Hope Lake Lodge & Conference Center — Hotel in Town of Virgil

I stayed at Hope Lake Lodge Arcadia Village with my boyfriend this week from Monday January 14 to Thursday January 17th. Our unit was 17B. We really liked having our own apartment separate from the lodge because it was more private. The space was definitely bigger than we anticipated and we loved the fully equipped kitchen, fireplace and the 1 1/2 bathrooms. Decor and quality of the townhouse itself was a bit outdated (TV, kitchen, bathroom) and run down but overall clean and spacious.

Our first night there we tried connecting to wi-fi but there wasn't any available. We called the front desk but the man working couldn't help us and didn't offer to try. He said that the wi-fi is "Hope Lake Lodge" and we should be able to connect. I explained to him we were down the road in Arcadia village therefore probably couldn't connect to the lodge wifi but he said he had no idea why and couldn't help. We did go to the front desk the next day and the lady there was a lot more helpful. She made some phone calls and had someone follow up with us that the owners of the home would be turning the wifi on. When we arrived at home that night it still wasn't working so we gave up. I was disappointed but I didn't want to spend so much time trying to figure it out either.

I felt overall the staff at Hope Lake Lodge could be better trained and informed. Any questions we asked about specific services were a problem. I called to ask about skiing and the pricing/specials and the guy who answered was a bit clueless and suggested I look on the website for more information. The coupons for $25 skiing that were supposed to be at several local stores were only available at Tops which we found after a wild goose chase of several different spots. Again when I called about that nobody had any answers for me. We asked the waitress at the restaurant for a bottle of water and she told us they didn't sell water and sent us to a vending machine on the next level which wasn't even stocked with water. It's a small thing but a little ridiculous at the same time. The restaurant late night menu is very limited and when we tried to order food one night we were told they only have sandwiches. Upon check in I was given a menu and told by the man there that "this was the late night menu which they can deliver to your room".

We did a ski lesson at Greek Peak on Wednesday and the instructors were great. They were patient, knowledgeable, and great teachers. We had a lot of fun at Greek Peak even though it was our first time skiing we did really well. The ski boots were very uncomfortable but I was told that was because they didn't fit me properly. Overall a great experience for a first time skier. The mountain was the best part of the property.

We booked an appointment for balneotherapy at the spa Wednesday night. The spa was really clean and relaxing. The room was private and the bath felt wonderful especially after a day of skiing. The only disappointing part was that we couldn't use the sauna because we were informed that it needed an hour to heat up and they were closing in an hour. Our fault for making a late appointment but perhaps they could have asked us if we wanted to use the sauna when we booked. It is after all in the same room we were using.

Cortland itself was a bit boring and the hotel was in the middle of nowhere but it was relaxing and beautiful, especially after some snowfall. We ate at Smokin' Mule one night which was pretty decent fast food BBQ. We also ventured to Syracuse and Ithaca during our stay which we enjoyed. We didn't eat at Acorn Grill because we used our kitchen to cook most meals.

I'm not sure I would recommend Hope Lake Lodge to friends ONLY because the staff just made things very difficult. Also upon check in we were given a packet of information that wasn't very helpful. I would suggest that the staff be more informed on Arcadia village if you are going to be renting the rooms through the hotel and perhaps be more solution oriented. Hope the service improves because it is...

Traveler Beware

First, allow me to admit that I have neither written, nor posted, a review…ever…prior to today. I’m writing this review to ensure you are better informed than me. Like many other guests at the lodge, I “found” Hope Lake Lodge via a Groupon purchase. It will be the first, and last, time I stay at this lodge.

Positives Serene surroundings Hotel rooms are clean The hotel manager (and only the hotel manager) was willing to listen to customer concerns

