Max and I absolutely love Park City. It’s become a frequent winter adventure for us, thanks to our little camper. For the last few years, we have partnered with Epic Pass/ Vail Resorts to experience their resorts around the US so we were ecstatic to experience the newly renovated Grand Summit on this trip. Stay tuned to the end for the COVID-19 Safety rating!

Location: 4.5/5

The Grand Summit Hotel is located in the heart of Canyons Village, which was purchased by Vail Resorts as part of Park City a few years back. Canyons Village has become a hotspot for ski-in-ski-out hotels and gives guests unparalleled access to exceptional terrain. Truth be told, Max and I prefer skiing the Canyons side thanks to the long groomers and (typically) shorter lift lines. The Grand Summit hotel is located conveniently next to the Orange Bubble lift at the base and offers an onsite ski valet for easy access to the mountain.

Canyons Village is a 10-20 minute drive, or free shuttle ride, away from Park City’s main street. While Canyons Village has a number of restaurants, bars and shops, it’s important to keep this in mind as you book. Canyons is home to the Waldorf Astoria Park City, Hyatt Centric and a few other hotels and residences.

Lobby & Check in experience: 3.5/5

The Grand Summit has an understated lobby that exists as the central hub for the hotel. The onsite restaurant, Red Tail Grill, is on the 2nd floor above the lobby on the left and the ski-valet is located on the 2nd floor to the right. The access to the Orange Bubble lift is in the middle.

When we arrived at check-in, we located a bellman who ended up being our best resource for information at the property. The Check In experience at the front desk was what I would call “mountain-standard”. The front desk agent was apathetic, vaguely rude and provided no information about the hotel, including how to get to the elevator. We were hosted by the property and the agent went as far as to ask me why we got a “free room” with an accusatory glance and scoff. That aside, we were checked in quickly and on the earlier side of the day and I appreciated the plexiglass barrier and hand sanitizer located at the front desk. As a note, masks are required on property and we love that.

On the way to the room, the bellman told us about the hotel, how to access the lifts and hours of the restaurant and pools when I mentioned I didn’t know where to locate the amenities onsite.

Rooms: 4/5

We were checked into a wonderful one-bedroom suite that looked into the property with the ski hill behind it. The room is incredibly spacious, with two full baths, a large living room, dining table, full kitchen and bedroom. There are two fireplaces: one in the bedroom and one in the living room as well as mechanical blinds in both rooms.

The kitchen has a microwave, stove, oven, full-sized refrigerator and freezer and ample cookware. There are two bar stools as well on the peninsula. The dining table seats at least 10 people and has a beautiful live-edge feel to it. The living room features a sofa and leather chair, television and two lounge areas surrounding the fireplace.

The bedroom, while small, has a small balcony as well as a television above the fireplace. The closet leaves a bit to be desired as there is no drawer set, but there is a small hanging space. Both bathrooms feature tubs with curtains, one sink and nice Lather toiletries.

There is a “mudroom” area in the main living room that does provide great storage space for snow-gear and wet items. The ski valet can take your skis but we opted to leave them in our room since we were located on the second floor, just a short walk from the ski lifts.

Overall, the rooms are very comfortable. While I do wish the bathrooms were a bit more luxurious, the size is excellent, particularly when traveling with family or lots of ski gear. It’s a great option to be able to cook in your kitchen instead of going out every day for every meal and we really enjoyed the fireplace and views. I would highly recommend the splurge to a suite, as the standard rooms feel a bit on the small side and there is no sound insulation between the hallway to the room as there is open space between the door frame and the door. The suite provided not only more space, but a quieter experience overall.

Service: 3/5

If you’ve read our reviews from mountain towns before, you’ll know that we have often found service to be fairly apathetic. As max likes to say, many of the staff in mountain towns’ main objectives are to ski, not to serve and that’s fairly true at the Grand Summit. The front desk was, frankly, rude most of the time, even when asking very simple questions. Bluntly asking “what do you want?” or answering the phone with a “yes?” is ideally not something that a guest should hear any time, even if the front desk is busy. The bellman and staff at the restaurant were significantly more friendly and helpful. The bellmen, in particular, would sprint back and forth to help guests with their cars and luggage and were always happy to help.

