We stayed at Steffens Cedar Lodge 9/1/20-9/3/20. After reading positive reviews, we were excited to stay here. Unfortunately, we had an extremely unsatisfactory experience. Upon checking in, the cabin smelled musty and stale. The carpets were worn and stained. The walls were scuffed and dirty. The bathroom floor grout was broken with loose tiles, and the tub caulk was full of mold. The windows were dirty and had dust covered old bugs on the sill. We found a pile of garbage (dirty diapers, food scraps) behind the cabin. We were iffy on staying, but it is difficult to find lodging that works for our family (we have 4 kids), so we decided to try to work with it. That night, we talked to the owner about the garbage and she picked it up. After the second night, I started cooking breakfast. When I sat the kids at the table to serve them breakfast, I noticed black specks. I looked closer to see it was rodent droppings. I moved a bag I had on the table to find more droppings. We found that our bagels that we stored on top the fridge had rodents droppings around them and that the package been chewed into by rodents. We found more rodent droppings on top the stove. In the stove drawer, we found many rodent droppings along with chunks of insulation. There were droppings in the bottom of the toaster. The same toaster we used to make toast for breakfast. Yuck! In addition to all the above, the WiFi did not function the whole time we were there. That made for additional frustration for us because we also didn't receive cell phone signal adequate enough to check on work matters.
We called the owner to talk about the issues. She was immediately very defensive and even denied the issues we were experiencing. She seemed to have pre-planned, canned answers for all the issues we brought up (which leads us to believe other people have brought them up, too.) For example, she said rodents are an issue because the water is high and they are in the woods. (I've lived on farms and in the woods my whole life and know rodents can be challenging, but this is an infestation! It needs action, not excuses!) She said they recommend that everyone keep their food locked up or in the fridge. (We were never told this, nor was there anything saying that on any of the lodge literature. Just another excuse!) The mold in the bathroom was bleached and is dead. (So why not scrape off the mold laden caulk instead of just applying another layer of caulk over it?) The Wi-Fi doesn't work because Frontier is unreliable. (If Wi-Fi isn't reliable, it shouldn't be advertised as an amenity for guests!) As for the lack of general maintenance, she stated that "They purchased the property a couple years ago and Rome wasn't built in a day." (While this may be true to a point, it doesn't excuse the lack of basic maintenance or proper rodent abatement. Cabins shouldn't be rented out if they are not in proper rentable condition.) She denied the lack of cleanliness, so we offered to show her. So, she and we walked over to the cabin where we pointed out exactly what we had been telling her about. She then stated she would refund us for the extra night we were supposed to stay there. She said that she didn't believe this relationship was working out for either of us and told us to vacate. And then she walked out.
What bothers me most of all was the complete lack of accountability, understanding or apology. There was only defensiveness, excuses, and justifications. The bottom line is, I don't believe the environment we had our family in, and made meals in, was clean, safe or healthy. Rodents are disease laden creatures, and it was clear that the cabin housed more than a small rodent population. I left (correction, was kicked out of!) Steffens Cedar Lodge with a high level of stress and a very sour feeling in my stomach. We spent the next few hours scrambling to look for another place for our family to stay the night. It was an awful experience. Beware. read more