Sunset Bay Resort & Suites — Hotel in Lake Delton

Organized a 30+ person family reunion. Toured the property and booked with Dawn last year -- and were enthusiastic about our choice. It was clear that she understood how small considerations and coordination made events like our successful.||A month prior I checked back in to make sure all the details were still good. Got a response from different people. They shared a new room usage agreement and via email. We clarified that they could have someone open the room by 7am for our catered breakfast, and I clarified what I was understanding Sunday from 10am - Wednesday 10pm. ||We didn't find out at this point that ownership had changed. Jay (maybe the new owner?) said "everything seems fine" and the "Sunset Bay Staff" seemed to be aware. I found out that it was under new ownership on the second night while at the campfire from the guest guitarist.||What went well? |My extended family generally had a good time. Easy access to the water, both pools and the lake. The Canyon Room was a great space, and the maintenance guy was stellar. Guest campfire guy, and fire-spinner were fun. ||Some of the rooms and facility has deferred maintenance challenges. If you're coming to spend time on the beach -- it won't be an issue. The indoor pool floor is extremely slippery, and we watched multiple people slip and fall. We visited, and knew what to expect.||The bad:|When we checked in and confirmed expectations for the room they no longer thought they had someone to open the room for breakfast. Each night I went to sleep not sure if we would have breakfast in the room we rented. Each morning I went looking for someone to unlock it for us.||We had confirmed that the resort had horseshoes, but they front desk didn't know anything about it. By luck the maintenance guy who helps with their largest gathering knew where they were.||Then on the last day I got a call from the front desk telling me that they expected us to be out the night prior. When discussed: the arrangement we had with the old owner was 3 days from dinner Sunday - after lunch Wednesday. But when the new owners shifted their policy their booking didn't make sense. ||Stuff happens. How you deal with the bumps show your character. The front desk staff dug in, "this is what the computer says." I ask to talk with the owner to work out a solution. They say "we can talk to [owner], but I can't let you talk to them." Then they made their problem my problem, how it was a staffing thing and they booked it for another group. And that their cleaning lady didn't work late enough. Staff presented that they were doing me a favor by compromising.||It is reasonable to have employees who are "just doing their job," but if you want to resolve complex situations a ensure your guest have a great stay that needs to be somebody's job. And that person clearly wasn't working and couldn't be put on speakerphone.||The difference between a 2-star and a 4/5-star review: |1. Giving us a call saying "Hey we are the new owners, and we want to make sure that your event goes as you had planned it with the past owners." Then resetting expectations if they weren't possible, or making a plan together to have a great stay.|2. Keeping your commitment to having the room open at 7am -- take away the stress, and the need for me to hunt people down so I can let the caterers in to set up.|3. Approach the misunderstanding with humility instead of self-righteousness. Look for solutions where...

