Van Buren Hotel At Shipshewana — Hotel in Shipshewana

Ms. Jennifer Brown or To Whom It May Concern

My boyfriend, Kenneth Allan and I ( Catherine Funk ) booked a room at your hotel for a very special occasion to us. We could have found a place in Shipshewana for a lot more reasonable price, but chose your place for the ratings and for the in-room whirlpool. We arrived at around 7:00pm on Friday after a very stressful ride from Milwaukee, WI. Lots of detours had us running late. We were given room 229 to stay in for the weekend. We put our stuff in the room and headed out to eat before everything closed. After we got back from dinner we decided to take a shower and relax in the whirlpool. As we relaxed, I had actually closed my eyes and Kenneth asked me to open them and see what he saw. Floating all over the tub was a very dark, ugly film or crud, whatever you want to call it, but it was very, very nasty! We jumped out of the whirlpool and both took immediate showers and decided we would report to the front desk with our findings in the morning.

So that next morning we stopped at the front desk ( please keep in mind how embarrassed we were already since it almost looked like feces) and talk with a very nice young lady by the name of Briauna and her helper, Tiffani. Briauna came with us to our room to see it and take pictures. We also took pictures. She then asked us to wait in room for a call because she wanted to see what she could do for us. She called and we went back down and we were told that all she could give us was $25.00 and a different room. She also told us that the hotel had flushed the lines out that previous week and that it was just rust. ( I assure you, it did not look like rust and it really grosses us out to even think what we were laying in). We were not that happy with that amount for all this time and confusion on our very short visit. We then had to take all our stuff from Rm 229 and take it to Rm 127. Then we were finally able to get ready for our short day, since everything closes early. Briauna was quite aware we were not that happy and called the manager back and gave us another $31.00. Please keep in mind, I have a bad knee that I am getting knee replacement on and he has a totaling numb leg from the knee down from 2 back surgeries, so this was a lot of running around and a total waste of our short stay. By the time we actually arrived to try to enjoy Mayfest, Kenneth got a migraine headache from all the stress and we ended up going back to our new room for him to take meds and lay down. It was for the most part the rest of the day. By the time he felt better we noticed things we had not noticed earlier since we were in such a hurry after being delayed so long. Our new room, most likely, had never been really cleaned up. Maybe a little, but not completely. We only had 2 large towels in the bathroom. Almost empty boxes of Kleenex. NO extra towels by the whirlpool. The sheets were not even around the corners of the mattress and look crumbled. So there you have it – our SPECIAL EXPENSIVE WEEKEND! I truly believe we should have been offered more, possibly even given one night’s stay for free. THIS WAS NOT OUR FAULT! We will surely NEVER recommend your hotel. I do want to acknowledge Briauna & Tiffani, they were as helpful as they could be. I know that they would have done more but they were not in charge. They were very professional and courteous. But management is...

I cannot advise doing business with the Van Buren Hotel at Shipshewana. The management was completely unwilling to work with us when trying to do the right thing by cancelling our reservation just inside the 48hr window due to family members testing positive for COVID. Obviously, we did not want to risk making the trip and infecting anyone but we attempted to cancel our reservations on a Thursday morning for a Friday and Saturday night stay. They would not permit a total cancellation under any circumstances and stated their policy was zero cancelations with 48 hours and that we would be charged for at least one night stay at the full rate including fees and taxes. ($162+) No matter who we talked to and explained the unfortunate circumstances, their answer was, "That's our policy - no exceptions" and that we either had the choice of paying and not staying or coming to the hotel and using the room. When we asked if they really wanted us to come an possibly risk spreading, they said, "No", but we were going to be charged regardless. We even offered to have family members who didn't live with us and not exposed who were still considering making the trip and therefore needing a room, to use the second night for the $162 charge if they would allow the reservation to switch from Friday to Saturday and they would not allow it. They only wanted to charge us then for two nights. We did what was in the best interest of all parties and cancelled as soon as we could after the test results. This customer service in an industry that has obviously had troubles staying open after the lockdowns and this is the management response. They were completely rude on the phone and accused my wife of yelling at them when she never raised her voice at all when she was pleading with them. She was on the verge of tears after pleading and offering to make concessions, anything we could to work with them. They still would have had a night stay if they would have allow us to change the reservation one day. They would not relent and charged us for letting them know 36hrs in advance that we would not be able to keep our reservation due to illness. No hotel chain would do this to their guests. If this is how they treat customers at their one hotel, I would hope, they would lose business. There are not a lot of hotels in this area. Shipshewana's draw is visitors coming for the flea market, restaurants, arena, and other Amish business. I have never experienced this, customer-last, service from any other business there and for good reason. They wouldn't last when others are so customer friendly. This is not how to handle business with customers and guarantee their satisfaction and return to spend money. Please find somewhere else to...

I would give zero star rating if I could. Well I am shocked at the condition of the hotel the flighty conditions and unprofessional staff. I will never stay here again. Management dosent care about there hotel. I am completely dissatisfied and disappointed. Desk staff was complaining about other guests and so much i had to walk away. Extremely tacky and uncalled for. Breakfast used to be my favorite in the area as they had a clean and filling breakfast. Now the room is gross and I would never eat anything in there. I completely understand short staffed but you have no interest whatsoever in taking care of this hotel. OWNER BET you need to have the Amish clean again as you are failing miserably. See new pictures and how disgustingly it has become. General manager should be fired. Also staff is alone with no one to help her. She is exhausted and it shows. Why management isn’t here to help when staff is overwhelmed. SHAME ON YOU FOR LEAVING YOUR STAFF ABANDONED. YOU SHOULD BE FIRED. I highly recommend not staying here till management cares enough for there staff so they care enough for us. Found pills on the floor next to my bed. What if there were kids in the room, could of been horrible. Ok whats wrong with you staff. What if a child had found them and ate them. Now your bordering dangerous. SO I CHECKED OUT A DAY EARLIER AS I WONT EVER STAY AT THIS HOTEL AGAIN. DESK GIVES ME SOMEONE ELSES CHARGES FOR ANOTHER ROOM WITH ALL THERE PERSONAL INFORMATION. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE.

2019 PAST EXPERIENCES KIERRA WAS MANAGING THE HOTEL ::::I am so pleased with the Van Buren hotel. I travel all over and this hotels staff is amazingly friendly and very accommodating. They went out of their way to make sure I was satisfied with their hotel. Rooms are clean and comfortable and quite!! Thank you P.S. Kierra is so professional and out standing in customer service. I have worked at a five star hotel and she is a five star manager!! Thank you for always making me feel welcomed and thank you for professional service!! Love love this place 6/16 Visiting again it’s my forth time maybe more. I am on crutches and they helped me with everything. Help with my luggage from my car. I truly feel this is the best hotel in town. Everyone should stay at...