I based my family's decision to stay based on the YVI website and the fact it was in AAA. We stayed 5 nights here-too long in one location. What I admittedly missed in the confirmation email they sent me was that I had to pay the BALANCE DUE of 4 nights (one night paid a couple of months in advance for the reservation) when I checked in. I've stayed in anything from dives to 5 star resorts all over the US, and I've NEVER had to do that. The cancellation policy wouldn't allow a refund, so we were stuck there for 5 nights. It was further than anticipated to get all around YNP and Tetons, I would have liked to move to another location but couldn't afford to PROs: Breakfast was AWESOME, evening meal was good as well BUT NO KIDS MENU was offered!!!! Our room had a great view of the Shoshone River. Good for a 1-2 night stay. Most all of the staff we encountered were pretty nice-except of course when I challenged the pay in advance rule. At that point I was tired from traveling all day, and didn't try to find another place mainly because I was 18 miles west of town. Had i realized the number of resorts/cabins closer to the east gate, I might have moved on and forfeited one night that I'd already paid for. However, i couldn't afford to give up all 5 nights! CONS: The obvious, being stuck there when i wanted to move after a couple of nights. Also, this place suffers from a lot of deferred maintenance issues. Our room's sliding glass door only locked because of a wooden block in the bottom, and the glass was held in with duct tape! Our room missed one day getting cleaned. The ice machine broke. Not enough chairs in the room, and NONE on the patio overlooking the river! The boardwalk patio had nail heads sticking up everywhere-couldn't be barefoot out there w/o risk of needing a tetnus shot. There was one bench out front, which was nice, except that since there was a strict no smoking in the room policy, all the smokers (and i think all the guests except us smoked) used it as a congregating place. At least they were courteous enough to abide by the 10PM quiet time rule. There were no restrooms or changing rooms at either the swimming pool or hot tob. I will say that it appeared that they were working on new things like new roofs, doing some painting, etc. on some of the buidlings. They advertised that they had new beds, but I didn't think they were terribly comfortable. i will admit that I am looking at everything I didn't like because the pay in advance thing really hacked me off. Lesson learned: If I only wanted to stay here a night or 2, I'd return. But if I were staying longer, I would not.

We wanted to do some horseback riding and the owner, Ron, graciously called around to find a place for us to ride. (It was early in the season and we could not find a place). He lined us up and we had a great time. The bar was fun, pool and good company. We also ate in the restaurant. My wife ordered...believe it or not...Alaskan King Crab legs. It was the best we'd had in ages. Complete with sides and drinks, the bill was 23.00. I must admit that we split most of the dishes these days...we eat less and the restaurants tend to put to much food on the table. This was no exception. The cabin was great....When we left for Cody to fill up on gas I discovered my wallet was missing....we returned and the cleaning people had found it and returned it. Hope we can return someday.

We recently took a vacation to Yellowstone National Park and were looking for a place to stay near the park but outside the park. Yellowstone Valley Inn fit that description. The Inn reminded us of an old stagecoach inn. Our room was clean and had the necessary things but was not luxurious. The room had two queen beds and the best part its balcony overlooked the Shoshone River. We did not have a telephone in our room nor did we have a clock on any kind. Good thing we had brought along an alarm clock. We had TV but only got about 4 channels and they were not of the clearest quality. This was not a big problem because our plans did not include spending very much time at the hotel. If you are looking for a value priced room fairly close to the park entrance, then this is a good choice. The price of the hotel room included a cooked breakfast each morning and the food was good. I would not suggest this location for people with young children but is great for couples traveling. You are about 25 minutes away from Cody WY and about 30 to 35 minutes away from the east park entrance. It is possible to stay here and go anywhere in the park and return to the hotel the same day which for us was a nice feature. More than one day is needed to see all of Yellowstone National Park. Personnel are friendly and were helpful to us.

During November 07' , I stayed at the Yellowstone Valley Inn for 3 weeks doing an emergency job for one of Wyoming's major communications companies at Lake Junction inside Yellow stone park. All motels inside the park were closed and Yellow Stone Valley Inn's owner Ron Jordan went out of his way to keep a very nice room open for me to use, which got me a lot closer to the job site. He also kept the kitchen open for food. My room was very nice and clean, the prime rib is great! I would recommend this hotel/cabins/RV Park to anyone. Doug Reffett Aurora,Colorado

YVI is a great place to stay if you're a biker or a couple without little ones. Rustic but with many amenities to be enjoyed, most especially the stunning beauty of the area. But our boys are very young - age 6 and under. The proper restaurant is a bit pricey without childrens food - so for that we went to the bar/restaurant. Which is more of a biker bar, not really a restaurant. We were 2 time zones away so dinner was late for the area and there were a number of customers in the bar who did not appreciate little ones joining in the fun....of course my boys were very excited to be in cowboy country on vacation so it was not a happy situation at all. Worst of all was the attitude of the staff - rolling their eyes at us and the boys. The patrons were actually much more welcoming to a family than the staff was - the next morning, a group of bikers came by our cabin and let my boys sit on a "Hog" for photos. Anyway, I'd strongly recommend somewhere else if you have children, otherwise its a great, rustic and beautiful place. It would be a great help to YVI if they made a separate little dining area near the bar so that families would feel more comfortable and welcome - but it seemed almost like they were discoraging the whole family with little ones idea.