Girdwood is beautiful. One would imagine that staying in a huge resort hotel in this area would be heavenly. And, indeed, the natural setting among glaciers, mountains, and trees in the summertime would permit a guest to forgive the blips, errors, and mis-steps of this montrosity of a hotel. But there is really no excuse for poor service, ill-trained staff, and lack of security. Here is a list of problems we encountered. You, the reader, can decide for yourself whether the gorgeous setting is worth dealing with the glitches.

**Poor security. At the check-in counter, the clerk announced in ear-shot of other guests my husband's name and room number.
**Poor security. at 1 am the first night of our 3-night stay, someone (presumably a guest) was able to open our room door with his card key. Fortunately, we had the security latch in place so the door only opened 1 inch. For some reason, the guest would not leave but kept trying to come in (was he drunk?). I called front desk for security. I was informed that we could get new keys in the morning. Come morning and a changing of the guards, we find that there was no incident report filed. The new front desk staff didn't know what we were talking about. Later, when the manager arrived, we were not charged for that night and upgraded to a suite (near the lobby, at my request, for added security).
**We get another knock on our door on Day 3 - "Room service," the man behind the door announced. I yelled through the closed door that we had not ordered room service. The man moved away from our door. After the first night''s scare, I was wary. Still don't know what that was about.
**No pen or notepad by the telephone, no hangers in the closet, no information in the Guest Directory binder. Of the last item, we were informed that the guest directory was being updated, but what good is that for guests who have no clue what services are available?
**We don't know where the fitness center is. We're told it's on the 3rd floor. But we can't find it. Why not? There is no signage that indicates the closed door leading to the fitness center. 3 other staff people we run into in the halls as we're trying to find the fitness center don't know where it is, either. Or, worse still, that it had closed an hour ago, making the search fruitless from the get.
**The business meeting had breakfast service -but no utensils to eat the meal.
**With few exceptions, the staff were unfriendly, uncaring, simply not interested. One woman staffing the bicycle rentals was on the phone in what seemed to be a personal call. She never made eye contact with me while I waited for her to finish, and she never stopped her phone call to wait on me. Instead, another staff person, who kept peeking over to her to see why she wasn't serving us, finally came over from his position in another room to help me. He was, by the way, very courteous.
**Free Internet service on only the first 3 floors, otherwise, must use ethernet cable. But only a few spots on floors 1 - 3 provide access to www, and there was NO access in our room on the 3rd floor.

GOOD THINGS
**Nice mattress.
**Faucet water tastes good
**Rental bikes were very nice and reasonably priced.
**Restaurant food was good and not outrageously priced.

You can decide.

If you are a typical Alaskan tourist, your hotel is a crash pad, the real point is outside your door. We arrive late, on the way from Denali to Homer and just need lodging for one night. Don't take me wrong, the hotel is first class ( my wife did find it a bit dirty). No continental breakfast ( hey, we save where we can!). So we had a breakfast of snack bars and hiked the Winner Creek Trail. That was a 5 mile trail that ends at the famous hand tram over a creek and gorge. The trail is a fantasic, mostly level trail.
Then we rode the tram to the top of the mountain(with a 2 for 1 coupon from a magazine.) a skier rode with us as the slopes were still open at the end of May. We found everyone in Alaska to be open and friendly and he was no exception, we spent a pleasant 10 minutes chit chatting while veiwing the breathtaking valley.The complex at the top was great, the Round House, a historical exhibit, was very informative. But Fommers is correct, the grill is seriously over priced.
So yes, I found Hotel Alyeska over rated for our purpose, I advise you to stay in Anchorage, but do visit the ground and trails.

