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Cheaper
Average
Higher
About
4.0
#1 of 6 lodges in Gardiner
Location
4.6
Rooms
3.6
Value
3.9
Cleanliness
4.0
Service
4.0
Sleep Quality
4.1
Our motel is strategically located directly on the banks of the Yellowstone River.... right at the North Entrance of Yellowstone National Park, two blocks from Roosevelt Arch.Our rooms are extremely clean, come with free wifi and stunning views. In January of 2012 we renovated adding plush new beds to every room, new toilets, and new carpeting in the hall ways and office. Most rooms have a private balcony which is perfect for relaxing and enjoying the views.We have Satellite TV, AC, outstanding hospitality and complimentary in-lobby tea, coffee and hot chocolate.We encourage you to stay with us and make your trip to YNP a trip to remember.Sincerely, Absaroka Lodge Ownership.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Centrally Located
River View
Languages Spoken
English, Portuguese
Location
310 Scott St W, Gardiner, MT 59030-7793
Yellowstone's Absaroka Lodge
469 reviews
Getting there
Good for walkers
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travelers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
Gardiner is less than 6 miles to the Mammoth Hot Springs area of Yellowstone, which is the only visitor's center you can drive to in winter. This hotel is not modern, but it has clean, comfortable rooms, and there's free WiFi. The outlets are a little awkward to access (the lamps had AC outlets but some adapters can't plug in properly) so you might want to bring a short extension cord if this matters. We had a room with a balcony with a great view of the Yellowstone River, but as it's winter, we didn't make much use of it. No elevators, but there are rooms on the first floor. Staff are friendly, helpful, and on the one day when it snowed, they even removed the snow from around our car without us asking - much appreciated! There's no laundry facilities, but there is a laundromat less than 1/4 mile walk across the bridge, and there's a grocery store about 0.3 miles away. There's also a few places to eat nearby, but pay attention to their opening hours, especially in winter. While it might be a little more convenient staying in the hotel inside Yellowstone, one bonus of staying in Gardiner - we saw Bighorn sheep, mountain goats, elks, and the occasional bison on the drive from Gardiner to Mammoth Hot Springs. And the only time we saw pronghorns was just outsider Gardiner. Very glad we picked this location, and we'd like to come back again.
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Date of stay: December 2019
Value
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Chris H, Owner at Yellowstone's Absaroka Lodge
Responded Jan 8, 2020
Wow thank you for your 5 STAR review and we're glad you enjoyed your stay. We appreciate your business and feedback. Special note that we have many upgrades planned during the 19/20 off season to make our rooms even better.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Stayed six nights at the Absaroka Lodge in January. The lodge is beautifully situated on the banks of the Yellowstone River adjacent to the bridge. From our balcony in the early morning, we could see elk on the property near the river.
Do not expect four- or five-star comfort from any lodging in Gardiner. We were in the park for the majority of each day and were simply looking for a clean and comfortable room. Mission accomplished.
Due to COVID there was no daily room cleaning service but a short stop at the office provided us with clean towels and a new tissue box. The lobby opens at 8:00 A.M. and they have complimentary coffee, hot chocolate, tea, and hot apple cider for their guest.
We found the staff at the front desk to be friendly and helpful.
The snow coach tours offered by Yellowstone Vacations has pickup and drop off service at the Lodge. Very convenient.
Gardiner is a small town and all lodging will provide easy access to a variety of restaurants and of course the NW entrance of Yellowstone National Park is on the out-skirts of town. (Note if you turn right at the Roosevelt Arch and drive on the road past the high school you have a good chance of seeing pronghorns. We also had a great sighting of a coyote on this road)
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Date of stay: January 2021
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Chris Herriford, Owner at Yellowstone's Absaroka Lodge
Responded Feb 10, 2021
Thank you for your kind & in-depth review and we're glad you enjoyed your stay. We appreciate your business and feedback.
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The Absaroka Lodge is a clean, friendly place, perfect for families or couples. The Manger Shawn treated us like family and was always ready to answer our questions or assist up with our luggage up and down the stairs. We had two rooms as my sisters traveled with us; ours had a small kitchen area, that gave us lots of options for making snacks or breakfast. Both rooms had a balcony right on the Yellowstone River and that added space made our stay just perfect. I would recombed this place to anyone wishing to have a clean, safe convenient room just a short drive to the Park, You can count on Shawn to make sure everything is comfortable and enjoyable. We would love to return someday, it was great!
