River's Edge Resort — Hotel in Lake Delton

Spent 4 days here to prefish and fish a two day fishing tournament. Room was as expected (clean) as they have been in my many years of coming here. Here is where the surprise comes in. On our way home we receive a call stating we were being charged $75 for leaving towels covered in Vomit. They stated that they had to be disposed of as a biohazard. This call was immediately shocking as NO ONE was sick in our room. I personally collected our towels and placed them on the floor in front of the toilet. This was in addition to washing all of our dishes and putting in the appropriate location, ensuring throw pillows were on the appropriate sofas, bagged and garbage, consolidated beverage cases next to the garbage can and returned all bedding to appropriate beds.||||There was ZERO partying going on - we were in bed at 10 and up at 5. This was contrary to what we observed in adjacent rooms . We ate in the Restaurant usually late after getting off the water and showering and then hit the sack. We are serious fisherman contrary to perhaps what they are used to. ||||We denied the claim and said there had to be a room mix up! We did no with vigor as you can imagine because we knew how we left our room and that the claim was outright wrong! They said they would send a photo which they did. It was of soiled towels that appeared to be inside of a sink vanity. I asked where those were because our towels were left in front of the toilet against tub. Was told they were in their laundry room which made no sense for several reasons - #1 why would you take biohazard to your laundry unbagged/isoloalated and #2 - if you did do that why would you put them inside a vanity touching the vanity walls and floor when they are covered in vomit. No answer. I asked how many towels were collected from the room as we only had the original 4 that were supplied and if these were in a vanity in addition to the four we were supplied that these must have been left from a previous renter. We were laughed off stating the smell was so intense we would have known this. Still no answer on the number of towels collected or if the pile of towels I left were in front of the toilet.||||All I got was a smug response stating what we did was wrong. I have to say my tome in this discussion was not cordial although I never used fowl language. Imagine being accused of something you know for a fact did not happen - how would you act. Plus the fact that they had no other details to back the claim and the photo they provided made Zero sense as far as where these towels were in the photo not to mention they could not provide a reasonable explanation for the location in the photo. Quite Frankly its quit concerning if they brought Biohazard waste into the laundry room and did not bag it and isolate and the point they found it.||||All I was told was we were at a point of impass and I was not changing her mind. I explained that our denial was little to do about the $75 as much as it was to do with our integrity - its not who we are as people. We have never left a room in that condition nor would I. We are not teenagers and I am an avid traveler for my job. There is no way they would consider that perhaps an error in recording the room number was made or some other logical explanation.||||Mind you I have been coming here for many years since I was a kid. I have had my family/kids here several times. I eat at the restaurant when I pass through for business. We at at the restaurant exclusively that week spending an additional $300 plus dollars. So it saddens me to have to write this as I expected better and because of this injustice I felt compelled to warn others.||||I would advise that when you stay here - have an employee walk through your room before you check out and approved of it in writing so this does not happen to you. If you end up in my situation you will be stuck paying for something you did not do.||||Yo have been warned - other than that I love the place - just an unreasonable manager Dionne that will not consider they could have made a mistake nor does she feel it is important to provide more proof than some odd photo that could be from whenever...

In response to the owner's comment: When I booked I was never told about the cabin's bathroom. I think more professionalism is needed when responding to valid reviews. I shared my experience, and it wasn't satisfactory.

I've stay at River's Edge Resort many times, usually in cabin 28 which I very much love and have never had a problem with. However, this one star review is only for cabin 34 and my stay.

When we first got into the cabin we were slapped in the face with a musty mothball like smell that reminded me of a home that hadn't been used or had the windows open in many years. It was gross, especially since the two of us have really keen senses of smell. But with a candle and turning the air on, we were able to get past it.

The kitchen stove is extremely outdated... like something from the 1950s or 60s. It had an electric grill on one side and two burners on the other. The vent in the middle appeared broken. The oven is tiny, and the handle was missing on the door making it basically unusable. When we got the door open and looked in the access panel on the left side we discovered that the grease catcher for the grill portion has not been emptied in months at the very least. The grease had a thick layer of mold on it. Absolutely disgusting. We used the burners once and opted to eat sandwiches or eat out for the rest of the trip because it was horrible to cook on. The fridge, microwave, and coffee pot worked well. There was also a toaster that we didn't use but looked newer.

