Parkwood Lodge - Door County — Hotel in Town of Gibraltar

Not sure how this place gets glowing reviews? This SHOULD be a 1-star review, but I upped it one due to a fix provided for a big issue. See below.

We arrived in the evening to quickly check in, as we were on our way to a theater show that evening. The check-in process was easy, and we went to our room.

The first thing I noticed was.... a dehumidifier. Not good. And upon entering two things were noticible. First, the room was HUMID. And I don't mean "slightly damp" humid, I mean "water almost dripping on the walls" humid. The second thing was the room SMELLED. It smelled very very MUSTY, like the deepest dampest basement you have ever been in. While I don't know the cause, it's certainly something major. Likely foundation moisture not properly addressed. The sheets on the bed were DAMP. YUCK.

I then looked at the dehumidifier. Our of curiosity, I checked the bucket, and it was BONE DRY. Which meant that while the fan was working, the compressor was not. One additional thing was working on the dehumidifier. The display. Now, a dry basement will measure something like 35-40%. A damp basement will usually measure 45-55%. A super damp basment will measure 60%. The display on the dehumidifier? 85%. EIGHTY FIVE.

On our way out to our show, I mentioned it to the front desk that the demudifier was dead.

We arrived back to the room late. The dehumidifier was gone, replaced by (seriously?) a tiny 8-inch desk fan on the floor.

BUT, there was a note telling us we could switch rooms if we wanted, and they left us keys. We chose to move as this room was not only awful, it was unsafe. I am pretty certain there's mold. We moved, but it was a pain because we had to go to the other side of the property. We were also given a "15%" discount. (The refund should have been more like 50% not 15).

This room should have never been rented out. And it's an indication of a total systemic failure of the ENTIRE staff. You would think that at least ONE person (maid, owner, maintenance, whatever) would have spoken up and said, "hey uh, this room is gross, we gotta fix this before anyone else stays here".

Nope.

The rest of my review will be a few photos I took of the second room. Worn furniture, stained carpet, big scratches and marks on the woodwork. Oh, and a 2-switch light setup by the bed that's wired completely backwards (The left switch controls the right side light, and vice-versa). Another fixture on the wall did not work at all.

I almost forgot. The outside? While the outer property is nice and green, the areas near the residence buildings are kind of bad. Not much grass, but mostly dirt and gravel. Not super inviting.

Upon checking out, the guy at the desk said, "we found a small leak under the sink, we're going to have maintenance fix it". I was too tired to argue with the guy that the problems in room 122 were WAY more serious than a small drip under the sink.

And I am this --

This is an impeccably clean, rustic stay on a giant property with tennis courts (and racquets), a fire pit with firewood. The swimming pool and hot tub are dated, clean. The hot tub is hot and functions well. There is a pool table, video games, a soda and water vendor and change machine in large activities room. There is an outdoor sun deck with loungers just off of this.

Our room (204) was a family room with two queens and through a door a twin over full bunk with it’s own TV, nice, when traveling with four teens. This room has a door indicating that it could expand into the adjoining room, accommodating an even larger family (we were 5).

The bathroom is small. You must step in to close the door, the sink is outside where the two queen beds are. My son, 6’4” reports that the shower head is nice and tall and I will add that the shower water pressure is excellent.

We drank the water from the tap and it tasted good.

There is an ice machine on the lower level by our room. It is a nonsmoking hotel and our room did not smell of smoke at all. However, some smoke did waft up from people smoking, sitting in chairs outside their rooms. Speaking of, the chairs outside the rooms are a nice touch to dry swim suits and have your morning coffee, absent les fumeurs.

The property is surrounded on three sides by lush forest and I found a hiking trail back in there. I stumbled upon this when walking our dog out on the massive, back lawn behind our building. This place is heaven for people traveling with a dog! Having said that, I was informed that although they are considering this in the future they presently are not a dog friendly hotel and we had to leave a day early.

If ever they change into one—this would be an ideal place to stay with your pup.

The staff are accommodating and kind. We needed towels for five and received them immediately. There is free coffee in the lobby- -oh, and a good sized coffee maker in the room along with a fridge (very loud, room 204) and a microwave. I did not find a safe or lock box.

All in all, a good value,...

We just enjoyed a very nice 5-day stay at Parkwood. Absolutely enjoyed the stay. Room was very well prepared and maintained. We needed one day without service -- no mixups or difficulty. The staff was incredibly nice and helpful. The pool was excellent -- nice size, plenty of toys for the kids, and a really lovely sun deck (my pic was taken the day before they repainted it). The also had showers available in the restrooms which is a very nice touch. Game room features a handful of arcade classics. One machine gave double credits for a quarter, a few were one-quarter-per-play, car game was .75, and pool was only .50. The centipede/milipede/missile command machine was 2 credits per quarter! We burned a lot of money in there! Ample free coffee, and our internet access was solid, about 90% reliable -- a few times I had to hop between their multiple access points. Beautiful area, and there's a nice trail behind it you can go for a little woodsy walk. The only things to make it perfect: cheaper arcade games -- I think it'd be nice to let guests play dime-a-game (some arcades in our area do that with classic games) or give 3 credits for a quarter on a game like Mr. Do. And a continental breakfast -- even just boxed cereal,donuts, milk and juice -- would have made the stay perfect for my kids. Tennis courts look a bit rough, but the nets were good, and they have rackets and balls available for anyone to play (they had a lot of game gear you could borrow, actually). Good a/c, great water pressure. And with Fika and Fish Creek Grill so close, it was a phenomenal place to set up camp for...