I arrived by train in Trinidad at 6:30 p.m. and needed one night's lodging before picking up a rental car the next morning. I wanted a motel within walking distance from the train station, and reserved a room at Trail's End Motel (616 East Main Street) in advance. I paid $49.40 inc. tax at Trail's Inn Motel, but walked past Downtown Motel (516 East Main Street) several times and noted its sign offering $32 rooms. Since I had to stay in Trinidad a week later prior to catching the train back to California and Oregon, I made a reservation at Downtown Motel before heading to Colorado Springs for a convention. When I returned to Trinidad six days later my room ($35.00 inc. tax) was waiting. This is a no-frills, older motel, but the room was clean and the TV worked and it was within walking distance (about eight blocks) of the train station. And there is much 19th Century vintage architecture in downtown Trinidad and I felt safe walking the streets after dark.

This is partly a review, and partly a report about what happened when I tried to stay here a second time. My husband and I stayed here last summer because we wanted to check out Trinidad. It's very inexpensive, so don't expect fancy, but it was fine for the price. The room was small but we didn't care because we were out most of the time. The manager was very pleasant.

We are going to be passing through Trinidad on our way to Wyoming in a few days, so we decided to stay here again for one night. I made this reservation sometime in May. Although I did not make a note of the exact date, I know that it was at least five weeks in advance of our arrival.

On June 13 (eight days prior to our arrival), I received a phone call from someone who said she was the owner, telling me that she could not accommodate our reservation because the manager who had taken my reservation had “used the wrong book.” I find this explanation very strange. First of all, I have never heard of a hotel using more than one reservation book. Secondly, this would mean that when I made the reservation, they were already completely booked--five weeks ahead of time, on a weeknight. That is very unlikely. Trinidad is a cute town, but it's not exactly a hot tourist destination.

There was barely an apology, no "perhaps we can accomodate you another night," "perhaps I can give you a discount on a future stay for this inconvenience"--in other words, zero attention paid to customer service. Perhaps our room was given away to a friend of the owner, but whatever the reason for the cancellation, I will not be calling them again.