Sorrel River Ranch

I was very excited to take my son, age 8, on a father-son trip to the desert and decided to splurge on a very expensive stay at Sorrel Ranch. However, long story short, our 5 day trip got cut short b/c on our second day, the resort literally ran out of water. Turns out, the State of Utah got involved after a whistleBlower report from an employee at the ranch stated the resort had run out of water and was washing dishes with pool water. The electricity also failed at one point. The biggest disappointment tho was that no one, and I mean no one, from the Resort told us anything about this, despite it all happening/being set in motion, days before we got there. And, no one from the resort has reached out to 1) apologize for the inconvenience or 2) respond to my many emails requesting a full refund. In fact, they charged us for the entire week even though we only stayed one night! We had to leave…there was no choice…it was 102, in the desert, in August and the place literally had no running water. Absolute terrible experience and a complete shock that a supposed “5 star” resort would treat its clients like this. I am pursuing legal action in order to get my $3K+ money back plus legal fees…what a nightmare experience. This place should be ashamed to be in business.

Please DO NOT stay here. The property is stunning but left to decay due to poor management and ownership. The owner lives in FL and couldn’t care less, and the staff are left to handle the wreck that is Sorrel. You can tell the resort was amazing 20 years ago. What gets me is the false advertisement on its website and social media, it is far from that idyllic image. For a $1000+ a night you can stay down the road at Red Cliffs Lodge (RCL) for fraction of the price. I spoke to many employees and former employees, who now mostly work for RCL and they all stated that the owner keeps the price high to minimize guests so they don’t have to hire more staff. What a terrible business model, esp for a hospitality one. Most of the staff we encountered were seasonal workers since they can’t keep or hire any local employees due to poor management. We feel so very much for the staff there, and you can tell majority of them are trying their best. On to the property. There were geese feces everywhere, and the grass was overgrown that we saw a garter snake and was afraid to step off the trail on to any grassy patch. The spa was closed and I got a massage in one of the guest rooms and my therapist brought in her own massage table. The tennis rackets were left out in the sun on the court all with bristle strings and hand grips that we only found 1 of 6 that was salvageable enough to play with. The bikes tires were all flat. We got one of their bigger suites, and the likely reason was because there were only 2 other parties staying on the property. There were problems with their water system, so we were told not to drink it and they provided us with bottled water. But it does make us question the overall quality control of the property. The farm animals and the horses were our son’s favorite part and the reason why we chose to stay here in the first place. The wranglers, Jasmine and Jordan, were phenomenal and I myself learned a lot about the animals from talking to them. You can tell they are passionate about their job and are doing their best with the budgetary constraint to care for the animals. And then on our last day we ran into Jordan and he said he just resigned from his position. The one good thing that this place has is also now gone. I hope Jasmine remains to care for the animals because they deserve better.

Stunning setting, but the service doesn’t match the price. In three nights the kitchen was repeatedly out of basics — no bread the first night, no cappuccino because the machine was broken, and missing ingredients at breakfast, and still out of things by Tuesday, even though only ~11 rooms were occupied. The dining room was understaffed and slow, with one person doing everything. They also overpromise: the website says the spa is open daily, but it was closed on Monday and we were told it “only opens on weekends.” We ordered a few sandwiches to take on a hike — some were great, but for one we specifically asked for no mayo and no onion, only to discover mid-trail it had both. To be fair, the food we did get was tasty, the rooms were spotless, and housekeeping and the grounds crew clearly did their part — it was storm season, so the neglected feel of the common areas came from front-of-house (dining/reception), not from nature or the cleaning staff. They did fix a broken toilet the same day, which we appreciated. Overall: a beautiful property, but overpriced for what you get and let down by its service. The food was good, but the service ended up being what stuck with us — we all left with a bad taste in our mouths.

The bathrooms are outdated, the refrigerator in the room was deplorable. The dishes in the restaurant had dried gnats on them. The water filter needed to be changed. The restaurant was out of many items on the menu. There was a barn cat wondering around trying to eat food off of our plates.

Beautiful location and The staff is exceptional Ty took us on the UTV tour and Jasmine horseback riding. Emily our server. All made our trip special.