Then comes the bathroom. I can't express in words how small this bathroom is. There was also no indication on the website, nor via the staff when I called to make my reservation back in February as to how small this truly was. My friend, who is much smaller than I am had a hard time getting in and out of the shower and using the toilet. Being a larger woman, it was like performing a contortion act every time I went to the bathroom. Trying to get in and out of the shower was a joke. I'm a stout 5' 5" and standing in the bathroom a could touch all four walls from one spot. The shower door doesn't open completely because of the sink. The ceilings in the bathroom and bedrooms are lower than most drop ceilings. At 5' 5" I can put my palm flat on the ceiling without having to get on my toes. Anyone over 5'10" would probably need to stoop when in the bedrooms or bathroom.

We couldn't get the windows open almost at all in the cabin. We had to really work to crack them. Unfortunately, the cabin has two apparent comfort levels. Humid and musty without the air on and with the windows slightly cracked, or frozen tundra with the air conditioning on. Also, one of the windows appeared to have been broken at some point and never fixed. There was only one crank in the whole cabin so we had to move it between windows. There was no screen door on the patio door.

What's more is that there was only ONE fire alarm in the cabin, and when I pressed the button to test it, it didn't even work. There was also no fire extinguisher that I found. Having only one, non-working fire detector in that cabin is a huge building and fire code violation. The same with that shower door. If someone fell and hurt themselves in that shower, emergency medical would not be able to get them out nor would enough people fit into the bathroom to help.

We did call to complain about the cabin and were offered a full-refund. However, it's the Dells after school just let out. Not only were there no other cabins we could take, but hotel rooms were double the price of the cabin. So we didn't have a choice but to stay where we were. Quite frankly I'm upset about how the staff handled our concern. I'm not expecting that they build a new cabin around us, but it really seems like they just don't care for this particular cabin. I'm not sure we'll be back. What was supposed to be a relaxing get away was a frustrating and uncomfortable experience. What bothers me more than all of that is the lack of information on the cabin either from the website or from the staff...

We have stayed at River's Edge every year for the last 8-9 summers for about a week. Last year my review was 4-star and after the most recent trip some policy changes and practices of this facility prompted a downgrade to three stars which I feel needs some justification.

The positive: Being on the river, you have access to a public beach, private beach, boat rentals, tubing, fishing, and an overall fantastic view. The public spaces at River's Edge promote some nice outdoor time with family, friends, or even to meet some new friends during your stay. The onsite store provides the basics and is targeted toward fishing. The room selection varies allowing for more traditional hotel-style rooms to individual cabin rentals with a nice variety in between. Each year we look at different lodging options and the weekly price seems to beat most every other location within the Dells. As a final item, River's Edge has an onsite restaurant and bar. The food options seem similar to a year ago and feedback across the group indicates the quality seems to have improved. Driving distance to Baraboo for additional attractions can be done in about 15 minutes.

The Nice-to-Know: River's Edge is a few miles out from Lake Delton and Wisconsin Dells. For some this is nice, for others it may be a pain. Distance between the two locations is about the same and driving time can be anywhere from 5-15 minutes depending on traffic and time of year. Getting into downtown Wisconsin Dells is a pain. From River's Edge (and many locations in the area) there is one way in and one way out unless you plan to drive 20+ miles one way to cross the Wisconsin river somewhere else.

The Poor: This year River's Edge implemented a new towel exchange fee. If you need a refresh of towels, it costs $10. That cost isn't a deposit, it is a fee to exchange towels and is implemented regardless if you stay one night or a week. River view rooms share a deck and noise from this shared space carries to all the rooms sharing the space. We woke many evenings to someone walking along the deck or groups talking in this shared space. One night I walked out to ask the group to quiet down only to discover they weren't that loud. The deck just seems to carry the noise. We observed on multiple instances that when one group left, towels were changed out, but no bedding moved out or into the room. This may have been oversight on our part; however after thinking we saw that lack of change, we paid closer attention and began to question cleanliness of the linens. Check-in and check-out times are pretty strict compared to other locations. Check-in is at 4PM although I concede they do a good job at getting you into the room earlier. Check-out however is at 10AM which is much earlier than noon or 2PM check-out times I have seen at other lodging choices. Last, be careful if renting a boat or deciding to go tubing. An all-day boat rental is subject to staff availability to get you going. In our experience, this can shave off up to 2 hours on the front end. If you leave the boat to have lunch, take the keys with you lest you chance losing the boat to anxious staff looking to clean it up early. Tubing seems to be a similar and more severe experience. If you hit a weekend, plan to book your tubing excursion 2-3 hours ahead of schedule though you also need to be prepared to leave immediately. This makes it a rather rough and undesirable experience.

All in all, if you are looking for a lower cost option in the Dells that isn't camping, River's Edge is a nice place for the price. If you are looking for a better experience, I would recommend seeking other locations. That said, River's Edge may well be worth a shorter stay to determine if it will meet a longer stay...