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Date of stay: June 2021
Value
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:All rooms have a patio or balcony, you can't go wrong
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Chris Herriford, Owner at Yellowstone's Absaroka Lodge
Responded Jun 15, 2021
Wow thank you for your 5 STAR review and we're glad you enjoyed your stay. Shawn is awesome and thanks for pointing that out. We appreciate your business and feedback.
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I’m not usually one to write reviews, but I feel responsible to put this out there for people to see. First, this hotel is cheaper than others in the area (they’re all overpriced because of the location), very close to the North Entrance of the park, and has a great view of the Yellowstone River. In my experience, the good things end there. Our room smelled like a backed up toilet, there were spiders/gnats/mosquitos in the room, the parking was inadequate, and there was an open trash can right next to our room. All other trash cans we encountered in Gardiner were bear proof, so this was troubling to us.
By far the worst thing about this hotel, though, is that we discovered two live BED BUGS in our bathroom on our second night. Of course, we didn’t feel comfortable staying there and called management for a refund. He came down and looked at the bugs and agreed to give us a refund for the night. I appreciated this but thought we deserved a full refund as we would now have to go home and treat ALL of our luggage and clothes to prevent bringing the bed bugs home. We called back and voiced this to management, and we were told that these were ticks and that we would not be refunded. I was shocked and disgusted that he would call these bugs ticks. They’re clearly not. I’ve included pictures here so that you can see for yourself. The pictures are not the best quality, but I can attest that these bugs have ridges on their backs and are indeed bed bugs. My mom was so disturbed by the situation that she briefly considered taking legal action, but it’s not worth the trouble.
Instead, I’m writing this review. I’m not writing it because I want a refund or to be spiteful because we didn’t get one, but because I wish I would have read a review like this before booking at the Absaroka. Management’s refusal to even acknowledge that these are bed bugs leads me to believe that they are not going to take the proper steps to correct the issue. Beware to all looking to book here.
Side note: we received no bites. We also briefly looked at a quarter of the mattress seam (it was zipped up in some kind of mattress cover and hard to inspect more carefully) and found no evidence of the bed bugs there. That said, there were a couple of stains on the sheets that looked like blood spots. We can’t confirm that’s what they were, but the fact that they’re there at all is still troubling to me.
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Date of stay: October 2020
Value
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Chris Herriford, Owner at Yellowstone's Absaroka Lodge
Responded Dec 9, 2020
I want to assure every guest that stays with us at the Absaroka Lodge that we take bed bugs very seriously. Every property in the world deals with bed bugs at some point. They are impossible to prevent because most of the time they are brought on to the property by your guests. We purchased industrial sized heaters several years back to heat the rooms up which is really the only way to effectively kill bed bugs once you realize you have them. As you can see by all the other reviews we are an extremely clean property and rarely have an issue with bed bugs. I talked with our management about this specific issue and it seems to me that we properly handled it. The first night the guest stayed they had no issues and had a pleasant stay. The second night they found bugs in the BATHROOM and we refunded them for that night. Out of precaution we took that room out of service and used the heaters. We didn't find any other bugs in that room. We're sorry for your convenience but would like to assure other guests that our family owned property takes these issues seriously.
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My family spent 4 nights here in July. It was wonderful! We needed to find a place on short notice and did not know anything about the area, as I had always perviously stayed in Jackson Hole, we picked it because it was the only place that had a balcony and we hoped that meant it had a good view. The rooms are clean and maybe a little on the small side but the balcony is oversized and easily makes up for that. The balcony overlooks the Yellowstone River, downtown Gardner, and the mountains. It was a short walk anywhere in town, five minutes to either side. This made going out to eat and shopping very easy, plus evening walks to Roosevelt Arch, getting ice cream at one of the local shops and watching the elk and deer in the evening was enjoyable for the whole family. The price was not much different than several other hotels in town, but the location and balcony made this a must stay location for any of my future visits.
There are cheaper places, but for the small extra cost it is hard to beat the balcony view and central location.
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Date of stay: July 2020
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Room Tip:The first level offered great views from the balcony.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Chris Herriford, Owner at Yellowstone's Absaroka Lodge
Responded Jul 13, 2020
Wow thank you for your 5 STAR review and we're glad you enjoyed your stay. Also thanks for putting time in to writing such a informative review for others. We appreciate your business and feedback.
