Ramada by Wyndham Wisconsin Dells — Hotel in Lake Delton

We decided to book a quick weekend getaway to the Dells this weekend. We didn’t feel like paying $315/night for a huge resort as we were only going to be there for two nights and wouldn’t really enjoy all the amenities a resort had to offer. So we booked the Ramada for $125/night. Man, oh man...I wish I had read the reviews on Yelp because there are very obviously many fake 5 star reviews on Trip Advisor. Reading the responses from the “GM,” it’s also painfully obvious that they are either living in a fantasy world, or honestly do not care about any of these reviews. Complaints that people voiced 3 or 4 years ago are still very much a problem now, no matter how much the GM says they address the issues brought up in the poor reviews.

First, the lobby is very unwelcoming. There are signs up stating you must wear a mask...yet the man at the desk was not wearing one. There were two short tables blocking the front of the desk so you have to lean forward to sign your paperwork, which kind of negates the purpose of the tables. We were told our room was number 225, and received two key cards. Upon stepping off the tiny elevator onto the 2nd floor, we found it to be pitch black. Literally all the lights were off, like something out of a horror movie. We had to turn on our phone flashlights in order to find our room, and then only one of the key cards worked. We called the desk to let him know there were no lights on the 2nd floor and he did come up shortly after to turn them on, but what the heck? I have never seen that happen before.

The bathroom in the room is TINY. If you are a large person or handicapped in any way, this bathroom is not accessible at all. The toilet is so low to the ground and close to the door/wall that you have to sit sideways so your right leg isn’t being gouged by the toilet paper holder. The bathtub was a normal bathtub, and the water pressure was okay even though the water kind of sprayed everywhere. Nothing looked “clean,” just old and dingy. The fan/vent in the bathroom did not work well and was covered with dust, so when showering it got so wet in the bathroom it would be impossible to actually dry off and get dressed in there. You can’t finish getting ready in the bathroom anyway, because the sink is outside of the bathroom directly to the right of the room’s entrance door. There is no privacy curtain between the bathroom area and the bed area, so god forbid you are sharing the room with people you don’t want to be naked in front of because you really don’t have a choice here.

When we got back to the room after dinner to settle in for the night, we realized the walls are paper thin. You can hear doors slamming, people running through the halls, and even people snoring in the next room (seriously). The heater in our room did not work at all. Luckily it was warm Saturday so the 2nd night wasn’t bad, but Friday night it was so cold in there I almost went to Walmart and got an electric blanket. The TV was fine, although I was surprised the remote didn’t have a protective plastic wrap on it like I have seen at other hotels since March of last year. For a place that “puts cleanliness at top priority,” according to the GM’s responses to these negative reviews, they don’t seem to be doing even the bare minimum. The bedding and towels were stained and old looking. While we were getting ready to check out, we discovered a blood stain on the “fitted sheet” that had been covered by a top sheet on the bed by the window. Gross.

No, we did not complain to the manager about any of these things because we figured what was the point? They weren’t going to give us a refund, and moving to another room would not have changed much of anything. We just learned a valuable lesson: ALWAYS stick to higher end hotels and Airbnb’s like we usually do and avoid Wyndham like the plague. We will never be staying at this...

Customer update 3/07/2023

Just noticed that the owners or GM recently gave a so-called update to our recent candid comments about their facility. So to be fair we went back and reviewed the recent comments (some within the last 2 months) of other guests. Unfortunately, again a pattern of disgust and regret appeared and it was immediately apparent from several of their extremely disappointed guests, it was obvious that the current new guest observations were the same as our past observations months ago namely: Beds Musty, Rooms being outdated, broken appliances, no return of guest deposits after cancelation, rooms just NASTY, terrible management, lack of maintenance in the pool, shower curtains torn and worn. new dust and grime in rooms, new mold on bathroom walls, staff rude, dirty comforters on beds, terrible breakfast bar. One guest even commented that "there was no fixing this place"!!!

