I just returned from a vacation trip to Fairbanks, Alaska. While this trip was a vacation, I do travel quite a bit for work, so my experiences with hotels are vast and varied. This is the first time I have ever felt compelled to write about a hotel experience. Sophie Station Hotel in Fairbanks, is without a doubt, one of the most memorable hotels I've ever stayed in. It's a beautiful hotel, my room (as are all the rooms) was a one bedroom suite - what a wonderful (and affordable!) room! But it's not just the hotel or the room that stands out -- it was my overall experience. It has been YEARS since I've stayed in a hotel where the staff actually looked like they were having fun with their jobs! In most of my business-related travels I've noticed that there seems to be a high turnover of employees. Rarely do I see the same faces more than once. Not the case at Sophie Station Hotel! I was so impressed with the staff at this hotel that I had to do a little research. Most of the employees have been there for years! The General Manager has been there for 17years, one of the drivers has been there for 18 years, they have 3 front desk clerks that have been there for more than 5 years. You get my point. If you have need to go to Fairbanks (August is beautiful!) you must stay at Sophie Station Hotel.

After waiting 50 years to return to alaska, my husband who has been battling cancer for the past 5 years, was thrilled to be going back, a special birthday present. The alaska tour and travel assured us, that since we would only be there from june 28-July 1, the hotel had agreed to arrange a shuttle for the two trips we had planned before going on to anchorage. We were left at the airport on arrival, not being told van driver couldn't leave van. They knew my husband was wheelchair bound. we couldn't leave our luggage. our room wasn't cleaned. The balcony was crumbling away, was unsafe to stand on. We were told there was no shuttle service avaiable and that we would have to call a cab. the first trip cost us $40.00 for both ways. very short distance. The second day the cab dropped us off for $ 20.00 but let us stranded when we returned, neither our hotel or the cab we called came to pick us up. A very sweet young lady named Mickey who works for Rivers Edge where we were stranded by the returning bus, for well over an hour, she took us back to Shopies, helped me unload my husband and wheelcheel, gave us both a hug and would not let us pay her, Bless her she saved us a lot of pain and suffering. I thank God there are people like her up there.
Our Hotel room was filled with smoke, with very little air conditioning, a large window fan to help blow smoke out. The staff, with the exception of two people, despite being tipped well, were rude, uncooperative. The lady van driver, and one gentleman van driver were nice people. I give them an A. The Eldorado Gold Mine Tour, don't miss it. it's great, fantastic couple, and workers. The Riverboat Discovery Cruise, those guys are the best, these two groups went all out to make sure my husband didn't miss anything. God Bless them for making my husband a very happy person on that part of the trip. Just find another hotel, one who cares about their guests.

There was a time when I would've recommended Sophie's Station to anyone who wanted a nice hotel with convenient kitchenette rooms in a good location in Fairbanks. But since my last stay there, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else. I checked in at 6:30 AM, and the two women at the front desk were quite surly to me. One of them barely bothered to speak to me at all except to say she was charging me extra for checking in at that time of the morning. I was really surprised to be treated this way, especially when the young man I had talked to on the phone was so kind when I made my reservations. These women acted like I had committed an awful sin merely by checking in so early in the morning.

Later, I went into the nearly empty restaurant, and ordered breakfast. There were two waitresses, and only three customers in the place, but I still waited 25 minutes for my meal.When she finally delivered it, the waittress gave me a half-hearted apology, saying the meal I had chosen takes a long time to cook. As she walked away, I looked at my breakfast of ham (burnt) and eggs (dried out) and thought that they could've cooked it in half the time and it would've been more edible.

All in all, this is the worst stay I've ever had at this hotel. The employees all seem to be waiting for the high roller, big tipping tourists, and they could not even be bothered to do anything for a mere local. Kind of makes you wonder what kind of service those tourists are in for, though.

I travel on business to Fairbanks quite often, and Sophie's is the only place I'll stay. For the price you won't find a nicer room, the entire hotel is very clean and pleasent and the restraunt is pretty good as well.