The Lodge at Schroon Lake — Hotel in Town of Schroon

My wife and I love the Schroon Lake area and have been coming here for more than 20 years. The B&B where we used to stay shut down in 2001 and, since we prefer to stay in a place with kitchen facilities, we were very excited when we first read that the old Word of Life (WOL) Inn had been sold, and that the property would be renovated into higher-end lodging.||||I first stayed at The Lodge shortly after it opened in the Summer of 2023 with my wife and daughter. We were able to get a Chalet and liked it very much. The Chalets were newly refurbished, and, despite some issues that I attributed to teething pains, we enjoyed our stay very much. I wasn't a fan of the foam rubber mattresses on the beds, but they were new and fairly supportive, so it wasn't too much of a problem.||||I've tried to make reservations at the Lodge several times since then but was never able to get a Chalet or Owls Nest cabin (similar to the Chalet, but on the far side of the property with no water view), so we ended up making other plans.||||I finally made a reservation here for a 5-night stay in August 2025 though, in a Main Lodge one-bedroom suite with a kitchenette and 2 double beds. The online reservation system is a bit clunky and just gives you an average room rate per night, so it's hard to see what you're actually paying for each night. ||||Check-in was smooth, but I would note that they charge your card for the entire stay upon check-in. Every other place that I've stayed at, simply puts a hold on your card and charges you when you check out.||||Our room was nice enough, but the kitchenette consisted of just a mini fridge, microwave, coffee maker and sink. There were no plates, cups or utensils, so we had to buy some disposable ones at the local grocery store. The bedroom was quite large and could easily have fit 2 queen-size beds, so I don't understand why they cheaped -out and put in full-size beds instead. The foam rubber mattresses were also starting to break down a bit, and they were too soft for my taste. I woke up with a bit of a backache most days. The lighting in the room was dreadful as well.||||The worst problem though, was the inoperable windows and dated HVAC system. In each room there were old through-the-wall type HVAC units of the type seen in cheap motels. These were obviously left over from the WOL days and not replaced with better units. The HVAC units had high and low fan settings, but both settings were very powerful and quite noisy. Even worse though, was the temperature control. Similar to a window-type unit, the A/C would shut off when the room became cool enough and then blew in warm air from the outside. Then there would be a deep electrical hum when the A/C turned back on. This made it difficult to maintain a comfortable temperature in the room and even more difficult to sleep because of the noise. The thing that bothered me even more though, was that the old WOL windows had never been replaced and were sealed shut. It was cool outside most evenings, and we could have been perfectly comfortable if we could have just opened the windows.||||Housekeeping was generally okay, but we still had problems on 3 out of the 4 days that we were there. The first day was fine, but on day 2 we came back to our room at 6:30 PM only to discover that the room hadn't been serviced. Luckily there were still some housekeeping people on duty, and they made up the room quickly. On Day 3 we were in and out a few times during the day, and I had to ask on 3 different occasions before the room was finally serviced. Finally on our last full day there, I received a text from the front desk saying that "they were keeping things light" that day, but they could drop off clean towels if we wanted them. I replied that I wanted the room serviced normally and they did, but left half the number of towels. I should also mention that servicing the room consisted of just making the bed, taking the trash and leaving clean towels. They didn't vacuum or clean the floors or toilet, etc.||||Aside from the housekeeping problems though, everyone on the staff there was friendly and helpful.||||The Lodge has a main room called The Bevy which is beautiful and tastefully decorated. It has a bar open Wednesday - Sunday that also serves flatbread pizza and paninis at reasonable prices. There are also 2 somewhat more expensive restaurants that seem to get good reviews, but we didn't get a chance to try the food during our stay.||||The Lodge charges a $27/night "Resort Fee", which seems a bit pricy to me, as I wouldn't exactly classify this place as a resort. There's a small thin strip of beach down the hill and on the other side of the road. You can rent various watercraft there, but it's kind of expensive. The Schroon Lake Town Beach is much nicer (in fact some magazines have called it the nicest beach in the Adirondacks) and it's less than a mile away, so we went there most days.||||There is a very nice indoor swimming pool at the Lodge, and my daughter and I used it most afternoons. My only caution is that the decking around the pool is a smooth tile or brick surface (unchanged from the WOL days) that gets very slippery when wet. An unsupervised child could very easily fall while running and hit his/her head. There's also a jacuzzi that's a bit too warm for my taste and it foams up when the jets are turned on, so I didn't stay in it too long.||||There were also various other amenities (mini golf, movies, smores, etc.) that we didn't try.||||In short, I would happily stay at the Lodge again if I could get a Chalet or Owls Nest cabin. I wouldn't stay in the Main Lodge again though, due to the...

