Taos Lodging: The Abominable Snow Mansion

My first night in Taos, I stayed in the Abominable Snow Mansion, an HI hostel.

Happily for me, I moved along the very next day.

I mean, look: when you stay in a hostel, you know pretty much what to expect. Shared rooms with bunk beds, lots of young people with interesting accents and stories, common areas with lots of books to read. The Mansion has all of that, and a very relaxed, open feel. Charm to spare, and free toast&cereal in the morning? Super. But after the charm wears off, this place is kind of a dump.

 
The main room is sort of just a big room, with a hodgepodge of tacky blankets, fake flowers, and tourist magazines; an upright piano; and a pool table. It’s also got a propane firepit, which makes it feel almost-kinda like a ski lodge. A preponderance of cats wander around sniffing everything daintily.

When I showed up here, there were four or five international students hanging around the firepit; during the day, however, the hostel closes for cleaning. Most of the people staying here are out enjoying the snow during the day, and some of them have work in town; in the morning, the place is fairly deserted.

The kitchen is also just a kitchen: industrial sink with two full pots of water (these seem to be provided so you can wash your dishes without running water), chairs & tables, a communal fridge and a coffeepot. Chess board in the corner and weird thrift-store art throughout, ski bums sipping tea & making small talk.

The dorm is where things start to get iffy. A distinct odor of rotting-orange-and-old-carpet permeates the room. The ceiling is low and oddly saggy; bunks sag noticeably too, and half the room is taken up by a pile of someone’s personal belongings. Apparently there are a few girls who stay here for weeks, and who are essentially allowed to take over the place. Makes sense, since staying here costs about what you’d pay to rent a private room in a house. I never saw those girls, because I took a lower bunk and hung up a blanket to curtain myself in; however, that gave me all too much time to stare at the disgusting stain on the mattress above mine.

Now, I’ve stayed in dirty hostels before. This is not the worst I’ve seen. But at $22-plus-tax per night, I do think they should at least provide a decent and non-repulsive bed (bonus points if you don’t wake up with a painful neck because it sags so badly). I’ve paid $35 for a 2-person hotel room with better amenities; here, $38 will get you two bunks in the same dirty dorm with the same rampant piles of dirty clothes. And that’s just in the off season: according to the Mansion’s website, rates go up during holidays and peak times.

So okay, the beds aren’t great, but you can use them. That just leaves the issue of the bathroom.

Signs everywhere instruct you NOT to flush your toilet paper. The faucet never stops running (funny, since they don’t want you to use the kitchen water, that they’d allow a leaky bathroom)— in fact, it seems to have no intermediate setting between “dribble” and “blast for one second then back to dribble”. I opted not even to mess with the shower, but I later heard a story of someone staying here who slipped and cracked his head open on the always-wet floor. Fabulous.

The people working here seemed nice and interesting, and there are definitely signs of good humor. For example, this (probably guest-made) notice in response to the “use one bed, pay for one bed – use two beds, pay for two beds” policy » »

Ultimately, however, I can’t imagine myself staying here for more than a couple of nights. It’s run-down and not worth the price; there are much nicer places to stay in Taos that have similar rates, at least in the off-season. Plus, as if it was 1996, this place still charges by-the-minute rates for Internet use. The Abominable Snow Mansion seems to be relying on Hostelling International’s reputation and its proximity to the Taos Ski Valley, hosting young nomads who aren’t likely to realize they’re getting a bum deal.

As for me, I moved on to The Stewart House.