We take no pleasure in criticizing a small-town hotel where some staff members are evidently trying to do good work but — as a Hotel Expert for TripAdvisor — it is our responsibility to report accurately on our experiences, for the benefit and well-being of future travelers. The management at this property (these properties) is clueless. The first thing to know is that at the time of our visit, the Maverick was an UNSTAFFED hotel. You read that correctly; there is nobody there. So, much like Dave Bowman encountering the planet Jupiter in the classic film "2001" you will arrive at the Maverick alone and unassisted (after an inconvenient detour to check in at an entirely separate hotel building), without even a murderous computer for company. We were NOT notified of the unstaffed nature of the hotel when making our reservation. On the day of arrival we received a text telling us — very surprisingly — not to go to our destination, the Maverick, but instead to report to the Holland Hotel in downtown Alpine, in order to check in. We were somewhat confused by this. We were also given an online form to fill out (which required sharing a government ID via an unknown network which we prefer not to do), but the form failed twice so we gave up. We are tech experts and were on good WiFi, so it was likely not a problem at our end. Upon arriving in Alpine around 6 pm, we had to (with some difficulty) find parking on the town's busiest block and then walk into the cavernous Holland Hotel. Check-in went smoothly and the desk clerk was friendly and courteous. We then returned to our car, and drove some blocks to our ACTUAL destination, the Maverick. Upon arrival, our first sight was a flower pot of used cigarette ends beside the door to our room [pictured]. As our best friend had very recently died of lung cancer, this was not an ideal greeting. The pot of butts remained there for the duration of our stay and was not emptied by the nonexistent staff. Our room was very small and furnished in a Southwestern or Wild West style. The rough wooden chair and desk were, we imagine, intended to be "rustic" but were so brutally uncomfortable that they would be deemed inhumane in a penitentiary. To be fair, the room was extremely clean and housekeeping had made a real effort to make it welcoming. The tiled shower stall was also quite charming, if rather worn. The biggest problem was as follows: We had made a point of requesting — in writing and at the time of reservation — a quiet room away from the main road (for medical reasons). Instead of granting this request, the staff put us in the noisiest imaginable spot — in one of the very few rooms at the property that are DIRECTLY on busy Route 90. And when we say busy, we mean it! We went to the trouble of taking some measurements, and our bed was situated approximately twenty feet from Route 90. We don't mean the building or the wall of the bedroom were twenty feet from the main road, we mean the bed itself was twenty feet from the main road. With traffic thundering by, we immediately called the front desk (in the other hotel as, again, there is no front desk at the Maverick), explained the situation, reminded the clerk of our specific reservation request, and asked politely if we could please be moved to another room. We were given a "no" to that request. We then asked if we could possibly be moved to the main hotel and were given another "no." We then said: "Given the circumstances, could we please have a refund, no hard feelings, and we will find another hotel?" We were told there was NO MANAGERIAL PERSON AVAILABLE at either hotel to authorize such a request, but we would be given a decision THE NEXT DAY if a refund were possible! Does this sound as absurd to you as it did to us? What kind of offer is it to be told you will maybe receive a refund the day after you have been placed into an unacceptable situation? We were further informed that town was "very busy due to local special events" and that the Maverick had been "booked solid for weeks." That was a lie, as we had seen multiple rooms available for booking on their website just a few days earlier. So, management … if town was so very busy and there were multiple events going on, how can you possibly justify not having a single decision-maker available at 6 pm for either of TWO allegedly sold-out properties in the same town? We feel we made multiple reasonable and friendly attempts to find a solution but the hotel was not willing to bend or compromise any way. The hotel appeared to us to be heartless and uncaring and it was one of the most useless management failures we can recall in many years. We reluctantly spent one night at the Maverick, listening to traffic pound past our room, but departed the next day even though a second night had been paid for in advance. Management made no offer of a refund, compensation, or reconciliation but still had the audacity to send a survey the next day asking how our stay was! You have to laugh. It was our worst travel experience of the year and it's a shame, because the rooms are cute — if small — and the predominantly older guests staying there appeared quiet and respectful. Here we see an example of how professional or experienced management with an understanding of how to actually treat guests could probably easily turn these two seemingly-connected hotels into a desirable destination. At the moment, however, it is very far from that.
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