Our 2nd floor room at Kachina Lodge (no elevator) was in a perfect position for viewing the canyon, including sunrise, and for walking on the Rim Trail (and also not far from the Bright Angel Trail into the canyon). Rooms are not serviced daily.

Check in/out is handled at El Tovar; while this is an inconvenience, it’s easy to wheel luggage to/from El Tovar along the (paved) Rim Trail. When we checked-in/out we were offered help with our bags.

While there is no food available in-house, Kachina Lodge is a few minutes’ easy walking to both Bright Angel Lodge and to El Tovar.

We had nice breakfasts at Bright Angel Lodge and very good dinners in the El Tovar Dining Room. Incidentally, if you want to dine at El Tovar Dining Room, it is essential to book soon after table bookings open (30 days in advance).

Despite these downsides, we think that a canyon-facing room at Kachina Lodge is a great place to stay, because of the view of the canyon.

You are paying for location. Keep that in mind and don't expect great accomodations and you'll be happy here. The room we had was right on the rim of the Grand Canyon. Kept the curtains open all night so we could enjoy the amazing view every minute. That is what we paid for. As for anything else expect a National Park hotel and nothing more. The room was dated (but clean) and parking was limited. We were there before the busy time so I can't imagine how hard it must be to find parking in the peak time as there is no designated parking for guests. Ate at the hotel next door in a steakhouse as there is nothing in this hotel and the food was subpar but not cheap.

We visited many places in Arizona on our family vacation, but the biggest rip-off was the Grand Canyon

The canyon itself is awesome, beautiful and mesmerizing.

We stayed one night there at the Kachina Lodge which is not a high quality hotel.

Aside from the smell that hit us when we walked into the building, the room was smaller than expected with a low shower head and tiny toilet fit for a leprechaun.

It is close to a shuttle stop, which is nice. The shuttle drivers are all rude as heck and give you rude answers when you ask a question. They are not nice and treat their passengers like cattle. I seriously believe they would use a cattle prod on the people they service if they had a chance. So sad as they have their great jobs because of the people that come there.

The gift shops are all filled with junk from China. They are incredibly overpriced as well. For instance, I found an Indian sculpture by a local artist on sale in the El Tovar gift shop for $452. I really liked it but didn’t buy it as it was just a little more than I wanted to spend. Thank goodness! I found the same sculpture the next day at the Petrified Forest gift shop for $72. Same artist but at a place that has scruples!

Dining is sub-par. There isn’t a big enough dining room at El Tovar to service their guests. We went to another lodge, but it was all cafeteria style.

Parking is awful as well. Know that hotel guests have to compete for spots at the hotel where they are overpaying for their room with people who are just there to look at the canyon. There is not preference for the paying guests, no sir. Go pound salt if you expect to be able to park your car at the hotel where you are staying.

In the real world, these places would close down for poor hospitality. They exist only because of the fact existence of the Hrand Canyon, and they know they can get away with sub standard service, prices, quality, amenities, and manners.