August Lodge Cooperstown — Hotel in Town of Hartwick

June of 2017

My 13 year old son & I stayed at the August Lodge this past week for his little brother's Baseball Tournament at Cooperstown Dream's Park. I was so proud of him. He hit his first home run over the fence ever, here at Cooperstown. Surreal. An 80 pound 11 year old playing with 13 year olds twice his size. Special Experience! Our little hometown travel team played well.

I have never written a review before. We stayed at the August Lodge last year & it was fine.

I walked down to breakfast this morning at 10:15 AM with my little boy. 'Good morning Steve. How are you? We will be checking out before 11:00.' He just stared at me as if I was a ghost. He said check out time was 10am & we were 15 minutes late. I asked him if we could have some time to eat a little breakfast & take a shower. Again the stare. Long pause. Steve's response was basically... No it was not ok. 'Well..... guess we will just have to clean your room last'.

Most of the guests there for the baseball tournament had already checked out. I did not understand why it would be so inconvenient. I was not told or reminded that check out time was 10am. Had no idea. I knew that we could not check in until 4pm. Anywhere I have ever stayed at....check out time was 11am or sometimes 12pm. Honestly, he was extremely abnoxious, feeling so put out......made me feel like a vagrant.

I drank a half a cup of coffee & stuffed down half a muffin. My son was getting upset now & he did not want anything to eat. His dad was really upset by now. Reece started crying. Frankly, I was shocked. I have never experienced this in all my years of travel & stays in nice hotels in NYC, PHL, Foriegn counties, B & Bs, Holiday Inns, Motel 6. Anywhere! I walked out & he slowly walked up & said... 'Scott... (He was very friendly last year) I am sorry you are in a bad mood.' I felt dirty. My son was crying. We packed up real quickly, no shower. I take medication for my cardiomyopathy & enlarged heart. I really needed a shower. I had to go to the bathroom. Waited til I got to a Gas Station.

We were up late watching the Fireworks & Championship Game they have at the end of every week's tournament. My 11 year old son was exhausted after baseball games day & night + 6 night's in the barracks with his 10 teammates & 3 coaches.

Well we packed up & ran out with everything in 5 minutes. My son was in tears. Started my truck. Grabbed a big handful of change & dropped it on the counter. 'Here is for being late.' That same strange stare. We left at 10:30am. I was shaken up. My son asked me 'Why was that man so mean?'

He eventually stoped crying. That engraved baseball for his First Home Run June 21st did not matter anymore. He just became blank & quiet with teary eyes & stared out the window.....

In my humble opinion, the owner of The August Lodge lacks human decency, has limited interpersonal skills & certainly does not belong in the hospitality business. I hope no future guests have to suffer the humiliation & rude treatment we received. Maybe if you make sure you check out by 10:00am...

This place needs a whole lot of updating and a lot of "elbow grease". This is not a luxury hotel. Unfortunately we had this for a week because our child was playing in a baseball tournament at the Dream Park. Their website looks great but in reality it is far from it. We found the "suite" in disarray. The shower stall bench area had built up dirt and had not been properly cleaned. The towels were worn and thin and not enough for the guests, the rooms were dirty, no broom, the frying pan had been burnt and not suitable to cook in, the spatula had built up burnt scorch marks, utensils were hit and miss and the utensil tray was filty. The microwave hadn't been wiped and cleaned. The sofa and chair were stained. the screen door was filty and the glass doors needed to be cleaned. The "night stands and end tables" were dirty as they were carved wood and dirt particles had settled in the grooves. We had to go to the office to get extra toilet paper (they would only give you one at a time, the same with any towels). We had to request dish soap, dish towels to wipe the dishes (only one at a time), plastic garbage bags. There was a worn and smelly sponge scrubber to wash dishes so we requested a new and clean one. An evening desk clerk insinuated that these things were in the room and did not believe us so he came up to the room to check it out! Uncalled for! The lighting in all rooms was very poor. The head manager/owner was not available because he was on "vacation". A fine time to be gone. We were all so disillusioned and very disappointed. It is a beautiful location but not worth it to be uncomfortable. The reviews really need to be updated as well. After travelling a great length of time no one needs to encounter such dissatisfaction. Sorry that I did not take any pictures to display and verify these...

My adult family of four stayed at the lodge for one night, visiting Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame. The lodge is nice and quaint - well kept with a beautiful view of the mountains. They have a pool, spa (closed), and fire pit, but operating during COVID has set limits on the amenities. Due to COVID, the hotel staff leaves the lodge unattended after 9pm. As such, the pool area is closed at 9pm, and fire pit is doused with water. But despite the lack of fire, we enjoyed our night around the dark firepit and stargazed. ||Note, breakfast is also not served at this time (though there's a McDonald's and Jive Cafe a short drive away). ||The room itself has a mini kitchen and a little patio with Adirondack chairs. The beds were soft and super comfortable! Our only complaint is that the water in our bathroom was NASTY. The mini kitchen sink had normal, filtered water; but both the shower and bathroom sink had the most foul smelling (and tasting) water. We had to use the kitchen sink/bottled water to brush our teeth, etc. and showering was just.... rough. Not sure if this is normal or it was just our room and a filter was broken, but something needs fixing.||Outside of the water and the current lack of full amenities (due to COVID, and as such, not their fault), I would recommend this place over the neighboring Best Western and Holiday Inn Express, for a quaint hotel experience...