Lakeside Motel — Hotel in Buena Vista

The good - the Lakeside Hotel is very clean and they don't allow people to smoke or have pets, which is fine with us. Inside the deluxe room it was super clean. The bad - deluxe room was really really small. Had a double bed and large stuffed chair that was in the way of the hanging rack - had to move the stuffed chair to get to the closet area. There was no coffee maker and the hair dryer was really substandard, took forever for the wife to dry her hair. Took a shower and the water was either super hot or cold. Finally after a minute found a setting where the water was warm. The hot water was way too hot. My hand it still red after checking the water - its a danger to small children or those who are taking a shower and accidentally bump the faucet. The ugly - we arrived at the room after going to a local hot spring at 11:35 pm. There was a cold front moving in and the temps were supposed to get in the low 30s. I turned up the heater to 72 degrees (manual type) and we went to bed. Woke up at 3:30am freezing. I got up and checked the heater - it was stone cold. I turned the heater to 80 degrees and went back to bed. Around 7ish the outside temp was 33 degrees and it was freezing in the room. So cold there was condensation on the inside of the window. Checked the heater and it was ice cold. Had to go to the bathroom and run the shower on hot to warm up. We got our stuff and checked out. Told the owner, an elderly man, about having no heat. He seemed irritated, said he would check on it later and that was it. No apology or anything. Seemed like I was an inconvenience to him. I wasn't expecting a refund or a free night but I did want an apology. Its sad because it was our 30 year anniversary and we visit the local hot springs a lot. Oh well they lost a customer that would have given them repeat business but I guess the owner doesn't...

We stayed here in 2021 and returned in 2022. We first found the place when we moved our daughter to BV and saw it - it was so attractive and PERFECTLY located - we decided when we came back we would stay there. Because you have to directly call or email it is more inconvenient to book but not that difficult. These pictures online do not do it justice - I wish I had taken some pictures so I could post them. When we first stayed in 2021, it was under the previous owners, and frankly, they were fine and didn't deserve the negative comments - the place was great and the owners had high standards which frankly made me feel better about staying there. However that is irrelevant now because 2 weeks before our stay this year (2022) the place was purchased by a new owner and they are FANTASTIC. He called us the day before our check in to make sure we knew where we were going, and arranged it so we could check in late to our room. He also allowed us to check out a little later than planned. The motel is clean, perfectly located and I highly recommend if you don't need a full service hotel (with breakfast, and pool, and such) stay here. You really don't need all the services of a big hotel because you walk a block to multiple restaurants and stores. A plus is there is a porch like area along the row of rooms where you can sit and view the activity in the park across the street and the downtown area. At night by 10pm all is quiet and it is a pleasant way to end the day. There is no a/c but we stayed in August both visits and it was fine. SUPPORT THIS LOCAL BUSINESS!! You won't be disappointed. Also -...

The good, the bad, and the ugly. The good: room was clean & quiet. The bad: room was very small, as in communist eastern Europe small. Moreover, lacked a coffee maker, which is kind of the most basic amenity in nearly every motel, esp at this price point. Little scimpy on towels and a tiny TV. The ugly: in short, the staff. First, we had to wait one hour+ to check in as they were "running errands". Apparently, motel guests are somewhere down in the queue. When much anticipated check-in finally occurred, we were greeted by a very unpleasant woman whose greeting reminded me of my military drill sergeant (i.e., not too pleasant!) apparently has not heard about the whole Covid-19 issue. No mask, despite being at times within 3 ft, face-to-face. When reminded of this, went from sour to hostile in a nanosecond. Horrid person, horrid interaction. Then there was the whole interrogation to see if I qualified to stay--do you party, smoke, no marijuana, etc... very weird...never, ever anywhere in the world have I seen that. Summary: for the price, not worth it. Find a chain or large hotel where the rooms are properly equipped & staff has training (& cares) about customer relations, where...