This review is only for the Brown Swan Restaurant & Tavern. Our first visit to the new Brown Swan Restaurant & Tavern at The Lodge @ Schroon Lake was on Sun July 2, 2023. We made a reservation for 11 people at 5:30pm. I need to point out that this was the resort's first big holiday, 4th of July, and just recently reopened to the public. And an exceptionally talented local bad with a very enthusiastic following was performing this evening. The McKrell's concert was moved indoors due to impending thunderstorms. These two factors contributed to a huge turnout of guests, locals, & band followers to The Lodge. It's a credit to the staff to meet the needs of so many guests on this holiday weekend. Our party met for one drink at the spacious tavern. The decor recalls the history surrounding the original Brown Swan Club circa 1917. Most recently this property was the Word of Life religious resort. Now on to our dinner celebrating an old friend's birthday. We had a big table (#25) in the spacious dining room high on the hill overlooking Schroon Lake. There is also a covered porch for al fresco drinks & dining. Eleven is a big party for anyone to handle. I had two observations as to why this went smoothly. First, the manager was on hand throughout the dinner assisting & directing is novice staff. Secondly, it was smart to offer a limited menu so the kitchen could do everything well & promptly. The menu offers 5 shareables ($13-28 large charcuterie board), 2 salads ($12, +more for protein), 7 alarm chili w/ beef or vegan ($10/9), 3 handables ($16-20) & 7 entrees ($17-veg pasta-$50-bone-in NY Strip steak). The high praise from our group was for the Juicy Lucy loaded beef burger ($19) & Zapp's Voodoo Chip encrusted chicken sandwich ($17). Both served w/ french fries. Tasty, big, sloopy sandos. Five of us had the very large pork schnitzel w/spaetzle ($19). We all agreed that this could have been a much better dish. The cutlet was very dry due to it being too thick to pan fry quickly. And why is gravy an extra $4.? Schnitzel should always be offered w/ gravy as a no-charge option. And no lemon in sight. Can't remember what veg side was served w/ this-kraut, slaw? I see on the menu that Jaeger Schnitzel ($24) is now being offered. That could be a very popular meal if prepared well. Our table service was excellent by Tash and the rest of the team members. They also were very helpful when I bought the drinks for another couple not at our table celebrating their anniversary. Service was great. Food was pretty good minus the schnitzel stumble. Fair pricing. Atmosphere & view are Adirondack spectacular. Also hear praise from some family members on their stay that week. at The Lodge. So a pleasant first visit here. Thanks again to the staff. We'll see you again. Nick &...

Gave 5 stars because of the services but some things to know that made our stay not the best. We wrote this review on Trip advisor as well. We live in NYC and was looking forward to enjoying somewhere peaceful to stay with a beautiful view/grounds/birdlife. We arrived and checked into our room in the West Lodge(will get back to the rooms). We had a beautiful deck with 2 Adirondack chairs with a great new of the lake between the trees. We could hear all the birds and we went out with our binoculars to relax and enjoy the peace... then the leaf blowing started. The loudest leaf blower I had ever heard went on the entire time until dark. It was comically ridiculous. We dealt with it, went into the rooms (which it was still so loud from inside) and just tried to relax. I texted the front desk which is a wonderful service just to give them a suggestion about it. Then, at 630 AM!! then next morning, it started again right outside our rooms! That's not even legal where we live. We couldn't believe it. A half hour later and still going strong, I texted the desk to ask if hey can please just take a break so we can watch the sunrise from our deck and enjoy a few minutes. They took a break and soon after started up again. We really couldn't believe it. Ok, the room. We booked a room in the West lodge with a lake view. It was exactly as described and we loved it. The room, the deck the view, the bathroom, all great. There was even a heater in the bathroom and both heat and A/C that worked great in the room. Also fast free working wifi. No complaints except... we had an adjoining room (not sure if there all adjoining) and there was zero soundproofing between rooms. Besides hearing everything when our neighbors arrived after midnight, they were both very sick and coughing and blowing their noses all night.... it sounded as if they were in the same room as us. Are you laughing at this point? Some other things we thought were fantastic: They have a beautiful little mini golf course which is free to guests! We thought it ws so nice and right behind our rooms as well as basketball and soccer and giant chess board and other activities.The even had s'mores under the stars at the fire pit. We went to a great restaurant with vegan options just 10 minutes away and we decided to go to the lodge restaurant for breakfast which was right next door to our rooms. The server Kim was FANTASTIC. There were two delicious vegan options and she even steamed up some chocolate oat milk for me in place of a hot chocolate. Both the food and the service was A+. *DON'T book on Expedia. Book directly with the lodge. Expedia falsely advertised the...