I booked at the Christie Lodge based on the TripAdvisor reviews. Vail/Beaver Creek hotels tend to lump into two categories: really expensive and not-as-expensive and Christie was in the latter category. This is not a "lodge" but more of a motel. The property looks like it was once an indoor strip mall, with weird doors to nowhere and just a very cold, unwelcoming feel to it. The whole place also smells like the inside of a Subway restaurant owing to the Subway that is inside. The front desk girl acted like we were ruining her day by checking in and out; no sense of customer service here. This is a loud hotel, probably because it has hard floors and is wide open. We had an icemaker shoved up against the wall outside our room, which means we had the added benefit of listening to it hum, vibrate, and, occasionally, dispense ice all night. Don't stay here if you are at all sensitive to noise or if you expect absolute cleanliness in your hotel.
We were on the first floor in a deluxe king room -- yuck. The bed was incredibly uncomfortable, with really thin blankets and a hard mattress. We peeled back the covers to find three long dark hairs on the pillow and sheets -- ew. There were two rooms -- the front room was the bedroom and had that awful bed then another tiny little bed thing along the wall. Not sure who or what could sleep in this and it was too high to be a bench. The back livingroom was pretty okay -- a fireplace (but you have to buy wood from the front desk), tv, and a little kitchenette. The bathroom is tiny and dingy, with threadbare old towels and we didn't even have a showerhead, just the main nozzle with not so great water pressure.
This is probably a great place for a group of twenty-somethings trying to save money by cramming a bunch of people into one room on a college buddy ski trip. But if you are anyone else and can afford to spend just a little more or to stay a little ways out of town, do it, it is worth it.
- The Christie Lodge
