L'Auberge de Sedona Resort

We booked a room in the Lodge expecting something worthy of your hotel's 4-4.5 star rating. Me and my wife were celebrating our anniversary and we were very disappointed with the quality of the room. The room we received was room 440 and it was the first room right next to the main lobby/check-in area. This means all of the events the hotel holds in the morning and the evening we will be in the middle it whether we wished to participate or not. Also the room was tiny and the bathroom was even smaller. This did not seem like the getaway that we imagined as the room looked like it belonged to the day's inn. The tv was sub-par compared to most hotels of the same rating and there was a noticeable smell in the room. The sheets were not soft, the bed was not comfortable or inviting and the decor of the room was old and dingy. The carpet and the chairs also had stains on them. Also the patio had a view of a large wall and vines. Apparently the perk of your hotel being right on the creek is not available to Lodge guests. Your hotel also does not have any amenities like a pool or a workout room and I was told they directed guests to a "sister hotel" which is even worse than the lodge if they wanted to enjoy those benefits. The high star rating is apparently because of the cottages. They looked very nice and luxurious... but at 3 times the rate! Compared to EVERY 4-4.5 star hotel in Sedona this was the worst deal I have ever seen. Because of this shock and not wanting to pay for a rate for a high rated hotel and receive a 2 star room we decided to leave. This process only made it worse since the staff did not seem to know what they were doing. The staff ended up charging the cancellation fee 3 TIMES (This is almost $900!) and I had to make several calls over 2 days span (thanks for ruining the vacation) to resolve this. I even had to call my bank to obtain a number to get these charges reversed since your staff was unable to figure this out on their own. I was also NEVER OFFERED ANY alternative and was told they were "almost" fully booked (on a Wednesday??) and basically said "like it or leave it" in so many words.

We were also forced to pay the cancellation fee even though we did not cancel, we showed up and we were not happy. Your staff did nothing to resolve our issues except ask the bell boy to walk our luggage back to the car.

There is a positive note, we previously booked a creekside massage and it was excellent. We would recommend the massage to others but we will never recommend your hotel due to the poor customer service, awful rooms, and your unforgiving polices.

If you wish to enjoy your stay I would book a room at the neighboring Amara Creekside resort or the Sedona Rouge Hotel. For the same price as a Lodge room ($250-280) you can get a large luxurious bathroom, fireplace, a view, a great king size bed, and the same quality coincerge service. You will also avoid the snotty staff and enjoy your Sedona getaway.

I stay at the best hotels all over the country for business and all of the best hotels internationally for pleasure. I chose l'Auberge because I thought its long reputation on Conde Nast Gold List would mean there would still be some quality there. WRONG.

We took a room in the Lodge, $250 which is reasonable for Sedona but very unreasonable when you consider the experience. The carpet in the room was frayed and filthy. Underneath the armchair and bed were wrappers, hairclips, and other miscellaneous trash, clearly vacuuming is not part of the housekeeping package.

We asked one staff member at the restaurant if they had a fitness center and if it was part of the spa, he just repeated "fitness center" with a dumbfounded look on his face. When I pressed and said, "you know a place where you can workout," he just shrugged nonchalantly and said "don't know." He was not foreign.

We went to the restaurant in mid-afternoon to make a reservation, the place was a disarray in the front with servers sitting all over the place counting up their money and ignoring customers such as ourselves walking in. I finally got a hold of the bartender/manager who said only 5:30PM and 8:30PM as only times available for restaurant reservations. We picked 8:30PM but we walked by the place at both 6:30PM and 7:30PM and it was EMPTY, not a soul inside or outside. Sorry, but a place does not have that many cancellations.

We asked if there was a swimming pool and the guy indicated that their "sister" property had a pool up the hill that we could use and that it was a "great workout" before going for a dive. So THERE is the fitness center I guess. We checked out the "sister" property - it was a trash dump.

They have a cocktail hour that runs one hour in the evening. We showed up right at the half way point to find a few measly crumbs of cheese and a couple crackers on a plate, the rest had been ransacked. I asked the attendant if they would resupply and he said the restaurant could not keep up. We had to wait another 20 minutes, and what they brought was some old stale tortilla chips. 10 minutes after that they brought a few cheeses out - YUM! Chips and goat cheese! What class and sophistication.

I called the General Manager on several occasions and he has not had the common courtesy to return phone call - if you cannot count on the head guy to take care of you, forget about it, this place is a DUMP!

Wow wow wow - L'auberge is pure luxury. We went to a wedding here in September 2004 and were blown away with how nice the hotel and grounds are. It is set overlooking the red rock mountains but at the bottom is a beautiful stream that runs through a little garden. We stayed in the creekside lodge there which is a huge 4 bedroom house with double height ceilings and all the amenities you need - so get a group together and go. There is plenty of things for everyone to do - from the 4-wheel drive tours, or mountain biking or hiking or exploring the energy vortexes that are famous in the area. The staff were all amazing - it was a luxurious weekend away.