Hueston Woods Lodge & Conference Center — Hotel in Oxford

They do not enforce wearing masks. Most of the guests were walking around without a mask, which was very surprising considering this lodge is run by the state of Ohio.

I've been coming here since I was a kid so naturally now I take my kids here. This go around was not as great as usual, last year's was not up to par either. Last year I was yelled at by an employee at the front desk for taking my kids to the outdoor pool twice in one stay (who knew there was a rule...). This prompted a justifiable complaint to the manager.

This year was a different issue. We brought the kids here overnight so they could swim and we could all have a nice dinner together. However, there is a shortage of chairs at the pool so we had to sit along the wall and the pool was crowded. The next issue is the restaurant. We called to make a reservation for dinner for 5 people. We were told we couldn't make a reservation. When we arrived to check in we were told we still couldn't make a reservation, we had to call at 5:30 when the dining room opened. So, I did what we were told and called down a couple minutes before 5:30. The girl at the lodge restaurant said they were fully booked and we could not eat at the lodge restaurant! She offered take out - not comparable. She also said in a condescending tone that we could order pizza from the lounge (which is not what we came for!). I called the front desk to speak with a manager and was told there was not one available. I told them the issue and they put me on hold, only to come back to say they got us a reservation for 5 at 8:30. Funny how that works. The woman on the phone was rude and seemed annoyed that I would even raise such an issue. I mean, really, who would want to eat at the lodge restaurant when they are STAYING THE NIGHT AT THE LODGE!? Ridiculous right.? I understand with COVID the seating is less than ideal but they should still be able to accommodate all of their guests without turning anyone away. If they can't, they need to make it known that the restaurant is booked so don't expect to eat there. Might I mention this place is out in the boondocks so there is no other option for going out to eat. We ended up ordering pizza for the kids because 8:30 is way too late for them to eat dinner. My boyfriend and I did eat dinner at the restaurant, his steak was overcooked but had a good flavor. I ordered the chicken pot pie and it was OK, I could make one better. The staff was nice at the restaurant, and the service was fast. It seemed like the waitress who denied us a reservation just didn't want to hassle with it so I'm glad I called the front desk.

A couple other things they need to improve on. The railing on the balcony of our room was very unstable. The rails were no longer hammered in and were hanging off, loose. Very dangerous, especially when you have kids that want to lean on the railing they are not thinking about it breaking. The parking lot was also a very sad sight. Yes, there was snow but it had been a few days and a snow plow came through and did a sub par job. They didn't even have the whole lot plowed so cars had to park wherever they could find space, making their own in some cases.

Overall, I was very disappointed because I love coming here but it seems the last couple years the customer service and quality of the lodge has really suffered.

Management did issue a 25% refund but I'd rather them keep the money and instead offer a quality stay with friendly staff and ample accommodations. We are debating on whether or not to come back here. Sadly, this...

Here's how my stay went:

Day 1: After a few days of camping at Hueston Woods, I decided to come to this lodge due to the fact that there were (1) wayyy to many bugs, (2) an overly large amount of pollen, and (3) coyotes. I was traveling with my family, so and we decided to stay in the same room. We arrive, we check in, and we head to our room. First problem of getting into the room is that there are doors separating the hallways, so it makes it super hard to get the luggage cart through. Not too bad, though. We make it to the room, and I swipe the key card to open the door and... nothing. So one of us goes to the front desk, and the remaining of us ask the housekeeping staff, who say that it takes a few minutes for the cards to "kick in." Now, the housekeeping was so nice that they unlocked the door for us, and we thanked them for that. So we get settled, and everything is fine and good, until I go to the pool. I decided to take a peek at the restroom, and when I look in the shower area (because apparently the hotel has that), I noticed what seemed to be mold, so I just left the restroom, not wanting to deal with that. However, the rest of the pool was nice, and it was very warm. When I got back to the room, I decided to take a shower, because chlorine and hair apparently don't go well together. There were some problems that I noticed. The shower knob is confusing, have no idea why it was like that. The shower head is extremely low, especially for my height (5'10") and I kept bumping my head on it, the toilet has terrible pressure, and the hair dryer leaves much to be desired, as there is only a low setting. However it was nice and hot, so that's a plus. The restaurant at the lodge was very nice. The food was good and the waitress was very nice, too. The chairs have a lot of adjustment options. I want one. The beds were very comfortable, and quite warm (in a good way, as it was a little cool in the rooms, not hotels fault). The shades also block out almost all the outside light, so it was very easy to fall asleep at 9:00 during May of 2019 in Ohio. Here's another problem, however. There was no Do Not Disturb sign, but I asked for one the next day, and everything was good after that.

