AmeriVu Inn And Suites

Our family has held a family reunion in Shell Lake WI over the July 4th 2014 Holiday as well as in 2012. The first year we used the American Inn & Suites Hotel since it was close to our reunion site, and the only hotel in Shell Lake.

We were given a guaranteed room rate of $89.00 a night since in 2012 it wasn't a holiday weekend. Upon check in every single person in our party was charged a different rate, none of us were given the $89.00 rate. The management/owner was condescending and rude and everyone left feeling like they had been abused and swindled. When asked for a detailed receipt to account for the difference in the rate promised and what was charged we were refused, the only receipt given was for the total that had been charged to our credit cards.

We swore never to use the hotel again. During planning of this years reunion we were lead to believe that the Hotel was under new management, clever postings online with this information that we now believe were posted by the hotel owner himself. We figured we would give the hotel another chance since the American Inn & Suites is generally a good chain, and we believed it was under new management. Imagine our surprise upon check in to find the same owner/manager at the desk!

And imagine our surprise to once again be charged way more than the guaranteed Holiday rate of $119.00 per night! Again everyone was charged different rates, no receipts were issued, we were told the difference in charges was due to "taxes" but were not given a print out to show what taxes these were. My nephew was charged $310.00 for two nights stay, that amounts to $35.00 a night in taxes if you believe the managements reasoning. No two identical rooms were charged the same rate, and none of us were given the rate that we had confirmed at.

All complaints to the owner/management fell upon very rude and deaf ears. I have never been treated so rudely by any business before. My sister who is disabled had an unfortunate "accident" in her room for which she was charged a "cleaning deposit" of $300.00 upon check out. She was not given any receipt detailing what the $300.00 was to be used for and was treated horribly and left feeling like she was the dregs of the Earth.

When I asked for a detailed receipt all I got was a lot of babble and rudeness. Their motto seems to be that they can do what ever they want and charge you what ever they like and don't have to give you any receipt to show for it. This same owner owns no less than 5 hotels so if I were anyone looking for a room I would advise to not set foot in any of his hotels. If our experiences in Shell Lake are any indication of how he runs his businesses you will walk away feeling like you have paid a lot of money to stay in a very lower class hotel and got abused while staying there.

I can't express how condescendingly we were treated, to the point of being yelled at when asking for towels or a replacement for a non working room key. Stay far away from the American Inn & Suites in Shell Lake WI, go to Spooner and stay or choose the local camp ground. Oh, one additional note, we were told by two different clerks of the gas station that sits next to the hotel that the police are called to the hotel about every other night and that they had not heard one good thing about the hotel. Would have been nice to have gotten this info before our family dropped a bundle at this miserable place.

Oh, and avoid the pool which had mold and slimy slides.