Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Lake Geneva Resort, an IHG Hotel — Hotel in Town of Lyons

If you have children and someone is wiling to watch them for an overnight last minute (two day notice) you jump on that opportunity! We were trying to figure out where and what to do and someone suggested The Grand Geneva Resort area. We are not cheap by all means, if a place is worth the money we are all for it, and will usually visit it many times! When booking I was shocked to see the hefty price tag for a basic room that didn't include anything except the room. We had heard so much about the place we wanted to give it a shot. We decided on the villa room at The Holiday Inn. It was the only room left (even though it appeared the hotel was not booked up) that was at a lower price tag which was still pretty hefty. The villa room we stayed in was very nice, quiet and spacious. We were there for a quick romantic evening and to ski. With the big price tag we paid for the room we were hoping to have received at least a discount on skiing or pretty much anything. There were no Ski "packages" left for the room type we stayed in. So what seemed like a great idea for a quick overnight turned into a very expensive one. If you have children apparently this the place to bring them, cause they were everywhere, even in the lounge/bar area playing and running at The Grand Geneva at night time. I was a little shocked to see that. It made it very hard to enjoy yourself and the band that was playing. If your looking to relax and have a romantic evening with your significant other just hang in your room, you paid a hefty price for it. If your looking for a quick inexpensive evening away, this is not the place to go. Super expensive!!! However there is plenty to do on the grounds. If we decide to go back, we will make it a long weekend so we have time to enjoy them all. Maybe we will bring the kids.

The check in staff was not very friendly. One of the girls walked away while I was waiting and the girl who finally helped me pretty much rushed me and seemed as though I was taking up her time. There were no people in line waiting so I wasn't sure why she was doing that or why she was being rude. I was in a happy mood and about to have overnight without my kids. The check out staff was just the same, she asked how my stay was and I said ok. She asked in a snippy tone "what not grand" and I said no just ok. She got upset with my answer and even more upset that I asked for a receipt #which my receipt wasn't very detailed and looked like I wasn't charged at all, but I was#. All other staff was great, the girls at the restaurant were very helpful and sweet and so was our wait staff at dinner and in the bar area.

Overall I was not impressed for the amount of money we spent. We could have stayed a few miles away for far less money with more amenities in our room and still gone skiing, We probably would of had a better experience. We now know...

In theory a great value, however the room fell short with a lot of broken stuff and an incomplete kitchen.

First of all, it was impossible to understand where to check in. The sign at the entrance is instructive, but it was covered by tall grass so we didn’t see it at dusk, and wandered around for an hour before finding our way to the main lodge check in, which is strangely not even connected to the Holiday Inn drive, making it seem completely separate even though they are just rooms. There’s no signs even pointing to where the main lodge entrance is. It’s all very poorly laid out, confusing, and inconvenient.

Once we finally got to our room, we discovered it was a handicap room, which is suboptimal for kids and adults, alike. There’s no bathtub and everything is low. A shower isn’t ideal for a 4 year old, and I was really looking forward to a soak, too. Anyway, the shower was just fine but not sloped correctly so water flowed out all over the wood trim and bathroom floor. Yuck.

The broken and missing stuff was annoying. The screen door to the balcony wouldn’t stay on the track and was tough to open/close. A wardrobe drawer was broken. The dining/living room window shade was missing the chain to open/close.

There was just one days supply of coffee even though we stayed two nights. The kitchen didn’t even have a small pairing knife. But hey, there were 7 steak knives.

The building was very loud, too, without much sound deadening between floors or rooms. There was a door between our suite and the one next door, and it sounded like they were just in a different room in the same suite. We could hear stomping around above, yelling below, and kitchen clear voices and kitchen sounds next door at all hours. Very disturbing.

Forget about calling the trolley for a ride to the lodge, you’ll waste a lot of time waiting. You can’t even walk there; it’d take 15 or 20 minutes and there’s no path or sidewalk. And we couldn’t figure out which of the Grand Lodge amenities were actually available to us.

Despite the poor impression initially, it was actually quite a nice stay. It was surprisingly clean, comfortable, and the pools were awesome. Having access to most lodge amenities was great. It’s a big complex, though maybe not the most kid friendly. The breakfast cafe and coffee shop were fine—we had a nice breakfast. The playground was great. The views were lovely.

Finally, it was very inexpensive, and though not close to town, I didn’t find it to be too far, and big box shopping is very close. It was just odd to have to drive 5 minutes to the lodge when it’s literally just a few...

First, let me say that this Holiday Inn is on the Grand Geneva Resort and Spa's property and the buildings you are staying in are kind of off-property to the rest of the resort. Your only view will be the golf course and the parking lot. However, you do have your own pool and it feels a lot less crowded than the Grand Geneva's pool. Just no fun stuff like activities or parties happen at the Holiday Inn pool and there are only basic snacks and canned alcohol for purchase. No full pool bar and grill as they advertise. You have to go all the way to the Grand Geneva side to check in and once they see that you are a Holiday Inn customer they kind of treat you like lesser class. They don't offer you a treat or take your bags to your room like they do the Grand Geneva guests. They didn't even give us a schedule of activities or go over the amenities with us like they did the Grand Geneva guests. We had to find out on our own that they had a shuttle to take you over to the main building but didn't give us a shuttle schedule. Didn't bother me much! We paid a better price than they paid! lol You won't have access to their pool so you can forget the pool party. Other than that I enjoyed my stay for the most part. Our room was great, clean, and very spacious. We had a one bedroom with the 1 King Bed and a sofa sleeper in the living room. My daughters (20 and 14) slept on it. They said it was comfortable. Just make sure to ask for more pillows and blankets. Even when the bed was let out, we still had a nice amount of space. The bathroom was roomy and there was a washer and dryer in the closet there. Worked really nicely. Our bathroom sink and tub kept backing up. We called twice for someone to come and they never came. My mom and I slept on the King bed and it was heavenly. I slept so well. Loved having the closet in the room and all the drawer space. There's no housekeeping for Holiday Inn guests too. They didn't tell us that either. And WE were responsible for taking out our own trash. Didn't know that either! lol I loved the kitchen. Everything worked well. Just look in ALL of the cabinets for pots and pans. We missed a whole set because we didn't thoroughly check one, lol. We were able to get more stuff like paper towels, dishwashing soap, etc. The balcony was nice just had paint chipping on the railing. Would I stay there again? Yup! It's very close to Main Street, only about a 7 min drive, and other things to do and restaurants. Walmart was close too so we were able to stock up our fridge and save money on eating out. For the price, it's the best deal in...