Unfortunately, there are only two hotel options at the beginning of Monument Valley—the Goulding’s Lodge and The View. The View Hotel is on the Navajo Reservation (where you have to pay for entrance) and then there is the Goulding’s “compound”m which is outside of the Reservation. So, Goulding’s has a monopoly since there are no other options (restaurant, gas, grocery market, etc.). Our hotel room was fine. I rate that a 4, with a 5 view! However, our terrible experience was in the restaurant. IF there were other restaurants available in the area to choose from, we would have left and gone somewhere else. Goulding’s accepts buses—lots of buses. I suspect that is their main source of income—tourists coming in on buses to eat, stay, and/or take tours. The result of this is that the tourists like us, who drive in on their own, are treated—in the restaurant— as second class citizens! We were seated when the restaurant already had a bus load of tourists in the restaurant. Food was being brought out to them by several waitresses and waiters. It took us over 15 minutes to have a waitress take our order and another 10 minutes to get our drinks. I ordered a hamburger and fries, which could have been cooked in 7 minutes (I asked for it medium well). My husband ordered an open face turkey sandwich. Nothing complicated, right? Wrong, apparently! My husband’s turkey sandwich was delivered 25 mins after he ordered it (and barely luke warm) and my hamburger was nowhere to be seen. The waitress said she was “pushing the kitchen” to get my burger done. Now, all the bus tourists were getting their meals, so they were obviously this restaurant’s priority. ALL paying customers should be a priority. So, my husband finishes his meal and I STILL done have my meal. Then we see another bus arrive—oh no! I then go to the hostess who seated us and tell her that my husband finished his meal, but mine is still MIA. She asked what our table number was? What? How would I know that! So I point to where we were seated. She said very curtly, “Well, we are serving a bus of people and another one arrived. “ I said, “I am well aware of the buses unloading, but you seated us almost an hour ago and fed my husband, but my meal hasn’t arrived. Why didn’t you tell us that it would be an hour wait due to the buses? Why seat us it you can’t get to our order?” She went into the kitchen and then came to our table. She very rudely said, “Well, your hamburger is taking longer because of the way YOU ordered it”. What! I said “I ordered it medium well; it could be cooked in 7 minutes”. Here she was blaming ME for the hamburger still not being on the table, over 45 minutes since it was ordered. I told her that since buses come through here all the time, I would think your kitchen staff should be able to handle the bus tourists AND the non-bus tourists that are seated. My hamburger then suddenly appeared in front of me. The rudeness and unprofessional behavior of the hostess was unbelievable! If there was another place to eat, we would have left long before this encounter. Our experience in the restaurant was terrible and based on that, I would never go there again nor recommend it. The hostess was rude, unkind, and the waitress, by then, began to give us an attitude too. She was certainly taking her lead from the hostess. I rate the restaurant as it’s staff with a #1. This establishment needs to find a better way to handle feeding the masses that arrive on buses vs those not on buses. Perhaps separate dining areas and separate kitchen staff? This is an issue that management needs to work on. And, we NEVER once received an apology of any kind! Nor any cost taken off the bill! The blame was placed on me because of “how” I ordered my hamburger! I guess if I ordered it rare, I might have gotten it faster?!? I doubt it. Shame on the hostess for making our experience at Goulding’s a bad one. I’m sure the founders of this property would be very disappointed in their treatment of us—paying customers.

We arrived on a bus tour. The room was a basic hotel room with a coffee service. The beds were comfortable and the room was nicely decorated. The room had a sliding glass door with a patio outside with a table and chairs. The view from the patio was awesome, especially the sunrise. The hotel staff was friendly and helpful. The breakfast buffet was upstairs and a some distance away. The buffet has a good selection of food and beverages including fresh fruit. We had a comfortable stay and despite this being a basic hotel I would be quick to recommend it.

The lodge is really a motel but quite a nice one. Roooms seemed to be newly renovated. All amenities were excellent. The views from the rooms will take your breath away. Service was just about ok. Personnel not too amicable, but who cares. The place is impressive. The restaurant quite nice. And accesible prices.

The RV campground is great. We were traveling with a group and everyone had a great time. Nestled among the boulders with beautiful views of Monument valley. A perfect place. We will definitely go back and spend more time.

Stayed one night, reception staff were welcoming and helpful. Room had view of monument Valley and balcony to enjoy spectacular sunrise from our room. Restaurant on site has view of valley and menu lived up to expectations, portions were on the large size for us but our server was helpful and able to advise on menu, so happy with our meal. Would recommend.