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The Osthoff Resort, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, is a premier AAA Four Diamond resort located on 500 ft of recreational lakefront. Offering a casual atmosphere within its elegant surroundings, The Osthoff Resort provides a romantic getaway for couples, while year-round indoor and outdoor activities, provide a family with many opportunities to enjoy spending time together. Our conference center offers spacious and well-appointed ballrooms and meeting rooms to assist in the productivity of retreats and conferences for our group guests. A host of seasonal getaway packages are available providing guests varying options for a holiday vacation. Whether spring, summer, fall or winter – The Osthoff Resort is your place in the lake.™
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Family
Business
Location
101 Osthoff Ave, Elkhart Lake, WI 53020-1976
The Osthoff Resort
4.3 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
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The Osthoff Resort boasts festive decor and a range of dining options that guests appreciate, along with activities that are a hit with families. However, some visitors feel that the rooms do not justify the cost, noting the outdated decor and occasional cleanliness issues. While the atmosphere is generally welcoming, disruptive music can detract from the experience.
Opinions on service vary, with some guests encountering attentive staff, while others face slow responses. Despite some spacious rooms, the overall value proposition of the resort is questioned, particularly due to uncomfortable beds and noise disturbances.
Atmosphere
Charming
Rooms
Dated
Value
Expensive
Cleanliness
Mixed
Service
Inconsistent
Amenities
Satisfactory
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Beautiful hotel and grounds with a lot of areas for walking. Large suites with lots of windows. Breakfast buffet not worth the cost, but ordering off of breakfast menu was not available. Room service pizza was very average and took longer than estimated.
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Date of stay: October 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
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Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stayed at The Osthoff this past weekend with 45 friends and chosen family to celebrate my dear friend's birthday. We stayed in a standard 3 bedroom suite with a lake view. There was plenty of room for all three couples with a full kitchen and balcony with a great view of the lake, although the upstairs bedrooms were a little small for adult couples, more geared toward kids maybe. The larger corner 3 bedroom premier suite (our friends had one) was HUGE with larger bedrooms, two with their own bathrooms and two large sitting areas. If you are going with three adult couples or staying a long time, I recommend the larger room. It was super cold when we went (2-15 degrees) but not windy so we went for walk everyday into town, my favorite places were Off the Rails for breakfast or lunch, Vintage Wine shop for tasty cheese and beverages for the room, and the Two Fish Gallery. We also walked to the Quit Qui golf course for Friday Night fish fry and to walk through the snow at the golf course during the day. We walked on the lake right in front of the hotel (exciting for this CA girl) and just really enjoyed the beautiful setting and town. We spent a lot time in the bar meeting up with friends and since I am not a drinker, I enjoyed the tasty mock tails and the good coffee made up in the bar. The drinkers enjoyed the local beers, espresso martini and fried cheese curds. The staff is really nice, allowing us 49er fans to belly up to the bar to watch a sad ending to a surpisingly great season. The rooms are a bit older but in good shape, the carpets are updated, the beds are super comfortable and the rooms are very clean. The Osthoff put on a great event, 50+ for dinner and then 100+ for dancing. The food served was very good. I was surprised how good everything tasted for a group that large. On the way back to the Milwaukee airport we stopped at the Henning Cheese Factory to stock up on cheese curds and bread sticks for the flight home and stopped at the Harley Davidson Museum for a quick visit. I am looking forward to visiting again to explore more of the surrounding area and the beautiful lake. Well done Osthoff!
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Date of stay: January 2023Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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Rented three units for the family. We had a great time and would have given a higher rating except for the fact that the refrigerator in the unit wasn't working properly. If some one came to look at it, they never reported back to us and apparently couldn't fix it. Upon leaving Unit 360 I again reported that the refrigerator, ice maker and freezer were not working and we had to toss about $100 of food that went bad. (The tops of the containers of unopened food were actually bubbling up/expanding due to being too warm.). The answer from the front desk was that it is the owner's responsibility to replace the refrigerator and no compensation was offered. I didn't rent from the owner and Osthoff should be responsible for renting units that have properly functioning appliances. Disappointed that no offer to compensate was made.
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Date of stay: July 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I feel it's way overpriced for a room, especially given that you have to then request any housekeeping you need. I asked for clean sheets and new coffee. Literally all I got. The dirty coffee cup next to the pot- stop there. The grounds in the pot-still there. The door towel on the bathroom floor... yup still there. And the almost completely empty toilet paper roll- not replaced - I had to search for that myself. Sorry, but for that price they should be keeping my room clean using my private robot that will also serve my included meals...
