Sonoita Inn

As soon as I walked in I got the strong smell of fresh cut wood. It almost smelled like oak barrels which is appropriate in this area. The room was nicely decorated but you could hear noise outside the door.

Unique, and quiet in the evenings. Wine, cheese and crackers waiting for you in the lobby. Help yourself kitchen. In the morning, complementary breakfast. Friendly staff and pet friendly

If you’re heading out on a mini excursion to Sonoita-​Patagonia and you’re not into the camping thing, the Sonoita Inn is a simple and easy option-it’s all about location, location, location! The inn is like the entry to Sonoita and is essentially the «fork in the road» that leads to Patagonia. A few eateries, gas station and convenience store are all located within walking distance. And wineries are like ten minutes away!
Now, the inn: It’s old! The walls are thin, it’s ranch style and simple but it definitely has its charm. The walls are dotted with historical photos of the area which a really cool. Each room is named in honor of family run ranches in the area. This isn’t a fancy place by any means, but it’s a clean place to sleep, at least in my experience The rooms range from $ 120 to $ 140 or so. A little pricey considering the place is pretty basic.
My suggestion: Book a room at the inn, then head to wine country for the day, end the excursion with a giant steak at the Steak Out and a bottle of wine, then walk back to the inn and sleep it off! Alternatively, you can connect with someone at the Inn to plan a day full of activities in the area!

Charming little country inn in the heart of southern AZ Wine Country. Looks like a rustic barn/​cabin with a common area, kitchen, fireplace, and community table. It’s clean, comfortable and near all the wineries, walking distance to restaurants and stores. Not many lodging options in the area but this is a good one.

The Sonoita Inn is the most convenient lodging option for wine country in the area. I’ve stayed there with family and friends on multiple occasions over the years and have always found the hosts to be very friendly and service oriented. The rooms are comfortable and there is a nice common area on the first floor where you can gather with friends before or after going on your wine tours. The Inn is within walking distance of a couple restaurant options in Sonoita, and less than a 10 minute drive to several of Arizona’s best wine tasting rooms. It’s also fun to wander through the halls of the hotel and look at the photos of old and current ranches in the area, which are also what the rooms are named after.

We stayed at the Sonoita Inn for one night 2÷24÷2015 and at $ 109 a night there was no light in the hallway to put the key the room door. Once in the room on the first floor (we were the only guests that night) the heat/​air conditioning unit was missing the frame so there was a hole through the wall allowing outside COLD air to enter the room on a night temperature of low 40s. The SMALL television’s remote didn’t work so changing channels or volume had to be done manually at the Dish Network DVR. Since the staff only operates between the hours of 2−5pm there’s no one at the front desk to complain to. Poor management and poor service.

Sooo this was more of a 3.5 than a 4 star rating, but I am going to round up because they had 2 of the 2 most important things a hotel should have (in my opinion): 1. Location and 2. Cleanliness. Sonoita Inn is located on one of the main intersections, close to all the restaurants and a little grocery store and gas station as well as to most wineries. Secondly, the rooms were pristine; I could not even find a single speck of dust anywhere. On top of that, the room was adorable: i loved the country style, the furniture and art (i posted a photo). We purchased the $ 180 flat rate deal which gave us a complimentary bottle of wine and a $ 50 voucher to Steak Out restaurant (which I will write a separate review about). A bottle of Merlot was waiting for us as well as some valentines day chocolates which was a very sweet touch. Lastly, on Friday and Saturdays at 5 pm they have wine and cheese in the lobby. The lobby is beautiful (see photo posted) and the wine wasn’t too bad either. There were quite a few other young couples there so it was a fun atmosphere.
Here are some things we didn’t like: the walls are sooo thin you could literally hear people talking in the other room or walking by your room (this was our main issue since it made us feel like there was no privacy), the ac/​heater is right by the bed so I had air blowing straight into my face literally all night (it was a battle between being cold and too hot), the restroom was a little outdated (i.e. bad shower head) and the toilet seat was really loose, the staff isn’t present much and they have a late check in time.

