Santa's Lodge — Hotel in Santa Claus

UPDATE - 7/2/24 - finally a comment on our review but we STILL don't have a reponse to my email. Managers or owners obviously don't care or they'd make more of an effort. Sad business ethic. What a shame.

We were there June 2&3 and it was an interesting stay. We travel every 2 weeks to different amusement parks - and this was our first in Santa Claus. I chose this hotel for it's proximity to Holiday World. I read reviews before booking any hotel and then try to give a little grace to those that have lower ratings. This hotel looks like it was amazing in it's heyday. There were maybe 20-30 cars in the parking lot during our entire stay - but there are maybe 160ish rooms? It seems it used to have a zip line but doesn't work. Nice gazebo area -but looks unusable. Wood looks rotted. Pools are nice but dated. Outdoor pool area is run down and sad. A little work and it would look amazing! Inside, rooms are roomy but old. Oranges, browns, etc. Beds are dated - can feel every coil. Even my 9 year old complained about the bed. We happened to be there in a weird power outage! The entire hotel went dark without power. No back up generator, no one brought flashlights. Thank God for cellphones and portable battery chargers! After 10 minutes in the dark, my nephew (who was elsewhere else in Santa Claus) texted that their cabin power was out. I called the front desk for over an hour to have someone tell us what was going on. I can't walk well so walking to the front desk wasn't an option. I actually had to call the power company to get answers. It was almost 2 hours without power. I use a CPAP machine to breathe at night. Good thing it wasn't already on my face-when it isn't powered up, it makes it actually more difficult to breathe than without the mask. Still, upon checkout, no comments, apologies. The power outage wasn't their fault but the lack of communication was! The lack of backup power was. Most hotels have something for safety. I emailed the lodge on June 7th regarding the stay - and I still have had no response to my email. No return email, call, text, nothing.

It's not a horrible hotel - it was clean, just dated. Mattresses need help. If you have anything that needs power, they have no backup power so either bring your own backup - or stay elsewhere. We're going back to Holiday World the July 29 and 30 but will probably be staying elsewhere. This hotel could be amazing with some improvement -and with some updating. For their location, I was expecting much more. They are really missing a great opportunity. This place really has the potential to be great and so much fun. I see so many areas that could be worked on to bring in more people! When people can't communicate, it screams that there are more issues than just a...

We are very disappointed! What a waste of money and time. We arrrived at 3:30pm. I Was told to check in after 3pm. We were on a hour different time zone which they did not tell us. When we arrived we were told we could do the craft tomorrow. That it was over for the day. Then she told us the place to eat was acrossed the street. We pointed and said over there (pointing to the frosty cafe) and she said yes! So we waited for a half of an hour to see the lights found out it was the wrong place! We needed to go to LAND OF LIGHTS! So we had to go there and wait another hour just to get in! The line was LONG! Not to mention we have 2 small children! So after we waited to see the light show we went back just having enough time to eat and get upstairs to change her pajamas to see Santa! ( we bought a special outfit for the kids to match to see Santa). Well we waited for 30 minutes to be stacked then another 10 minutes to be waited on when then we found out it was the wrong restaurant that we needed to be back over at the lodge for dinner!!! The lady told us wrong!!! Santa was at the lodge all along though they told us he would be across the street at the diner for us to meet at 8 for cookies and milk! You talk about being pissed! I had it! So I told the lady at the front desk and she still said that is where you eat across the street! I literally had to take her outside and point to the restaurant across the parking lot and she says oh no it’s at the side of the building it’s in the same building as this one!!!! ???? Wow!!!! So we have to run over with the same clothes on we’ve had all day to go eat food that they had sitting on the floor getting ready to toss out that was old and they said sorry about your luck!!! Well let me tell you somthing, NOT one person offered to do ANYTHING for us!!! I’m so beyond mad!!! Not one apology and let me take care of this for you!!! It was the BIGGEST disappointment!!! I’m so upset even on our way home writing this review!!!!

Someone is going to make this right! If they refuse to then Groupon will be responsible!!

Lastly after breakfast which was decent we went to make a craft and the lady says, oh there are no crash today they were over yesterday at three. How in the heck is that possible if we check in at 3pm??? Wow!! Still another question to be answered!

As a business owner myself, you all should be ashamed of yourselves!!!

Not to mention the faulty light in our room hanging from a piece of wire and the stopper in our bathtub didn’t work! The pool water was absolutely freezing because I just put new water in in a few days ago!!! And the hot tub was not hot at all!!! Normally I wouldn’t say anything but I am...

The closest to staying at the North Pole!

My husband and I were on a road trip to Santa Claus, Indiana and came across Santa’s Lodge. We had already set up a reservation over in Ferdinand at a hotel, but were very curious as to what the Santa’s Lodge held. The greeting starts when you pull into the parking lot and see the wreath hanging high up on the outside, a snowman in the corner of the porch.

Upon entering the main lobby area of what was a huge building, we were blown away by the Christmas before us. Once an old barn, this space was turned into what can only be described as Santa‘s house. Couches and chairs to relax, a winter village of houses set up near a Christmas tree, even a gift shop. At the far end of when you walk in there is a full-size sleigh for photo ops and off to the side a chair for when Santa is home. Numerous Christmas trees throughout including a nice tall one in the corner, surrounded by wrapped packages.

We let the staff know that we were thinking of coming back through with our children and possibly staying and they were happy to give us a tour of the lodge. They took us to a few different rooms to see what options there were. All rooms are stocked with everything you need. My only wish was that each room would’ve had a Christmas tree and larger sized artwork. There were very small winter scene prints on the walls which kind of made the room look a little more bare. The bedspreads were in Christmas colors, but the rooms were a little outdated and not as festive as I believe they should be for being a Christmas themed hotel. I do not have a comment about the comfort of the beds as we were only touring.

We were very thankful that they were willing to give us a tour so then we know what to look forward to when we come. We were told that there is a full breakfast in the mornings downstairs and we did see that the pool was up and running with a lot of happy children 😊

We also noticed that outside there is a gazebo area and what might’ve been a zip line that would be great in the summer if it was up and running. The lodge is very large, almost worthy of getting lost in, so there’s plenty of space to stay.

I believe that this hotel could really be turned into something so much more than it is and bring the crowd back that I think it might’ve once had. This hotel could be so close to looking like something you would see in a Hallmark movie with the right people doing it. Just a thought 🎄

Excited to a possible future visit!

Free parking on the premises and free Wi-Fi.

Air conditioning in all rooms. Indoor pool, outdoor pool and hot tub. Kid...