No cancellation policy and minimum two night stay on the weekends. NO ONE told us this in the reservation process. Management just happened to "step out" of the office during my call, then i hear her speaking Spanish in the background. How disrespectful. NEVER AGAIN!!!!

We are a pretty easy going family... Pretty easy to please. Came to the dells expecting an older but clean motel room. We also expected the few simple services that they advertised. Upon attempting to check in, we arrived to find a sign on the office door that told us to drive two blocks down and check in at another motel. What?? Ok, so we did. We then found out that the in room wi-fi that they advertise does not reach ALL the rooms in the motel. We politely asked for a room change( the motel was practically empty) and were told that it wasn't possible to do that. What?? We were also told that we could drive down the street and use the other motels wi-fi in their lobby. What??? We wanted the convenience of having it in our room. Not to go sit in one of the two chairs down the street!! Then theres the bathroom..... There was so much mildew in the grout between the tiles in the shower that one of my sons would wheeze whenever he came out of the bathroom. We avoided this by having him use public restrooms outside of our hotel. Really???? Should we have to do this for $150.00 a night????? The faucet leaked all night... Like a Chinese water torture, and I could have lifted it off the basin if we weren't careful...so loose and in need of repair. The carpets were filthy!!!!! Huge black stains and our feet were constantly black from the years of filth with no proper cleaning schedule. Then there was the morning coffee that the mayflower advertises as "in the office" well.... They fail to mention that the office is down the street two blocks!!!! What??? everything is "down the street". Literally they have NO ONE on the premise for guests. They're running two motels with one staff!!! It's very creepy knowing that no one is watching the property. The new mgt is sucking this place dry! They're taking the unsuspecting customers money and putting absolutely NOTHING back in to the property. We've come her for at least five years now and this is a completely different place than it use to be. It's pretty evident that the word has gotten out about the severe decline since the new owners took over as evidenced by the empty parking lot when thus used to be a very vibrant motel with lots of families returning year after year. What a shame!! We will be finding another motel. All we ask for is cleanliness,proper maintenance to the rooms, and an office with real people in it, not the ones "down the street". Don't waste ur money here . Theres plenty of budget friendly motels in the Dells. Farewell Mayflower...... Never again!!!!

1. The reservations lady was rude to my friend so I had to talk to her. I have worked in customer service just shy of 13 years and I found her to be difficult to understand and rude. I've dealt with pretty obnoxious people, so this is saying something. I would have hung up, but it was last minute.

2. The check-in at the Flamingo was a joke. Lines were clear out the door and the lady was painfully slow. I think it took close to a half hour to get through it.

3. They omit the part about the Noah's Ark tickets not being given out for Saturday night stays to lure you in. We checked and it was noted that there are restrictions in the Dells magazine, but they didn't elaborate or tell you on the phone. The website doesn't tell you at all.

4. The outside doors are locked and your actual room key (a REAL key) doesn't open it. They prop the doors open during the day or drive around to open them and let you in.

5. The hallway carpets were stained and haven't been cleaned since who knows when. The rooms are just as bad. No one went barefoot.

6. There were piles of discarded, soiled towels by the frighteningly unmaintained elevators.

7. The lifeguards were more interested in who's walking by than the people in the water.

8. A bat flew in the indoor pool area. We got to watch the lifeguards chase it around with a pool net for about 10 minutes. Once it was shooed out they hung the net back up for use later. Hygienic.

9. THEY CHARGE FOR ICE. Who does that?!

10. This is the first place I've ever stayed at that I felt like I could end up with bedbugs. Nothing went into the house, but left outside until it could go straight to the washer. I felt itchy and gross for the next week.


The best part is I mentioned where we stayed to my esthetician a couple weeks later and she was mortified that we stayed there. I guess this place has a reputation.

I must say upfront that first, I have never written a review, positive or negative, about a hotel in my life...I am an extremely forgiving and passive traveler. However...

We joked the first day about why our feet were black. We said it was from our flip flops, or just walking a block down the street for dinner or something. The second night, after we had all showered, and our feet were still black, we realized it was from the carpet. Yes,the carpet actually blackened our clean feet.

Minor inconveniences cropped up, such as a broken bathroom doorknob, broken curtains on the window and left behind beverages (opened, BTW) in the refrigerator. We also attempted three times to use the laundry facilities, which we were told upon inquiry was "unavailable".

After the first night, I awakened with an extremely sore throat, which I passed off as bad luck. After the second night, I was struggling to even get up to take the family out for the day-now joined by a severe headache, chest congestion and body aches.

I came home from this trip as sick as a dog, due to contracting a respiratory condition from the soaking wet, moldy carpet that I was subjected to next to my sleeper sofa - oh - which was, by the way, falling apart - literally. I picked up the mattress to try to adjust it in the frame, and when I did so, pieces of it fell onto the floor. Next to the Goldfish cracker left behind, from the looks of it, in 1989. I assume the mattress was brought over on the Original Mayflower, along with typhoid, rickets and whatever else those passengers in steerage endured.

My daughter also became sick a day later, and we both spent the day after we came home from an enjoyable vacation on the sofa, miserable.

We took a chance and chose this hotel because of its location and discounts to Noah's Ark-it was a chance not worth taking. My five year old did not become ill, and if he had, goodness knows what I would have done.

We booked this hotel with extremely modest expectations, assuming it would be simple, outdated, understaffed and disappointing...but there is NO excuse in running an accommodation that is actually unhealthy. It is irresponsible and downright criminal to clearly, knowingly, offer a facility that even a first grader could say was disgusting. Shame on all of you who work there, pretend to work there, and worse, run this ridiculous disaster. Cross your fingers no one sues you for child endangerment.