I decided to take a short road trip to Sedona from Phoenix since my apartment complex continues to keep our pool closed even though it legally could open a month ago. It’s 100+ degrees daily and I just wanted a nice motel to stay the night at so I could relax by the pool, read my book, and decompress from the stress of this whole COVID situation. Found this motel and read the great reviews, and the great pricing- so I called ahead to make sure the amenities would be available since some hotels are not fully operational yet. The hotel informed me that no breakfast would be served (fine by me as I don’t eat breakfast), and that yes the pool would be open, they just need to keep it under 10 guests. I figured OK no problem, I’m getting there early and would be staying all day so it would be fine. Well, it was anything but fine, and turned out to be a very stressful and uncomfortable weekend. I go out to the pool area and there were only 3 other people there, so it was nice and quiet and clean. The pool chairs were stacked off to the side, so I took one and set myself up in the corner, started reading my newspaper, and felt so happy to be away from the hot Phoenix area and finally have a nice pool to enjoy. Unfortunately my relaxation did not last long, as the man from the office came running out from the lobby to the pool to yell at me that I could not use the chairs. I said wait a second, I called to ask if the pool was open as normal and was told yes, and he rambled on and on that they could not allow guests to use the chairs due to a safety issue. He claimed it was direction from the County and they had no choice. I told him I found that hard to believe as I did my morning walk and saw pool chairs available and in use at several other motels, but that even if it was legally true, he should have DISCLOSED this to me when I called, and it should be disclosed on their website as well! I told him I never would have booked this place if I knew I didn’t have a chair to sit on, since that is literally all I came to do, sit and read and relax by a pool. He offered to refund my room but at that point I was like no, I had already set up all my stuff and drove 2 hours from Phoenix to get there, and didn’t want to hassle trying to find somewhere else last minute. I offered to even clean and put away the chair when done and he refused, so I was forced to get off the chair and literally lay on the ground on a towel the rest of the weekend. Not at all the relaxation I imagined. On top of that, he told me that if they got to the 10 person maximum, he would have to shut the pool. Seriously?! Again, he didn’t think that was important information to share on the website so guests knew? Even when I called he said they had a 10 person max but never indicated it would close after that. I assumed as long as I got there and it was under 10 I could stay in, and if it was over 10 I might have to wait until someone left. No- he made it clear they would just shut for the day if they got 10! Thankfully this never happened, we got close around 8 people later in the afternoon. It was stressful and hard to relax knowing that at any time my whole pool day could be ruined. Interestingly, later another family came out to the pool and the mother picked up a chair and sat in it while her daughter was in the pool. By this time, the original lobby man was done his shift and another man was working- he came out to the pool area to do some cleaning, and he said NOTHING to this woman- she was allowed to stay in her chair! So either the other guy was just crazy, or they discriminated against me for being a single white woman and “looked the other way” to allow this Hispanic mother to use the chair when I was made to lay on the ground.
The next morning (Sunday) was much quieter than Saturday as most guests had checked out. I went out to the pool and found the gate locked. I had to go into the lobby and ask for it to be opened. The woman seemed surprised and reluctant but then walked out with me to open it up. I ended up having the pool to myself for about 3 hours until I left around 3:30 PM. However, even this day was awkward because she came out to me at the pool around 2:30 and asked me if I was staying another night or how much longer I would be out there. It was very strange as the pool hours were 10am-8pm. I said no I already checked out, I am probably staying until about 3:30 or so, and she was like Ok my shift is almost done, so I’ll let the other man know. Why would they need to ask me when I was leaving? Yes, I had checked out that morning but I have traveled around the US and the world, from motels to high end hotels, and EVERYWHERE I have stayed it has been acceptable and normal to use the common facilities even if you check in early, and after you check out. This place made me feel like I was unwelcome and they were annoyed that I was there using amenities. Another weird thing, they have not 1 but 2 hot tub covers, and you had to remove them to use the tub. Someone would use it and then they would be out there within an hour covering it again. It was weird and felt like they didn’t want you to use it- like making it inconvenient. I can see covering it overnight- but multiple times in the middle of the day? So weird. The only reason I am giving this 2 stars instead of 1 is because the room was fantastic- spotlessly clean, comfortable bed, and nice amenities. But everything else about this property was very uncomfortable, I was made to feel unwelcome, and like they wanted to nickel and dime you and didn’t really want you to enjoy the offerings. They also place a $75 hold on your credit card at check in which is RIDICULOUS for a basic motel- I haven’t even had that much for decent regular hotels. I will not return here and suggest you look elsewhere for a more comfortable experience.
