Dubbel Dutch Hotel — Hotel in Milwaukee

If you're looking for a picturesque hotel to take photos in, this is the place for you, but don't plan on living here. As a seasoned business traveler I've never encountered this level of a complete lack of basic amenities. This was advertised as a 3-star hotel. It isn't. I'm not sure that it meets the criteria as a 2 star. Here's what's missing:

A dresser. There isn't a dresser. There are no drawers to unpack your stuff into, or surface to place things on in the bedroom - so don't plan on staying long.

A closet or wardrobe. Nope! All you'll get is a pole off the wall with 6 hangers. Don't plan on having shelf space to set a suitcase or place unused pillows. Pile that stuff on the floor, or take up half the bed with it.

Any waist level surface. The minifridge sat on the floor. The coffee sat on top of that. I found myself sitting crosslegged on a dusty floor just to make myself coffee in the morning. As a 6' 4" guy with a bad back I just couldn't believe that anyone would think that this is accommodating in any way.

Dusted blinds. If you do decide you'll want a little light in the room, prepare for a cloud of dust to greet you as you open the blinds - the cleaning crew only wipes off the side facing the camera - the other side must not have been touched in months.

A desk. When I communicated my needs for a surface to work on, I was told that I can find such amenities at a nearby coffee shop. At 8:30pm when we checked in, all nearby places were closed. Don’t show up with plans to sit down and focus on your next day’s presentation.

A towel rack to put wet towels: Just throw them on the ground because there's not a single place to hang them up after they come off the tiny shelves that look so nice in the photos.

A couch: We upgraded to the 2-room suite. The small bench that sits in front of the fireplace is about large enough to sit on to take off your shoes, but don’t plan on getting comfortable with a love one.

A water glass: Do you like to set a glass of water out next to the bed for your meds in the morning or if you wake up thirsty? Your only option is re-using one of the paper coffee cups.

A host experienced in hospitality: The host literally did not care or even acknowledge that my concerns were valid. In response to a total lack of closet, desk, shelves, dresser, or a surface to put anything I was told: "The pictures and online description are accurate". Except they were not. By calling yourself a 3-star hotel providing a desk and dresser are assumed in the united states. I’ll post my own photos so that you can compare to theirs. There was no offer to help in any way, no empathy that what we were asking for was reasonable for what they sold us, and no offer of a reduced rate – only that if we got out in 2-hours we wouldn’t be billed for the next day.

We paid a little extra – even upgraded to the suite - What we got was an overpriced disappointment. I would have been much happier staying at the holiday inn express down the street – and would have saved hundreds of dollars.

Advice to host: Try staying here for a night.

Edit to respond to owner comment:

We paid for a 3-star hotel accomodations, which means we paid for a private space to conduct business. Your "offered accomodations" were suggesting to use someone else's services, and you still haven't acknowledged that this was a bait and switch and that it was your responsibility to accommodate our needs (not by suggesting we go to a coffee shop) or refund our money. The offer to check out early was entirely disingenuous because my partner was already at the office and you gave us only two hours. I asked to move at 6pm when she returned and you conveniently ignored my request.

All you needed to do was acknowledge that a 3 star hotel should have a dresser, desk, and some surface to set things down. Instead even still in your response you made no such acknowledgement. Seriously try staying overnight in the room for a week and tell me how accommodating you find the...

We stayed here because it was chosen by the bride and groom for their wedding party. We stayed in the Queen Suite which seemed ideal for a family of four. The room name would lead you to believe it has a Queen bed, but is clearly a full size/double bed. This was frustrating to realize without a way to remedy it.

STORAGE. There was not one single drawer in the entire suite. The bathroom sink had no vanity (small pedestal sink) and with our family of four sharing the bathroom, we were storing our toiletries on the floor. There are not enough hooks/towel racks for the towels, coats, formalwear (especially if you're billing yourselves as a wedding destination - people are coming with a lot of STUFF and the stuff needs to go somewhere). Also maybe at one time there was artwork but all we had were bare hooks sticking out of the wall in multiple places. The furnishings are very minimalist, similar to a Marriott AC if you’re into that style. Very spare looking room, nearly a hostel. Oh and coffee service but no coffee CUPS, and no water glasses for the bathroom! And no human on-site to provide these items.

