CMK10

I apologize if this belongs in the stay forum.

I did a search and didn't see anything on this hotel. Has any one stayed here? I'm thinking about taking the five hour drive from Phoenix to see a friend who moved to the reservation up there and this seems to be the only hotel. Thank you.

Reindeerflame

There are essentially 3 motels in the Chinle area, including this HI as well as a Best Western and the independent Thunderbird Lodge. The latter is directly in the park, so that is where I stayed in June 2009; the others are nearby.

However, we did have dinner at the HI. My impression is that it is the best of the 3. The dining room was nice, although no alcoholic beverages are available for sale on the Navajo reservation. They do have non-al. wines and beers. Dining is better than what is found at Thunderbird.

YVR Cockroach

Food at the Thunderbird Lodge is definitely not very good but perhaps traditional, which may explain diabetes and obesity among some of the locals.

3Cforme

This is a perfectly reasonable full service Holiday Inn. It is a couple of miles east of the town (and whatever through traffic may exist on US-191 between I-70 and I-40) but very close to the Canyon de Chelly National Monument entrance/visitor center.

The complex consists of three primary buildings around a courtyard with a swimming pool. One contains the restaurant (b/l/d + boxed lunches to go), gift shop, and registration desk. Another building fronts the pool (long way); it would seem these would be the best rooms. A third building is perpendicular to the second and has views of parking lot (or hillside behind; barking dogs at night).

It cools off a lot at night, but windows (and first level sliding doors) lack screens, so AC it is. TVs are still CRT and wireless internet is the slowest I have found in years. Appearance of restaurant, exterior, and rooms are all satisfactory (or better) for a hotel of this class/brand. Canyon de Chelly is certainly worth a detour for travelers doing a big loop of the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Arches, etc.

ChinaShrek

Last week, I just stayed here for two nights at 5000 points per night. Rooms average about $100 per night plus tax, so I think I received a great value for my points. I had a first floor King-bedded room facing an interior courtyard. My room was very quiet. I would try to get a room facing the interior courtyard if I stayed here again. It will have much less noise than the other rooms that face the parking lot. There are LCD HD TVs in all of the rooms now and the wifi worked awesome in my room. There was supposed to be wifi in the dining room but I could never get it to work there. I tried three different times, at three different meals. The food in the restaurant was just OK. The buffet breakfast did not have too much of a selection and some of the food was cold. I probably should have ordered something off of the menu. I thought the coffee was terrible here.

Canyon de Chelly is well worth visiting. It is not only an important historic site. The Navajo still live in and around the Canyon. Take the three hour guided tour and you will also learn more about how they live today. It was the highlight of my vacation in the Southwest.

CMK10

Stay Report - 8/5 - 8/6:

Location: The hotel is on BIA Highway 7 about one mile east of US 191 which runs through the center of Chinle. The entrance to Canyon de Chelly National Monument is 500 feet from the hotel entrance. There's a good restaurant on property but there's very little else in this town. The Best Western and Thunderbird Lodge have restaurants and there's a Burger King and that's about it.





Hotel: Definitely an older style Holiday Inn with a motor lodge type feeling. The rooms are in a two story building but thankfully there's no exterior doors. There's a small pool area and a decent sized parking lot. The reception area is actually separate from the rooms (hence the motor court feel) and also has a restaurant that serves breakfasts and dinner and a souvenir store.

Check In: No Platinum recognition at all, in fact I was never offered a welcome amenity. The agent was fine otherwise and explained the Wifi and the restaurant hours to me.

Room: Very dated. The brick wall was an especially nice touch. The bathroom was also pretty small and the furniture choices were old and kind of odd. Also, do note that due to mineral deposits the tap water often comes out brown and I was advised by the front desk not to drink it.







Restaurant: We had dinner here, the food was actually pretty good though the prices are kind of high ($20 for steak fajitas). Service was a little slow and also because this is the Navajo Nation, there is no alcohol.

My rate was $115. If you have to be near the canyon this is a great place to stay, it's just older and feels it. Still probably a better choice than the Best Western though.

CMK10

Stay Report:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/inter...de-chelly.html

Hotel is now 15,000 points per night but I was able to get it for $115. Definitely agree on the comments above about the hotel being worth it.