Review of El Pueblo Lodge 2*

Stayed there over the last weekend in July 2015. The property: The property is dominated by a parking lot. Overall, the property is large. The pool is in the middle of the parking lot. There are lots of trees and the architecture and manicuring are pleasant — particularly the area behind the office and breakfast area, which is a quaint garden with horseshoes, bbq pits, a couple of picnic tables, and a large L-shaped garden patio and 10 or so tables for meal seating. A sea of soft grass. It's beautiful. Unfortunately, though, the rooms have no real view to speak of. The staff: From when we entered until the time we left every staff member and worker that we interacted with was wonderful and helpful. Props to the staff. The breakfast was great with some wonderful touches. The breakfast staff were hardworking and kept that area is stocked, clean, and inviting. I didn't like that the only meat option was sausage patties. That was disappointing. But again, breakfast was wonderful. The room: The room was smaller and older than expected. The architecture and beds were nice, but the carpet was seriously wanting. There were stains all over it. The rough, rustic wooden furniture felt a little dirty and dingy (primarily from age). The bathroom was clean and overall the room was clean. To be clear, however, some investments needs to be made if this hotel wants to maintain their price point. The entrance into the bathroom was insanely tiny with a mini-fridge and all sorts of nonsense crammed in the corner entrance. It was weird. The tiles and touches in the bathroom were nice — top-end toiletries. Unfortunately, the light switch tile was cracked off, which is a little dangerous. I felt cramped and disappointed with the room overall, but the bathroom was nice. I liked the small window in it. The bedroom furniture was a real hodgepodge in need of updates. The cooling system worked well — once we realized that despite the controls on the unit not working, that the system could be controlled from a wall control on the other side of the room, we were in much better shape. But we didn't realize this until morning and were stuffy the entire night. The area: It's in an accessible part of town. The building is somewhat handicap friendly. It was flat with maximum one step up anywhere. The surrounding trees were large and shady. There was a nice gathering of various elderly couples and groups at breakfast. To conclude: For the price we paid, it's over-rated. It was our most expensive hotel on our trip in the area and we paid like $150 for the night. For $30 more, I wish we would have stayed in one of the top-notch luxury Taos hotels. In comparison, we paid around $110 in nearby much nicer and more desirable areas for nicer accommodations.