Super 8 Kalispell/Glacier Intl Arpt Area

1. Kalispell Montana –the only reason to stop here is that it is located 10 miles from the Glacier Park International Airport, our gateway to Glacier National Park.
2. Here in Kalispell Montana August is the height of the tourist season, June-​September, and Super 8 is among the least expensive of the 23 hotels listed in Tripadvisor, and still listed in the top 10. Which tells you that Kalispell is not known for its quality hotels!
3. This Super 8 is located outside of the historic downtown area, and not within easy walking distance of the area’s restaurants, and few historic attractions, if any.
4. It is located a few car lengths from busy highway 93, a five lane 25 mph road in this area, with pedestrian traffic light crossings few and far between. In this cowboy town, nobody walks across the highway, except tourists!
5. Hotel is 3 stories high, relatively new, with interior corridors and no balconies. Most hotels here do not have balconies as it is added work for housekeeping to shovel off the heavy snow drifts off the balconies.
6. Electronic card key reading entry/​exit doors on sides and back, with lobby in the front –cameras deployed to make sure the ‘guests’ don’t carry away anything! Budget hotel caters to those type of people!
7. We get room 102, ground floor, closest to the side door, with adjacent stairs. Normally I would check for a third floor room away from the stairs, but for $ 89 I’m not complaining. Rates half that during the off season.
8. Room is your standard 11′ x 18′, with sink separate from bath-​toilet room, so that one person can brush his teeth while the other one is taking a dump.
9. 2 bath towels, and bathtub is extra deep, so even us guys with pot bellies can lie completely under the water!
10. 30″ refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, and 28″ flat screen cable TV, on top of a 3 drawer dresser. 36″ desk, with multiple available electric outlets right there.
11. Padded lounge chair with ottoman, to rest those tired feet –the other person has to sit in the desk chair –the 4 legged type, not the type with wheels.
12. Wifi weak, with frequent dropped signals, and slow as molasses. However it is the last time we have internet access as we will be in Glacier National Park the next 7 days, with no internet nor TV. Enjoy it and the TV while you can!
13. Ice machine in corridor, with coke machine –drinks now so expensive that they take credit cards. Elevator in the center of the building, along with a PC to print out airline boarding passes.
14. No closet, with theft proof hangers in corner –well most people are here for 1 night only, and won’t be needing a closet. No swimming pool for the same reason. Tough maintaining a swimming pool during those long cold deep snowy winters.
15. Carpeted room is very clean, if austere, with very plain looking furniture. Cleaner carpet than my house, but that’s not saying much!
16. 2 full size beds, comfortable, but the mattresses are stiff as a board. Linens clean, and blankets and sheets free of hair, blood, make-​up stains and other you know what stains. Yes, unlike some budget hotels, they did change the sheets for us!
17. Wife goes to sleep early and sleeps like a log –no snoring for once.
18. Highway and neighbor noise drowned out by the noisy air conditioner –a good thing as it was as hot as Hades!
19. Small screened sliding window with view of pickup parked in front of building. All the locals drive pickups, with the tourists in rented subcompact sedans. Good thing the window is screened as those black flies in the summer can be nasty!
20. Even third floor guests would have a view of the parking lot on back and sides of the building, or of the Casino in front of the building. You’ve come to the wrong hotel if you’re looking for a scenic view. In fact you’ve come to the wrong town for a scenic view!
21. Complimentary continental breakfast buffet, featuring cereal, oatmeal packets, toast, fruits„ yogurt, and fruit cups, two of the latter we save for lunch on the 13 mile Grinnell Glacier hike 5 days later! Picture of a biker whom we would meet later in Babb Montana, 100 miles away!
22. Limited number of tables, but people don’t linger if others waiting, and leave as soon as they are done, some taking food back to the room. Not sure if they are being considerate, or nonsocial!
23. There are two casinos across the street, but no strip clubs –I don’t gamble but my handler, I mean my wife, is with me to make sure I behave!
24. Near by walking distance restaurants include Charlie Wong’s Saigon Vietnamese, Casa Mexico, and Cattlemens, along with the usual Subway and Burger King. No matter how remote the location, you can’t get away from them fast food joints!
25. We drive 3 hours on the Going to the Sun road across Glacier National Park to the Many Glacier Hotel, the trip of a lifetime! That 100 year old historic national landmark hotel was memorable, Super 8 was not!

2 stars for what it is (a room that comes with free breakfast), but don’t expect a solid night’s rest on the rock-​hard mattress.
Let’s go over the positives up front: the Super 8 in Kalispell is convenient to the Kalispell airport (and not too far a drive from the Glacier Intl airport), the staff is welcoming and friendly, the room was clean, the motel is tucked away in what seems like a safe neighborhood, and there’s a free coffee and continental breakfast (try the bagels — they were good).
All of which would earn the Super 8 a solid 3 star rating, except the bed I slept on was brutally hard. I’ve had better nights sleeping in a tent with no padding under my sleeping bag. The bed was a board with sheets on it. Pretty similar to sleeping on hard ground, but with less dirt and rocks.
3 stars for the hospitality and cleanliness, minus 1 star for providing the hardest mattress I’ve ever known.