Alyeska Resort

I loved this place! Of the 6 hotels I stayed in while visiting Anchorage, Seward, and Denali, the Alyeska Resort was by far the best. The spa and onsite restaurant are great, and the hospitality is top notch. I highly recommend staying here if you’re going to be in the vicinity of Anchorage.

Beautiful.
While I found the décor way, way somber (think a gorgeous hybrid between Alaskan lodge and funeral home), this place is never-​the-​less stunning.
The hallways smelled funny and I don’t know if it was the carpet or what. I couldn’t identify the smell.
The pool is a-​maz-​ing (…and quite busy). It’s a large heated pool with a sixteen person jacuzzi that overlooks the mountains. Stunning, and flawlessly clean. The dry sauna is also very nice and very clean with no funny smells like some dry saunas. Go for the 11pm-​12am adult swim (no kids allowed). It was fun and people were nice.
The workout room was clean and equipment was good. All the staff throughout were helpful though for some reason the maids all looked very unhappy.
The room was large and luxurious with all the amenities that one would expect.

Would love to give a five star for the all the wait staff and wedding coordinator but the employees at the front desk were just awful. They were in no way helpful and would yell and cut you off before you could finish a sentence. I had my wedding at the resort a few weeks ago and all my friends and family had issues with how they were treated by the front desk staff. I recommend to anyone to stay at the resort it is truly beautiful. If you run into problems with the front desk like I did please make a complaint and hopefully attitudes improved.

After my crazy idea (for a Chicagoan) to spend New Year Eve in Alaska (who would know this is the year that it was warmer in Chicago than lower Alaska??? Curses), the choice of where to spend NYE became pretty clear: Alyeska. The thought of a resort in the back mountains with their nice skiing event on NYE with the red torches going down the mountain and a part at Sitzmark (not my type of music but there wasn’t a lot more going on and it was fun). For the luxury, this is very affordable. The only downside is the variable ability to get something decent to eat when it is crowded (I know I went at a tough time, but there were really long waits at some of their disorganized eateries) and the infrequency of the shuttle buses around the campus. We went with the flow and gave up on skiing, going slush-​shoeing instead. The rooms were very nice and it was fun to experience the deepest dark of winter mornings. The drive to and around the area is pretty gorgeous. Be warned that winter conditions can change the range of activities quite a bit (the top of the mountain was closed Jan 1^st, knocking out our dinner plans).

Alyeska Resort is absolutely beautiful. From the cozy château feel of the main building, to the lightning fast tram that takes you up to the almost top of the mountain in 3 minutes, this resort was well thought out and has friendly staff. I did not stay at the hotel, but it had all the trappings of a fancy ski resort, comparable to those in Colorado and Utah.
I was a little disappointed by the three small gift shops towards the back of the lobby as I wanted to take home a memento. The first one was a gear shop with name brand ski gear good for replacing items you forgot to bring, but lacking in items branded with the Alyeska name. The second store was a high-​priced artisan goods type store with local artwork and jewelry. The last store was a t-​shirt and mug quick stop shop with a liquor store on the back half of it. The designs of the t-​shirts available were lacking and I left without purchasing anything.
The resort would be wise to get some of those local artisans to create some better designs for their wares.

Being the only hotel in town, you gotta love it.
Prices are reasonable and most of the staff polite, if not friendly. The property is a bit dated and pretty stinky. That moldy odor from carpets constantly wet from skiers, but seldom shampooed in summer.
I have reviewed the restaurant’s separately, but they basically are horrible.
Be very sure to check your bill before leaving. I have been battling for months to get my charges corrected, even though they admitted to the error before i checked out. I was told, when the manager gets in, she will fix it. I have have called, emailed and called again, but no resolution yet.

Loved this resort and it’s just a short drive from Anchorage. I was visiting here while I was in Alaska for a conference. Arriving at the resort, there was plenty of parking and there was staff readily available to help you with parking. Renting was also a breeze. You first start off by imputing all your information into a computer and then Alyeska staff will call your name. They were extremely helpful and accommodated all my needs for rentals.
The Mountain:
This mountain is definitely not for beginners. They only have a few green trails but a majority of the blues and black diamonds. With that being said, the trails are nice and long and extremely scenic. It only takes two lifts to get to the top and you can enjoy a nice ride down to the bottom. I love how it is split into two lifts so you can spent the whole day on the top half if you wish.
The Food:
By far. the food here is awesome. For a snow resort, you would think that everything with be mediocre and cost $$$$ but… everything was very reasonably priced and came in large portions to give plenty of energy to snow board.
Will be definitely returning next time I am in Alaska.

