Black Hills Hotel Info & Pics

[blackhillsdreams]

Originally Posted by ElkHunter

The Holiday Inn express in Keystone is expensive. If you stayed there and had breakfast in the morning, my Aunt is the lady that runs the breakfast area. She'll be the first one to tell you, "It's expensive here." haha

That's pretty funny! Small world huh?

"expensive" is ok IF you get what you pay for and you don't mind parting with the money. In the case of the HI X in Keystone, you're mostly paying for location. The hotel is nice, but it's not THAT nice. $240 a night is just crazy, I don't care what time of year it is. They may be in for a rude awakening given the state of the economy. With gas going up and causing everything else (except wages) to skyrocket, people won't have money to spend on vacations. Those that do, will do what we did and stay somewhere cheaper to be able to do it at all. I bet their customer base is down by 40% over the past couple years...

[Jammie]

BH, that's disappointing to hear that you bumped into a few people in the hospitality industry that weren't very friendly. Maybe they need a bit of training in etiquette? Some of the people who do the work out in the Hills/Wall Drug, etc are seasonal employees and many of them don't even live out there. Some of them bring their own campers up or are "put up" at the places they work at. But I'm not naive enough to think that ALL of us are friendly here either because that's just not true~just like all over.

And I know exactly what you mean about motel prices. We just ended up going over to Sx. Falls for the Fourth and it was nice. Our original plans were to either go to Rushmore or Okoboji, but it wasn't possible. Because of obligations, we had to stay in the area. But I was really disappointed when I checked out motels at Okoboji, too. They had more reasonable accomodations several miles away, but the only rooms that were left there were expensive. I said there was no way we were going to spend well over $400 for two nights in a regular-type motel. Okoboji is nice, but not THAT nice. It's the same with the Hills area. I often think they need to think twice in this economy the way the prices are during the Motorcycle Rally. I realize they want to make a living, but sometimes it's just ridiculous.

[mkfarnam]

Excellent Pictures BH!

[blackhillsdreams]

Originally Posted by Jammie

BH, that's disappointing to hear that you bumped into a few people in the hospitality industry that weren't very friendly. Maybe they need a bit of training in etiquette? Some of the people who do the work out in the Hills/Wall Drug, etc are seasonal employees and many of them don't even live out there. Some of them bring their own campers up or are "put up" at the places they work at. But I'm not naive enough to think that ALL of us are friendly here either because that's just not true~just like all over.

And I know exactly what you mean about motel prices. We just ended up going over to Sx. Falls for the Fourth and it was nice. Our original plans were to either go to Rushmore or Okoboji, but it wasn't possible. Because of obligations, we had to stay in the area. But I was really disappointed when I checked out motels at Okoboji, too. They had more reasonable accomodations several miles away, but the only rooms that were left there were expensive. I said there was no way we were going to spend well over $400 for two nights in a regular-type motel. Okoboji is nice, but not THAT nice. It's the same with the Hills area. I often think they need to think twice in this economy the way the prices are during the Motorcycle Rally. I realize they want to make a living, but sometimes it's just ridiculous.

Thanks Jammie. It's all good. Life is too short to get offended by people like that. There is a big difference in a server (male or female) that is actually making a living, has experience, understands how to treat people, realizes how their attitude affects their income (tips) and enjoys making people happy, as compared to a seasonal/transitional person that feels like waiting on someone is drudgery...

I agree with you 100% that with the shape of the economy, the hospitality industry will have to adjust prices, services, and attitudes to keep business coming in. It was a great time for all of us anyway!