Absaroka Lodge — Hotel in West Yellowstone

We left early because of bed bugs. This place is cheaper than others of similar value in the area, near the north entrance of the park, and has a decent balcony view of the river. That's about it for the good things. Our room had a pungent sewage odor and was filled with gnats and mosquitos. There was rarely convenient parking available, which made moving luggage a hassle. I didn't see any bear precautions where garbage was concerned. We were willing to deal with these things until we found two bed bugs in our bathroom on night two. We had no bites from the night before, but we still checked the bed just in case. It was zipped up in some kind of cover so it was hard to inspect the mattress thoroughly, but we saw no evidence of bed bugs on the small part that we were able to see. We did, however, notice a couple of stains on the sheets that looked like old blood spots. We called management promptly, and he came down and looked at the insects and agreed to give us a refund for the night. I appreciated the partial refund but thought we should have gotten all of our money back because of the inconvenience of having to find another hotel so late at night and because of the potential that we could bring the bugs home in our luggage, due to no fault of our own. I called back the next day and brought all of this up, only to be told that the bugs were ticks and that we would not be refunded. These bugs weren't ticks. I’ve included pictures here so that you can judge for yourself. They are red and have ridges on there backs. This place's refusal to even admit that they have bed bugs leads me to believe that they are not going to fix the...

Lest you think one star is unreasonable, keep in mind I stayed here three nights and paid $600. I realize the entire area is a rip-off when it comes to hotels, but just because you can charge whatever price you like doesn't give you the right to not live up to that price.

This is a fantastic location that is utterly wasted. It has balconies, but we didn't get one. Our promised "balcony suite" was the worst room in the hotel, on the ground floor (more like a dungeon), right next to the road. That said, we did not hear the road from our room, which was nice. And again, the location is amazing, having the window open to hear the river. But all we got was a gross, buggy patio, right beside the road where everyone could look in on us. It was the worst room in the hotel, so far on the edge that the wi-fi didn't even work. At all.

The room itself was a mess. For $200, the very least you should get is a clean room. There were dead bugs on the window sill, bugs in the bed (not bedbugs! just bugs--people before us had obviously left the patio door open, letting in a fleet of insects). The coffee pot had not been cleaned and still had the previous guests' coffee grounds and filter in it. I'd be surprised if they even washed the dishes. There were ants in the bathroom.

If it had been $70, fine, but it was $200 per night. The whole hotel was booked. I get it; it's a busy area, and you can charge a premium, fine, but certain things are still expected...

This place is convenient to the border and entrance of Yellowstone National Park. One of the two front desk guys is super friendly. The room cleaners do only what is asked and not 1 thing more... so don't make assumptions about what is going to get cleaned, replaced, etc, if you are staying longer than one night unless you specify everything. The lock on our front door had to be refreshed a couple of times and rarely worked, but luckily we had a backdoor that was easy to open. We had a deer come by and visit us on the porch. A lot of families sit out on the porch at night so it isn't as peaceful as you would desire because of kids running back and forth and parents yelling at the kids to stop, etc. This lodge is very expensive in comparison to other hotels and motels, but the convenient location sort of justified it for us. There is no breakfast here, but there is a store and restaurants down the street (very few options for vegan or vegetarian) There is a convenient gas station across the street. Overall, I wished we only booked the one night rather than staying for two. There was no upgrade or benefit to staying longer... especially since our beds didn't get made, and our coffee wasn't replenished, despite having asked the staff to drop by and provide us clean towels. Sometimes it is just the little things that make the difference, especially if you are spending more than...