The spa itself was also very pricey. I did enjoy the massage and facial, but my mani and pedi were a rip off. You should have something on your website letting people know that you cannot provide, or effectively/efficiently remove, gel or dip polish. I had gel that needed to be removed and that roll up most of my time. I was there 3 hours to get a poor paint job that's already coming off (it's been 4 days) - I could've done that myself for free. The lady was very nice, but I should never have been charged for those. I had to cut my own cuticles back when I got home because we didn't have time for the "full service." Because I had gotten these services I didn't want to ruin my nails using the jacuzzi I paid extra for that night.... ironic.... should've just used it
I already shared that part with the spa via review- I've heard nothing. But they were more than happy to take my money... so that just makes it more disappointing. Why ask for opinions if you aren't planning to respond to them?
The restaurants were great and the staff was nice. Just not worth the price 🤷♀️ I was there 2 nights, they have a late check in and early check out, so only 1 full day, and this cost me about $1500. Ridiculous.
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Date of stay: September 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
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Trip type: Travelled solo
Room Tip:Be sure you don't have gel, dip or acrylic nails
Be VERY specific with room service- they're...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We were given a room that is often occupied by the owner. There was a large stain in the carpet. It had a closet filled with rotten food that smelled. And this included among other things, open liquor bottles, an open jar of French Onion dip that expired a year ago, popcorn that expired in 2021, a swollen can of tuna fish that had to be many years old and an ancient rusting can of mushrooms. We complained to the management and they wouldn’t remove it. They would only lock the closet door. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. When we checked in, there was a hotel iPad type device facing the guests that contained all of the personal information from someone who had recently checked in including a complete credit card number. They wouldn’t help us take our bags to our distant room. The hallway carpet smelled and you could see all kinds of snack food ground into the carpet from all the children running around. Kids are okay but the hotel needs to clean the carpet! The room telephone didn’t work properly. We were repeatedly called and asked if someone could remove “the tray” from our room even though we didn’t have any tray. We didn’t receive housekeeping even though we requested it after not being informed it wouldn’t be automatic. Someone dropped off one bath towel per person and didn’t make our bed or clean any of the room. I could only get a 5:30pm reservation at the restaurant when we asked for 6:30pm. There were always at least 6 open tables available even when we left at 7pm. The food was awful. Obnoxiously over salted French fries. Both steaks cooked incorrectly. However the only bright spot was our server who was sweet and apologetic. She took 1 steak dinner off the check and offered free dessert which we didn’t want. This place would be over priced at $200per night and I paid $500 tax inclusive. I recounted this story to a friend who said they stayed here last year and left early because the A/C didn’t work in the room and they couldn’t fix it.
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Date of stay: August 2024Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I have often stayed at the Osthoff Resort and have always enjoyed myself until this past trip. The Osthoff has started a new outdoor music program with local bands playing in an open space at the beach bar. There is no professional equipment to help contain the sound. That means only a few people sitting at the beach can hear "music." The music can only be heard by people at perhaps a 180-degree angle directly in front of the music source. Everyone else hears noise. Since the band faces the Lake, people behind the source (all other hotel guests) can only hear garbled noise.
I discussed my lakefront room with the reservationist and told her I wanted to be as close to the water as possible. My room was about 100 yards from the Lakefront. To my surprise and horror, I found that the beach noise invaded my room and was a terrible irritant every night and all day on Sunday; when I complained to the front desk, they called the beach bar and got the band to tone it down, but after around 30 minutes, the band put the volume back to high.
The beach noise was so loud that I could not converse verbally with my family anywhere on the hotel grounds while the bands played.
I called the general manager, who told me I was the only guest ever complaining about the noise. Later, I checked around and discovered that the music was controversial; many complained. The Village Board of Elkhart Lake has held many meetings to discuss this situation. Osthoff has used its economic leverage to refuse even to try to add professional sound enclosures to contain the music. This noise barrier would keep the sound from going to the hotel while allowing it to go to the beach. These systems are very inexpensive and cost less than $2000 to install.
I paid a premium price for a lakefront room and even told the reservations that I wanted to hear the soft lake noises. She should have warned me that they had implemented a music program that would interfere with my quiet enjoyment during much of my stay. I believe that the Resort breached its contract with me in that I paid for a quiet Lakefront experience but got a very noisy room that prevented me from enjoying the Lake.
Since this issue could be resolved very economically, I do not understand why Osthoff would want to lose guests instead of solving it.
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Date of stay: August 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:Do not book any lake-facing rooms
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
My husband and I brought our toddler to stay from September 6th through 11th, just after Labor Day to avoid the crowds. The room service food was terrible, it seemed like the cooks didn’t cook with basic ingredients like salt. Whenever we tried to request our room to be tidied through the app, the request was just ignored. So either the app simply doesn’t work, or the staff simply doesn’t care. I finally had to call the front desk for extra towels, pillows, and having the room tidied each day. We spent $400 a night, and this old and outdated hotel wasn’t worth it. I submitted a review upon checkout and never heard back from management, which tells you a lot about their customer service.