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We stayed here in October 2020 for a single night around the shoulder season. The person at the front desk was kind enough to allow us to make some dinner outside in the parking lot using our camping stove. Normally, this would have been fine, but with the fire affecting Gardiner earlier this year, we were extra sensitive on whether this would be fine with the hotel management.
The room was decent, with excellent views of the river, there's a lot of Elk which frequent the property and this property is super close to the Gardiner Bridge which leads to the park.
I'd stay this property is great for a couple of days, especially being right in the middle of town. There's also a gas station right across the property, I walked to the convenience store inside to get some milk for breakfast the next day.
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Date of stay: October 2020
Value
Rooms
Service
Room Tip:Ask for rooms on the street level in order to avoid hauling your luggage up or down the stairs
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Chris Herriford, Owner at Yellowstone's Absaroka Lodge
Responded Nov 10, 2020
Wow thank you for your 5 STAR review and we're glad you enjoyed your stay. Happy to hear you were able to enjoy the wildlife that frequent our property. We appreciate your business and feedback.
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Non-Smoking Rooms all smell like smoke! Just checked in and when asked about the room, the front desk said they can use a different type of Febreeze in the room.
The room is average, the beds are average, the view is really nice, and check-in was a breeze.
If you have any dislike of cigarette smoke, please avoid.
Would not recommend for that reason.
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Date of stay: June 2022Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Chris Herriford, Owner at Yellowstone's Absaroka Lodge
Responded Jun 9, 2022
Thank you for your review and we're glad you enjoyed your stay. We have not allowed smoking for what seems like over 20 years so not sure why you smelled smoke. But we are in and out of the rooms every day and I can assure other guests that our rooms do not smell like smoke unless maybe one person broke the rules the night before. We appreciate your business and feedback.
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This motel is situated in a stunning location right on the river with mountain views. The rooms are simple and clean (fridge and microwave). My slightly lower ranking is because the owners didn't clear the walkways and stairs of ice and it was dangerous walking there. They need to attend to this as someone could get hurt in the winter. Otherwise, probably the best location at good rates in Gardiner.
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Date of stay: February 2020
Value
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:end rooms away from the bridge
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Chris Herriford, Owner at Yellowstone's Absaroka Lodge
Responded Mar 19, 2020
Thank you for your kind review and we're glad you enjoyed your stay. Our staff is normally really good about these sort of things so I will check in to this. We appreciate your business and feedback. Special note that we have many upgrades planned during the 19/20 off season to make our rooms even better.
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This little hotel is PERFECT. Working for the airlines, I'm in multiple hotels throughout the week, so I feel like my expectations are high. This isn't a Marriott or Ritz by any means, so dont expect it to be something it obviously isn't. Pros: • Situated in short walking distance to dining, grocery and a stones throw to the park entrance. • CLEAN! I still wiped down heavy touch zones with disinfectant wipes, but the bathroom was clean, beds, it all looked well taken care of. • hotel staff was super nice!! • snuggly comfy beds • The view is hands down the BEST part of the hotel! Sitting on your balcony watching the river and eating dinner after a long day is unbeatable! ♥️♥️
Cons • Coffee maker didn't work :( but the Yellowstone grill is literally next door so.
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Date of stay: October 2020Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Chris Herriford, Owner at Yellowstone's Absaroka Lodge
Responded Oct 15, 2020
Wow thank you for your 5 STAR review and we're glad you enjoyed your stay. This detailed review is great and right on. We appreciate your business and feedback.
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The exterior of the motel, especially on the river side, is lovely, and the location is great. The rooms are basic, utilitarian, and have a “budget” feel to them. My mattress was soft on one side and hard on the other; not a great mattresses. Biggest plus is the balcony with a river/mountain view.
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Date of stay: October 2021Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Chris Herriford, Owner at Yellowstone's Absaroka Lodge
Responded Nov 1, 2021
Thank you for your review we appreciate your business and feedback. Our property is about 30 yrs old but we keep it really clean and have done quite a bit of upgrades the last several years. This off-season we have many more upgrades planned to really spruce up the inside of the rooms.
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Yes in March 2020, unsure with Covid if they are. I recommend e-mailing and asking about that as well as laundry. It isn't listed and we didn't need it so didn't look or ask.
There are more places to choose from in the Gardiner area.
PRICE RANGE
$151 - $157 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
yellowstone`s absaroka hotel gardiner
LOCATION
United StatesMontanaGardiner
NUMBER OF ROOMS
41
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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