Lake Pleasant Lodge — Hotel in Town of Lake Pleasant

I don’t often leave negative reviews, as you’ll see if you look through my previous reviews, but my family has stayed at LPL for many years now and recently the experience was less than ideal. What made it worse was a lackluster exchange with the owner who didn’t show any care when I reached out to make him aware.

The following is the message I sent them after our short stay:

“Hello,

My husband and I stayed at Lake Pleasant Lodge last weekend and I wanted to reach out about our experience. We have always loved LPL and have stayed there many times. My family has been in the Piseco area for generations and LPL has provided a comforting respite when situations required lodging. Some of our guests stayed with LPL when we had our wedding at Oak Mountain and we stayed there when my grandfather passed.

Your location is incredible and we've always been happy with the quality of our stay. The grounds are great. However, this weekend disappointed us a bit. We had an issue with a loud mechanical noise that kicked in every 5 min, which turned out to be the sump pump (the manager kindly came by when we called and he said unfortunately there was nothing to be done about it). Even with the air conditioner running, it woke us all through the night.

The other thing I wanted to mention is the beds - they really are not comfortable. I'm not sure when the mattresses were updated but they seem as though they are very firm memory foam and they are extremely uncomfortable. So stiff and hard on the joints. Even after only an hour in our bed, I was in agony. My whole body was aching and by the middle of the night, I was still awake and unable to sleep because it was just so painful and uncomfortable. I was tempted to go sleep in our car, that's how bad it was.

We had booked a 2 night stay but we decided to leave early after only 1 night because neither of us could bear another sleepless, painful night there. I wanted to message you directly because I felt you should be aware of these things, in hopes of preventing these issues with future guests. Again, we have always loved LPL and wish the best for you guys. But unfortunately, we aren't sure we would be inclined to stay there in the future given these factors.

Thank you for your time, Meg”

This was the response we received:

“It's funny, we get so many compliments about the memory foam mattresses. I have had so many people ask where I got them so they can get them for their own home.

We have had so much rain, and that's probably why the sump pump was running all night. Glen Biswurm”

I am an understanding person and things happen, that’s just reality. But it would’ve been nice, at minimum, to receive compassion afterward for the awful time we had there. It seemed as though he is unfazed by our poor experience.

Edit in response to owner

Our grievances are not with the manager. If that’s how you’ve read this, you are mistaken. Our issue is with the way the owner responded to our effort to express issues that hampered our ability to get rest.

It is a hotel’s primary function to provide comfort and a place for travelers to rest. Unfortunately attending to guests’ issues as they arose are part of a manager’s responsibility.

When we called the manager, it was indeed 9:20 at night. We didn’t think it was too late to be reaching out for help. The manager did come and he was pleasant and we appreciated his efforts. But before he came, he said on the phone “I just took a pill for sleep” which was context that made us feel bad for calling. He mentioned he could hear the noise from the office and that we’d hear it in every room, so there'd be no point in moving.

We left because moving wouldn’t have changed anything because, likely, all the rooms have the same mattress.

I left a review so that other guests can take the information and do with it as they will. The beds were hard. The noise was frequent and disruptive. I didn’t leave a 0 star review. I mentioned many great qualities as well, actually. 3 stars felt middle of the road to me and given our personal experience, I...

First, the good. We stayed in the Grand Lodge Suite and the rooms were spacious and clean and the beds were comfy. The Roku televisions were a great touch and let us use our subscription services instead of being chained to local cable. The location was great and in the summer, I think being right along the lake would be great!||However, I would not stay here again.||To summarize the following, you are gambling with a stay here. If all does not go well, you will be left on your own to try and remedy the situation.||The core of our issue came down to 2 things:|(1) The walls are remarkably paper thin - you will hear your neighbors and they will hear you|(2) There is no one on premises or available to resolve an issue.||My family's trip (mom, dad and 2 young children) was based upon coming in from the Albany area for a day of skiing at Oak. We were provided with a door unlock code to use when we arrived instead of meeting with someone.||Our neighbors were going (often loud and full of expletives, sometimes explaining how drunk they were) long into the night (there were at least 5 of them based upon distinct voices and the number of snowmobiles in front of their room.) I did not feel comfortable confronting them and was concerned about escalating the situation.) Eventually I called the number provided in the email sent to us and left a message (this was at about 10:30 in the evening.)||There was no reply until afternoon the next day (when we had already checked out) and the response was a form letter thanking us for our stay and asking for a review. When I replied asking whether they received the phone message I had left the night before, I was told how sorry they were but essentially given a "not my problem" response.||I understand that the issue began with our neighbors - not with the owners. But, I do not think it unreasonable to expect that when you purchase lodging you will be provided with more than a bed - privacy and safety being two things. ||My stay was absolutely not private nor did I feel particularly safe with my family staying here.||Yes, I could have confronted my drunken neighbors and yes I could have called the police. But, I could have also stayed elsewhere, where I would have saved money and received at least the same amount of privacy and safety that I experienced here.||The bottom line is that were there no other options for lodging, next time, we would wake up early and drive in rather than stay here. (As an aside, Oak Mountain was wonderful and would be...

First, the good. We stayed in the Grand Lodge Suite and the rooms were spacious and clean and the beds were comfy. The Roku televisions were a great touch and let us use our subscription services instead of being chained to local cable. The location was great and in the summer, I think being right along the lake would be great!

However, I would not stay here again.

To summarize the following, you are gambling with a stay here. If all does not go well, you will be left on your own to try and remedy the situation.

The core of our issue came down to 2 things: (1) The walls are remarkably paper thin - you will hear your neighbors and they will hear you (2) There is no one on premises or available to resolve an issue.

My family's trip (mom, dad and 2 young children) was based upon coming in from the Albany area for a day of skiing at Oak. We were provided with a door unlock code to use when we arrived instead of meeting with someone.

Our neighbors were going (often loud and full of expletives, sometimes explaining how drunk they were) long into the night (there were at least 5 of them based upon distinct voices and the number of snowmobiles in front of their room.) I did not feel comfortable confronting them and was concerned about escalating the situation.) Eventually I called the number provided in the email sent to us and left a message (this was at about 10:30 in the evening.)

There was no reply until afternoon the next day (when we had already checked out) and the response was a form letter thanking us for our stay and asking for a review. When I replied asking whether they received the phone message I had left the night before, I was told how sorry they were but essentially given a "not my problem" response.

I understand that the issue began with our neighbors - not with the owners. But, I do not think it unreasonable to expect that when you purchase lodging you will be provided with more than a bed - privacy and safety being two things.

My stay was absolutely not private nor did I feel particularly safe with my family staying here.

Yes, I could have confronted my drunken neighbors and yes I could have called the police. But, I could have also stayed elsewhere, where I would have saved money and received at least the same amount of privacy and safety that I experienced here.

The bottom line is that were there no other options for lodging, next time, we would wake up early and drive in rather than stay here. (As an aside, Oak Mountain was wonderful and would be...