Day 2: Got up, got ready, no problems there, all good. Come back after activities for the morning, and decide to walk around and explore the hotel. Here's a tip for those who want to stay at the lodge: Don't stay on the first floor. I smelled something really bad down there and I have no idea where it is coming from, and it could be harmful. Otherwise there were no problems. Except for the fire alarm in the room. At night, you can see it blinking every 10 seconds, and it can be a little distracting.

Day 3: I decided to go to breakfast. The staff were still nice, but they did seem a little tired. The food was okay, but not the greatest.

-Final Thoughts- Pros: -Staff were very nice -Rooms were cozy -Pool was nice and warm -Chairs are good -Beds are comfortable -Dinner is good -Room gets very dark Cons: -Mold problems are present -Shower isn't great -Luggage cart is hard to navigate -Cards take to long to register in the system -Do Not Disturb sign was missing -Toilet isn't great -Hair dryer leaves much to be desired

The reason I'm giving this hotel 4 stars is that the staff were very nice, and the hotel was decent overall.

(Shower Photo is at eye level...

We recently booked a room for several days at Hueston Woods Lodge around the holiday weekend. We'd envisioned a relaxing and calm retreat with beautiful nature and scenic views & had planned to enjoy all the included lodge amenities.

The views and the surrounding nature were absolutely amazing, but we were very disappointed with the service and the overall experience.

The lodge was extremely crowded in large part due to its practice of accepting outside dinner reservations from those not actually staying at the lodge. The lobby, sitting areas, tables and even different floors of the lodge were packed with people who were waiting to dine or had already dined and were now roaming freely around the entire lodge to see the Christmas decor & were then using the lodge common areas to visit with their dinner parties. Leaving little if any space for those actually staying in the lodge.

No effort by staff seemed to be made to keep noise levels down. We could hear other guests outside our rooms late into the night. It was well after 1AM each night before it started to quiet down. The walls between rooms were also very thin.

Our room was dated, the carpet had a very large stain, the lock to the door on the balcony was off track and and a cheap metal drop in hinged lock that was barely attached instead. The bathroom was also very tiny.

The bed, however, was comfortable, and our balcony view of Acton Lake was amazing! The lodge fireplace was also very grand. The waterfront views in the common space and dining room were incredible, and there were many many Christmas decorations throughout.

We were a little confused when we tried to ascertain if a room with a water view was available when calling to make our reservation, we were told that there was a 50/50 chance we could get that when we arrived, it was at their discretion.

Also, dining in the lodge was not available for one day/night of our stay. We were told that we could drive instead into Oxford to seek out restaurants or get food. We had hoped to avoid driving in the wintry weather mix.

Large empty boxes were left at the entrance of our second floor room for the duration of our stay.

Also, certain common space lounge areas were sometimes freezing cold at times, while those same areas were warm at other times. I'm not sure if they were also having heating issues or if perhaps they had turned the heat down or off in places at times.

The staff was also very noisy while cleaning rooms after the daily checkout time, they were yelling back and forth to each other in the halls disregardful of the people who had stayed more than one night and were overhearing this outside their rooms for at least an hour or more.

I think that the lodge would be more suited to those who simply want a place to sleep after hiking and/or experiencing the nearby nature.

Or perhaps for families with children who want a pool on site (I did see that some lodges sell indoor pool day passes to those not staying in the lodge or cabin, so the pool area could potentially be very crowded as well as result).

I do NOT recommend it for those who want to rest and relax in quiet after returning...