Talkeetna Motel Inc — Lodging in Talkeetna

ALL reviews about Talkeetna Motel Inc

• Victoria

  Added 2013.08.15

  My husband and I enjoyed our stay at Talkeetna Motel. It was such a pleasant surprise to find a place that made one feel at home. The owners were very nice and helpful i;n every way. This was our favorite place in all of the eight places we stayed in our month in Alaska. It is clean, well stocked and close to all the attractions in town. I really wish that we had a few more days to spend there. Anyone who gives this establishment a bad review should stay at home! We stayed at The Talkeetna Motel in July 2017. It was the only hotel in the heart of Talkeetna (we wanted to stay in walking distance) that had rooms available. The reason they had rooms available was because they're not really on any google search. I found them from google maps. Anyway, they have no website. I don't have a problem with businesses that don't use modern technology. Actually, this can be somewhat refreshing. What I did have a MAJOR problem with was that the owner refused to give me a written confirmation after I had booked the room and had given my credit card number. I told him I'd feel much more comfortable with any sort of confirmation, and he just made up numbers on the spot and hung up on me. It freaked me out. I thought I'd been hacked. I called the Chamber of Commerce, and surrounding hotels to check on the validity of this place. They just said he was a very old man, sometimes grumpy, but it was a valid place. Phew! When we arrived at the hotel (from North Carolina) in the late afternoon, we went to a dingy dark bar filled with cigarette smoke. Three men sat at the bar. The old man (who was a bartender) ignored us and served the drinks to each man, one by one. We stood there politely. I was terrified he wouldn't give us our room. This man scared me. It seemed that he enjoyed making us suffer. So we just stood there saying nothing as the old man asked one of the drinkers how his mother was doing, and if he milked any cows lately. Well... maybe the conversation wasn't exactly about cows... Anyway, after the old man had established that he was in complete control, he mosy-ed on over to us and mumbled something. My heart was pounding and I was very angry he was putting us through this. I said, "We booked some rooms?" He mumbled something inaudible, then went to the back room. We looked at each other. We had no idea what he said or where he was going. The 3 guys sitting on the bar stools were pleasant enough. They laughed at the situation. I guess at this point, all you could do was laugh. After 15 minutes of having my blood pressure reach 200 over 199, his wife came out. She was more pleasant. We signed the receipt and had to sign that we wouldn't have any parties or move the furniture or smoke in the room. That was ironic about cigarette smoke, because I can't stand cigarette smoke and was in need of a shower due to the smokey bar we were forced to stay in. The wife showed us to our room. It was pleasant enough... clean... small... it would do. It certainly wasn't worth the $170 a night that we payed, but I didn't really care, because the location was excellent, and it was clean. I understand from reviews that other people paid a lot less. Oh well. The wife rattled out about a dozen points we should take note of, but I couldn't process it all that fast. We had just traveled from North Carolina. Nothing was in writing. She mentioned a bunch of restaurants and rules, but I needed pen and paper to take notes. The bed was too close to the wall for me to get to the lamp, but I was afraid to move the bed because one of her rules was not to move any of the furniture. I had to crawl over the bed to get to the lamp. We stayed 4 nights. I think we were the only guests in the whole place. The wife changed our bed sheets and towels every day and kept the place neat and clean. However, we had no idea how to reach her. No phone number. No office. I guess you had to go to the bar, but she didn't hang out there. And we're not really bar people. We rarely could connect to the WiFi. When I stay in a hotel, I treat it like my home... I use coasters, I don't get crumbs on the floor, etc. I take it from the rules she imposed that others had mistreated the place. That's unfortunate. Anyway, I debated giving this place 3 stars, but I dropped it down to 2 stars because that old man was so rude. He really should have given us a confirmation, and he should have acknowledged our existence in the bar. But do know the place was clean and the location is excellent. A hidden gem off the beaten Main street path. The lounge is home to the locals, a place to escape the crowd. The lighting in the lounge is very dark but the people are friendly. Rooms are quaint and they are updating... just put in new bathrooms. This motel is walking distance to Main St. and the river where you will see the best view of Denali. Clean and rustic. Bar open till 3 am and free pool! Beautiful locale