Wickwood Inn — Hotel in Saugatuck

I took my mother for a night as a birthday gift. She is 71 and happened to feel very sick through the night. I was a bit upset to find that there was no person responsible (or on duty) who stayed past 9:00 p.m. at this inn. There was no phone in the room in the case I needed to call emergency and I could not locate a phone in the inn even though I looked. Later I found that there was a public phone booth under the stairwell, but since it was covered in advertisements, I did not easily notice it.

The gardens and the home were nicely kept and homey, and the breakfast was wonderful. The service, however, was businesslike rather than warm and friendly.

When I made my reservation, I had requested the picture of the room that looked the most cheerful and bright with flowery blue pastels. So it was a surprise to me to be placed in the room we were placed in. The room did not look at all like the room I had requested. It was a bit dark and manly and the paintings on the walls lacked good taste. There was a large unframed canvas painting on the wall across from the bed of a headless figure with muscular legs and arms but it was also clear that this figure had a female chest. Very untasteful and uncomfortable to look at, so we took it off the wall during our stay and placed it back up before we checked out.

The thing that I may very well remember the most from our stay was that we were utterly freezing the whole time we were there. I noticed that others who stayed on the first floor were also complaining about the air conditioning being on too high. After expressing our discomfort, we were told that since it was an old house it was necessary to have the air on that high so that it the guests on the second floor would get some air. We were told to cover the vents -- since they did not close due to being old -- with magnetic covers which did not stick well and ended up falling off, or to use the bed pillows to cover the vents in the room. We had no choice but to cover the vents in the bathroom and room with bed pillows. Even though, we were still cold in our room and decided not to use the shower facilities because of this.

Unfortunately, as delicious as the breakfast was and as well-kept as the gardens were, these facts alone would not entice me to stay at...

Pluses; It is a lovely and well-appointed place and we were greeted by a friendly young man who gave us a tour. Our room was cute and the bathroom was spectacular, nearly half the size of our room. We enjoyed the fireplace in the common area immensely. There was a small plate of cheese, sausage and crackers available after 5, as well as wine if we wanted. Water on both night stands, white fluffy robes and slippers were a nice touch.

Minuses: The bed was quite uncomfortable so I wasn’t able to get much sleep, although my husband thought it was fine. Our room seemed cramped once we laid out our bags. I would have preferred a smaller bath in exchange for more room in the bedroom. Indeed, the bathroom was so large that unless you were directly under the shower the room felt cold because the space didn’t allow the heat to build up. Hooks for our coats would have been helpful.

This morning, our eggs Benedict breakfast was cold. Not just the prosciutto but the toast, poached egg and hollandaise were actually cold. We waited a long time for the server to return so we could have her microwave it so it was edible. My husband knocked on the kitchen door but no one answered. Eventually the server did show and heated them up for us. Even hot, the hollandaise sauce had way too much mustard which overpowered the sauce and the breakfast. I would definitely recommend changing out this option.

No one ever asked how our breakfast was nor did anyone refill the cream or Splenda at the coffee table. Even though we were gone most of the afternoon, our room was never refreshed. We are here another night so we’ll see if breakfast and the service is better tomorrow.

Day 2: Breakfast was French toast with a custard and cream cheese sauce. It was tasty, but again room temperature. I like my hot breakfast actually hot or at least warm, but this was ok because it a pastry-like entree. The server did ask how our breakfast was but that’s pretty much the sum total of our Interaction with any staff. To be fair, it’s the week after New Year’s and most of Saugatuck is closed, but I would have appreciated a more welcoming...

Our experience was marginal. We very much enjoyed the young lady who served our party during our stay at breakfast. She was kind, polite and very pleasant. On our reservation, I noted that our daughter is under the stated required age of 12. I also explained that she is an only child and generally functions as an adult on the reservation request. The reservation was accepted. I reiterated this to the staff upon check in, just to be sure, and they stated that it would be fine. On the last day of our trip as we were checking out, the owner (Julie) stopped by, and as we were moving our bags, the owner asked, "Are you the PEOPLE with the daughter?" Mind you, my husband and daughter are Black. People? Really? I said yes, we have a daughter. She said, "I understand she isn't 12." I said yes, but I included that on our reservation request. She denied that, 3 times, and was becoming argumentative. At that point she stated that if we ever came back, we need to remember that and follow the rules. I pointed out again that we were not hiding this, given that we included it on the reservation and let the staff know, again, upon check in. Then she said, "Check out is at 11. You're late." Mind you, it was 11:15 and we were carrying our bags to the porch she interrupted us. Wow. Talk about bad customer service. The honest truth is that the food was fine, but nothing we can't make at home in our own kitchen at home. The rooms were okay, but needed deep cleaning. Certain areas, especially in the bathroom, were in need of some serious cleaning attention. Also, three of us left with strange bug bites, which we have now realized are likely bed bug bites. For the price, the Inn isn't worth it. We won't be back with the current management in charge. You can find much nicer places to stay for the same (or a lower)...