We originally booked the Maswik lodge, but were upgraded to this Lodge due to construction. It was a tight fit for our family of 5 with just 2 beds. We had brought along an air mattress to also use. The staff was nice enough to provide bedding and pillows for us. We had a partial rim view. Not much to see. It was very nice to walk outside our hotel and be steps away from the rim.

Sure, you are paying to be right on the rim. But it’s not worth it. I’d rather spend $150 less and stay in Tusayan. The rooms are fine, but the beds were not good. Neither the wife or I slept well. The parking situation is ridiculous. There’s no guarantee you’ll get a parking spot anywhere close to the room. You have to fight with all the visitors to the canyon for parking. The housekeeper was waking us up at 8:00 am. Plus, there’s no where to get a good meal so you have to drive to Tusayan anyway. Don’t bother.

The Thunderbird lodge is very dated. Read between the lines...There is only a heater. No. A/C in the rooms. When you are Texas, you need at least a fan to move the air in your room. Then there is the restaurant situation. Only one at El Tovar open that needs reservations...booked solid. Had to drive back to civilization to eat. Scenery is great but don’t stay here...not to mention our room smelled like a dirty vacuum cleaner.

During covid there are things you have to do in travel that are the new norm. I will leave out the horrible parking situation in this review because of it and the long check in at El Tovar which handled multiple hotel check ins Pros LOCATION GREAT WIFI CANYON VIEW 2ND FLOOR ROOM ROOM SIZE CLEAN Cons SHOWER WATER PRESSURE ROOM LIGHTING AND LACK OF PLUGS SIGNAGE FOR ROOM NUMBERS HARD BEDS (keep in mind I slept in the canyon on a pad two nights before here) That being said with covid it stood up

We stayed at the Thunderbird Lodge for three nights during our recent visit to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Since we wanted to view the canyon at various times during the day, staying just at the South Rim with a 20 yard walk to view the canyon was a good option. We managed to book this room about a month before arrival when Xanterra was running a 30% discount promotion for 3 night or more stays (we are assuming this was a way to fill the rooms that became available because of the coronavirus outbreak). The lodge is located just next (west) to the Bright Angel Lodge, where there was a 24 hour reception area to check in/out for Thunderbird. To the east was the Kachina Lodge, which looked identical to Thunderbird from the outside, and next to Kachina was the El Tovar. Driving to the Grand Canyon Village took a little more time/distance than we though when we followed the official posted (brown) signs in the park. Our GPS took us on a much quicker route. Parking was fairly easy to find, though we ended up parking in the big surface lot in front of Bright Angel most of the time. I would think parking during peak times in a non-coronavirus year might be a big challenge. Check in at Bright Angel was efficient, though the person checking in was rather passive aggressive. Our room, on the first floor, was clean and comfortable. We had the view of the street, facing south. It is my understanding that rooms on the second floor facing north toward the canyon is more expensive, but we barely spent any time in the room during the day, so I am not sure if it makes any sense to pay more. There is no elevator, so we thought a first floor room is much easier for us to move in/out with our luggages. The room was simply but reasonable equipped. The beds were OK. There was not daily housekeeping because of the pandemic. We had to request for more towels, which was not much of an inconvenience to us. The closest grocery/drugstore is in the Market Plaza, which is about 1.5 miles walk, or slightly longer drive. Dining options included the food court-style options at Maswik Lodge, sit-down options at El Tovar (a bit pricey and wait for a table there for dinner was a bit long), or driving to Tusayan (about 7 miles drive if you use your GPS, about 20 miles if you follow the brown signs). We thought that Thunderbird Lodge was a reasonable option, especially with the pandemic discount.