This is a customer review from the Henley party who went on a holiday to Utah, Colorado and Arizona at the beginning of October 2016.

Hello Alistair.

As we are now safely back in the UK after our holiday to Colorado, Utah and Arizona I thought I would send you an e-mail with some feedback.

Hotels

Denver – Hilton Garden Inn Downtown.

Good city centre hotel, comfortable rooms with a nice restaurant and bar. Very convenient for the city centre shops and attractions.

Glenwood Springs – Best Western Antlers.

Fairly basic but comfortable, fine for one night but maybe a little lacking in facilities for a longer stay. No restaurant on site and the town centre is either a long walk or a drive.

Moab – Best Western Plus Greenwell Inn.

Very convenient, right in the town centre so handy for all restaurants and shops. Comfortable and good for a multi-night stay. Would recommend this hotel for anyone travelling to Moab.

Mesa Verde – Far View Lodge.

The only hotel actually in the National Park so, unless you want a long drive from your accommodation into the Park you have no alternative. It seemed to us that the operators (a company called Aramark who have the concession from the National Parks Service) were not really interested. The rooms are very small and have paper-thin walls meaning you get disturbed a lot. The on-site restaurant has really poor service at both dinner time and breakfast time due to what seemed to us low staffing levels. As any other accommodation is a long distance away I would suggest that, like us, you just put up with it for one night so that you can see the sights and then move on.

Monument Valley – Goulding’s Lodge.

Nice, comfortable accommodation in a sensational setting. All amenities on site and we enjoyed our stay. It is, however, on the Navajo Indian Reservation so you cannot get any alcohol there.

Lake Powell – Lake Powell Resort.

Another resort in a National Park operated by Aramark. The accommodation is fine and comfortable with lovely views over the lake but the service in the restaurant (again apparently due to low staffing levels) is awful. It was so bad that we didn’t bother with breakfast in the restaurant. The resort is about 10 miles outside of Page so you either drive or you put up with the restaurant.

Grand Canyon – Yavapai Lodge East.

Good, comfortable accommodation in a quiet part of the village. The restaurant (which is about 100 yards away) is a bit like a motorway service station and I didn’t hold out much hope but it turned out to be reasonable and there is quite a nice bar attached for a drink afterwards.

Sedona – Amara Resort and Spa.

This is a nice place but is in a dip below the shops and restaurants of Uptown Sedona meaning that if you choose not to eat in the hotel you have a stiff, uphill walk. We didn’t eat in the hotel but the food looked good. The accommodation was clean and comfortable and the area was quiet at night.

Scottsdale – Omni Scottsdale Resort.

Nice and comfortable accommodation with a nice restaurant (a bit overpriced though to my mind). It is a way outside of Scottsdale so if you don’t want to eat in the hotel you need to drive or get a taxi. Convenient for the airport but we were glad we had a satnav in the car for finding the hotel when we arrived.

Car Hire

No problems, we had a good quality SUV. Pick up was very convenient for our hotel in Denver and drop off at Phoenix was equally easy. The inclusions in the hire package meant we didn’t need to worry about anything and was much appreciated.

To summarise, we had a great holiday and we would like to thank you and Complete North America for your advice when we were planning it and for your efforts in sorting it all out. There are a lot more places we want to see in the US and Canada so we will come back to you in the future.

Many thanks

Tony and Jan Henley