Herrington Inn & Spa — Hotel in Geneva Township

My experiences at the Herrington were grand until the latest visit. I took my wife here before our engagement, after our marriage, and originally they were going to be the location she used with her bridal party before our larger ceremony this coming year. We thought we had found our nearby “escape”. That is no longer the case.

My wife and I took our young one here as a special treat for his birthday. When we showed up, the rate listed on the folded piece of paper I was given to sign was $40 higher than my wife had booked. No big deal, I let that slide. The attendant switched our room for some reason, but I didn’t feel the need to cause any issues after that either.

We got to our room to discover a puddle of something, either hastily cleaned pet urine OR a puddle of cleaning solution right in the entryway. I found that with my nice (formerly) dry sock. Inconvenient, but not the end of the world.

Then we wanted to take a bath. Water was lukewarm and never heated up to the desired temperature regardless of how long we let it run. A new frustration.

After the bath, I wanted to rinse off in the shower. Not only was it cold, the shower smelled of sewage coming from the drain. Yet another frustration. The list grows.

This entire time we haven’t gotten the warm cookies that are a part of the entire experience. I know they’re just cheap chocolate chip cookies, but it’s part of the experience we paid for AND we wanted to share with our child. We called down twice and after all the other inconveniences I went down to inform the front desk. I got a very insincere “ohhhhh noooooo that’s too bad I’m soooooo sorry. We’ll fix this right away.” I hoped something would be fixed but I didn’t have the greatest expectations at this point.

We never see cookies and give up. We go to bed. In the morning we start getting ready for our birthday plans. While my wife is getting ready to leave, the power in our part of the hotel COMPLETELY SHUTS OFF. For an hour. Our entire schedule has been thrown off and we had to cancel and push back planned events. I missed the whole first period of a hockey game I was taking our child to because of it.

So the experience stunk. But the real kicker? We’ve been pinballed back and forth for weeks, chasing some kind of resolution for our horrific time. The front desk couldn’t solve it the day of because no manager was in. Then when we followed up and called in (because we weren’t reached out to as we were told we would be), that manager said he had to talk to ANOTHER manager to do anything about it. The other manager? Out that day. And the originally manager would be out the next. We were told we’d hear back in 3 days. So we wait. Silence. Won’t answer calls, wont return them.

So instead of us feeling we could return for future anniversaries, birthdays, date nights, etc., we now have a place we cannot ever trust again.

The experience they CAN provide is great. But when they fall short, expect to be told to “kick rocks”...

To start, this is a charming, quaint intimate hotel. It's beautiful in an old European way, but... will give my cons later. If you want a great location, beautiful views of the Fox River, old time charm, not too picky about upgrades, this is a great hotel. ||The Atwater restaurant on site was very good for dinner and breakfast the next morning. The staff was attentive. All staff we encountered was friendly, so they're doing their job.||But, if you expect a hotel to keep up with upgrades, even just as minimal as carpeting in the hallways and Lobby, and OUTLETS that don't fall out of the wall. From what I could see there is no usb ports or anything modern for all the technology these days.||But, first off you will notice everywhere in the rooms, the hallways and Lobby, it is dark with poor lighting. Sometimes mood lighting and ambience is welcomed, but not the whole time. There is alot of brick and wood inside with dark wall paint throughout. Where there is carpeting, it is old and even a dark green color.||My room was very dark and the walls were painted a gold color, and even with ample windows and balconies, the rooms were very dark. The lighting was terrible. The furnishings were wood, ornate, old and worn out, some chairs were stained and the HEAVY draperies were dusty and just old looking. The chairs were so old and dusty I was afraid to sit on them. ||The windows are filled with cobwebs outside. Yes, it's on the River with beautiful views by the way, but they need to clean the balconies and windows more often. The view out my window was amazing, and the landscaping was very good, but unfortunately it needed a good cleaning.||Furnishings throughout the hotel were DARK and dated. As soon as we walked in, you can smell the oldness of the hotel. Yes, it's old and quaint and probably hard to keep a fresh smell, but at least try. Updating the carpeting alone with all the huge drapery would help tremendously with smells. ||It's such a shame that this was the case, because this hotel has great potential. Big renovations are mandatory for this hotel to keep up it's past reputation and make it easier to swallow the horrendous price they charged for their rooms. My friend also complained about the same things in her room. For what they charge, it's appalling that they don't update. ||Beware also, even using a credit card, they upcharge your account by about $200 extra dollars for "incidentals", but they say they will remove it later. Usually when you check in and swipe your credit card, they keep it on file for incidentals, etc., but that's usually if you use a Debit card, not a credit card. Some guests we talked with in the restaurant were not pleased with this and they weren't told upon checkin.||Whoever owns this property, you need to see your potential and invest some money to make it a great...

To start, this is a charming, quaint intimate hotel. It's beautiful in an old European way, but... will give my cons later. If you want a great location, beautiful views of the Fox River, old time charm, not too picky about upgrades, this is a great hotel. ||The Atwater restaurant on site was very good for dinner and breakfast the next morning. The staff was attentive. All staff we encountered was friendly, so they're doing their job.||But, if you expect a hotel to keep up with upgrades, even just as minimal as carpeting in the hallways and Lobby, and OUTLETS that don't fall out of the wall. From what I could see there is no usb ports or anything modern for all the technology these days.||But, first off you will notice everywhere in the rooms, the hallways and Lobby, it is dark with poor lighting. Sometimes mood lighting and ambience is welcomed, but not the whole time. There is alot of brick and wood inside with dark wall paint throughout. Where there is carpeting, it is old and even a dark green color.||My room was very dark and the walls were painted a gold color, and even with ample windows and balconies, the rooms were very dark. The lighting was terrible. The furnishings were wood, ornate, old and worn out, some chairs were stained and the HEAVY draperies were dusty and just old looking. The chairs were so old and dusty I was afraid to sit on them. ||The windows are filled with cobwebs outside. Yes, it's on the River with beautiful views by the way, but they need to clean the balconies and windows more often. The view out my window was amazing, and the landscaping was very good, but unfortunately it needed a good cleaning.||Furnishings throughout the hotel were DARK and dated. As soon as we walked in, you can smell the oldness of the hotel. Yes, it's old and quaint and probably hard to keep a fresh smell, but at least try. Updating the carpeting alone with all the huge drapery would help tremendously with smells. ||It's such a shame that this was the case, because this hotel has great potential. Big renovations are mandatory for this hotel to keep up it's past reputation and make it easier to swallow the horrendous price they charged for their rooms. My friend also complained about the same things in her room. For what they charge, it's appalling that they don't update. ||Beware also, even using a credit card, they upcharge your account by about $200 extra dollars for "incidentals", but they say they will remove it later. Usually when you check in and swipe your credit card, they keep it on file for incidentals, etc., but that's usually if you use a Debit card, not a credit card. Some guests we talked with in the restaurant were not pleased with this and they weren't told upon checkin.||Whoever owns this property, you need to see your potential and invest some money to make it a great...