Opportunities Deceptive sales practices – When booking a room, listen very closely for key words that are slipped into the discussion. The sales rep will describe a room and then slip in the word “partial” so when you check-in, the room you remember being described to you will not be the room you sleep in – unless you pay a hefty upgrade fee. Well, we felt trapped and paid a negotiated upgrade fee – it was less than hefty, but more than we expected. We moved our stuff into the connecting room, but the air conditioning did not work. The windows only opened about 4-6 inches. When we asked the front desk to turn on the a/c in the room, we were told it could not be fixed until the next day. We complained and we were told we were “lucky” because someone found the key to open the box to get to the computer to turn on our A/C. Wheeeeeew, we sure felt lucky. Maintenance men may wake you up early in the morning – Two men knocked on our door in the morning to tell us that they needed to remove deck furniture from our balcony. We only had the deck furniture for a day before it was taken from us. We were told the decks were going to be stained so the furniture needed to be removed. This would have made sense to us if the decks were actually stained in the 3 days following the early-AM wakeup call where our furniture was kidnapped. Excruciatingly slow Wi-Fi. Checking your e-mail or Facebook will be an event. You will likely end up watching your phone or iPad “spin” for 3-5 minutes per e-mail. On numerous occasions, it was just faster to use our data plan. During our stay, our keys were deactivated by the front desk. One may think that hotel staff would try to prevent this from happening or attempt to reach us by calling our room. Instead, the hotel staff kept our key issue a secret. So, we stood at our room and wondered why none of our keys worked. When we engaged the front desk staff, they acted like we should have known to request our keys be activated again. Don’t expect an efficient process. Our family walked to the lobby restaurant to eat. The food at the hotel was okay, but when we tried to pay, we were told that the hotel’s payment processors were offline and it was not possible to put our meal on room’s account. This isn’t a big deal, but I am hoping I can save you the time (and embarrassment) of walking back to your room to get cash/credit card because the hotel isn’t capable of putting your restaurant charge on your room folio. We ate the hotel’s restaurants ~4 times. The wait staff was young and slightly inexperienced. At first, it was good to see young folks (mostly college-age) have summer jobs. Then, it was time to experience the service they provided (or didn’t provide). If you expect silverware with your dinner, expect to wait. If you expect the meal you ordered, expect to wait extra time as you help the waitress figure out who got your meal. If you expect condiments, it may be faster to bring your own to the restaurant. During one meal, the waitress handed every dish, glass, napkin, condiment to the first person sitting at the end of the table and then expected that person to pass the item to the right person.

In all, our family made the best of a frustrating stay and we enjoyed our time – other than the hotel, restaurant, and tiny washcloth-size towels provided in...

I wanted to love this resort. My rating is fair and appropriately marked as 2/5 stars or "OK". The premise of the place is fundamentally sound...modern styled ski lodge with moderately scenic views on one side of the building, great lit ski hill views on the other. Beautiful to pull up to, the lodge is entrance is warm and inviting; decorated for the holiday season. A colorfully lit Christmas tree and active fire pit in the back courtyard with the option to purchase s'mores packs to roast (a bit pricy) was very charming.

Upon check-in the lobby, we were told our room was not ready at 6PM. When making the reservation I was advised that check-in was permitted at 5PM. Earlier check-in at 4PM was a possibility but subject to availabilty. Staff was apologetic and obviously overwhelmed. With the Winter soot and salt the lobby carpets and elevators were a predictable mess. Our room was later 'ready' at about 715PM. We were given arcade passes for the kids and a dinner voucher for our inconvenience which was a very nice gesture and got us in the spirit again. Upon arriving to our room we were again disappointed to find a nicely appointed but hastily cleaned space, generally dirty. Popcorn, clothing tag plastic, crumbs on the floors, white residue on the refrigerator door handle, dried splatters all about in the kitchen stove and walls, and inside the cabinet under the sink. Sticky spills and cup circles on the dining table, green nail polish artwork on dressers and room stationary, a rubber band for kids braces in the bathroom, and a small dark stain on the bedding. We cleaned up the majority and housekeeping came back to touch up the table and refrigerater, and replace the bedding. I go into such detail because its simply unacceptable considering the price of a three night stay in peak season.

A small waterpark for the kids with a cute wave pool, (plus non-functional waterfalls), toddler zone, an indoor swim cove with heated water and basketball hoop, two small slides, two medium slides for tubing. The water park area is generally aging with wear, oxidation, and scattered broken-down things. Single day use of the waterpark encourages holds of most tables, chairs and loungers with personal affects and towels. There is a snack shack with typical overpriced beverages and carbs. The all season outdoor pool (nice and warm) and hot tub (relatively unmonitored and very popular even with infants in bloated diapers, young children, and adults enjoying alcoholic beverages). The nice ski hill with an adventure park offering snow tubing and hill coaster, valet service, shuttle, lodge-theme decor throughout (albiet the varied taxidermy oddly utilized throughout the facility). We showed up early for Movie Night in the Adirondack Conference room with old birthday party supplies piled on a counter, used napkins and chairs scattered about. Christmas decor was cute but otherwise there was zero character, no one present to ask questions of, and our children lost any interest in staying. We left and made our way further down the hall to the Bear Den to check out this activity room. We arrived to a room that more closely resembled a grubby daycare center. The room attendant said hello and continued to click around on her computer. Our girls enjoyed themselves for the fact they are 6 and 8. Walking back to the elevators we peeked into the Adirondack Conference room to find no movie playing. Good thing we didnt wait around. We are on day 2 of our 3 night stay....