The front desk “forgot” to tell us this, but housekeeping is not available at this time due to COVID-19 for stays less than 5 nights. We totally understand the logic behind this, however, our suite was not as clean as we’d expect for only being serviced before our arrival. They also did not plan accordingly with regards to amenities like coffee, filters and tea. The sign in the bathrooms all say to leave dirty towels on the floor to be replaced or hang them to use them again, so if guests are not made aware that there is no housekeeping, one could end up running out of amenities very quickly. I will say I did request more towels and despite the front desk being utterly confused why I would call down and ask for such a thing, they did appear a few minutes later outside our door so should a guest need something, it is possible to get, just go ahead and call.  All of this comes down to a lack of training at the front desk and housekeeping and could be easily rectified. Similarly, none of these issues were detrimental to our stay, just simply things to point out in the interest of the review.

Dining: 4/5

The Farm and Red Tail Grill are the two main restaurants you will find in the Grand Summit. They are both at the base of the Canyons mountain resort and offer very good food at a very high price. As with all restaurants in the area, the food and drinks come with a hefty price tag, but that is just standard for a ski resort. The Farm features high-end dining and the Red Tail Grill is a great lunch or aprés-ski spot. The food is very good and they have a great selection of beverages.

The property also offers room service and during COVID-19, that is how guests can get breakfast. In the rooms, guests will find QR codes to access all the menus.

Overall, the dining options are plentiful – we do recommend making reservations during busy times of year, however, as the restaurants are in a perfect location and therefore are quite busy.

Facilities: 5/5

The facilities and the property itself are where the hotel shine. There is a large pool with a small waterfall feature, three hot tubs, full service spa, ski valet and incredible access to the lift. It is impossible to go wrong if you’re looking for a resort style accommodation on your trip. The spa looked wonderful, though we did not try it, and they have a little shop with high end clothing.

The ski valet is open from 8-5 and take guests skis and poles directly at the window. The lift is approximately a 1-minute walk from the ski valet, making it very easy for guests to come and go. The aprés-ski at Red Tail Grill or the higher-end restaurant The Farm is incredibly easy and delicious. We did not dine at the restaurants on this trip, but we have in the past. Due to COVID-19, we opted to take our lunch to go and enjoy it in the comfort of our hotel suite.

Style: 4/5

Overall, the style feels very indicative of where the resort is located: it’s lodge-y, warm and has many wood accents. The fireplaces in the room are a great touch and really make the room feel homey. The resort recently underwent a refresh and they have added many new accents, pillows and furnishings to bring the rooms up to the standards of a more luxurious experience in Park City. The style is consistent across the property as well, with western-styled pillows, prints from the local area and comfortable warm tones.

While the style could be elevated just a bit in the bathrooms to bring the showers and vanities up to a 5 star level, they overall did a great job with the refresh. The kitchens in the suites, for example, are excellent, with high-end amenities and appliances.

Overall: 4.0

Overall, we would 100% recommend this property. The lift access is the best in the entire Canyons Resort area, the property is stunning and pool area spacious and comfortable and the dining options and access to the village make this a top notch option in Park City. While we enjoyed our stays at the Hyatt Centric on points several years in a row, I would arguably choose this property over the Hyatt due to its unparalleled location, size-able rooms and general access to amenities.

COVID-19 Safety Rating: 4.5/5

As a reminder, our COVID-19 rating is not factored into the overall score of the hotel as it is a unique and (hopefully) temporary addition. This separate rating factors in the rules and recommendations the hotel advertises and the follow-through of both staff and guests. Max and I are particularly sensitive to COVID regulations at hotels due to our extensive travel and absolute lack of desire to contract or spread the disease.

The Grand Summit Park City did a great job handling COVID-19 overall. The lobbies have plexiglass barriers, hand sanitizing stations and social distancing signs. Also, the property requires mask use in public areas thanks to the Utah state regulations. The staff did a great job enforcing mask usage and keeping the public spaces clean and we never saw a staff member take their mask off. The only reason we didn’t give them 5 stars is because we did feel that the rooms could have used a deeper clean prior to check-in. The obvious finger prints on the televisions and refrigerator mean to me that the housekeeping did not have a keen eye for detail, which, during this time is incredibly critical. Overall, however, those are easy things to handle and we always wipe down high-touch areas like remotes, door handles, phones etc when we check in. In general, they did a great job keeping guests safe and we would recommend them as a safe place to stay during this time.