So although their owners/management have now attempted to slant their responses here against me by stating, " they were sorry I am still frustrated because I wasn't allowed to get an early check-in ", please understand my concerns had nothing to do with an "early check-in"! I ask the readers to please don't be fooled or distracted! Even if this facility was now " under construction and all repaired " as their writers have eluded to, that in itself does not fix several of the major issues with this facility. Several of this hotel's issues are beyond repair! For instance, poor management and outdated policies like, "not allowing cancellation refunds even though guests have requested them in ample time", Poor Customer Service Skills, attempts to pretend they were responding to their past and present guest concerns and taking action to correct deficiencies, and when all along they were not!

In addition, there seems to be a consistent ongoing attempt by the hotel's management to make their responses appear to the readers to be understanding about their guest's sincere concerns and to further portray an appearance or willingness of taking some sort of action to correct those issues! However, these are hollow promises and only smoke and mirrors! It is further obvious by the recent guest reviews that their promises couldn't be further from the truth!

In closing, a quick drive through the Wisconsin Dells community will show that there are several older well-maintained hotels. However not this place! Not only is it old and outdated with terrible management but in many ways, it could be considered a safety hazard. They should consider razing or condemning the entire building if they can't drastically remodel it and retain or replace their current management team! This place is awful and scary! Many guests around Wisconsin and from other states are still shocked and disgusted with their experience and safety there. Stay away!! 😳

Original Review

This place was a nightmare. Worst hotel we ever stayed at. Please Please 🙏 don't stay here. Their advertisements appear nice and budget-friendly. Their photos look pleasing but please don't be tricked. This couldn't be farther from the truth. This place is run down and a train wreck waiting to happen. Old fixtures, bad mattresses, poor breakfast bar, dirty main door entrances, Missing screens on windows, poor overall nightly security, Missing front desk staff, and large holes in the driveway ceiling. Poor customer service. Don't stay here. Trust us. We normally give great reviews but this hotel was so shocking we wanted all to know. Also reported to local Chambers of Commerce as well. Don't be fooled by the name Ramada by Wyndham!!! Run for...

DO NOT STAY AT THIS HOTEL!!!!

This hotel was absolutely the dirtiest, most un-maintained hotel I have ever stayed at in my 69 years of life. There was hair and scum around the base of the toilet, mold on both the inside and outside of the shower curtain, peeling paint and very much grime on the outside wall and sidewalk at the rear entrance to the hotel we used, stains on the stair carpet, patched drywall in the hallways, along with huge stains on the suspended ceiling tiles outside our room. There were ridiculous maintenance issue, some of which were safety hazards. These include an electrical outlet outside the rear door of the hotel without an outlet cover along with an electrical outlet in our room also missing the outlet cover. The shower curtain rod was barely attached to the wall. There was one light bulb in the room that did not light along with another that constantly flashed. There was also a missing clothing hook on the backside of the bathroom door. All that was present was the hook bracket. I have pictures of all of these defects if needed. All of this, along with he fact that we left our room at 10:45 AM on Saturday morning (we had previously had the do not disturb sign on our door to keep the cleaning people out of the room while we ate breakfast and showered for the day, but removed it as we left for the day). When we returned at 5 PM our room had not been cleaned. We reported this to the woman at the front desk and were told that they didn’t clean the room because of the sign. I told her the sign was removed before we left and well within the room cleaning time. She was very rude to us and kept complaining saying, it wasn’t her fault. Worst customer service I have ever seen. She definitely needs some management training on how to dela with unhappy customers and to show some empathy and not say, sorry, not my fault.

Kitchen area for breakfast was filthy. Food was terrible. We skipped it on Sunday. Front desk was rude and not helpful at all.

The only thing I can give a somewhat positive response on was the wifi, only because it worked. The rest of the items were absolutely terrible.

Based on how ridiculously dirty the rest of the hotel was (I have pictures) I wouldn’t go any where near the pool.

I expressed my concerns at checkout and was told all of these items would be looked into and taken care of. That’s great for the next person, but not for my stay. Based on the obvious things I saw wrong with this hotel that were allowed to take place, I doubt if anything...