Birchcliff Resort — Hotel in Town of Dell Prairie

As a travel director, I have written over 50 reviews for hotels, restaurants, and sites and have only written one negative one….UNTIL TODAY. |You should NOT consider staying at the Birch Cliff Resort in Wisconsin Dells||My wife and I celebrated our anniversary by gathering our entire family at the Birch Cliff Resort. Our group of 10 adults and 6 children reserved the Group Lodge in January for our party in August. The Birch Cliff’s website was very deceptive* and not upfront that the Group Lodge was connected with another large unit. We learned that a week before the event but thought we would make the best of it. Afterall, we are a friendly family. What we didn’t know is the other half of the building was rented to a bachelor party with twenty-seven 35-year-old men. They behaved, as they should, like they were at a bachelor party, so I am not upset with them. It is Birch Cliff’s manager who really angers me. ||He booked both groups seven months before the events and could have given us a heads-up. Each of the two houses rented for over $4,500 for the three days. IF we had known, we would have changed our dates: however, the lodge was not worth that price: the window air conditioners were duct taped to the wall, some of the beds were broken with a visible sag, the kitchen was ill-equipped, the floors were so dirty---everyone’s feet were BLACK. In general, the place is run-down. | |The manager Tom knew he screwed up and sent us a gift card for a restaurant in our area; however, this was not enough. We asked for a 25% refund for the overwhelming impact the bachelor party had on our gathering. You can imagine how uncomfortable my children and grandchildren were sharing our yard with 27 grown men….many intoxicated. ||Tom, the manager at the Birch Cliff was rude, dismissive, and condescending. His decision was final. He refused to give me the owner’s contact information, so I could not appeal. I’ve never experienced a manager’s decision trumping an owner’s. I emailed, called, and did everything in my power to get some resolve before I wrote this review, critical of the resort, their policies and their management. ||I could never recommend Birch Cliff to ANYONE. They were deceptive about their property and behaved rudely when the manager was confronted with the truth about Birch Cliff Resort. Stay away…there are many other places in the Dells where you can stay.|| *In addition, the website presents the resort as being on the river (it’s the first picture on their site) The reality is that the river is a mile hike to a ledge with dangerous steps to the river. It is NOT a...

I normally don't leave negative reviews because I myself am a business owner. However, this is cause for attention. I knew from the moment we made it to this resort that there would be an issue. I didn't want to blame it on our race (African American) because I wanted to give them the benefit of doubt and a chance to prove me wrong. We were frowned upon the moment we set foot on this property. There were no check in or out instructions sent which was the start of the problem or a final billing receipt. Other problems were minor enough not to mention and I sent a personal not public review to the owner just to make them aware of our issues and treatment, which I thought was admirable. However, today I was charged an additional $276 intensive cleaning fee when I myself went through the unit and personally cleaned each room to the point there was not a piece of paper to be seen. We even swept and wiped down counters, bagged all of our towels and trash so the cleaning crew wouldn't have much to do.Granted the toilet was clogged due to a teen being sick but I reported it for no one to respond. They said the carpet has vomit but that was actually from their shower leaking into the carpet which I reported as well with no response. I'm glad I took after pictures to protect not only myself and my business but my race as well because I knew they would try to fabricate lies. It's unfortunate that we have to deal with such treatment when we're paying citizens. I even tipped the staff after being so rudely treated because I'm teaching my youth not to react to such treatments because it's to be expected. I even mentioned coming back with more of my program teens later this summer but now I will go out of my way to inform whoever needed about this establishment....

Only stay here if you are ok with mice!!! Yes, that is what we were told by a few staff after we discovered evidence of a mouse. We were told, "These cabins are in the woods and you should expect that". My friend has a phobia to mice which added to the stress. The maintenance man set some traps while we were gone for the day in hopes it would get caught. We were assured it was caught while we were gone. That night I was up the entire night with the sounds of scurrying mice, trap being tripped and the disposing of mice. Two were in "sticky traps" so they were still alive and I could feel them moving as I picked them up with paper towel. Three total were caught through the night. I wrapped them in paper towel and put them in a paper sack for Wendy. When I went to the office in the morning, Wendy was not apologetic but cynical that I had used so much paper towel. I talked with Brian and asked how he was going to make this right for us. I expected a full refund for a mouse infested cabin. He would not give anymore discount on the cabin from what he had negotiated with my friend the previous day but agreed to move us to a newer cabin "which shouldn't have the mouse issue because it was newer". So we packed up and moved to cabin 3 from cabin 11. Cabin 3 was newer and nicer but obviously was a quick clean. There were large blood drips along the side of the tub probably from a cut while shaving legs. Our relaxing weekend ended up being 3 days of stress, one sleepless night, a tired day, repacking, moving and unpacking. We do not recommend Birchcliff unless of course you are ok with sharing your cabin with mice. I will say however, the grounds are beautiful. Brian has a gem but it definitely needs improvement on the older cabins. This should never...