Yes, I'm aware that the options in ANC are poor. I know that this is considered the best ANC property overall. I'm aware that the Hilton is a dumpster fire. After the stay I just had at HCC though, I am regretting not just booking the Hyatt Place.

This hotel is definitely riding on its return client loyalty and doesn't really care about quality. Property is super dated. Seems like it's stuck in the 70's. The "blackout" drapes are a joke. Bathrooms are terribly designed. The Suites are not well laid out. My room has two refrigerators but no microwave. What?

I would avoid for two reasons, though:

1. Multiple times in the lobby, I noticed mentally ill/drug addicted people wander into the hotel. Now look, I get it. Downtown ANC has a bad drug/homeless problem. That's not my issue. The issue is that staff seem to treat this with kid gloves. From what I saw, it's not considered a problem until it "becomes" a problem. Staff sort of ignore them unless they become aggressive in some way. This is a huge security issue. All elevators on property are OPEN. Any of these people could roam the hotel freely. It's a bad situation.

2. I was lied to. On the first day of my stay, I asked about a late checkout, as my wife and I would be running the Marathon and needed an extra hour added to the 12:00 checkout time, if possible. I was told to check back with the front desk the day before we checked out. I did so. A younger gentleman told me that the Hotel does not assign late checkout until the morning of checkout. He told me specifically to ask again at 7:30 AM on the morning of our checkout. He explained that they cannot assign checkout before the day of said checkout, because of some sort of scheduling issue with your housekeeping staff. I said thank you, and left. At exactly 7:36 AM on our checkout day, I approached an older gentleman at the front desk. Standing near him was the younger gentleman that I spoke to on Friday, the day before. The older desk agent told me that unfortunately, they had already given out all of the late checkout slots available. I asked how that could be possible, since they weren't able to assign late checkout until 7:30 AM the day of. The older desk agent asked me who told me that. I politely looked at the younger desk agent across from him and I said "he told me that." The younger agent said "No, we haven't given out any late checkouts. We have none to give." The older agent, clearly now caught in a lie, was fumbling for his words. I have not seen two desk agents look as red faced as they did at that moment. Obviously, one or both had lied to me at some point, and they knew it, and they knew that I knew it. At that point, I confirmed that they would not be giving us a late checkout, and I said thank you, and left.

So yeah, won't ever be staying here again, and frankly probably won't come back to ANC. The food is mediocre and overpriced. Get out of ANC if you go to Alaska.

Been staying at the Cook multiple times annually for over 20 years. I�ll agree parts of it are dated, but I�ve never had anything approaching what you are describing. Sorry you had a bad experience, but definitely not in line with what I see there regularly.

Also curious about the food. It�s not NYC, but Anchorage has some great restaurants if you know where to find them.

I just checked out of the Hilton this morning. The service was terrible but I enjoyed a corner room with a lovely view. It seems that a lot of places are struggling to handle the tourist crowds. The restaurant at the Hilton could only serve drinks because they were short chefs. We did manage a few lovely meals at Ginger and Crush.

I just stayed at the Captain Cook June 20-23 and found it to be quite good. The room was quiet even though it didn't have a view; we left the curtain slightly open in lieu of a nightlight, so don't really care about the blackout curtain concept. The dining at Fletcher's was excellent...the best meal on our Alaska trip. Breakfast at the Pantry, though very busy, was excellent as well. Front desk staff extremely friendly and efficient.

We were within easy walking distance of the ARR train station for the trip to Seward and the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. Homeless issues downtown appeared quite invisible during our stay.

Meanwhile, our later forced stay at Homewood Suites was downright awful, with extra charges imposed for checking in early, even after we made it clear that we would wait to check in at a time when those charges would not apply. The hotel was also noisy, with our upstairs neighbors likely lifting weights and then dropping them on the floor as late as 10pm. Apparently some guests noticed the existence of a homeless encampment nearby.

So, I would easily want to stay at the Captain Cook again, hopefully when the Crow's Nest restaurant is open. Remarkable how the restaurant is closed 3 days per week even though the hotel is fully booked, likely due to labor shortages. The rate we paid was a fraction of the rate demanded by the Homewood Suites, as the latter was a last-minute booking.