friends in this gorgeous autocamp. Nothing I’m about to say took away from their wedding whatsoever. It was a beautiful time and a beautiful wedding! I hate to have to do this but as a wedding photographer, I cannot sit here & let this stuff slip through the cracks. I do not want another couple to have to go through what we did

To start, extremely rude & unprofessional staff besides the bartender & a young man that worked one shift while we were there. The front desk young ladies were beyond condescending - not a single person in our wedding party had a good thing to say about them. After reading many reviews, I can tell that we aren’t the only people to have had this experience. Very sad that by this point no one has been reprimanded for their actions & no changes have been made. Shameful they’re in the wedding industry & do not know how to handle it. I would be embarrassed. Hopefully they’re new to this industry as there are extreme improvements to be made.

Not only were they ignorant, they closed the kitchen KNOWING their entire wedding party would be there. They booked a YEAR IN ADVANCE! A YEAR! They told us to order in waves because of how busy it gets. So, we did just that. Then the girls at the front rudely confronted my bride that they closed the kitchen and they were running out of food. I’m sorry, is that supposed to be a paying customers problem? Absolutely not. Very unprepared & unprofessional. Luckily my couple was able to order pizzas off site so their party was actually fed. They are very understanding & kind people who give grace if things happen. But there was little to no empathy towards them even when they were nice about it & they most certainly didn’t have to be! They’re good people who didn’t want to make the staffs night harder - even though they had no problem doing it to them. I digress from this.

I understand that quiet hours are at 10pm. What I don’t understand is being scolded by 10 ON THE DOT! Young lady came in and yelled at us - no “hey guys please turn the music down,” just immediate scolding. It seemed they were the ones complaining and not other customers as their was a wedding the night before that none of us could hear from our airstreams. Also, if you know a wedding has been booked year in advance, maybe notify your other guests so they can prepare for wedding noise. But, I would just avoid having an event of any sort here. Granted, our family & friends were so amazing, we had plenty of fun & laughter even with a less than mediocre staff!

Overall, rude, condescending, & unprofessional staff. Again, besides one young man who blew the other poor staff out of the water!! Oh, & the reception bartender was amazing too! We appreciated him & the bartender very much as their attitude was a breath of fresh air after dealing with the others. Can’t complain about the airstream. You pay for the view & that’s about it.

I would’ve liked to go back with my mom for her to see the view and stay in the airstream with me but that will not...