I sent my wife there for a girls weekend. The place is beautiful — can’t beat the look and views!
Had one great customer service experience while booking and one horrible. The great one was the food and beverage lady was able to have wine and chocolate covered strawberries in the room before they all got there. She was great and very helpful. I told her that I wanted to also get my wife a spa package.
She transferred me to the spa and that is where the worst customer service happened… ever. Very sassy, big attitude lady on the line. All I wanted to do was spend money and she was horrible at any form at customer service. I hope she has a fall back career. She ended up putting me on hold and never coming back for me — I waited 10 minutes. I never bought a spa anything sadly.
Also the beds according to my amazing wife were horrible — Grand Canyon Central — she slept on the floor as she said that was more comfortable. For $ 250 a night I expected a little more.

Beautiful view, worth the extra money the bar charges for drinks. Order the white fizzy it’s their signature drink.

Pretty much the only ski-​in resort in Alaska! Overall, decent hotel. If you go during slow skiing season, expect limited services. Some chair lifts aren’t even open. Some restaurants aren’t opened until when it’s crowded. Night skiing isn’t available either. So plan ahead.

We had an amazing time here. Took the wife on a date night away from the kids. Checked in with Kameron at the front desk who was awesome… professional, knowledgeable and friendly. Then went and had dinner and entirely too many drinks in the Aurora Bar & Grill. Jill was our server and she made sure we were well taken care of. (I’m not a seafood eater but opted to go out of my comfort zone and get the Sicilian style halibut. I could eat this three times a day!) Could not have asked for a better experience.

This hotel is amazing. HOWEVER. You better make sure you don’t leave anything in your room when you leave because it will NOT be returned to you. Not even if you call them right away.
Earlier this year I left a bikini on the towel rack in the bathroom as well as a full size bottle of hair product. I called the very next day. Nope. They didn’t find anything in the room. Very strange.
Then last week I stayed with my friend and we left a hat in the room. Surprise, surprise they «didn’t find it». Even though we have a picture of him wearing the hat in the room.
All in all I’d stay here again but will be checking very thoroughly to make sure nothing is left behind. Very disappointing to leave something at such a nice place and to have it mysteriously not be found even when you know for sure you left it.

Our stay was off to a rough start – rooms weren’t ready and when we were told they were, we were sent to a room still being cleaned.
But – we loved our stay here. The view is absolutely breathtaking. The rooms were decent and clean. The services were great! 10 of us hung out at the bar and they were very accommodating. We also ordered room service and the food was on time and delicious.
We came here during off season (October) and I would definitely want to come back here and ski.

This is an incredible resort location. The Kenai Peninsula is magnificent. I recommend not skiing in spring. The deals were great but the conditions were bad. We were skiing in slush. This was the best hotel I have stayed at in Alaska.

The hotel is very nice and plush considering it’s Alaska. And the food from the hotel is good, but not great. Same with the pool and hot tub.
As for the skiing, I’m an intermediate skier, meaning I can manage green runs perfectly and most blues with little problem. And many of the blues here would be considered black diamonds elsewhere. But there is a refreshing lack of blues where there is ample room to move around and quite a few are narrow alleys that might present some problems if you’re not advanced enough to parallel ski at high speed. Aside from Anchorage’s Hilltop and JBER’s Hillberg, this is the only place I’ve skied, but many other places around the west and other places in the world look so spacious and not so steep in comparison. But still a lot of enjoyment here. And if you’re a beginner skier, you might just want to just stick with Anchorage’s Hilltop or JBER’s Hillberg if you are not ready to take the upper levels, because you will get bored with the chair 3 and 7 runs really quick!

I stayed here one night in June, and wish I could have stayed longer (didn’t get a chance to check out the spa or actually go mountain biking — would have really liked to try both!). The building itself is clean and new, our rooms were in good order when we checked in, and it wasn’t too expensive compared to other (not nearly as nice) hotels in nearby towns.
They have a good number of hiking trails you can check out. I hiked to The North Face, which is strenuous, but not too long. We did the 2.2 miles in just under an hour, and the view is breathtaking. Of course if you don’t want to get all sweaty, you can ride the tram to the top. There is also a network of trails on top of the mountain if you just want to hit the highlights after riding the tram, instead of hiking from the base of the mountain.
Sever Glaciers Restaurant is also up there, which is super nice. Aurora Bar and Grill in the actual hotel can be skipped however.

