A little about us first....There were 3 of us traveling together to Alaska for a cruise from Whittier to Vancouver. Myself and Husband are early 40's and have been to Anchorage 2X prior. My friend was 35 and this was his first visit. Unfortunately, due to work schedules, we had very limited time in Anchorage and only needed a hotel when we arrived very late at night (11:00pm) and were leaving on the train at 9:45am the next morning. For that short of a stay, I could not justify spending more money for a hotel room...and rates are very high in the summer in Anchorage.\r
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We arrived late at night at the airport after a very long day of travel. When we arrived in baggage claim, I called the hotel for their shuttle. I did see one outside at that moment, but we didn't have our luggage yet. They said to call back when we had our bags...I did so and the shuttle was there about 5 minutes later. The shuttle driver was very nice and personable. The shuttle itself was a van and very clean. It was about 3-5 minutes to the hotel. \r
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We checked in and received the room we had reserved online on the Alex website...a room with 2 Queen beds. It was in the back building, not the main building. The room was extremely large, a lot of space and very basic in amenities. The beds were comfortable, much more comfortable than our previous night's stay at a Marriott Courtyard in Kansas City. The bathroom was basic, but clean. There is a small bar of soap, shampoo, and conditioner. I had mine own with so I didn't use what was provided. There is a separate vanity area that included a coffee maker.\r
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The TV was flat screen, but we were so tired, we never turned it on. There are large windows that overlook the other building and parking lot. The building is non smoking. I assume we were in a renovate room. It seemed clean and in good repair to me. Again, basic, but perfect for our needs. There was also air conditioning and black out curtains.\r
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The next morning we went to the free breakfast. It was about the same as most hotels. A waffle machine, pastries, some hot items, juice and soda machine (for free), coffee, etc. We snacked on a few items and then asked for the shuttle to downtown to the train station. They had said the night before to just ask the front desk about 10 minutes prior to needing to leave. They had two shuttles running--a van and a larger Mercedes shuttle. The driver had just left so it took about 25 minutes for him to show up. The front desk was very apologetic...we had built in plenty of time so it wasn't that bad of a wait. I was very appreciative of both the free airport shuttle and the downtown shuttle. That is rare. They dropped us off on time at the train station and assisted with getting our luggage to the porters.\r
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Overall, I would stay here again. The location is not bad near the airport and across the street from a lake. The Millennium Hotel is across the street to the left and the Puffin is across the street to the right. There was another directly across the street. I felt the value was much better at the Alex Hotel. The staff were friendly and all the basic needs were available. If we were staying for a longer stay, I might look downtown...but then again, with the free shuttle, the money savings is really better at Alex. We don't need pools or other items for our stay.\r
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I rated this as 5 on a 5 scale primarily due to the value vs. the other hotels we had stayed. The rooms were nicer than the Hilton. The best room was the suite we had at the Sheraton, but we paid nearly $400 for the night there.
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