In a nutshell, Skamania Lodge is NOT the glorious spa resort getaway it used to be in the 90's. My husband, a retired corporate executive, said it has become like every other corporate hotel he has stayed in over the years. Nothing special.
This is a very sad decline for those of us who frequented Skamania Lodge in the 1990's. My husband and I spent every other Thanksgiving there from 1990 to 2000 and were never disappointed - food was always freshest (not canned), prepared with care and attention to detail, and presented with pride. The rooms were furnished with beautifully crafted lodge furnishings and luxurious linens.
Now, the rooms are furnished with mass produced hotel furniture, linens are down market and look/feel worn. The room itself is beat up - attention to detail is not happening to maintain the rooms.
Our room was not very clean when we arrived. Bathroom counter had gunk stuck on it from previous guest (toothpaste? shaving cream? not sure - but it scrubbed off - so if I could do it - why didn't they do it before we arrived?); surfaces were very dusty (top of headboard has a ledge and it had a visible layer of dust as did the ledge above the fireplace); center of carpet was vacuumed - but when you moved the chair there was dirt and clutter from previous guests. Finally the bathtub drain was clogged and didn't drain effectively and there was hair in the bathtub from the previous guest - NOT ACCEPTIBLE!!! I have a hard time paying $238 a night for a room I have to clean before we are comfortable staying there.
For us the poor quality food was the final straw. We tried 3 meals in our short stay and all three were either a send back (salmon cakes were not cooked/cold in middle), overcooked (rubbery scallops) or tasted terrible (Skamania Salmon Hash made with frozen hash browns, frozen salmon and topped with pureed canned tomato coulis - YUCK! The quality of ingredients do not rate a $12 breakfast dish.)
The final straw - Buffet only Thanksgiving meal - at $38 a plate!!! No way for canned ingredients prepared in advance and sitting in warming trays - NO WAY. (In years past they offered a buffet OR dinners made to order off a short holiday menu - the made to order never disappointed - again fresh in season ingredients cooked to perfection).
We cut our stay to only 1 night - that is all we could stand after one disappointment after another and I am sad to say we will NEVER go to Skamania Lodge again. Why? Why pay premium prices for a Howard Johnson experience.
Pros: Still beautiful scenery and wonderful Hillis petroglyph art
Cons: Lodge run down, in disrepair, dirty, Food mediocre at best
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