Stayed at the El Tovar prior to our renting a houseboat for 5 days. Hotel needs a re-fresh. It is very dated. The check -in was "OK". I had booked a room for myself (king bed) and one for the couple with us (two queen beds). Both were switched and it just did not work out to switch. Overall, it was fine but nothing special.

We had a wonderful stay at the El Tovar. We celebrated our anniversary along with another couple. We ate at the restaurant at the El Tovar dining room and they were very accommodating with all the food allergies that some of us had. There was no elevator but we knew that when we booked our reservations. The best part was the location of our hotel room. We were situated within walking distance of the view of the Grand Canyon on the South Rim. We were near the Hopi House which is a wonderful little gift shop. The shuttle was really close to us so that we can go to the different locations on the free shuttle bus. Bright Angel lodging was also located within walking distance from the hotel. We booked two two tours and met at the Bright Angel Lodging. The hotel is older and the air conditioner was noisy. We just unplugged it and opened the window. A couple of times we noticed that our room was not vacuumed. The toilet wasn’t replaced, we had to request one. The coffee cups were not replaced and we had to get more coffee from the cleaning staff. Overall, we had a wonderful stay at El Tovar. The staff at the hotel was very nice. The El Tovar dinning room staff was outstanding. I am writing the names of the servers that really stood out. Martin and Sabine. Thank you making our anniversary a very memorable one.

A grand old historic hotel right on the South Rim. Unbeatable position. Excellent service. Restaurant a little expensive and formal for our taste but cannot be faulted. This is not cheap accommodation. We had a good sized standard room with a smallish double bed which we felt should have been Queen at least in this price range. And the antiquated air con unit was unbelievably noisy!

Do not eat in the dining room. Poor quality, poor cooking, and ridiculously expensive. Unless you enjoy being ripped off, eat somewhere else!

The location is wonderful, on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The historic building, the El Tovar is also quite nice. The room charge was over $450.00, per night, and our room was very small, with a queen bed. The air conditioner was so loud, it was impossible to get a good nights sleep. Fortunately you could open the windows to let the cool night air in. However, at five in the morning service trucks started arriving and were so noisy we were awoken and could not go back to sleep. It was not a great way to start our exploration of the Grand Canyon. We complained to management and were moved to a better room the second night. But we elected to eat at the restaurant at El Tovar, which is advertised as a fine dining establishment. What a rip off. Not only is the food ridiculously expensive, (my wife ordered the duck which was $68.00, I had lamb chops at $43.00) but the food was awful. The lamb was tough and tasteless, and her duck was so dry it was inedible. It was one of the worst culinary experiences we have ever encountered.