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El Rancho Hotel and Motel
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13 reviews for El Rancho Hotel and Motel
Cheesy and not a bit of sleaze!
I stopped over and spent the night at the El Rancho just last month. I had made a reservation in advance, but the night desk clerk couldn't find it. He said it wasn't a problem and gave me a room, then discounted the rate I had been quoted over the phone. He then ran through a list of rooms for me to choose from, king bed first floor, queen bed second floor, two queen beds....etc... I could choose any room I wanted.
I went with a simple queen bed room on the first floor and headed out. The room was smaller than you'll get at a modern hotel, but it was cozy and fun. If you are taller than about 5'10'' I would suggest asking for a room with a bathtub, unless you're into sitting on the floor while you bathe. The shower was tiny, clearly built in the 1930's when people were much smaller (and judging from the shower I'd say most folks were Oompa Loompa sized). Fine for me, but had my husband been along for the ride we would have switched rooms.
Now onto the kitsch! This was a star haven back in the golden days of the silver screen. Every room is named after a star that stayed in that specific room. I was in the Jane Wyman room next door to the presidential suite (Ronald Reagan) and across the hall from Kirk Douglas. The stars still visit this hotel. The desk clerk told me that not too long ago Sir Paul McCartney visited and slept in the Reagan room.
Here's the basic score: lots of parking, easy to find despite google directions to circle the block (you really can't miss it with all the pink neon), friendly night staff (day staff a little stand offish, but not rude), very clean rooms, pretty comfy bed, great prices considering other small town stay over options, and enough nostalgia to make you weep for yesteryear.
I not only would stay here again, I would consider taking up residence should I randomly become a celebrity.
I don't think I've ever seen a more kitschy place. Nonetheless, a pretty solid stay the couple of nights I was here. I stayed in the 'hotel' portion of the place, the room was nice, bed comfy... the bathroom a tad on the old school side. The restaurant - pretty good, basic, cheap fare. The bar - had a good lounge vibe (sorta), reasonable prices on drinks.
All in all, I'm glad I stayed here once but am not sure I will need to stay here again (I don't mean to say that in a bad way... I am more of a basic motel kinda guy anway). Definitely stay here if you are into that whole Route 66 thing. Also if you like photography, there's a lot of stuff in the place you can get some nice pictures of.
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OLD SCHOOL Western/Native Hotel. NICE PLACE, very old and lots of movie stars from 1960's/1970's stayed here.GREAT food, NICE BAR.Historic place in GALLUP.Its no resort. Its safe and should be comfortable and interesting!
Sorry! I wish they had three review choices for this place (the restaurant, hotel and motel). So this review is for the motel.
Can you say "sketchy"?
I can after staying here. The whole night it felt like there were bugs crawling on me. I felt itchy days later. The remote that the desk guy gave as I checked in didn't work. I could only turn the heat on or off and I couldn't crack a window that couldn't be broken in to easily..
But hey $50 isn't a bad price right?
Hmm.. I think Twenty dollars more would have been money well spent..
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Go figure - the most reviewed place in Gallup, New Mexico!
We stopped at the El Rancho for dinner on our way through (road trip!) based on a recommendation from our Lonely Planet book.
While the history of the hotel is interesting (all those dead famous people visiting in the 20s, 30s, 40s and/or 50s), and restaurant was really good (AMAZING FAJITAS) it was the gift shop that ended up being the highlight for us. The woman working was really friendly, helped my friend buy some really cool handmade Zuni turquoise earrings and gave us lots of fun little tid bits on New Mexico history.
If you're going through Gallup you gotta stop here for lunch or dinner... where else you going to go, Applebees????
My friend was really excited by this place after checking it out from the 1000 places you should go before you die book. I wasn't so enthused after viewing the website. But I was game. Let's just hope for some good NM grub, right?
Wrong move. I am fairly certain I could have gotten an equally disturbing meal at the Taco Bell next door for half the price.
For my $10, I got the Ricardo Monteban combo which included:
a taco
a tamale
an enchilada
a quesadilla
chips and salsa (normally $3 on the menu)
tortillas with sour cream
I got everything with green chile.
So, the taco was one of those hard-shell tacos. Usual mix of ground beef, shredded cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. Eh.
The tamale was stuffed with chicken. Eh.
The quesadilla was actually the better thing but on a flat deep fried tortilla the size of a taco. Odd. No meat, decent guacamole and lots of the shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes.
The cheese enchilada was horrible but I don't really like enchiladas anyway.
I just can't get over how the sour cream came in an individual sealed portion and my friend's mayo in a plastic packet. Oh, and her burger was dry as heck. Well, at least her Ronald Regan burger came with a small container of jelly beans.