We reserved a 2-bedroom suite with full kitchen for our group of 7 people, 2 couples with 3 children under the age of 2. If you've travelled with infants, you know that routine is important, so our plan was to put the kids to bed in their respective rooms at their usual bedtime and enjoy some adult time in the evenings in the adjoining living room. When we arrived at Baker's, we were given a sheet with the balance due at check in, it was $300 less than expected. Odd. So I checked the room type and realized that it had been changed with no prior warning. I informed the desk clerk that there had been a mistake, we were supposed to be in a 2-bedroom suite, not a standard double queen room. He demanded to see my reservation confirmation, I showed it to him. He looked on the computer and said the owner had changed our reservation and he would have to talk to her. The hotel was full and there was nothing else he could do. I explained the importance of having a full kitchen and 2 separate bedrooms given that we were travelling with such small children. We were then checked into the wrong room type against my wishes while we waited for him to reach the manager/owner (it was labor day weekend, one of the biggest holiday weekends of the year, the fact that there was no on-duty manager boggles my mind). My husband stayed in the lobby to pressure them into finding a solution. Finally, the owner/manager was reached via phone. She gave my husband a sorry excuse "Oh gee, sorry, I don't know what happened" and then proceeded to give us two options 1) we stay in the standard double queen, but they would '"let us" use the kitchen in their meeting room, or 2) she had "called around" and found the only available room in the Dells, a 1 bedroom with full kitchen, that "we should really take because it was cheaper". We refused these two options, explaining once again why it was so important that we have 2 separate bedrooms so the babies did not wake each other and a full kitchen since eating all our meals out with 3 infants was not an option, and we already had a car full of food. Since the hotel was doing nothing to help fix their unacceptable error, I got online and within 30m found an available 2 bedroom suite at the next hotel over. We informed them that we would not be staying and left. We got very little apology from them, absolutely no explanation of how they could have made such a huge mistake, no sympathy, and no help. Our reservation was refunded, but we received no other compensation for the terrible inconvenience. They did not honor our confirmed reservation, were incapable of booking their own hotel properly and incompetent when it came to finding suitable accommodations for 2 young families with 3 infants who they had essentially put out on the street. Needless to say, I was and still am furious with the management. I would also like to note that we had to provide the ages of the children upon reservation, so the management knew we were travelling with such young babies when we reserved and thus when they made the decision to change our room type. Also, the room type they put us in wrongfully only accommodates 6 people, there were 7 in our group. There are so many options in the Dells, go somewhere that respects and takes care of their customers and bends over backwards for you when they...

We love coming to Bakers! I'm so happy my husband found this gem of a resort over a year ago & we've stayed here several times since then. The first impression I had when we first came here (and I still have) is that someone REALLY cares for this place and it's evident from the moment you pull in the lot - I just can't imagine the cost involved to run a place like this with this level of care, Well done!....immaculate kempt grounds, lovely clean landscaping with rocks, trash free parking lot without the usual cigarette butt & "debris" blowing around - I mean honestly I think someone is sweeping the parking lot! The windows and doors are sparkling clean, no dirtiness and fingerprints all over them. At night the resort has these lights that line the roofs of all their buildings which I think is such a beautiful touch and in keeping with the kempt appearance...i have yet to notice any burnt out bulbs, its like someone said ""if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it right"" ok, so for the sake of time I'm going to list the other great things that makes this place special to me: free use of their kayaks. You just go down to the beach area (first come first serve) grab one of the provided for life jackets & a paddle pull one of the kayaks on the water and off your go!! You don't need to sign your life away with rental agreements, deposits, and reservations headache - they really made it that simple...use the kayaks then put it back where you found it, done. Simple. Easy. Who does this!? -grills everywhere hoses located everywhere you seem to need one firepit with free firewood playground on beach for smaller kids picnic tables and chairs everywhere you seem to need one beautiful beach with a decent size pier in the warmer months. clean & clear indoor pool and hot tub (we haven't used the outdoor pool or splash pad area as of yet, but they did look fun and the outdoor pool looked rather large.) coffee makers in the room ....this is huge because plenty of hotels have ditched this amenity recently, so I appreciate you keeping this. free tom foolerys passes are a really generous benefit included with the stay The rooms we've stayed in have been clean and the beds were rather comfy....yeah maybe some extra wear and tear here and there with the rooms seeing as the rooms we've stayed in are lakefront rooms and beach sand gets tracked around, however I've always felt comfortable with the cleanliness level. Only thing I don't care for in the rooms are the use of bed covers. I hope they decide to ditch this older method in the future. To sum it up Bakers is the place I feel most comfortable staying at. We always leave here relaxed and happy and have been treated kindly and respectfully on each visit. They don't micro manage you here....its actually quite the opposite, I REALLY feel that they want us to have a great experience. I liken the vibe at Bakers to a memory & happy feeling I had as a kid when visiting a generous family member who had great hospitality & let you be free and use all the fun things at their house. That's Bakers...