Good luck. We were at Kachina this summer and I really enjoyed staying on the rim. We had a view and I really enjoyed it. The hotel layout and exterior are dated, but the location is very rewarding.
There are several other eating options than EL Tovar. That was the fancy one and I was not that impressed. We usually went to one of the other hotel restaurants or cafeterias.
We used the buses a lot, driving in that area is very difficult (or rather-parking again).