Bishops Lodge: Santa Fe
 

I am reading some poor reviews of Bishops Lodge on Trip Advisor. We are planning a short, first time visit to Santa Fe next month--we know it is the offseason. I booked a fireplaced room--an upgrade from the standard room, through a Travelzoo special. We are only paying $99/nt+$14 resort fee.

Someone on the board was staying there the first week in December and I was hoping he would see this. Would love to read his review.

I am thinking that in the winter, we would be better off staying close to town but we will have a car.

My wife and I were in Santa Fe a few months ago Linda, and for a first-time visit especially, I would recommend staying in town, within walking distance of the plaza if feasible. It's an easy town to walk, and since most attractions are in the downtown core area, you won't need a car (except maybe to see outlying sights - Taos, Bandolier, etc.).

Linda,

I agree with beachbum about being close to the plaza in town.

We stayed at Bishops Lodge about 3 years ago over New Year's. It is a beautiful place and we did enjoy it. It has a wonderful lobby and bar area with a fireplace. We stayed in a standard room (no fireplace) but nothing to write home about.

It gets a little tricky in the winter as the road to the lodge is very dark. We ended up going into town (or venturing out further) everyday.

It may be worth your while to stay in town and just visit the lodge for a drink at the bar.

Good luck!

It may have been me who had earlier said I'd be staying at the Bishop's Lodge the first week of Dec.
Well, we did. This was our second stay at the Bishop's Lodge, out of about a half dozen trips to Santa Fe.
The room we stayed in this time (as opposed to the room the first time) was large and bright. The bathroom was small, however. It was in a newer area above the main lodge, so it required hopping in the car if you wanted to go to the restaurant or spa.
I thought the spa was woefully lacking. I thought the restaurant was so-so.
But as others have said (and this is particularly true given the time of year you will be visiting) it is outside of town, on a narrow twisty road, which has, on our other visits, been snowed/iced over.
Although you have gotten a very good price for the room (I bet it's in the lodge - those are th older, darker rooms), I'd still think it'd be best to stay in town. I like seclusion, which is the real draw of the Bishop'd Lodge, but after about the fourth or fifth time of having to pile into the car, drive into town, find a place to park ----- well, it gets kinda old.
Have fun In Santa Fe. My wife and I LOVE it there.

I've read many poor reviews of Bishop's Lodge on tripadvisor too. We were thinking of a long weekend feb. trip to santa fe and was looking at BL due to it showing up so much on priceline.

I don't know if that rate through travelzoo is that great. based on my research, it was questionable if we would have pricelined due to the fact that many nice, 3.5-4* hotels by the Plaza could be obtained for less than a hundred bucks in the offseason.

Why don't you look at the following and see if you still want to do Bishop's Lodge:

1) Inn on the Alameda (rated #1 in SF on tripadvisor)
2) Inn of the Governors
3) Hotel Santa Fe

All are very close to the Plaza (I know that Alameda is 4 blocks away) and would be cheaper than BL. Also, I communicated via e-mail several times with the Inn of the Alameda regarding a question I had about in-room massages (they do them but also have a massage room on-site). The person I e-mailed back and forth with was very nice and prompt.

LindainOhio,
I am on the band wagon for vetoing the Bishop's Lodge. We are long-time goers of Santa Fe (14 years only) and have stayed at B L many, many times. It used to be a favorite for its beautiful setting and fabulous patio with fireplace and horses. It was purchased by a large corp and is now catering to business retreats. Therefore, the pampering, update of rooms, basic hospitality to the individual traveler has gone out the door -- literally. We would not recommend this "resort" to any of our friends or fellow travelers. I would stay in town. You can always come out to have a drink or take a horseback ride but I would not stay there if they gave me free nights. (BTW, they did after many problems, but we still wouldn't sacrifice our vacation to a "free stay". What does that tell you.)

Skip the Bishops. And the $14 fee. I personally believe that is a complete rip-off.

There are beautiful places to stay in town if you want walking distance. I don't know what your budget is but there are many much better than Bishops. Very sad to say that after what they "used" to be.

Oh, and the roads were never that bad but the scenery and peacefulness of being out of the plaza area was worth the creeping along the rarely snowy roads.

Enjoy the green chilis!!

Thanks to everyone for the advice. We would like to stay under $220/nt. which doesn't seem to be a problem. Have looked at the Inn on the Alameda $120/nt and Inn of the Governors $100/nt. These rates are for thir standard queens. Any other suggestions for places to stay?

You might want to look at Inn at the Loretto too. It seems more luxurious than the other two. i don't know if you are interested in spas- Loretto seems to have a very nice one.

That said, it will probably be about $70 more per night than Inn of the Governors and Inn of the Alameda. I would probably opt to save money if a spa wasn't important, and use the money for restaurants (fyi, look in the NYT dining section right now for a good article about SF restaurants).

Just FYI, I recently inquired about rates and was told the resort fee was $14.50 PER PERSON!

Since our family of 4 would be staying in a room, they want to tack on an additional $14.50 PER PERSON, or $58.00 per night for the resort fee. I literally confirmed 3 times that this was indeed a per person fee.

I asked what this fee included, and was told parking, newspaper, use of gym and shuttle to town. (if we need parking, we don't need the shuttle).

I think this is outrageous, so I just wanted everyone to know this resort fee is per person.

you might try la posada. I went theree last month and almost stayed there--I think they offer an off-season rate of $175 or so. It's a nice place, in town, nice spa (or so I hear).

La Fonda is also a great place and right in the thick of the plaza scene.

I stayed recently at Hotel Plaza Real for business and I thought it was nice. Located next to Inn of the Anasazi and just yards away from the plaza. They served continental breakfast with juice and coffee. Plus, if you have a car they have a garage (yes, there is a fee but its only charged if you actually have car, unlike Bishop's Lodge.) If there are things you are wanting to do at Bishop's such as hiking or horseback riding, you can still do that without being a guest of the lodge.

For the location and nice room I thought the $169/night was very reasonable.