This is a must-​do/​must-​see event if you are in Anchorage for any length of time. It’s a short drive south (a beautiful drive at that). We just had an afternoon to pop down and grab a drink. The views are so spectacular that you cannot replicate them anywhere in the world. We were able to see seven glaciers from the area and of course on the way up we got to take the historic and iconic aerial tram.
I cannot say that I love heights, but it was well worth the experience and I recommend seeking to overcome your fears and ride up to the very top. At the top you will find amazing vistas, a restaurant that is very nice, a gift shop and then another food place for more casual dining in a cafeteria like atmosphere.
We went up, took interviews for a couple of hours had some drinks and then headed back down to be on our way. We also stopped in a couple of the stores in the hotel at the bottom and this place definitely intrigued us as someplace we might want to come and stay one day. If you happen to be a skier this place must be heaven in the winter.

I would venture to say this is one the nicest hotels in Alaska, if not The nicest. And it is the nicest in the greater Anchorage by leaps and bounds. It’s a stunning resort situated in picturesque Girdwood where you’re surrounded by snow capped mountains, glaciers and immaculate grounds. The main hotel is certainly the most breath-​taking of all the available accommodations at the resort, but Alyeska has other options scattered around town as well.
Alyeska has many offerings, most notably skiing, and restaurant perched atop a mountain accessible only by tram. The also host lots of wonderful events such as the goofy Slush Cup, the family friendly Blueberry Festival, and hippie crafter’s delight, the Forest Fair. The resort is in my opnion, the only place in Anchorage worthy of hosting a formal wedding. Even if you don’t stay at the hotel, be sure to take advantage of all their fun events.

Remarkable views when you take the cable car to the top of the mountain. See all the way to the ocean.
Have a soup and a beer on top of the clouds. It’s a must go to spot.
The resort and hotel is also top notch. The resort is 5 star in Alaska standards. It’s hard to find a decent hotel in Alaska that is not overpriced. This one reminded me more of the 4 star hotels in California with a ski resort feel.
Would love to see this place in the snow.

This used to be called the Alyeska Prince Hotel, but was since sold by the Japanese Prince Hotel chain (the Seibu group) and is now the Alyeska Resort, Alaska. It wasn’t sold for poor financial performance, it was sold along with the Maui Prince Hotel and two others as part of corporate restructuring to achieve financial goals one year prior to forecast. The Maui Prince is now the Makena Resort and is also an awesome place to stay (See separate Review.)
The namesake Mount Alyeska towers behind the resort as part of the Chugach Mountains. Just 40 miles south of Anchorage, the road to Girdwood is considered one of the world’s great drives, winding along the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet, the home of 350 beluga whales and plenty of eagles.
Built in 1994, this resort is straight up awesome and is the absolute best hotel in Alaska. Maybe the best hotel I have ever stayed in, though Hotel Danieli on the waterfront in Venice was ultra-​cool in a historic way (built in 1400 as a palace — Palazzo Dandolo).
The 304 beautifully-​appointed rooms are reasonably spacious, with big windows to see the view of Mount Alyeska at the back. Native Alaskan artwork and natural elements are throughout the resort, such as river rock fireplaces and a polar bear exhibit. Service is wonderful. The staff were always very professional and friendly. In the hotel itself was the casual Tramway Café and the Japanese restaurant Teppenayaki Sakura.
The indoor pool is gorgeous. Usually an indoor pool feels kinda claustrophobic with a low ceiling and a dark room full of chlorine vapor. But this pool room has incredibly high ceilings with large wooden beams and natural light and the heated pool is about half-​olympic size of 25-​yards.
The 60-​passenger aerial scenic tram takes you up the mountain to the exclusive Seven Glaciers restaurant, and mountain paths with breathtaking views. The bartender is maybe the friendliest in America and loves his job. With an average annual snowfall of 650 inches with 2,500 vertical feet of ski trails, Alyeska Resort ski site defines Alaska’s spectacular «steep and deep» reputation.
The shape of the building from the outside and the «remote» cold-​weather location reminds me of the movie: The Shining.
The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center is approximately 10 miles away.
So nice. Five stars, of course.