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Totem Inn – reviews, photos

P.O. Box 417, Healy, AK 99743
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Ranked #7 of 9 Healy B&B and Inns
3.5 of 5 stars 22 Reviews
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22 reviews from our community

    Trip type
Traveller rating
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Date Rating
Anchorage, Alaska
1 review
2 helpful votes 2 helpful votes
“Good home style cooking”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 24 January 2012
2
people found this review helpful

I have been using the Totem Inn for a place to eat for over twenty years and have even stayed at the motel once or twice a year. The changes and grouth of this small family business is amazing. After reading some of these reviews, I thought I'd put in my two bits.
I live in Anchorage and travel the road to Fairbanks at least 4 times a year. The Totem is one of my favorate stops to eat and if its late to stay for the night. It's one of the only places that stay open all year long. Saying that, of course the prices in the cafe will be higher than Anchorage, but not by much. Just surviving in the winter can be a challange with the small amount of road traffic.

The food is great. There are some items on the menu I don't care for, such as the omelet with hollandase and tarragon. I thought this meal was nasty, my wife loves it.

Does this mean that that the food is bad just because I don't like something. How can someone leave a review after only one meal at any place. Seems a little arrogant. Most of the food is made at the cafe, french frires, onion rings, sauces, burger patties and pizza just to name a few and are much better than the commerical type.

Of all the food on the menu, I think the pizza is the best in the state. Just my apinion.

The waitstaff is excellent, I have never been treated badly. I've seen some of the customers treat them poorly but they still are professional. I usually gev them a larger tip when I see this.

The rooms are clean and well appointed. If you get one of the "one bed" rooms, they are on the small side , but are pretty good for one person, If there are two people ask for a double room because you both have to get into bed on the same side due to the fact that the bed is up against the wall. The double room is much larger with all the same stuff in it as the one bed room (microwave, fridge, coffee pot, Tv and large bath).

See their web site, they don't hide anything.

To answer some of these other reviews:

To the man who had to walk through the bar to get to the cafe....The cafe has a front door, it's now labled "Cafe".

How about the review that the cafe is to dark because on one window? What about the twenty lights? You can see a picture on the cafe at their web site.

To the stinky and smelly room guy. Did you get the right motel? The owners are about as honest as they come. You can always tell what the owners are like by talking to the employees. All the employees at like the owners not just some but all, and i've talked to pretty much everyone of them over the years.

My opinion is: Take all these reviews with a grain of salt, including mine. Some are honest and some have their own agenda. You need to check out the place for yourself and decide. If you are unsure, go in, be friendly and ask someone who is eating how the food is. This is a small town cafe thats been open for a long time, that says something. It's not fine dinning, if that is what you want the staff will tell you of some other places that would fit your needs.

Room Tip: Ask for a double room if you have more than one in you group.
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  • Stayed August 2011, travelled on business
    • 3 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 5 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 4 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Newport Beach, California
Top Contributor
57 reviews 57 reviews
Reviews in 50 cities Reviews in 50 cities
69 helpful votes 69 helpful votes
“Suitable hotel while visiting Denali”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 12 September 2011
2
people found this review helpful

This is a small-town motel and doesn't pretend to be anything different. To that end it serves it's purpose. If you don't plan on spending a lot of time in the hotel and you don't want to pay "Denali" prices to stay in the area then this is a fine option. The room was comfortable and clean. The facilities include a work-out room and there is free wi-fi. The front desk staff was accommodating. The staff even gave us honest advice to go down the road to eat as opposed to eating at the motel's restaurant/bar.

Stayed August 2011, travelled with family
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Anchorage, Alaska
1 review
2 helpful votes 2 helpful votes
“Very Unethical”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 11 July 2011
2
people found this review helpful

If I were you I would avoid the Totem Inn at all cost! My experience found them to be very unethical, very rude and very dirty and nasty. The restaurant is terrible and the wait staff is very rude and unprofessional! The prices are way out of line and the rooms and food was terrible.

The rooms are filthy and the bathrooms are even worse!

The owners of the establishment are very rude and anyone who complains they turn around and blame the customer. They also stole from me while I was there and then admitted they had my property then told me they trashed it.

The place is noisy and the rooms are mostly rented by young people there to party. It was very loud and and you could not get any rest.

Once again, I would NOT RECOMMEND the TOTEM INN and you should avoid this place like the PLAGUE!

