Wild Iris Inn — Hotel in La Conner

Family lives in this area and I have looked forward to staying at the Wild Iris for years. My niece actually worked here during high school and it has always in the past enjoyed a great reputation. For our annual women’s trip, the three of us chose LaConner and the Wild Iris Inn. I booked three rooms in a row on the second floor so everyone would have their own individual room. Two rooms have the king beds, and one had the queen bed. The king rooms seems nicely appointed with large TVs and a larger vanity. The queen room had an old iron bed, lumpy mattress, broken phone, furniture with paint bubbled up and worn off ,bathroom fixtures that were barely affixed to the vanity, and a very musty old smell . The smell was so bad. I actually went down to the front desk and asked for a can of something and they gave me Lysol. I sprayed the room down and it helped only temporarily.

Lastly, the queen room had a very old TV that was the size of a computer monitor (it might have been a computer monitor),and there is no way to turn the TV off or on from the bed. You had to physically get up and hit the button on the side of the TV. Small point? Maybe. But when I just spent well over $1000 to book 3 rooms, I at least expect to have a TV or I can turn it off and on in bed while I’m lounging and relaxing. The woman behind the counter on check in was very nice. The male innkeeper was incredibly rude and when my friend commented to us about it, he must have been listening because he came up and tried to make excuses for his comment. A windstorm came up that night and lights went out. No emergency lights. No flashlights offered. Not sure of safety and legality of no lighted exits at the very least. Really gruff innkeeper said this happens a lot. I get it. But aren’t there basic safety laws? Next morning the power is still out. The kitchen did a great job of just working with a gas stove to put on a breakfast. They offered to boil water so we could at least have tea. We left LaConner for the day since power was out in the greater area. After our day, we returned home to power. The next morning, the three of us we’re having breakfast at the only table that could seat three people. We were there for exactly 1 hour when we were told that we had to leave because people were waiting for a table. All the other couples were seated. There was at least three empty tables around us. We had finished our breakfast and we’re just finishing our discussing what we were going to do for the day. The gruff guy comes up again and says people are waiting for the table. EDIT: response from proprietor said a time limit for breakfast was in place. It was not mentioned, it was not posted, and when we left the Inn 15 minutes later, no one at the table. A four person table is not a ‘party table’ and there were plenty of empty tables you could have put together for 4 people if 4 other people showed up. Which they didn’t. I have never been so embarrassed. My friends had traveled out of town and stayed here on my recommendation, and I was so ashamed at the way we were treated and the way the rooms were not kept ( no refresh of towels, trash, beds made), and the lack of any...

When I made our reservations a few weeks ago I discovered that the Wild Iris has new owners. We found our stay this time to be slightly above average overall - but no longer can we recommend it as "outstanding". We believe that the new owners have the best of intentions for this place. It's just that they may never be able to live up to the expectations set over the years by previous owners, Lori and Steve Farnell. What specifically is missing? What is it that kept us coming back? Simple. The previous owners made us feel like we were guests in their own home. We came back year after year to bask in their love of their precious B&B. The previous owners nurtured us, and we always felt pampered, and that made it outstanding. The new "things" are nice and superior cleanliness is expected, but nurturing will never be a task that gets checked off a to-do list of upgrades.

Guests will now find orange juice, ice water, (uninspired) pastry, granola and a self-serve coffee sideboard in the AM; the "basics" for any B&B. And to their credit, the new owners have hired a super cheerful woman to attend to guests coming down for breakfast. But this place really took a dive on breakfast. We REALLY missed Lori serving us our choice of fresh squeezed juices and hot delicious homemade breakfasts that varied day to day; food she was proud to serve. In contrast, today's breakfast was described as a burrito but presented as a barely warm quesadilla. Just a flour tortilla with a swipe of (canned) refried beans and basic scrambled eggs inside with a bit of (bagged?) shredded cheese. This breakfast was below mediocre in every way. I sat there at the table feeling a bit sad as the new normal associated with the ownership change continued to sink in.

So here's my humble suggestion for the new owners - maybe leverage the quality that surrounds the Wild Iris to elevate the breakfast offerings. Keep it local - maybe buy some of the awesomely prepared pinto beans + salsa from COA across the street. You folks could arrange for fresh bakery to be delivered daily from Calico Cupboard.

Finally, based on our experience this time around, I suggest prospective guests ask the owners to take a tablet or laptop INTO THE ROOM to test the Wi-Fi signal before they assign it. Ours had no Wi-Fi due to what was described to us as a wiring glitch. We were assured that they'll rectify this soon but the promise of a future fix did not help us. It would have been good to know in advance that this advertised amenity was going to be unavailable. An apology was provided but no discount...

My wife and I came here for our 6 year wedding anniversary. We were so lucky to get a room anywhere because the tulips are in peak bloom.

We got to the hotel around 5pm no problems checking in and the gentlemen who checked us in was very kind. But a bit vague (will detail this later)

We paid for our room and grabbed some complimentary tea and a dvd from the lobby.

We stayed in a King Deluxe Room on the second floor. 206. There is a jetted tub in the room, a private balcony and a fairly large shower with complimentary soaps, shampoos and make up remover. There is also a gas fireplace in the room which nice for a romantic evening.

Breakfast was good but small.

The bed and pillows were too firm for our taste.

Overall the room was nice but not worth the $240 that we paid which is why I can't give 5 stars.

Ways to add value: Add a way for guests to make coffee in their room. It kinda sucks waking up in the morning and being forced to get ready for the day if you want coffee. Which is only available in the morning and only in the lobby.

Give clear instructions about how breakfast is working. All we were told was that breakfast would be delivered to our room. We found a pre-covid sign in our room about breakfast but it was also unclear about the time saying it would be served between 8 and 9:30. Its hard to plan your day when you dont have this info. I tried calling the front desk 4 times once I found their number to no avail.

-Which brings up the next point. Have a clear way for guests to get a hold of you. There is an old phone in the room but there are no phone numbers anywhere.

Give each guest a way to plug things in on their night stand. One night stand had a clock with plugs but the other nothing. In todays world everyone needs a place to charge their phone.

I know this may not be feasible but it would be nice to have a way to cool down the room other than an open window and a fan.

And lastly and this may just be a personal taste thing. It would be great to have a thicker removable pillow top for the mattress. The bed was way to firm and we hardly slept. That way those guests that don't like it can remove it or request...