We brought a 3 family group of 10 to the Alyeska Hotel in Girdwood for spring break. The service at the hotel was excellent - from the smiling and personable housekeeping staff to the wait staff and desk staff , valets, and ski school and ski shop personnel. From the moment we made our complex reservations of adjacent rooms for the families - all of us on the same floor - all the boys in one room - one handicapped room, to the restaurant reservations for our large group, to the lost room key replacements, the switches back and forth between skis to snowboards with the kids, and finally the panicked call from the airport for the lost wallet in the room (which the staff immediately called us to let us know they'd found it, and mailed it express mail to our home) The staff exceeded expectations at every turn. We also arranged for mountain tours and lessons from the mountain center - which they customized to our varying arrival times and abilities. They managed to accomodate the kids, teens, and adults in lessons and tours of the mountain that had everyone confidently coming down the mountain with ease. I suspect we put everyone through their paces at this resort, and they came through with flying colors. Enjoyed the stay - and recommend contacting the hotel and staff personally over the internet or phone - we even arranged transportation through the concierge which was great, as well as Garth at the ski school who ensured our "new mountain anxiety" was not an issue.

This hotel has been featured on Travel channel and touts a world-class restaurant and a luxurious stay. None of the above is true. We stayed for 1 night as a "treat" as part of an 8-day vacation to AK (2nd trip). We visited the property the first time we were in AK and decided to stay for a romantic weekend the next time we were in town. The whole time we were here, I felt like I was NOT in Alaska but at a Disneyland-like tourist hotel. The service staff was NOT welcoming or helpful. I would compare them to McDonalds employees. The room was a closet with a partially blocked view. The restaurant - Seven Glaciers was supposed to be one of the best 10 in the country. It is situated at the top of the mounted and accessible only by the hotel tram. While the views on the way up and down were beautiful, the views from the restaurant were all partially blocked due to high walls and poor lay out. Entering the restaurant was like walking down a dark hallway and into any other restaurant I've ever been in. Allegedly, there are views from 7 hanging glaciers. None of the staff seemed to know where they were or wanted to take the time to point them out. The worst part was that the dining experience was just ok - not the best food in AK as described. The accompaniments were basically some seasoned mush and the main dish was just ok. I did have the biggest piece of crab I'd ever seen, but I would expect that at any Alaskan restaurant. The wait staff was not accommodating at all and didn't even ask what we were celebrating (even though it was noted on the online reservation). The worst part was the day we left; we spent a large sum of money through the hotel arranging a snowmobile excursion for my husband and a day at the spa for me the morning of check out. We were assured the day before that if we called down for a late check out the next day, we would be fine. That was not the case. The front desk person I spoke with acted like she was doing me a favor by "looking the other way" at 12:30pm (only an hour and a half later than the regular check out) when I asked for a 1pm. I was even willing to pay the extra $60 for a 6pm check out but was told they needed the room. It was Sunday night and I find that hard to believe, as there was a mass check out on Sunday morning. This put me in a bad spot since the excursion I arranged for my husband ran until 2pm and my spa treatment ran until almost noon. We also had to pack up. I gave up after explaining all this to the hotel and they still wouldn't help me. I was also informed by my husband that the tour company that the hotel booked for his excursion and that picked him up that morning was not prepared to drive him back from the start site of the tour! We were never informed by the concierge that I booked the tour through online at the hotel that this was the case. I think it was just poor planning on the concierge part. To sum things up, this place does not live up to its reputation and I would not waste my money here again. We couldn't wait to get back to the Anchorage Grand Hotel for the rest of our stay where they treated us like family and the room was more like an apartment or condo in downtown Anchorage. We also paid a fraction of the cost to stay here and will be returning next year. Finally, as we were walking to the car to load up and make tracks out of there, we found ourselves in a parking lot full of teenagers who were basically tailgating after a day of skiing. This was complete with loud stereos blaring acid rock, drinking and eating in cars and trucks and people UNDRESSING in the parking lot (some down to boxers) out of wet ski apparel. Nice. Isn't that what the day lodge is for? I got the impression this was just another typical day at the Hotel Alyeska. We won't be back.