Rivers Edge Resort

Dirty room, bugs, SPIDER WEB IN SHOWER which tells you how long it’s been since it was cleaned. Chair was falling apart and unsafe to sit in. Furniture looks like it came from a frat house. Smells bad. Lobby staff very nice but understaffed. Try somewhere else!

First rule of Alaska lodging: adjust your expectations. This is still pretty rustic, remote country and it’s expensive to import goods, hire staff, and heat/cool a property . Once you make that mental adjustment, the cost and standard of lodging becomes much more acceptable. That said, this is a nice little spot that’s reminiscent of summer camp as a kid. We were fortunate to have a riverside cottage and found it clean and comfortable. Our primary suggestion, though, is to rent a car if you can, so you can transport yourself to restaurants and shopping rather than rely on the shuttle. We did take the shuttle a couple times and it was fine; you’re just at the mercy of their schedule and availability.

We stayed at River's Edge because we were with a tour group and that's the hotel the tour group chose. Calling this place a "resort" is a joke. The River's Edge is old and run down. It's in desperate need of renovations, repairs and updating/upgrading, and deep cleaning. The furniture, decor, carpet, linens, etc. are old and worn and need to be replaced. The first room we were assigned smelled terrible and we asked to be moved. We were moved to another "cottage" which wasn't much better, but it did not smell as bad. After settling into the room, I noticed there was at least a 1-inch opening at the bottom of the door (no door sweep) .... the door goes to the outdoors and would allow bugs and other small critters to enter the room. We reported this and a door sweep was put on the door by the 3rd night. In the meantime, we had to put a towel up against the door at night to prevent anything from entering the room. While we were away during the day it was open though. We had no housekeeping services for the 3 days we were there. We stopped a housekeeping person outside and asked for clean towels. We requested that our dirty towels be collected and no one came to get them. On the 3rd night the front desk person came to our room and collected the dirty towels. This place is a rip off. For the price you pay it should be much nicer and services should be better. There are other hotels in Fairbanks ... I would not recommend staying at River's Edge.