Room Tip: rooms are terrible and stink.
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  • Stayed June 2011, travelled on business
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 1 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 1 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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3 helpful votes 3 helpful votes
“Decent hotel near Denali National Park.”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed 27 June 2011
2
people found this review helpful

Saved a lot of money by staying in Healy, about 10 minutes north of Denali Park. No AC in the room, and not needed. Well-kept with helpful staff. Good food w/ reasonable prices for the area at the restaurant.

  • Stayed June 2011
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
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Ask TomfromElPaso about Totem Inn
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Sebring
Reviewer
3 reviews 3 reviews
Reviews in 2 cities Reviews in 2 cities
6 helpful votes 6 helpful votes
“Great place”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 23 November 2010
5
people found this review helpful

Well sitting here in Anchorage getting ready to go back to Sebring, I thought I would do a few reviews. We stayed at the Totem Inn twice this fall/winter. Two days in Sept. and one day in Nov.
In Sept. we thought to we would find a lot of deals in the park for the post season. We were wrong. Everything is closed up. We got one of the last rooms out of about 50 at the Totem Inn. When we asked what was going on the front desk guy told us that after the park closes on the 15th of Sept all the businesses try to get there repairs done before the snow and all the construction workers stay here. He said it was a little bit busier than normal but happens every year. Only two hotels, two restaurants, two gas stations and a store stay open all year, but we could drive into the park alittle. So we stayed.
Hotel: The room we got was good sized with two beds. Temperpedic mattresses (wow), large flat screen tv, microwave, refrigerator, and coffee pot with coffee. I asked the front desk if there was any tea and he got me some. There is a fitness room for those who work out. You have to wait your turn for the treadmill, there’s only one. Free laundry (only one washer and dryer for guests but it is free) and free WiFi. Noise, not so bad, there was a lot of traffic up and down the halls but it was muffled pretty good. We had a nice night and decided to stay another. When we came back in Nov. the motel was pretty empty, all the workers were gone. This is probably one of the better hotels we stayed at in the three months we were in Alaska.
Bar: The bar is pretty small and could maybe seat about 40 people. At the time we were there, it had about 12 people. The bartender was friendly and was chatting with everyone. About 6 of the guys were playing ”Wii bowling”, I have to admit this kept us amused for quite awhile. At about Midnight the bartender told the guys that they had enough to drink and should head for home, which they did. We also decided to call it a night and the bartender made last call and said that he was closing up. This was a lot of fun, even the music was good (classic rock). Two thumbs up for this small town bar.
Restaurant: We ate all but one meal here. The restaurant and bar are in the same building about fifty feet from the motel we were in. It’s cold in Nov. but you are going to have to walk outside it you are going to eat. The restaurant part is a nice cozy log room with wildlife pictures all over the walls. I found out that the owner is also the photographer and had a nice chat with him, and even bought one of his photos. I wish I could put a copy of the menu here, it must be six pages. There is pizza, pasta, steaks, seafood, burgers, sandwiches, and breakfasts (which can be ordered all day). The service was good and the food was excellent. The prices on most of the items were better than those in Fairbanks. We were told that almost all the food is prepared on the premises, including the onion rings and fries. I wish we could have tried everything.
The only cloud we had on our stay at the Totem Inn was on our second day in Sept. When I went to the front desk to see if we could stay for another night, there was another guest railing the front desk lady (who must be a saint to put up with it) about how every night she was here, she was kept awake by the bar noise and wanted a discount and if she didn’t see one on here credit card she was going to leave a bad review and get her friends to leave one also. The front desk lady said she would check with the night desk and see what was going on. Well I know for a fact that the bar closed at midnight and there was no bar noise and told the front desk that and that we were not kept awake. Who in their right mind would stay at a hotel for more than one night if the noise was keeping them awake? I mentioned the incident to the owner when I was talking to him at breakfast and he said that it happens during the post season every year. He called them the bargain hunters, if they can’t find a bargain they try to manufacture one. More than 3000 people stay at the Totem every year and 90% is happy and tell him so. So he tries to not get depressed about two or three customers he can’t please. He also told me you can tell who they are because “everything” is bad or terrible. Oh well this turned into a book, hope you enjoyed reading it.

  • Stayed September 2010, travelled as a couple
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 5 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 4 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 3 of 5 stars Service
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Ask SebringElle about Totem Inn
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