Santa Fe, New Mexico

The Hotel

This week is a different than weeks past in that I am traveling for leisure rather than business. It is New Years Eve weekend and I’m in Santa Fe, New Mexico for the first time. This is actually the first time I’ve been to New Mexico for any reason, it is the Land of Enchantment, and I can tell you it’s quite enchanting. Throughout the weekend I was certain I’d be telling stories from one of the Albuquerque International Airport bars but for a few reasons I don’t think that is as interesting as the hotel experience has been.

I’m taking an educated guess here, but I believe the property is owned by the Pueblo Pojoaque and managed by Hilton Hotels. This is a fairly common arrangement, to have a hotel property owned by one entity that flys the flag of a management company with a brand the consumer would recognize. According to the website, the Pueblo Pojoaque is the largest private employer north of Santa Fe. There is a lot to understand about the native people of New Mexico, I know almost nothing, although I did have a very interesting dinner this week with a member of one of the Pueblo tribes and he taught me a thousand times more in two hours than I knew from all of the rest of my life’s experiences. I still know virtually nothing but I’m interested and this dinner was a start. While I’m thinking of this experience, we ate at Tomasitas, and it was really good. New Mexican food is its own thing and you can only get it here, Tomasitas provides a great primer on this unique cuisine.

The hotel itself is nice by almost any standard. As you approach the drive there is a dramatic statue (pictured above) which welcomes you to the property. Pulling up behind The Greeter, alongside the four large, wooden front doors, there is a well lit area to unload your luggage as you get checked in. Staffing everywhere is a challenge and the bell stand at this hotel is no exception. Throughout the entire stay, and this is not an exaggeration, I saw only one bellman and he appeared to work all three shifts. As you make your way through the doors, you enter a large circular lobby with seemingly thirty foot ceilings, plenty of lounge seating and a large Christmas tree. The front desk is staffed with warm, smiling and accommodating staff (they were put to the test, and passed). They are well trained and unflappable. Standing with your back to the front desk, the elevator to the guest rooms is to your right down a long parabolic hallway. To your left is the lobby Starbucks, the fine dining restaurant, a breakfast/lunch restaurant, and the escalator down to the casino. This hotel is worth a second visit in the summer as there is a large, snow-covered deck with a probably impressive pool as well as a 27 hole golf course.

The room that has been assigned is a King Bed Room with a Balcony which looks out to a courtyard. Unfortunately, when you step out to soak up the vantage point, a parking lot scars the left third of the view. This property meets a quality standard where I believe parking lot views should be prohibited, I’m not sure how to do this, but I don’t want to look at the parking lot. That aside, its a nicely appointed room with a large flatscreen, and plenty of opportunities to charge your various devices. The highlight of the bathroom is the shower which is hot and provides enough psi to blast the grime right off of you.

The Casino

The Casino is considered an “amenity” of the hotel. Merriam Webster defines an amenity as something that helps to provide comfort, convenience, or enjoyment. Hilton may not be aware that this is the definition, I should send them a note.

I don’t go out of my way to gamble or to visit casinos. Occasionally, perhaps three times a year, I will visit a casino and roll the dice as they say. Usually my experience has been a losing one, but if I’m playing slots the machines are letting me win some, lose some, maybe even get up for a while before giving it all back eventually. That is not what happens in this casino. The machines are like monsters that feed on hundred dollar bills. Slide a hundred in and watch it evaporate.

Walking around the 70,000 square foot casino, looking at the faces and hearing the sounds, no one is having fun. In one of the casino bars, The Racebook, everyone is talking about how unfriendly the gaming is and that they are down. This might be the second most depressing casino experience of my life. The first place worst casino experience was the stench of urine and desperation walking the streets of Reno a few years back, but I digress.

The service in the main casino bar, The Turquoise Trail, was not spectacular. For instance I was told they did not have draft beer when I could clearly, with my eyes, see a draft tower with ten or so choices, I did find an item on the menu that I quite enjoyed. I will concede that my preparation for this meal was several hours of a moderately paced drinking of tequila and beer as well as the donation of an amount of money that I would describe as not insignificant.

New Mexico is the only state in the country that has an official state question: “Red or green?” Thats the question. It refers to whether or not you want red or green chiles with you meal and the correct answer is both. Chiles are taken very seriously here which is endearing to me personally.