I was very reluctant about staying at the Inn bc of the reviews but was shockingly amazed at how nice it was. The woman at the front desk and who was around during my whole stay was wonderful, warm & inviting. My biggest concern was cleanliness but again was impressed with my clean room. I even checked for bedbugs and found nothing but a clean mattress. I’ll definitely stay at the INN again!

Do not stay at this place!!! A nightmare. Where to start? The 1^st day my room got burglarized. For all 4 day my friend and I were there, our beds weren’t made and our rooms weren’t cleaned. They have an archaic key system that will lock you out of the main building and your room (which happened to some of our other friends). Usually no one is at the desk and no one answers phone calls. I have never had a worse hotel experience. Avoid this place at all costs!!!
Terry Johnson

Neat and clean. Complimentary evening wine consisted of 1 decanter each of red and white. Get down early. When it is gone, that’s it; no refills. They did not serve anything else with it. If you want cheese and crackers, salami or nuts, it is byo. Rooms have very little if any sound proofing. Music and conversation comes right through. We could hear everything going on around us. Continental Breakfast consisted of wrapped and commercially packaged pastries, nothing fresh and local. Overall, mediocre. There are other B&Bs nearby and in Patagonia that provide a higher quality experience.

We’ve stayed in the area many times before. This time we selected the Sonoita Inn since we wanted to share the room with 3 other people and they have a 5 person room. The price for this was a bit too much in the first place, and when we went in in person (we happened to be driving through) we were shown a room, promised a price, then told to call later to confirm the reservation. When we called, the lady on the phone was completely unaware that they even had rooms for 5 people and could not match the price we were quoted. We booked anyway.
When we arrived we had one less person, so we asked if the 5^th person charge could be dropped, since there were only 4 people using the room. The last at the desk said that the staff had spent too much time setting up the room for 5 people, so no refund would be given. We were also told we would receive a AAA discount, which the lady did not know they offered, and in order to get it we had to spend quite a lot of time discussing it. Not a big deal, but annoying. Their front desk also does not open until 2:00, so if you need to call to speak to someone, good luck. (We tried to call ahead to tell them that only 4 were coming, not 5). This could have been really annoying had we needed to cancel or something.
The room was nice. Nothing special. We honestly didn’t see anything that indicated that they had spent time setting up for 5 people (there weren’t even enough towels for 5 people).
They do have a nice set-​up with the breakfast, which is self cater. We were happy to sit in the living room area enjoying our meal the next morning. The interior (as well as the rooms) are clean and comfortable. It is an easy walk from the bar and two small grocery stores, as well as The Steak Out… which is good for those of us who spent the day wine tasting…
I still think it’s a bit overpriced… I would recommend one of the smaller places, such as Xanadu, which has real personality and exceptional owners.

We stayed at the Sonoita Inn for the wine festival on April 19 – 20 and come down for the races & the rodeo. Had a fantastic time. You can’t expect this place to be 5 star or even 4 star but it is an awesome place. We’ve stayed here before and we have learned that there are only 2 people (sometimes just 1) running the place at any given time and usually only one person at front desk. They take care of everything from cleaning to making reservations. It is very unique and we have never had a problem when staying there. As far as them serving wine on the weekend, they’ve told us that it is a welcoming gesture – they can’t serve more than that because they don’t have a liquor license. They do need to make updates but overall great place. Sonoita is too beautiful to be locked up in your room anyway.

