The Inn has a location and a name but it is very short on rustic elegance and dining. Driving up to the hotel to check in you see a place packed with people going in and out of the lobby; in to or out of tours; old guests or young with families. The inside of the lobby is very impressive. The balcony and rafters up to the ceiling are raw wood, hewn from the forest. It presents rustic majesty and warmth. The check-in is like any hotel. Our $520 two-queen suite in the east wing was less impressive. It was a long walk from the lobby. It did have a private bathroom. The room might have been impressive in the 1960s with its faded wallpaper and unprepossessing furnishings but not today at this price. The single elevator in the wing was difficult to find and navigating the stairs to the second floor with luggage was very arduous. I believe there was bell service to help with luggage, but it was not obvious. We met a couple in the bar the first night who were in a wing with only a shared bathroom at the end of the hall; in my opinion, less commodious. My biggest surprise with the room was not discovered until after dinner when we went to retire. The staff that made up the room short-sheeted my bed. I had to remake the bed myself. I complained about it in the morning, they apologized. But, to my astonishment, when we returned from our tour of the park that day and came back to the room, the hotel had not made up the room or fixed the bed. At the desk later, they said that they do not routinely make up the rooms but considering my complaint about the condition of the bed upon arrival, you would think they would make up the room correctly, I thought, that they would rectify their mistake and make up the room. To finish off, the room had the view of a gravel lot between the East and West wings of the hotel, less attractive than the parking lot. Both nights, we met lovely people in the bar. We chatted and had dinner with one couple the first night. The dining experience was subpar. The restaurant offered a buffet, they were seating people every half-hour or maybe every fifteen minutes. You went to your table ordered your drinks and then got to stand in line for the one small buffet with 50 other people and some of those people were moving slowly. The defining characteristic of the salad was that it was green, the green and yellow beans were too salty to eat, the salmon was poached or steamed and underflavored, and the “prime rib” was tough, dry and tasteless. Breakfast was of similar quality. The management company of the Old Faithful Inn should stop milking the property and give their guests the quality that they are paying for.

After reading the reviews for several months we decided to go with our gut and give it a try. We are so glad we did. Unlike the reviews we've read we had no issue with our stay. We reserved 2 rooms (2 queen/no bathroom) for a night. My husband and I were excited by the lack of internet and enjoyed our evening with our kids playing games and listening to music in the beautiful lobby. We enjoyed watching the bison in the parking lot. We were able to walk around Old Faithful and watch the eruptions with no crowds. We were actually alone twice. My husband was thankful we were able to witness this without fighting for a parking spot. The whole area is peaceful in the evenings after the crowds depart. We found the shared bath clean and I'm picky. We are returning this summer and are spending a couple nights with extended family. Off subject but we did move to Mammoth cabins following our Old Faithful stay and checked out early. The cabin was in dire need of remodel. We had a hole in the floor that was covered with a dirty carpet. Sheets were stained yellow and did not fit the beds. Employee housing is located behind the cabins and they partied all night. Nothing like watching a bunch of drunk employees staggering around to ruin a family vacation.

We wanted to experience this magnificent old place, with its log structure, soaring spaces, and semi-rustic accommodations. We got all that, and thoroughly enjoyed it. But the food: AWFUL! There is no excuse for a $500/night hotel to serve poorly prepared food at a buffet, and to serve exactly the same menu several nights in a row. Happily, after an equally terrible meal on Night 2, we went to the dining room at the nearby Snow Lodge for the next two nights. There, we had good food that was actually brought to our table.

The Old Faithful Inn was a great base for our visit to Yellowstone, I would recommend and stay there again. However, I visited the Lake Hotel and did think the food was noticeably better there. - Location – Perfect location for visiting sites, it was nice to get out to see the geysers and walk on the boardwalks before the crowds descended on the hotel. Mid-day the hotel was EXTREMELY busy, but quieted down in the evenings. - Hotel – The lobby is beautiful. They do have live music until 10pm at night (which is nice unless your room is right next to the lobby like ours was) and a good bar to get a drink and sit in the lobby or out on the deck. Several people brought their own alcohol. - Rooms – We stayed in the Old part of the hotel. Bed was good, not great. There were only 3 outlets in the room, it was dark, and no bedside lamp. There is no air con so we asked for an extra fan. There are some hooks for clothes, one robe, and one luggage rack. The bathroom was lovely, but did not have a shower which was difficult. There were plenty of towels, lotion, shampoo, conditioner, and hand soap available. Cleaning is not done daily and if you need more than the half roll of toilet paper you need to track someone down. There is no water bottle filler, and they recommend filling in the rooms. - Food – This was disappointing. There was a coffee shop but it is open from 9am – 9pm, which seems like odd hours (no coffee available early at all). The main restaurant required reservations, and if you didn’t make one, there wasn’t an alternative at the hotel. The food was all buffet and not particularly good. Service was mixed – some people seemed like really experienced servers and were lovely, but others tried to shoo you out before you even had dinner. If you don’t have reservations one night, the other hotels in the area have 2 hour waits, except a few takeout places that close early. - Shops – Nice souvenir shop in the hotel and several in the area. Gas is available. - Tour – We signed up for a full day tour (Yellowstone in a day) which was excellent! I would highly recommend. We also did the tour of the hotel which was fun. We signed up for the yellow bus tour, that was ok, if you want to ride in the bus do it, but don’t expect a high quality tour.

Our room was basic but clean. I wish we had a fridge in the room since the restaurant were limited and were booked. We had a great meal at the snow lodge, but had to get there at 5 pm and wait 30 minutes, otherwise you couldn’t get in. Please get more food options! We stayed during shoulder season and they couldn’t accommodate the number of travelers there. I would stay again because you are right in the geyser basin with everything at your doorstep and there are no other options.