This Green Chile Stew has a building heat, that is never over powering and is quite enjoyable. The chunks of pork give it texture and add fat to the mixture. In the picture that I took, I see potatoes that I do not recall, but I’m sure were stewed very nicely. I recommend this item for both winners and losers of which I am the latter.

New Years Eve Dinner

The events that transpired around dinner in the fine dining restaurant, Red Sage, are odd, laughable, annoying and bad business. I regret not taking any pictures, but I thought I was going to be telling stories from the airport bar. I will do my best to describe the scene and the events as they happened to the best of my recollection.

I rarely plan personal travel beyond getting a plane ticket, a hotel and a car. I plan and manage stuff every day in my job, free wheeling it is a nice change. Devil may care, let the chips fall where they may, hakuna matata, que sera sera. You get the picture. Most of the time this works to my liking, sometimes it doesn’t. I get to the hotel, without reservations for New Years Eve Dinner. Unfazed, I am certain it will work out, it often does.

Located inside the hotel, tucked back behind a fiery, glassed in wine display, The Red Sage is my proposed venue for dinner on New Year’s Eve. I am familiar with this restaurant, as a business, as it is THE fine dining outlet for the hotel. Dinner service for all of the holidays is a pain in the ass, New Years Eve is toward the top of the list of pain in the ass holidays. NYE and Valentines day are really similar in that most of your guests are coming in two at a time which is not the most efficient use of the available seats. The seats are perishable, if you don’t fill a seat on the first turn you can’t catch up down the road, that seat has expired. It’s a business problem, or puzzle, how to maximize revenue and profitability when a chunk of your seats are going to expire unused. One solution to the puzzle is to manage a tight book up front, meaning you define the optimized solution in the reservation book, and then hold the customers to the defined availability. In addition, you would run a high margin, limited menu, and get your well trained staff to upsell cocktails and wine. The good news with regard to the last piece of the puzzle is that the customers are ready to spend some money. If they weren’t they’d be at Applebee’s, no offense.

The evening after check in, December 30th, I saunter up to the host stand to see what options are for seating the next night for the big dinner. I enquire without an ounce of shame what is available in the book for a table on New Year’s Eve. The host, who is properly attired, and serious about her job, does not laugh at me but instead peruses the reservation book with all of the seriousness of an IRS audit. You know she knows the answer without looking. I’m sure when she punched in she was advised of the situation for the impending grand evening. After an appropriate amount of time, with a dour expression I’m advised that 4:30 (4:30?!?) and 5:00 are the only available slots. I can make that work, but I have a dietary restriction that is not reflected in any of the choices on the limited menu. The host continues to execute at a high level and offers to go check with the chef. A short while later she returns and regretfully informs me that the chef is not allowing any substitutions or modifications to the special menu. What!?! It takes a second for the disbelief to wash over me. The chef has a chance to charge me $30 for Pasta Primavera at an otherwise unusable time slot and declined the opportunity. I am now concerned about the business as a whole, if a small easy opportunity like this was shrugged off, there may be other important details being overlooked.

Ultimately, NYE dinner was enjoyed at a kick ass hotel on the Santa Fe Plaza. A charcuterie board, a few margaritas and a Snake River Farms hot dog were enjoyed, but that is not the end of the story.

The End of The Story

Returning to Buffalo Thunder from the trip into town, the decision is made to hit the aforementioned casino. The parking lot of the hotel is very full and I end up parking in the the farthest point from the front door in the main parking lot. This joint is going off and good for them. It is 6:00ish which is the beginning of the prime dining hours. Entering the gaping maw at the top of the decent to the casino , I’m reminded of Dante’s Inferno, and the restaurant is suspiciously unbusy. Very unbusy, like panic time. Uh oh.

Over the course of the evening, as it turns to night and eventually past a reasonable bed time, I walked past the restaurant several times. I couldn’t tell you how many times, it is NYE after all, but more than a couple. Each time its the same, half dead, waste of a night at the Red Sage. At one point, looking for shelter from the brutal beating I’m taking downstairs, I find myself sitting at the bar in the restaurant. There are people looking at the menu and wrinkling their noses, I can’t hear what they’re saying but they are not interested in the food as presented on the special menu. No takers. Bummer. The opportunity to sell a $30 veggie pasta probably looks like pretty good business come morning.