The Inn at Death Valley

I thought that the new "Oasis" branding meant that the rooms at the Ranch had been upgraded and the property had been spruced up overall. WRONG. Instead Zanterra raised prices and still provides a Super 8 quality product at 3 times the price. Upgrades have been piecemeal and incomplete. My room had holes in the wall following the installation of a new sink, a bathroom door with a patch job at the bottom that looks to have been done by a first grader, and carpet on the balcony with gaping holes. Housekeeping is mediocre. Parking lot and sidewalks are crumbling. The resort feels like a construction site, because it is. One that will no doubt drag on for years. Better to stay outside the park and make day trips.

Really frustrated again. I have made the mistake of coming back twice and it just seems to get worse. We stayed in the less expensive part of the resort and the rooms are still almost 300 a night. I would say that they are low-end Holiday Inn type rooms. I could live with that given the beautiful setting. The problem is that everything else about this resort seems to be only done halfway or less. The sprinklers are in disrepair around the property which leave mud pits around the rooms. The dining facilities are staffed by people that can't be found. The room keys don't work well and we had to have them replaced twice. The coffee machine in room doesn't work. The lady at the coffee shop blows a gasket because we try to pay with cash and "now she has to go find some change". All of this could somehow be acceptable if it was a bargain. However everything here is shockingly expensive. Three beers and three hot dogs is $65. The buffet is $33 per person for food that is below average. The employees here seem to be in a rush to close as soon as they can so we experienced times when things that were supposed to be open but shut down 30 min early. We got so frustrated that we went to the high end resort nearby run by the same company to have breakfast. The food was better but again it seems like there's just no management. At one point we gave up trying to get coffee and went out into the lobby to refill our coffee cups where they had a coffee station. People were getting up and walking back to the kitchen to try to find somebody to pay their bill. Overall it seems like they are investing with a plan to have a wonderful facility as there's lots of renovation underway. But management is extremely weak with no concern for quality. It doesn't seem like there is the slightest concern for guest experience. Very dissapointing.

We had a decent stay at the Ranch. The room was nice enough, though a little old fashioned and musty. Minor point, but it was also noticeable that the tap water was rather warm. The complex is impressive, with a large pool, tennis and basketball courts and a golf course in addition to the main building and saloon. Nice outdoor seating is available around an open fire. A big negative for us is that some of the rooms seem to be currently undergoing a lot of construction / refurbishment (which is probably a good thing!). This led to construction noise and lot of of workers hanging around. Having said that, it is the best place to stay in the area and the surroundings are beautiful.