Review: Best Western Premier Grand Canyon Squire Inn – A Hidden Gem

Review: Best Western Premier Grand Canyon Squire Inn – A Hidden Gem

In this review: Best Western Premier Grand Canyon Squire Inn, which is 1 of only 2 properties you can book with points near the Grand Canyon. My wife and I recently visited the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. This was an excellent opportunity to make use of my Best Western Rewards points. Given the limited options for points bookings near the Grand Canyon, I figure a review of the Best Western Grand Premier Grand Canyon Squire Inn could be helpful.  I’ll cover the property (which is massive), room, breakfast, and service from the staff. First, a look at how we booked this hotel using points.

Booking Process

After a previous recommendation from Benjy, I applied (and was approved) for the Best Western Premium Rewards Mastercard from First National Bank of Omaha. The current, elevated welcome offer on the card is 80,000 points after spending $3,000 in 90 days. Additionally, if you spend $5,000 in a cardmember year, you get an additional 5,000 points. That’s a total of 85,000 points.

The Best Western Premier Grand Canyon Squire Inn costs 40,000 points per night during peak season. The cash price, however, is $298.43 after taxes. I met the 2 spending goals early, so I could redeem for 2 nights.

That’s a redemption value of 0.75 cents per point. This is on par with our valuation of Best Western Rewards, and I was really happy with this to save nearly $300 per night.

Review: Best Western Premier Grand Canyon Squire Inn

In this section, I’ll review the facilities at the hotel. The property is massive, so I’ll cover the public areas and then our guest room.

Location

The Best Western Premier Grand Canyon Squire Inn is located in Tusayan, Arizona. It’s a 5-10 minute drive to the entrance point to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Despite being the closest town to the most-visited point of the Grand Canyon National Park, there are only 2 hotels in Tusayan you can book with points. The other is a Holiday Inn, just down the street. Since I didn’t have any IHG points, we went to the Best Western property.

Lobby

The lobby is really large and sports an Old West theme (present throughout the hotel), as does much of the town.

There is ample seating in the lobby, though we didn’t see people hanging out here at all.

The lobby also offers free coffee and free water to guests. The water machine has buttons to choose flavors to add to your water. We tried the coconut option, but it either didn’t work or was so faint our water didn’t taste like coconut at all.

There also is a store in the lobby.

Restaurant

There are multiple restaurants on the property. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, several are closed. We only saw the Canyon Room and The Squire Pub open.

Both of these are located off the lobby. While most Best Western properties offer free breakfast to everyone, this property doesn’t. We were surprised at the cost of breakfast options. Luckily, we received a coupon valid for free breakfast for 2 people and used that on the 2nd morning.

The restaurants available offer standard American fare. Quality was decent.

Once we showed the waiter our “free breakfast” voucher, he knew we would have no bill. I think he assumed that meant “no tip” since we wouldn’t be paying, so he basically disappeared after this.

Outdoor Areas

As I mentioned, the property is massive. It includes 7 totally separate buildings.

Additionally, there are 2 pools: 1 indoor and 1 outdoor.

There’s also a hot tub near the indoor pool.

Off the indoor pool area, there is a fitness center. You need a guest key to access the pool and fitness areas.

With all of these buildings, there’s also a ton of (free!) parking. We never had an issue finding a spot for our rental car.

Welcome Gift Bag

While not the most chic bag I’ve ever received, it may be the fullest. At check-in, we received a welcome gift bag for my Best Western Platinum Elite status (automatic status, from having their credit card). A welcome letter also included our free breakfast voucher (which had white out on it…).

Since there were 2 people, we received 2 bottles of water, 2 pens, 2 packs of pretzels, etc.

There were also luggage tags, a notepad, maps of the area, and 3 cookies.

Guest Areas (Building 4)

We stayed in building 4. The entry area was very spacious. Each building’s entry area had a different lobby (yes, you can enter buildings you aren’t staying in, since no key is required).

The cowboy and American Southwest themes were present throughout the public areas and guest hallways.

Guest Room

We stayed in room 4103. The room was spacious and comfortable.

It was full of amenities without feeling crowded. There is an outer sink area with coffee machine, located near the door.

There’s also a sofa & coffee table, in addition to a desk & chair, plus a small table with 2 chairs.

At the foot of the bed, there is a hard bench with cloth cover.

Across from this, there’s a cabinet that contains a mini fridge, microwave, some drawers, and has a TV on top.

Each side of the bed has a night stand.

Bed

The bed was large and comfortable. Despite this not being a high-end property, we found the king-sized bed comfortable, and the pillows were decent quality.

Closet

Immediately next to the door, there is a closet. It has a safe, hangers, iron & ironing board, and a luggage rack.

Lack of Storage Space

The lack of storage space surprised us. There are 2 drawers under the TV, and there are hangers in the closet. Other than that, there’s nothing. It’s worth noting that there aren’t a lot of drawers, no dresser, etc.

Bathroom

The bathroom was big and spacious. There’s a ton of counter space, and the fact there’s a 2nd sink out by the closet means never fighting for the sink.

The shower is powerful and gets hot really fast. However, climbing in & out of the oval-shaped shower-bath tub was awkward. It required some finesse to not fall down.

The toilet sits next to the tub and behind the door. The layout isn’t ideal; it’s hard to close the door and get to the toilet. You need to stand in just the right spot.

The toilet uses reclaimed water, which is a smart & commendable move in the desert.

Room Amenities

The room has a lot of outlets for charging your devices. It’s also spacious and includes good amenities. Having both a mini fridge and microwave is nice for bringing food back to the room. The coffee machine is also a nice touch.

Having a ton of seating is also good, so you don’t have to hang out on the bed all the time.

Review: Best Western Premier Grand Canyon Squire Inn – Staff

Now that we’ve seen what’s included in the hotel, here’s the next item to review: staff at the Best Western Premier Grand Canyon Squire Inn. Great staff can overcome some hotel deficiencies, but bad staff can ruin an otherwise good hotel. How were they? Here are our experiences.

Prior To Arrival

Before arriving at the hotel, we did not receive any communication from the hotel.

Check In

We arrived at the hotel at 2am, dead tired after traveling all day. On arrival, a really friendly woman greeted me and said, “You must be Ryan!” Despite being tired and just wanting to sleep, she made the check-in experience simple, efficient, and friendly.

She also gave me the welcome bag and drew on the map to show us where our room was located.

During The Stay

During the stay, we had minimal interactions with staff. We said hello to the person at the desk when using the water machine. Our only real interaction was breakfast in the Canyon Room. Staff accomplished the required tasks without going beyond minimal expectations. The hostess, woman who brought our silverware, and the waiter were “efficient”. I wouldn’t rate them as anything better or worse than that.

Check Out

We zipped throughout check out. “Checking out from 4103, I think there’s nothing to pay” makes for a pretty quick process. The woman smiled, thanked us for coming, and said we would receive a final statement via email.

She was quick and friendly without dragging out the process unnecessarily. The promised email came in about 5 hours.

Final Thoughts

This is a good property. Given the lack of options for hotel bookings with points near the Grand Canyon, they charge more than a comparable hotel elsewhere would require. I imagine there aren’t many Best Western properties that cost this much. However, there’s an overall theme to my review: the Best Western Premier Grand Canyon Squire Inn is a good option with spacious, comfortable rooms and adequate service. It may lack frills from more luxurious brands, but I would easily recommend this hotel as a good option when visiting the Grand Canyon. It’s a good use of Best Western points, which may necessitate a 2nd look if you’re planning to pass through this area. Don’t sleep on Best Western points, because they really came through for us on this visit.