I have no idea what happened to this place, but believe me when I say its truly one of El Pasos most embarrassing hotels, it took over 8 tries to find a room with a working tv, working a/c, drawers that were not broken, beds that were not broken want me to go on???????? The whole area smelled, the "pool" had about 1 ft of black water in it, there are no ice machines, so your at the mercy of the clerk who is usually being yelled at by people naive enough to book the place for a wedding and nothing works and the bride is made to deal with horrible facilities for her most important day. There are places under a bridge that I think would be more up to date that this place, how sad to see this once beautiful place falling into the ground!

I would not recommend this hotel. Our nightmare started right at check in. Check in is at 3:00pm, we arrived at 3:50pm we were told our rooms were not ready and that we had to wait 45 minutes. We waited over 2 1/2 hours before we got the keys to both rooms. We booked 20 rooms at the hotel for a wedding. Some of the guest arrived two nights before the wedding and were given dirty room. The beds were unmade and the towels were dirty. Other guests complained that the beds did not have sheets, no hot water, the rooms smelled bad, electrical outlets did not work and no towels were provided. The rooms were not cleaned during our entire stay even after requesting several times that they be cleaned. The manager, Allen, offered to give us an additional discount of $10.00 per night but at check out time we were charged the regular price and he refused to talk to us or come out of his room. Some guests had to insist for discount and finally got it. He made his clerk do all the dirty work for him. The wedding reception also had problems: The chocolate fountain wasn't a fountain. It was a crock pot with hersheys chocolate syrup, our kegs of Bud light were actually MGD light, the dirty dishes were not picked up from our tables, we had to do that our selves and there is a strong possibility that "Allen's" friends helped themselves to our buffet. This hotel is old but it is management with their lack of courtesy and concern of sanitary conditions that make this hotel a nightmare.

The Cliff Inn used to be an elegant and popular place to stay in El Paso and a great place to have wedding receptions and meetings. No more. I hadn't been there for many years until a recent visit to El Paso, and was sorry to see the state that it is in. The staff was very friendly and helpful, but the room was shabby, with stained carpets, curtains that drooped from the rods and didn't close completely, and lots of old, minor damage to furniture and bath room fixtures. The "continental breakfast" was extremely spartan, with only coffee, OJ, a couple of dry cereals and some breads to choose from, served in a dark corner of the bar area. On the positive side, the price was good (we got in for $49 a night), there is free in-room wireless internet, and it is very quiet. Parking is easy to find now, too, since not many folks stay there anymore. The Cliff Inn used to be my favorite place in town but I'm unlikely to go back.

The blurb says "European with antique furnishings." I did not see any antique furnishing, unless you count 1970s decor, which I do not mean in the hip or kitschy sense. As far as European, not so much. This place is shabby, but spotless... the lobby that everyone raves about has 20 year old sofas and acoustic tile on the celings. The view is pretty great but is best viewed from the bar, which was completely closed the entire time I was there.

Pluses:
proximity to the medical complex-- it's literally across the street.

it's clean.

it's got character, what with the wall size paintings of the Virgin of Guadalupe and bookcases of books.

the shower is hot and lasts a good twelve minutes before it turns cold.


Minses:

The desk people were unable to provide the passcodes necessary to get wireless in my hotel room --I had to haul my laptop to the lobby to access the unprotected signal.

Also, they tried to overcharge me. you get a good discount if you're there for hospital-related resaons and I had to remind the desk person who booked me and the desk person who checked me out not to charge em the regular rate.

the walls are tissue paper thin. It took me a night to realize I could turn on the fan in the in-room heating/cooling system to block the noise.

there's a dismal little continental breakfast where you have to ask them to refresh the coffee pot.

The rooms are honestly like nice youth hostel rooms. totally basic. i would not call them "comfortable" but they did the trick. and i am maybe a little spoiled.

as far as i'm concerned there's one reason to stay at the Cliff Inn/ Hostel -- to be close to your sick relatives or whoever at the Sierra Medical Center. I'd stay someplace else in El Paso for pleasure.