Casual Living Extended Stay Hotels — Hotel in Algonquin

PLEASE READ & TAKE CARE! Not as nice web site suggests! We chose this place about 4 years ago for a friend who had a 6 month contract position with a firm in Crystal Lake. We live 5 hours away, knew nothing about the area, and had less than 2 weeks to find a rental/room. Found this online & pics/description made it look pretty & safe. Phone call with female Mgr (who lived on site) went well.

Nice lake out back but only way to building was a steep stone staircase. Once we got inside, it was more of a shabby boarding house. All men. Shared bathroom/shower & nasty kitchen. Very thin construction, narrow halls & stairs, low ceilings, windows leaked when it rained. Always smelled funny. Before we even got to his room I literally BEGGED him to leave & we'd find someplace else. It was more like some of the community mental health facilities my clients have lived in than an actual hotel/motel/rooming house.

For 2 months, I visited 2-3 weekends - MAYBE 10 days - a month & stayed in his room. This started annoying the manager who complained about my frequency of visits and the fact that my car took up one of the (only) 4 total parking spaces. (My friend didn't have his there - just a bike he kept in his room.) She also didn't like the fact that we would keep opening the back basement door to go out to the lake (it never shut completely and so when we opened it we "let the air conditioning out".) She then threatened to charge ME rent because of this. (Supposedly the owner backed her up on this.)

• • WORST PART BY FAR - my friend CONTRACTED MRSA (USA600) WHILE THERE and LITERALLY almost DIED. (Docs said it was probably from shared shower.) 3" DEEP PELVIC WOUND & 105° fever required Isolation ICU for a week and then IV antibiotics for 8 weeks. On Friday, I called & told the house manager that my friend was being admitted, what Drs said, how ill he was. Because I was there visiting from 4 hrs away & had 2 13yo girls with me (Yes , we stayed @ different hotel. No WAY I'd take them anywhere NEAR this place...) I couldn't get his stuff out of his room until Sunday. Because it was beginning of rental week, they STILL CHARGED HIM for whole week's rent! After a shouting argument with the manager, I wrote a...

Honestly, If I could give this hotel less than one star I would. It's not even based on how my stay there had been. It's based on the fact that I had not received any form of communication back from the hotel. I had called the number listed for them at least 3 times, leaving 3 separate voicemails. Left them a Facebook message and even emailed them as well, to no avail, no message or call was made by them in return. The reservation line states that you will hear back within 24hrs. It has now been a week since the first call was made. My boyfriend and I are currently between living situations and were informed about this hotel due to the cost and how close it is to our jobs. It's quite disappointing to me to write this review based on not even being contacted back about staying there, instead of how the stay went. With temperatures currently fluctuating and gas prices where they are, staying here would have benefited us very much. Sorry to give your facility less than 1 star (figuratively by technicality, literally by experience), however, had we been contacted back on any channel, this review would be reflecting in a different...

Situated on the Algonquin waterfront, this hotel provided me with an excellent experience. The rooms are comfortable from the furniture to the overall charm, and are a nice place to unwind after a day of activities, many of which are easily accessible from the hotel's location. Some places you arrive just make you think "I'm in a good place," and this is one of those places. Simply, and perhaps more accurately, it's just a great place to stay. And it seems important to point out that i have a lot of trouble sleeping on beds that aren't mine, and ending up with back and neck pain on trips, BOTH of which were not issues here, which my back especially...