The Hideaway Lodge was one of the only reasonably priced accommodations anywhere near Yellowstone,…read moreeven on a frickin' Tuesday, and with a couple of littles in tow, we needed something quiet, spacious and secluded. With a four bunk room available in a massive cabin with a truly unfathomable number of bedrooms (AT LEAST a dozen, if I recall correctly), and only ~35-ish minutes from the park's west entrance, this place proved to be everything we needed, and more!
When we rolled up to the cabin in the early afternoon, we were the only people on site, guests OR staff. Approaching the sliding glass door on the ground floor, we found signage directing us on the self-serve check-in process, which basically boils down to a laminated sheet with your name on it, telling you how to find your room, and the rules of the house. Some rooms came with keys for their locks, while others required a code to lock/unlock them; ours used a code, which was nowhere to be found on our check-in document, but a quick call to the provided number solved the issue.
Additional guests would arrive over the course of the evening: in our case, almost entirely consisting of one large party of Taiwanese tourists, who encountered similar issues with keys and door codes. Fortunately for them, I work for an extremely famours Taiwanese company (that they all knew very well), so we instantly hit it off, and I was able to get them the codes they needed, and help them all find their assigned rooms. Left to their own devices, they probably would have figured it out without my assistance, but the site owners should probably be a bit more present or accessible (other than a phone number in an area with no signal coverage, and lacklusterm under-performing wi-fi), especially for foreign tourists, whom might need a little more assistance.
Beds were comfy (despitemy wife and I sharing a bunk, which we have done before - our room choice was intentional, due to the kiddos), there were plenty of bathrooms with clean towels, and the second floor boasts a massive kitchen, dining room and and living room (in addition to the smaller living room on the ground floor), meaning that even with nearly 20 people in the house, it never felt crowded, claustrophobic, or noisy. Additionally, the cabin's remoteness lends itself to some spectacular views of the sky at night...when the weather behaves itself.
In short, we absolutely would stay here again. There is seemingly no better value for accommodations anywhere near Yellowstone, and if you have some sort of aversion to the concept of "hostels", rest assured that The Hideaway is really nothing of the sort: think of it more like your own personal cabin in the woods, plus a few unexpected guests, and with 100% less hauntings or chainsaw/axe murderers (at least in our experience). Very recommended for couples, families and large groups!