Harbor Shores on Lake Geneva — Hotel in Lake Geneva

It's difficult to gauge what to expect from this property from online reviews. Lake Geneva is a beautiful resort town so its nice to see the downtown filled with boutique hotels and unique restaurants versus the usual chain brands. There is both good and bad to this hotel and I would say that it was adequate for my traveling group's needs. Below is a list of both the pros and cons.||Pros:|- You can't beat the location! We only used our car to do activities away from the downtown area. Everything was in very close proximity. Very short walk to the lake cruise line, The Riviera, the beach, the library, Starbucks, shopping and downtown district. Walked out to boat rentals across the street. |- Plenty of FREE parking. Parked in front. Never was an issue. Never had to deal with street parking and meters. |- Clean hotel and room with plenty of towels both bath and pool. Spilled some clear soda on the floor (yay, floor - no icky carpet!) and wiped up the clear soda without additional grime. They clearly employ an excellent housekeeping staff at this hotel and I saw them in action. Never saw trash laying around or trays outside doors. |- Attentive and helpful front desk clerks. |- Nice room layout with shelving unit by the door which was very handy.|- Kitchenette with very good refrigerator, wet bar sink and paper towels provided. |- Spectacular view of the lake! So glad we went with the top floor and balcony.|- Nice bed linens. Everything appears to be single use as in no decorative bedspread. |- Heated Indoor and Outdoor pool. ||Cons:|- The hotel seems to have been updated recently and they really should have done a real renovation with new finishes. I think they were looking to modernize and freshen the place up, but the grody acoustic dropped ceilings and painted popcorn ceilings ruined it. They should have at least plastered or replaced the ceilings in their pricier rooms. The ultimate effect of high-gloss gray paint on all surfaces including the popcorn ceiling resulted in a dorm-like, institutional vibe. Instead of fresh and beachy, it felt drab. The bathroom floor tiles reminded me of a fastfood prep area and a pyramid of subway tiles over the sink splash area was pitiful looking. Subway tiles are pretty cheap - would it be so hard to just do the short run across the full back wall of the sink?|- Rooms are not sound-proofed. We heard from our neighbors all about who didn't show up for a graduation and the wait line at Egg Harbor Cafe. Someone from the next group had a terrible cough that we could hear most of the night. Luckily our neighbors spoke in normal decibel range speaking voices. I can't imagine what this would be like with crying babies or a squabbling couple next door. These sounds were most pronounced by the room-connecting door. |- Beds are uncomfortable. Very hard but felt like an inflated air mattress at the same time. |- AC right next to one of the beds. This may be a plus for some people. Having cold air blasted in close proximity can make for a miserable night for others. |- Outdoor heated pool is poorly lit at night. Kind of weird swimming in the mostly dark. ||This hotel is charming in its own way and when it comes down to it, I would probably stay here again given that it is clean, in a great location, and reasonably priced. With improvements, I think it could be outstanding. ||Good to know:|- No pets - non service animals NOT welcome|- McDonalds out the back door just past The Cove. It is very nice if you need to grab something quickly. It also the fanciest McDonald's I've every been in. |- No breakfast, but there are plenty of places within walking distance.||TLDR: Very clean, great views, kitchenette, walking distance to everything, indoor and outdoor pools/hot tubs. Cons include uncomfortable mattresses, thin walls, bad updates. Other quirks include AC close to bed, dark outdoor pool area...

Cute place to stay that’s conveniently located to shopping, restaurants and things to do! I tagged along with my husband on business trip and specifically picked this place for the location. So I could walk around while he had his truck at the golf tournament on the other side of the lake. We called ahead since we were going to be close to midnight checking in and they appreciated the call. Loved the view of the lake even being on the first floor. Little balcony is perfect for 2 people to enjoy their coffee in the morning or just relax and soak up the sunset in the afternoon. Room had 2 queen size beds. Kitchenette with plates, cups etc for 2, microwave, fridge, Keurig, and paper towels. The entry has your place for suitcases and the tiniest baby safe ever. Bathroom had a nice shower with decent water pressure. Towels for 3 people folding nicely along the wash clothes in fan shapes. Nice size TV on dresser with built in fake fireplace. Fireplace gave the room a cozy feel and made a nice night light to get to the bathroom at night. Black out curtains over sliding glass door to balcony. Table for 2 in the corner. The bed was comfy and different types of pillows to choose from. You can hear your neighbors talking through adjoining room door that is blocked. Also we had some late night jumpers above us that only lasted 10 minutes. :) So soundproofing is a little lacking. Parking up front was fine on Monday but Tuesday they put out signs that said pay to park. So we parked in the back of the hotel Tuesday night. All around the area is paid street parking so being able to walk to everything was nice.

