The Lodge at Fall Creek Falls — Hotel in Dunlap

It can be hard to know what to expect on a trip to a state park "lodge" if it's your first time. What does it even mean? Is it a hotel? A government ran operation like a social security office? A resort? I mean, kinda all of that. This place is touted as the new shiny fanciest-of-them-all state park lodge, so we were curious to try it out. I've hiked at FCF before but never stayed overnight in any capacity. So, it's nice, but... a little odd. The building is large, high vaulted ceilings, very clean, and extremely sparse/minimalistic in decor. The cushions on the chairs in the lobby are strapped down. It looks like it's kinda trying to be a resort, and the $230 per night prices are certainly not La Quinta rates, yet there are none of the usual frills you would get at a hotel if you paid that kind of price (don't expect any entertainment, a bar, a gym, a salon, bellboys, valet nor a concierge). You are totally paying for the location.

The lodge staff are DEFINITELY state employees. Adjust your expectations accordingly. Whilst they are pleasant and friendly folks, they are woefully understaffed esp in the restaurant. Many of them are somewhat clueless, three quarters of them just started working there yesterday therefore, lacking common sense, cannot answer any of your questions with any degree of aptitude. We asked, what time is breakfast served? Reply: 11am. I said, that's remarkably late for breakfast to start. She giggled and said, you're right. It's 10.30am. ??? I said, wait, breakfast STARTS at 1030? She goes, look, it's my second day. We called and asked if we could make reservations for dinner, or is it first come first served. The response was, "I'm not sure." We got no housekeeping service. When we queried that, the front desk staff said "you have to request room cleaning," yet had neglected to tell us that upon check-in. I believe it's reasonable to expect your room to be serviced. I think it's useful to know this before staying here.

Our room was nice! Quiet despite being near the pool, excellent sound proof glass. The pool is great. We were on the floor below the lobby and never heard a peep of noise, ever. Comfy beds, full bathtub, mini fridge (no microwave.) There's a gift shop in the lobby open 24 hrs with a few snacks, ice cream, a communal microwave, beer and wine. The restaurant offers a cold breakfast included in the price of your stay. Heavy on the carbs (bagels, waffles, muffins, pastries) some fruit, with cold hard boiled eggs plus hot and cold beverages. No meat or veggies. Tough luck if you're low carb LOL! Lunch and dinner are at cost with a very limited menu. Be prepared to wait 15 minutes to be acknowledged by a server, but once you order, your food won't take too long to come out. The food is undoubtedly basic, and fairly good if you're not expecting high end dining. If you're wanting shaved truffles and fois Gras with a pairing of wild Alaskan salmon then you will go hungry. If you like cheeseburgers, chicken tenders and frito pie, you will be in culinary heaven. We had fun eating that stuff for a couple of days. For what it is, it's fine ~ and quite cheap, too. Easy access to all the trails/waterfalls plus the lake is right there in front of the lodge. Parking is a breeze. Fishing everywhere. Next time we'll stay in a cabin so we can cook our own food (we don't like eating carbs all the time and there's nowhere else to eat other than a snack bar which sells the same deep fried staples.) We'll come back, yes, but not to the lodge. It's enjoyable for a getaway, all in all I would recommend it, but just be realistic...

We enjoyed our stay at the Lodge at Fall Creek Falls. Decent rooms (minus plywood painted ceilings which we thought was strange). The main issue was the restaurant. That was a stressful cluster! Not just for guests but for employees. My husband and I have never experienced anything quite like it and I worked in the bar/restaurant industry for many years. Lack of management is probably where it stems from. The hostess was extremely flustered to the point of crying multiple times. We sat at the bar because there was such a long wait. There was maybe 8-10 tables sat in the whole restaurant, but long wait. We sat at the bar un-acknowledged for a while. Bartender very short and clearly stressed as well. Finally got drinks and asked for a menu 3 times. The 10 people sitting at the bar had empty drinks. (Big no-no). After 20 min. She took our order. Which was standard for each bar guest. After 30 min. The kitchen staff came out to tell the people next to us their order couldn’t be made because they were out of noodles. I over heard and informed our bartender our order needed to be changed as I ordered the same dish. Then another customer was told they were out of baked potatoes. While we sat there we watched 3 customers leave because food never came out. The manger had to remove meals from tickets because their food never came out. The manager didn’t say a word to customers or try to fix the situation and went about his way. After an hour of waiting we got our food. I ordered the pimento Mac and cheese with bacon and added chicken. It tasted like boxed Mac and cheese, with no pimento. The bartender asked how it was, I said it doesn’t taste like pimento but it’s fine I’m not waiting any longer for food. She replies with “yea I had some earlier and it didn’t taste like pimento, I think they are out and just sending out Mac and cheese”!!! The bartender was very inexperienced. Customers had to tell her how to make drinks, we had to help her open a bottle of wine because she broke the cork, couldn’t remember her guest names after asking 4-5 times and what their drink order was. When you have 10 customers in front of you, you treat those customers well! Took her 10 min. Just to give a customer a bottle beer. We felt bad for her because she was overwhelmed, but also know it’s not hard to handle 10 bar guest. She said her manager hadn’t checked on her once. No bar back. Another waitress said her table waited 40 min. For their food. (When, keep in mind there were maybe 8-10 tables sat in whole place, with multiple wait staff working). The entire staff was stressed and it showed. It was not a pleasant experience. Not to mention the insane amounts of spider webs and spiders on the porch. Sweep it. Hopefully this place can get it figured out. It was a beautiful place on the lake… it’s a shame it wasn’t a...

If 3.5 was an option, I'd have given it that.||Location: 5/5|Staff: 5/5|Cleanliness: 5/5|Comfort: 3/5|Restaurant: 5/5|Parking 3/5|Value: 2/5||The good:|This 2022 Lodge, costing $40,200,000, is beautiful. Just about every room has a view of the lake. The room and lodge are tastefully decorated and were exceptionally clean. Fall Creek State Park is gorgeous and there is a lot to do. Staff is very helpful (shoutout to Debbie at the front desk!). Dinner at the restaurant is in line with resort pricing, and was worth every penny. Free breakfast was delicious; a little on the sparse side, but the attendant was great.||The not so good:|* Parking during dinner is a nightmare. 91 spots for 85 rooms is poor planning. 2 of those spots are EV-only, and 4 are handicapped. So anyone staying at the lodge who isn't parked by 4pm will have to use the overflow lot. Yes, there's a shuttle with a great driver, but it's annoying to add time and effort to park when you've forked out $200+ for a room. |* Lumpy bed. Really? The lodge is only 2 years old and I slept on a bed where someone who must've weighed 500# sunk the bed into the middle. For the price, I should've been sleeping on Purple or Tempurpedic, not bargain brand.|* No business center. It looks like it was planned, but changed out for a game room. That's a great idea for all the families that were there. It's not so good for anyone needing to print something or who needed a bigger screen than their phone. At least put in a stand-up terminal and printer into the ATM room if teens were a problem in a formal business center.|* No late checkout -- not even an extra 30 minutes to shower. Instead, if you're at the back half of the pack, you get to drive home all sweaty and stinky because there are "no exceptions" to late checkout.||Overall:|This was a race weekend - races where the mini-expo was outside on a hot ballfield while three conference rooms in the lodge stood empty. It would make sense to draw people into the lodge and restaurant by offering one of those rooms to race organizers, especially for a race that filled up the $200/night rooms (and that was a "discount"). If things are the same, we'll probably stay in Spencer and drive up. Loved the restaurant, loved the view, loved the people. But cannot justify the steep price. We stay at a lot of different hotels at different price points. This one was not commensurate...