If you need more towels/sheets (which we did to be able to have one of the kids sleep on the pullout sofa), you will have to walk downstairs, cross to the other side of the hotel, walk upstairs, root through the “shared hall linen closet” - gross - and then walk back downstairs and across and back up to your room. For the independent traveler, indeed.

We love old buildings and live in a century home. However in this case it left a lot to be desired. You can hear everyone going up and down the stairs and in the rooms next door. The bar noise/music at night is very loud and the kitchen smells come into your room. The garbage truck backs up, beeping in the alley at 6AM on Saturdays (in this case, the day of the wedding).

However, I have never been so frustrated with a hotel than with the phone call I received around 11am on the day of the wedding, while I was in the makeup chair getting ready with the bride. The hotel staff called to tell me that the card on file didn't work and that they had sent me a text to get it updated earlier in the week. This was indeed true, I had just missed it as it was buried in a general-sounding welcome text, and a flurry of many other emails from the DD, and I hadn't caught that sentence. Honest mistake. The caller was so incredibly rude and insisted that I pay right away. Then they immediately followed up with a text message that threatened to turn off our access code if the room wasn’t paid in full immediately. This is after the first/only notice, and I was treated like a scammer. In the middle of a happy occasion with friends and family. I was outdone. Of course I immediately paid the balance, but I certainly expect more hospitality when spending over $1000 on accommodations. A simple email with a bold header noting that updated payment info was needed could have helped in this situation, not burying it in a text along with lots of other info (and also sending multiple emails, at some point one assumes all the info is redundant).

"Invisible service" - this is akin to the self-checkout at Target. You can't abdicate your responsibility to perform check in and then treat your guests like criminals when a detail is missed. Incredibly disappointing...

Stayed overnight and we definitely enjoyed our time. The Hotel itself has a great atmosphere and starts to feel comfortable quickly. There are a number of different areas to use and maintain a safe distance from other people , including a nice cocktail bar with tables set apart for different groups. It's safe to say you won't see many hotels like this. Its age makes the hotel unique and it makes you want to pause for a minute just to take it all in. It has a lot of cool details throughout the building specific to its age that have been left in tact, while the rooms have a modern feel in accommodation.

The staff is small but very attentive, walking through the lobby periodically to help anyone that needs anything. They were also checking to make sure all patrons were wearing masks, and politely asked anyone who didn't to be sure to do so. Its kind of nice that when you do need anything, chances are you will be talking to someone who might be able to put a name to a face and remember who you are. The experience is much more personal.

Our room was a single bedroom with a queen bed that was sectioned from a larger living space with a couch that pulls out into a bed so it could easily accommodate four people. There was a hand written note addressed to us personally thanking us for our stay along with homemade cookies that were fantastic! The room had nice, very large windows that let in a lot of light and made it great to hang out in and enjoy the view. Feels like they have everything covered that you might need. The rooms are all different so we will explore a different room next time we stay.

If you are traveling to Milwaukee in the summer or spring , the location is about as good as you can ask for. Its close enough to the freeway that makes it an easy drive to and from the airport. Everything is a short walk, bike ride or drive away. It makes for a great starting point to explore what the city has to offer. Summerfest, as well as the other concert venues and restaurants would only take a few minutes to get to. The lakeside and the parks are really close as well, which makes it easy to have fun in town without feeling like you need to travel all day to get around the city.

As someone who never really had the chance to see what a great little city Milwaukee is until I moved here, I would highly suggest staying at the Dubbel Dutch. Milwaukee seems to have multiple events going on every single weekend once the weather permits, access makes it easy to have as much fun as you can manage, all the while knowing your hotel is only a few minutes away for anything you might need. It's away from downtown so when you step out of the door is not into the city energy. Its very relaxed and easy to enjoy. So if you live in Wisconsin or even in Milwaukee, it still feels like a getaway. If you have friends coming to visit, suggest it to them, I'm sure they'll...