This isn’t a Hilton or Marriott. It’s an older hotel with updates of furniture and vinyl wood looking floors but the convenience of getting to everywhere is worth not getting the extras you get at a chain hotel. Which none are located in the downtown area. It’s more historical and original like the downtown. No free breakfast here. They have indoor pool and hot tub. Outdoor pool and hot tub with seating and tilt out umbrellas in the corners. Also a gym but I didn’t go down the stairs to see it. The front desk was friendly at check in and check out. They gave us a paper with local restaurants for all 3 meals. You can drop off your keys at the front desk and text to check out if you like. Also at the front desk and all over town you can pick up a magazine with the listing of things to do, lodging, food, etc. and you get get it digitally online before you go or help you pick out when, what, and where to do, stay and eat. It was helpful to look up what restaurants had sports playing to watch the NFL game.

Gino’s East pizza is attached to the hotel which we used on Monday night and watched the NFL game at the bar. Nice place to eat. They happily changed one of the TV’s to watch the 8:15 game that came on.

I would suspect it would be busier during the peak of summer as we were there in late September. And I would guess the traffic would be noisier with all the coming and going of people and cars. It rained the 2nd day during the day so I stayed in and watched TV.

Would stay here again for the convenience of getting...

If I could give them zero stars, I would. We chose Harbor Shores for our wedding party as a recommendation from a friend. I, the bride, went through the entire process of reserving a block of rooms for our guests. The Group Sales manager gave my husband-to-be and I a great deal for a Lakeview room at a Parkview price for the night before and night of our wedding - I said "We would like to proceed with Harbor Shores! 10 Lakeview and 10 Parkview for now. We would like to take you up on the free Lakeview upgrade offer. Please let us know what you need from us." and had emailed with her a few more times prior to the wedding. Once, I even asked for our guests to be placed near us at the hotel if possible - she said it was not a problem. Fast forward to the night before our wedding, I show up at the hotel with my bridesmaids ready for a relaxing evening and a nice night of sleep only to find out that I have NO RESERVATION. In fact, the young robotic girl behind the front desk said there was no room available for Friday night OR OUR WEDDING NIGHT! I was in tears, utterly shocked, overly tired, stressed and irritated. After a half hour of arguing with her that I had a reservation and trying to contact the Group Sales manager only for the calls to be ignored... the girl behind the desk said she would "move things around" to give me a room for the night before and comp the room for the trouble. Glad to finally have a room, we went upstairs - it was dated and underwhelming for the price we would have paid - but it was a place to sleep. Later that evening, one of my bridesmaids went downstairs to make sure there would be no charges on my card and she was "greeted" by a rude old man with a stack of customer information/credit card information sheets sitting on the counter for the whole world to see. The next morning, the same bridesmaid went down to talk to the General Manager at 7am. She was met with resistance, told that Group Sales manager said I "never made a reservation" and that the room we stayed in the night before had no record of being comped. What a nightmare! Not only do I have a string of emails back and forth with me saying to book our room for the two nights and thanking her for the deal - but if a bride emails you two weeks before the wedding politely asking if guests can be placed close by if possible... wouldn't you think to say "hey, I'm concerned because you don't have a reservation - let's get that fixed!" or even don't say anything and fix the problem!!! The night of our wedding, my new husband and I were happily greeted by the people next door at The Cove and given a larger room at a better price. I'll never recommend Harbor Shores to anyone. The only plus of this stay is that (after arguing) I wasn't charged for my room the...