WARNING: Unsanitary! This hotel does NOT have full mattress encasements to protect the mattress…read morefrom bedbugs, bodily fluids, spills, or allergens. There is a thin fabric top mattress protector instead of the industry standard six-sided zippered mattress encasement. Room 223 and room 114 have stains on both sides of the mattresses. Make sure you thoroughly inspect your bed as soon as you check-in. These mattresses are a straight up health risk. BYOB! (Bring your own bedding)
The service of the staff is wonderful. Every employee I interacted with was incredibly kind, well intentioned, and friendly. The location is breathtaking, the onsite amenities (gift shop, bar, live music, diner) are a nice perk. However, the experience was completely ruined by cheap management.
The front desk is not open 24 hours, with no front desk hours posted on the website. I wanted to complain at check-out, but nobody was there at 7am.
The hotel will charge you $5 for any unreturned keys. They are not even custom keys with the hotel name, they are generic keycards that cost $0.25 each. I know this because I found the exact keys and keycard envelopes they use on Amazon. I truly think they don't use any hotel supplier companies for anything.
The housekeepers are clearly given too many rooms to turnover. When you first walk into the room, things look clean at first glance. However, there are small details that would be easily addressed by a housekeeper with enough time to clean, or a housekeeping manager to inspect the rooms prior to check-in. Empty body wash and shampoo bottles, stains and handprints all over the walls, dead bugs in every corner, cobwebs, sticky floors and countertops, stained sheets, stained mattresses, ripped comforter, food crumbs left in sofa bed. Each room was clearly rushed to get ready with the bare minimum requirements for a turnover being met.
Considering every single pillow case and sheet had a stain on it, it's reasonable to suspect that improper detergent is being used. Hotel bedding needs heavy duty industrial-grade detergent, not the typical soaps you would use at home. Experienced travelers will notice a lack of that classic "hotel smell" that's a result of the cleaning solutions used.
The most important thing management cheaped out on, and THE MOST DISGUSTING part of this place, is that this is the ONLY hotel I have ever seen without a proper mattress protector. Thats right, any bodily fluids, bed bugs, mites, lice, fleas, pet dander, biohazards, etc can get right into the mattress you are sleeping directly on top of. Oh, and per the policy on their website, there are NO refunds once you check-in!
The poor staff was essentially helpless and unempowered. They really wanted to make things right but had no way of doing so other than offering another set of sheets and a different room, which unfortunately had the same issue.
The ADA lift up the stairs in the middle of the property is broken. I watched multiple senior citizens and disabled guests struggle to operate it, only for an employee to inform them it is broken and non-operational. There is not even an out of order sign on it. A wheelchair user was forced to go all the way around the property to get to his room. I felt bad for everyone staying here.
Worst of all, and truly the most inefficient, regretful decision a hotel manager can make, is that any discounts or refunds must be individually approved by management. That is penny pinching to the extreme. You should trust and empower your employees to take care of the guest. If you are worried about employees comping too much or comping when unnecessary, give them a guide or some training! Leaving issues unresolved until management can give a thumbs up just results in angry customers and low ratings. Shame on you for not trusting your hardworking staff.
Management, do better. Your decisions are an insult to the hotel industry and hospitality staff. Go manage a Super 8 if you want to be that cheap, and leave this beloved historic lodge to an expert.
