Had confirmed reservation, manager was AWOL
I reserved a room on-line three days before my stay, and got a confirmation that the room was in my name and that I would be charged for the room if I didn't cancel within 48 hours. No worries, since I didn't intend to cancel. I finished a backpacking trip around dusk on the evening of my stay, and began the two hour drive to the Budget Host at 9:00. At 10:00 I got into cell phone coverage, and I had a message from the Budget Host night manager telling me to call if I still wanted my room???!!?? I called the number he left, and no one answered. Around 11:00 pm (on a Friday night) I arrived at the Budget Host Cortez, and the office was locked, no buzzer or information on how to contact the manager. I again called the number that the manager had left, and the phone in the office was ringing, but since no one was there to answer it, I just stood there in the dark trying to figure out how to get the room that I'd reserved. After about 30 minutes of searching the property trying to find anyone in charge (there were several groups of guests hanging out in the parking lot drinking, but no one knew how to get a hold of management since the room phones just called the office), I was forced to accept that the Budget Host was not honoring my room reservation, and, perhaps worse, there was NO ONE there managing the property on a Friday night, with folks getting drunk in the parking lot. It is clear that the night manager had plans on a Friday night and had SHUT DOWN early, closing the office and stranding me (and possibly other guests??) without a place to stay. If you are looking for a place to stay while you take your family to Mesa Verde or to the other beautiful spots in the Four Corners, do NOT stay at the Budget Host in Cortez-- it is clearly NOT a safe environment for a family, nor could you go to sleep confident in the knowledge that a responsible party would be on hand to assist you should some sort of need or emergency arise.
The following day I went to the Budget Host to make sure that I had not been charged for the room. The manager on duty was the same person who had been on duty the night before (Tom)-- he did NOT apologize for disregarding my reservation, nor would he give me the name of his supervisor or the property owner so that I could follow up with them. In fact, as I asked him further questions about the Budget Host reservation policies and tried to get an explanation as to why he wasn't going to give me a way to contact his supervisors, he CALLED THE SHERIFF BECAUSE I WOULDN"T JUST LEAVE THE OFFICE WITH MY QUESTIONS UNANSWERED!!!!!!
STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE!!!!