ゲゲストDo NOT stay at this hotel unless you can survive in a room that is not at all soundproof! I booked a queen suite with separate sitting room for my daughter and I. We wanted a quiet, relaxing place to stay for a 3 day weekend and the reviews for this place were excellent.
First let me list the nice things about the property:
1. It is a full blown conference center with a huge, well maintained and manicured landscape.
2. The outdoor spaces are lovely, including the outdoor pool area.
3. The location is very close to Columbus and to the uber wealthy city of Powell.
4. A gorgeous county park with loads of picnic areas and walking trails is located directly across the street from the conference center.
Now for the negatives:
1. No soundproofing!!! We could hear every word of conversations that took place in the room next door. But the most disturbing thing is that we couldn’t sleep because of noise from the room overhead. My daughter contacted the front desk in the early evening of our first night’s stay asking them to call the guests above us with a “gentle reminder” to avoid heavy walking. She was told that the request could not be made until after the 10 pm quiet time. We had a brown noise machine running at top volume for the entire night, but even that didn’t block the heavy footfalls from above. The constant sound of people walking (it sounded like elephants) continued the next morning which forced us out of our room. (We payed extra for a suite with a separate sitting area so that we could relax outside of the bedroom, but couldn’t take advantage of it because of the noise). My daughter ended up sleeping on a couch at a friend’s house the second night because she was so sleep deprived. However, I returned to the hotel which was a huge mistake! When I turned out the lights at 11 pm, things were quiet, but at 11:30 pm the stomping family returned. The noise of the footfalls and then squeaking floors woke me up at 11:30 pm, 3:30 am and 5:45 am. I finally got out of bed at 6 am, walked to the lobby in my pajamas, and told the staff that I couldn’t stay in this place another night. I must have looked a fright, because the agent immediately canceled the final night of our reservation with no questions asked. Just to be clear, I don’t think that the family above us was intentionally loud. I think that they had absolutely no idea that their movements were creating such a disturbance.
2. Despite the fact that the lovely county park is directly across the street, it’s incredibly difficult to access the park entrance as a pedestrian. There is a single pedestrian crosswalk at the southwest corner of the conference center, but there are no sidewalks that connect to the crosswalk. Walkers are forced to either walk along a very busy road with no shoulder, or walk on the grass for about 1/2 mile to get from the hotel parking lot to the crosswalk. I find it incredibly surprising that Nationwide didn’t consider putting in sidewalks to make access to the park more accessible and safe for pedestrians.
3. Be forewarned that the conference center includes facilities that cater to weddings, so if you stay here on a weekend, be prepared for lots of outdoor evening activities.
No one should have to pay $200/night to stay in a room that isn’t conducive to sleep!!!
ゲゲストOur stay at The Lodge was nice. There were a few little things that I questioned, but that honestly is normal & did not really effect our stay. Everything in the lodge was clean & I do not know what wonderful smell they are pumping through the building... but walking into the lobby was wonderful!
The decor was nicely decked out in holiday cheer! The Christmas Trees were beautiful too. We booked a King Suite, as the pic on Trip.com showed a jacuzzi tub in the suite. This is not the case. In fact, The staff at the front desk said they have not had jacuzzi tubs in the rooms for over 8 years. That was a disappointment...
And King suites do not have a balcony, but Queen suites do have a balcony with sliding doors! They front desk did not offer to help with that misunderstanding, as offering a ”Fireplace room” (they said the jacuzzi rooms now had fireplaces after the removal of said tubs??... but no fireplace in my suite) or offering anything else... probably because I booked thru a third party(trip.com). It was definitely a spacious room, but a little overly ”roomy” with just a king bed, 2 nightstands,the entertainment/dresser, completely with a fridge in the cabinet, a very small ”dining table”, a glass coffee table & a pull out couch. The thermostat was set at a scorching 75 degrees, which I immediately turned down. At first, I figured it was just a fluke, but the power did go out one evening & sure enough, when the power was restored the thermostat reset to 75 again! We dined at the bar on a few occasions, which was nice & staffed ok, not the latest hours for a bar. The food is good & of course a little pricey. I'm sure there is a lot more to do during the nicer seasons... the answer for everything it seemed was ”it is the off season”.
Overall, it was a nice place to stay in wine country & probably will return next year.
KKJBoydThe staff was very nice and apologetic when the stay did not go as planned. The hotel was very quiet and didn't feel crowded even though we were told they were sold out. Those are the good parts of our stay. The not good parts: our room smelled musty, but it took us a little while to discover why. My daughter took off her shoes to walk to her bed that was by the window and the air conditioner unit. What we thought was just stained carpet wound up being sopping wet from the unit dripping. The floor was so saturated that it would literally make a squishing noise when we walked on it. I went to pick up the phone to call the front desk and there was no dial tone. After checking the wiring and finding nothing amiss except that it was very clearly dead, we walked out to the front desk. The lady at the front desk apologized profusely and tried for several minutes to find us another room for the night, she explained that they were completely sold out and had nothing else for us. We went back to our room to get some rest as we were in the middle of a 15+ hour road trip and it was already after 11pm. We listened to the AC unit dripping onto the floor all night long. In the morning, I went to take a shower only to have absolutely no hot water at all. The water got to around room temperature and that was as far as it would go. All in all, not a great experience, but the staff was very polite and apologetic.
ゲゲストThe place is clean. The staff is very nice.
The breakfast needed help but no complaints.
The only complaint I had was I was woken up twice by someone else's door closing.
I would go back
SSextantisGood location with quiet surroundings despite near major road. Very close to many outlets at Rookwood commons and pavilion. Very comfortable beds. Strong internet connection. Large TV with many channels.
Large and clean bathroom.
Thoroughly enjoyed staying here.
Special mention must be made of one outstanding young staff called Mike.
Initially he could not find my reservation despite me having a confirmed reservation number. It was later he decided to allow me to see the list of guests arriving that day. I realised my COLLEAGUES name was in the list of guests and later realised that I made the booking under my colleague's name accidentally without realising it. Thanks to this being resolved we were able to check in without having to make a new booking and incur the loss of the trip.com booking. He also helped me to change the booking name to my name instead. A big kudos to mike for saving our business trip from being a disaster!!
ゲゲストWe had a delightful stay with you! The Christmas decorations were stunning! We loved the tall Christmas tree laden with crystal, red and silver ornaments that greeted us in the beautiful lobby.
And the charming farm-themed photo nook was gorgeous and heartwarming! We also loved the simple but powerful statement of the nativity scene on the grand piano. The soft carols playing in the background were lovely.
The hospitality was wonderful as well! Everyone was so friendly and helpful-especially the two sisters:)!
The breakfast and evening snacks were delicious -especially the Amish cookies with maple frosting!
The rooms were comfortable and clean, although I missed some of the old-fashioned charm with the updates.
We would stay there again in a minute. It was nothing short of magical.