Service was perfunctory.
The hotel is decorated with old movie stars' photos, Southwest art and Western kitsch.
The ladies' room requires you to leave the dining room, walk past the reception area, up the stairs and a few hundred feet to an antique washroom that I'm pretty sure showed the neighborhood my goodies due to the short stall door. Yay.
ahahah, not recommended.
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What to say about the El Rancho?
Well, it is a kitsch-bomb from hell first and foremost. We drove up at night and were almost blinded by the sizzling pink neon outlining the entire building. Step inside the lobby and you have a huge room decked out in western/cabin-in-the-woods/mexican decor. A huge split staircase leads you up to the second floor. The lobby rocks, it is by far the most fascinating and wacky part of the whole hotel. There is a gift shop off to one side, but it is fairly boring and very expensive.
The hallways are exceptionally creepy. Dim and narrow, I kept expecting to see apparitions of dead movie stars (each room is named for a particular star that stayed there at one time). I opened the door at one point and almost had a heart attack seeing a dim form off in the shadows (turns out it was just another guest going to their room).
We had the Spencer Tracy room. All I can say about that is I truly hope ol'Spence had a higher standard back in the day. The room was spacious enough and came with 2 closets, but the furnishings were shabby, the pillows were just this side of being unusable, and I noticed stains on the carpet as well as on my velour blanket (um...yuk?). The bathroom was barely big enough for one person and had no place to put any toiletries (even the toilet itself was a commercial type with no tank). However, my mother liked it well enough, and she is normally the most awful person to try and please.
The restaurant offered basic, unadventurous fare. I had the Jack Benny burger and fries which I almost half-heartedly expected to have something witty attached to it, but alas, it was just a boring burger. They did outline the room with chili-pepper lights though which was kinda funky.
If you want an authentic Rt. 66 experience, by gosh you gotta go and stay at the El Rancho, for sure!
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I guess it goes without saying but let me explicitly put out my stamp of approval for hotels trimmed in buzzing pink neon. I don't know what that says about me, but you will love the El Rancho Hotel (can't speak for the Motel side). The rooms aren't huge and there are train noises (slight rumbling, horns, etc.) that you'll hear from time to time so if you are a very light sleeper you might have difficulty getting a good night's sleep...but otherwise this place is a must-stay if you are in the area. The number of old (although young at the time) movie stars who have stayed here is staggering and all the rooms are named after a movie star. They also have pictures, some autographed, all over the walls in the lobby. The El Rancho restaurant is in the hotel and the 49er (not the football team) Lounge is adjacent...didn't do the lounge but the restaurant was great.
The price won't require you to first visit a nearby pawn shop either; we paid $74 for a king bed. Classic americana, right on Hwy. 66...what could go wrong? And yet we did! (See my review for Days Inn East in Gallup, NM)
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Gorgeous, funky, kitschy. I loved it!
Rooms were clean, Employees were wonderful.
Stayed in room 322 or so. Noisy due to the train and the pink glowing neon. I still slept well, having spent the previous night fearing my life at the Days Inn East just a few miles down the road.
The hotel has minor wear n' tear b/c the place is old-- it doesn't feel dingy at all though-- very nice. Right on Route 66, neon signs, good food, safe-- highly encourage you to stay here on your road trip.
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This review is for the El Rancho Restaurant. We pulled in here starving. We had visited the historical hotel 10 years before so we kniew what we were in for...dead movie star tidbits and Rt 66 blah, blah, blah but that's ok. The service was REALLY fast but the food bland. I had a green chili that was served up as a bowl of soup. Strange. My husband had sirloin strips on a tortilla. Sirloin was tasty but presentation messy. Bill was fast and expensive and we were not even drinking alcohol. Maybe we should have started happy hour at that point. Gift shop on the way out should be slapped for their outrageous prices on Zuni jewelry.
The lobby is the best part of the hotel but you don't need to stay there to enjoy that. Buy a bottle of beer from the bar and lounge in a comfy chair or on the porch. Our room was blah and the pool was locked and required walking outside the hotel (in a bikini), along a major road and knocking on the gate until someone heard you.
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Way too expensive to capture the historic/kitsch/faded glory vote. Just run down, and unfriendly.
A must-see while driving through, especially if you're into the Rt. 66 stuff. One of the few places left standing that doesn't appear to have changed too much since days gone by. Personally, I've never stayed here but I've stopped in a few times. The restaurant is decent, the gift shop nice and bring your cameras folks, because the lobby is full of kitschy memorabilia and cowboy decor!
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