Maple Leaf Motel — Hotel in Town of Schroon

My 12 yr old granddaughter and I stayed for the weekend. It's always a little daunting to select and book accommodations based on websites and reviews. But this one seemed to have the best chances in regards to others in Schroon Lake. When we arrived, it was odd to not have to "check in" as is usual. The room code was provided via text so we simply went straight to our room, #105. It was such a pleasant surprise! ||The little front porch had two sturdy looking Adk chairs with a small table. And a cute hanging flower basket to give a bit of home-like appeal.||The room was fairly large with two queen size beds, a fridge, microwave, toaster, Keurig, pods and creamer/sweeteners, real coffee mugs and disposable coffee cups, plates/bowls and utensil packs. There were also complimentary snacks, bottles of water, oatmeal packets and cup-o-noodles. That was pretty impressive. There is a small tabletop area with stools to sit and enjoy a snack or take out meal.||Another thing that caught my eye was the lack of "standard motel" decor. The bed linens, quilt and throw pillows had a "rustic/black bear" design. The beds were extremely comfortable. There was a good size TV but honestly we never turned it on, our weekend was packed with activity. ||I'm really picky about the condition of the bathroom in any hotel or motel. The shower curtain was a woodland theme and very clean, and the shower curtain rings had a maple leaf and pine cone design - nice touch. The towels were not the standard thin motel towels, very thick and absorbent, and plenty. A nice touch was the separate black hand towel that was embroidered "Makeup" - I assume so the regular towels weren't stained with mascara, etc. The bar soap, shampoo, conditioner and body wash were definitely of a better quality than found in a motel. There was a full bathtub and shower, very clean. Oh, and the water pressure was excellent - another surprise. There is daily housekeeping service, which many hotels have abandoned. We came back to a freshly made bed and towels each day.||We encountered the owner one morning as we were leaving and stopped to say hi. He was pleasant and welcoming - in a quiet, north country kind of way. We felt he took pride in his establishment.||I'm sometimes skeptical of 100% glowing reviews - so here are my negative takeaways: - I couldn't find a standard "welcome binder" with restaurant and attraction recommendations or "house rules", etc. (but we have Google... so....), there were a couple of chips in the rim of the bathtub, the bathroom radiator needs painting, no kleenex (but hey, there was toilet paper to blow your nose on), there is no ice machine on premises. There - due diligence to the "negatives" of this motel.||If I ever plan a trip to this area of ADKs, this will be my go-to motel, and I would recommend it to friends...

Id say a solid 2.5 it's not completely terrible but when I was looking for the pans to make dinner after a long day of working in the cold I found one of the cabinets filled with rodent droppings. Then when I moved things on the counter it was either more droppings or food crumbs. You could tell the kitchen hadn't been properly cleaned in some time. The dish drying rack had a dried up bug on it and was filthy. The oven was filthy as well. I notified the owners and was texted back they would be over to clean after they ate. Meanwhile I was trying to eat. You know the whole reason I rented a place with a kitchen. She did eventually come and clean out the one cabinet. She said she has a mouse problem and had set some traps but the thought never crossed her mind to actually clean the kitchen before any guest arrived. I cleaned everything twice, three times. So after my job, I was now an employee of the hotel. So after finding that I looked in the drawer for the oven, and it was also covered in feces. I found hair in the shower. When I turn the shower on junk just came out between the cracks of the plastic seams. The bathroom is about the size of a closet. You definitely can't brush your teeth in there. The door lock is about to fall off. They came in and cleaned while I was gone for work and left the door unlocked with my stuff in there. It doesn't seem like a crime area, but still, you fail at cleaning the place and then you leave it unlocked. Even after all this, I was going to stay an extra night just so I wouldn't have to move. I work on the road and moving all the time is just another chore. I told her that I might have to stay over when she came in to clean the cabinet. I called when I was done working after looking online and finding nothing available. The owner told me the unit was not available for the next day. She did not offer me another place despite the hotel being empty and a vacancy sign. I asked about some type of discount Because of the way the unit was when I arrived. She said that she was going to do it, but I have yet to see that. The place has great reviews besides mine, maybe it is a good place.But the way it was left for me was not good. I was not impressed. So the cleaning they did do to the oven was very half assed but the did tuck the bed back in so I would have to undo it again to be able to sleep in it. 🤦‍♂️ All the plates are plastic and looks like someone used them as a cutting board so you get free microplastics with your meal. All the pans are also Teflon. All the cups and drinking vessels are also plastic besides some...

I don't know how anybody is claiming this place is clean. We've stayed here twice and both times, our rooms were smelly and not very clean.

Listen... Your motel has SO MUCH POTENTIAL. It's adorable and it's in an amazing location that is relatively convenient for Adirondack hikers who need a place to crash, or Schroon Lake vacationers.

But given the conditions of your rooms, I can't give you more than two stars. And the second star is ONLY because I can tell that y'all are trying, the rooms are decorated cute, and my fiancé and I desperately appreciated the snacks that were left for us. We had hiked up in the peaks and didn't get in until 2:30 am and we were STARVING.

What we did not appreciate was the stains all over the sheets and bedding. We travel frequently and always do a bed bug check of the mattress topper, the mattress itself, etc. Your under sheets had old evidence of bed bugs. We did not see active evidence, but rather old blood stains on the under bedding. The comforter was also stained (with something else, not sure what). If it wasn't 2:30 am, and had we not just spent 24 hours straight on our feet hiking, we would have packed up and found something else.

This was room 102, btw.

The toilet was stained. If you use some CLR, it'll help get rid of that rust. But the stained old toilet seat? Replace that thing. The shower curtains are stained. There's black mildew up on the top of the shower walls. The area around the bottom of the toilet... Not very clean.

We also stayed at one of the cabins a few weeks ago and that bathroom was in similar condition. The walls in that cabin were pretty grimy as well.

If you guys invest a bit into this place, put in some upgrades, and hire better cleaners, you could really increase your ROI. Those rugs need to be removed and replaced. They're fraying and they look like they're pretty old.

The shower in the cabin is clearly either leaking or was and the floor underneath is soft.

Replace those shower curtains, too.

Put some work into that place and you could easily charge $200/night.

Unfortunately, the bed bug signs are enough to deter us...