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Date of stay: September 2022Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Jamie Skelton, Marketing at The Osthoff Resort
Responded 17 Oct 2022
We appreciate you sharing your feedback and I have already passed it along to my team. We don't often hear negative feedback on our room service, as our Sous Chefs, preparing the food in Otto's Restaurant, are very consistent in their cooking and we normally receive great responses. We will be doing some test runs on our app to ensure it is working properly. All requests go to our front desk and they're notified instantly, so there was no reason your requests should not have been taken care of, so I apologize for that lack of convenience. I do hope you all were able to find some relaxation during your visit here and hope you can make it back again.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
This is our second year going to The Osthoff for the Christmas Market and it was a great experience. The market is excellent and the hotel is decked out in Christmas charm. All of the staff is incredibly friendly and helpful, and the events for adults and kids are wonderful. The reason for the 3 star review is the bed was wildly uncomfortable. A king mattress that is likely past the replacement time period as the hills and valleys in it would make the state of Nebraska jealous. For the amount of people in and out of the rooms it would also appear furniture isn't moved often for cleaning purposes as I made the mistake of letting my daughter throw my keys under the couch which forced me to go find it. The year prior the room we stayed in had a smoke detector in the bedroom flashing it's bright white light all night long, and the best I could manage was to rig a washcloth over it to try to sleep. For over $300 a night it's perhaps worth a daytime visit for the experiences and not worth an overnight stay.
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Date of stay: December 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Super dirty place. I had three people complaining about the same issue to the front desk this weekend. Sad thing is that I believe management is not new to this. They know the rooms are not being cleaned and they disregard when you ask to speak to them at the front desk. The young lady that dropped off our towel said I will have manger call you right away and she never did. I had to take half a day to clean and go down to the front desk to speak to the manger and when I stayed the issue she said, “oh yes I recall she saying something about your issues. So why not call or come up to the room to see the filth? I know why, because she knows the rooms are not being kept up with. We honestly should have cancelled immediately when we got there. But we wanted to give an opportunity for management to rectify the matter. In addition to the filth in the rooms the hallways at the resort were worst. The hallway rugs are disgusting with stains all over them, the sanitizer station were empty and people were walking with mask including staff. This is an over priced and very poor manage resort for what we paid for. Will never recommend. Save your money because this place is horrible. You have to call room service for toiletries because they provide one small bottle of lotion, body was and shampoo for each room no matter the amount of people occupying room and we needed to call for towels and toilet paper ever day because housekeeping never comes to clean room during your stay or ever for what I seen.
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Date of stay: January 2022Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Jamie Skelton, Marketing at The Osthoff Resort
Responded 3 Feb 2022
Thank you for sharing your feedback with us, Mgonzalez5121. One of things we're most proud of at The Osthoff Resort, is the tenure and dedication of our staff, including many members of our management. We do our very best to make each guest comfortable and are flexible to each individuals needs. We take every review seriously, so I did speak with a Front Desk Manager in regards to your feedback and I'm happy to know it was resolved, at a later time in the day to your very request. A new procedure for housekeeping, is requesting items through our app, so no matter where you are (the beach, a restaurant, even your room), you can request additional towels, room service, extra lotion or shampoo...we understand that's new for many, and we hope it will be a convenience to you in the near future.
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The grounds are beautiful but that’s where the good ends. The rolls were frozen, food was marginal at best, room was very old and dated with pillows that actually smelled of mold, the cost was ridiculously high for what u got, not clean at all…..cobwebs everywhere, housekeeping never cleaned the toilet once and u have to ask to have ur bed made, the staff was clueless and very young, the music entertainment was sooooo bad and ended at 9:00, kids running up and down the halls all night. DO NOT RECOMMEND !!!
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Date of stay: July 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:Don’t go there! Rip off with poor food and service.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Our beach area is currently open to all resort guests, and water sport rentals are also open, but lawn chairs will be set up on Memorial Day weekend, which is when we plan to have our pools open by as well. For all updates, I welcome you to follow our Facebook page. We hope to see you soon, Tom!
Hi Jen, We used to own a unit for years when our kids were young. We always were able to find a sitter from the front desk as someone had a daughter or staff member who baby sat. In fact, we found a sitter easier at the Osthoff than we ever did at home! I am not sure if they still have leads but call them and see. Also, they do have kid activities which our kids loved. You would have to check the schedules as it usually is in summer and weekends. We would go do a round of 9 holes of golf or just chill by the pool for a few hours while the kids had fun. Its a WONDERFUL family resort and if you have never been, it is beautiful. We still go there even though we sold our unit years ago.
There are more places to choose from in the Elkhart Lake area.
PRICE RANGE
$281 - $321 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
osthoff resort elkhart lake, osthoff hotel elkhart lake
LOCATION
United StatesWisconsinElkhart Lake
NUMBER OF ROOMS
145
Prices are provided by our partners, and reflect total costs of the stay, including all taxes and fees known to our partners. Please see our partners for more details.
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