Gosh, I really WANTED to like Sonoita Inn. Honestly!
We visited on a surprise Winter trip DH had planned for us to AZ wine country.
The Sonoita Inn is located next to The Steak Out, which holds some personal memories for us.
When we first checked in, I was ecstatic. It used to be owned by the owners of Secretariat and there was a lot of memorabilia. The innkeeper had a large dog who, once she confirmed we liked dogs, came around and greeted us. The innkeeper was sweet and welcoming and told us about the hotel procedures.
In the evenings, you have to let yourself into the lobby doors with an exterior key they give you. They are very trusting!
We checked into our room, which was lovely. It was also immaculate. I could not find a speck of dust on the floors. It was a bit bright, which meant we’d be waking early, but I was so happy to be there that I didn’t mind.
We left after setting our bags down and had a lovely afternoon in AZ wine country (reviews on the wineries forthcoming).
We went to The Steak Out for dinner and returned after 9:30 to the hotel, letting ourselves in the lobby.
We get into our room and start getting ready for bed.
Here’s where everything went downhill.
I pull the sheets back and I see a black bug in the bed. It was dead. Okay, this is the desert. I can deal with A bug. Then I see another bug crawling near the head of the bed. I call DH over and he inspects closer. Is that… a bed bug?
He pulls the sheets off on his side and finds another bug in the bed, which ran quickly to hide. Eeek.
We photograph the bugs and try to compare them with pictures of bed bugs we see online on our phones.
But, wait, I see more bugs in the corner on the ceiling. Eeeeeeek.
So, now our skin is crawling and we call the number to reach the innkeeper. She answers the phone and assures us that we cannot be seeing bed bugs because they get sprayed regularly.
This is not an appropriate response, if you are familiar with bed bugs. We have never HAD bed bugs, but we have heard horror stories having worked in NYC.
At this point, it is too late (and far too dark — have you been down South??) to drive anywhere else to stay. There is nowhere for miles. We contemplated staying in the car, but it was maybe 20 degrees outside now. We did not want to bring blankets from the bed-​bug bed into our car, so we decide to stay in the room.
We convince ourselves that maybe this is not a bed bug. Though… this is most certainly a young bed bug we have photographed.
We get fully dressed, putting on our coats and zipping them up. Leaving on our socks and shoes.
We stay up until 3 a.m. having obsessive thoughts of things crawling all over us — or at least I was.
We finally fall asleep. Just after sun rise, we collect all our things, inspecting them for hitchhikers. We go to check out sometime after 6 a.m. and a young girl is working at the desk. We tell her about the incident and she says to email her the pictures. We do while still there and then we take off… screaming (okay, not really, but mostly).
We cut our trip short and head home because we could not get over our failed attempt to have a romantic night.
We get an email from the innkeeper around 9 or 10 a.m. indicating she agrees with us she thinks the pictures are of bedbugs. She said she called an exterminator and had them spray the whole building, but said the exterminator said they were NOT bed bugs.
As a courtesy, she refunded $ 50 of our money.
I know bed bugs are not a hotel’s fault. One person could bring them in their luggage, set it on the bed and then… the rest is history.
The problem is the way the situation was handled at night when we called. And for her to only partially refund us for an awful situation like we were put in is very bad business.
IMPORTANT: If they were indeed bed bugs, like we and the innkeeper think, there is no way to get rid of them by spraying. I am sure you’ve heard how people expend tens of thousands of dollars to get rid of bedbugs. So, be forewarned.
As an aside, we kept our luggage in the garage for a week and removed the clothing. We put the clothing in the dryer for two hours on high heat, which would kill any eggs if infected. There were no bed bug hitchhikers. THANK GOD.
Had there not been an issue with bugs of whatever kind in our bed, we would have given this inn 4 stars for being quaint, cute and cowboy-​country-​cool. But the bugs and the service after we found the bugs was just unacceptable.

Looking at its website, the Inn would appear be a unique, fun place to stay. Indeed, that was likely true when it was new 30 years ago but its shelf-​life has definitely expired. We were much disappointed upon arrival … but that said, it is the only viable motel option in the area. The reception area was messy and the adjoining office looked like it doubled as a broom closet. Two young girls were on duty and when we entered, one was tossing dirty linens down over the railing from the second floor. The communal guest area was messy and less than clean. Our room was steeped in an unpleasant odor which must have been from the cleaning agents used or an ill advised «room freshener». The mattress seemed to be of the old innerspring type with the stiff edges and made for a fitful night’s sleep. The continental breakfast was marginal at best.
At $ 138, it was much overpriced. We wouldn’t stay there again and in hindsight, would explore some of the B&B options or stay in Tucson.