Wander the West

White Salmon Lodging

	A $160 per night bed set?????

October 2006

Almost all of the logs entered by me on WandertheWest will be positive encouraging entries. However, I recently had the worst lodging experience ever in my travels and am on a mission to help our readers avoid the same poor experience that my wife and I had.

The Inn at the White Salmon is a Lodging option in the White Salmon, Washington and Hood River, Oregon area on the Columbia River. A local businessman built it in the 1930’s for around $20,000 as a Hotel/apartment structure. The initial name was Hood View Hotel and served as one of the only lodging opportunities in the area. Based on the age of the building and the history of the area, we thought we were in for a great experience. The $150.00 a night cost promised above average accommodations and amenities. Unfortunately this was not to be.

At first glance the Inn at the White Salmon seemed to stack up to our expectations. However, it only took a closer look and a few minutes to see that it was actually a dismal shadow of what it could have been. The owners (who have operated the place for seventeen years or so) apparently felt that ‘old’ was the same as ‘antique’. Most of the furniture was most likely garage sale or possibly estate sale deals and had never seen the inside of an upholsters shop. The numerous photos that line the walls aren’t really historic by definition but rather (bad) portraits and photos of people that no guest is going to recognize and I imagine the owners don’t even know. This was bad enough, but the icing on the cake was the bed that our $150.00/night had purchased for us. It was a 1980’s mattress that had labored under the weight of more than a few bodies. It was flat, thin, worn, and incredibly uncomfortable to sleep on. I’m generally easy to please in the way of mattresses, but this weekend I was wishing that I were back on my thermorest in the woods where I had been several days before. Every small movement that my wife made was transmitted to me in the form of squeaky jiggles that lasted several seconds. The same was true in reverse and ultimately we arose the next morning with stiff backs and baggy eyes.

Please do not stay at the Inn at the White Salmon. You would be much better off at the Best Western. Alternatively, just across the Columbia in Hood River is a very nice, historic Hotel with excellent furnishings and new mattresses called the Hood River Hotel. For Pete’s sake stay there!

- Eric Davis