Best Western Valdez Harbor Inn

The room stunk like mold and we felt sick. The bathroom was way worse smelling. Kids or someone jumped and ran above us so we couldn’t sleep. There wasn’t ac in the room or a working fan. It was very stale and hot.

It’s rare we stay at chain hotels, but the photos and other reviews sold me! We were taking a day cruise the day after checking in, so we were pleasantly surprised to see our Stan Stephens boat in the harbor behind the hotel!! We had driven all day and were really too tired to go search for a restaurant. Luckily for us, The Wheel House restaurant was attached to the lobby of the hotel. We went to our room and chilled awhile, because the restaurant wasn’t open until supper. ***In case I forget to review the restaurant, wow! The food was delicious (I had halibut) , the view of the lovely harbor was visible from the bar area, and the waitress was super kind and took good care of us. I was skeptical of hotel restaurant food, but this place was AMAZING! (It’s only open for supper…) I traveled with my parents, aged 78 and 82. Our room was spacious, clean, nicely decorated (basic chain decor) and had a comfortable chair for Dad to watch television. Unfortunately, the television didn’t work properly. The lobby immediately sent someone down to try to get it to work. The young man told us when we returned from our Stan Stephens cruise, we’d have anew television and set up. And we did! Worked perfectly! It had been an unusually warm day when we arrived. The window in our room was open and the sun was shining in. It was too warm to sleep. We found a fan in the closet, sat it on the desk, and the room was quite comfortable. The next couple of days, we drew the heavy curtains shut during the day to keep the room cool; the rest of our stay was very comfortable temperature wise. The ONLY reason I did not rate this hotel a 5 was because my Dad took a shower one evening and he said the water wasn’t hot. Mom took a shower next and said the water started out lukewarm, but ended up with cold. I called the front desk and was told a bus load of people had arrived; it was suggested I wait and something to the effect of the water will get hot when it was my turn? I waited until the next morning to shower and I had plenty of hot water. I later learned two buses had arrived the night before. Maybe it’s possible they need a larger boiler to handle a hotel full of people? Honestly, I don’t know, but our stay was perfect besides that hot water incident. The hotel had a continental breakfast with some hot foods, cereals, yogurt, fruit, juice, etc. My parents liked it, but I’m not a breakfast person, so I didn’t find it tasty. But that’s probably on me. All in all, I would still recommend staying here. Very clean and comfortable!

Was it amazing? For sure not! But does it do the trick in general? ...yes! Valdez in general is a scenic place, to my ignorant surprise, and I actually found it along Girdwood the most picturesque area of our 10 day road trip around Alaska. Though where it shines in natural beauty, it does not really provide a lot of great lodging options - so do take into account that (there are 1 or 2 brand new places and they are insane at about $500-600 a night the last time I have checked vs. here $210 for a king bed with breakfast included (though skipped it). The room we had was decent, big, clean - the bed was OK nothing to rave about but again we just came here literally for 1 night to check out the near by attractions and do a Prince William Sound boat tour - which literally takes off from the docks behind the property and where it has its own office - so that is just the easiest thing ever (similar setup to the Seward town for Kenai Fjords). We did not have any issues with the room but during our stay 1 person approach the front desk about issues with the heater, other about lack of running water - again that were their issues, our stay in the room was uneventful, luckily :D There are plenty of food truck/options walking distance from here, we came to the breakfast but the setup was just unpleasant - the restaurant looked like it was red taped for a crime scene (weird idea whoever had it) after the previous evening and the breakfast was in a single packed room - as soon as we got in grabbed the coffee and left, it was just too chaotic and loud - not sure if it was unique to that day and some group there but it was bad, probably worst part of our stay here. The whole building has its charm, my wife disliked it, I appreciated it - the entire Valdez area is pretty low K, so don't expect anything fancy, just functional stay and you will not be that disappointed as others state here - for the record I found our Seward hotel worse than this, although more eye appealing it cost $350 vs $200 here so I am not claiming it's better but for $150 price difference I choose BW here as the "lesser evil" :) Plenty of parking (free/included) and right in the marina - if you don't come to Valdez for a boat tour stay somewhere else, otherwise this is the easiest + OK priced option to make that work best.

Great place to stay with dogs- very accommodating, but clean and convenient. Good service and food made things easy. It's handy to all of Valdez including the harbor, medical, hiking, music, thrift store, etc. Plus gorgeous views on the way into /out and in town.

Friendly staff .