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The Abbey Resort boasts a scenic location with enjoyable activities, but guests have called out inconsistencies with both service and maintenance. While the updated ambiance is widely appreciated, providing a beautiful and welcoming setting, numerous travelers express dissatisfaction with the rooms, highlighting the need for modernization and improved cleanliness.
Service experiences vary, with reports of slow front desk interactions and inadequate dining service. Additionally, the value proposition of The Abbey Resort has been questioned by many, who feel the costs do not align with the level of services and dated amenities.
Atmosphere
Inviting
Rooms
Neglected
Value
Expensive
Cleanliness
Mixed
Service
Inconsistent
Amenities
Underwhelming
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I'm an Abbey regular and writing this review for Memorial day weekend. I'm leaving opinions on COVID-19 practices out of my star rating because if you care about social distancing and masks then you shouldn't be driving to a resort in Wisconsin. Having said that, the Abbey staff did as good as they could to balance safety with opening their business and getting people back to work with very little notice. They gave our resort vouchers to make up for not having staff clean rooms and were good about keeping outdoor furniture regularly cleaned. Also their staff all wore masks. There were many hiccups with the outdoor pools because per the pool service guys we talked to, everyone in the area wanted their pool open before Memorial Day and they were just given the clear to start working two weeks before. Not really the resorts fault and Sue, the Activity Manager was very kind and professional in explaining this. We were disappointed but understanding given the situation. Virus aside, the resort is a favorite of mine because unlike most, they have a pool for people 16 and over along with a large outdoor family pool and an indoor one. Because of this, the Abbey draws a great mix of families and couples. People are friendly and fun and seem to feed on the relaxing environment. The rooms are well maintained and the entire resort, despite its age is really a lovely place to be. They employ a lot of young people in the summer and like the rest of the staff they are kind and polite and professional. A credit to their training. I don't have much experience with the hotel food but the menus look good. My one ask (that would be a nice revenue generator for them as well) would be to have some pool-side drink service. They have a small bar/grill window between the two outdoor pools that is always very busy. I think some roaming servers would alleviate some of the traffic.
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Date of stay: May 2020
Value
Rooms
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.
Response from Rebecca Rosencrans, Marketing at The Abbey Resort
Responded May 27, 2020
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review! We appreciate your repeat business and all of your feedback. I will be sure to share your suggestion regarding the outdoor pool service with our Food & Beverage team. We hope we see you again soon!
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We have been going to the Abbey for the past four years. In the winter, it doesn't really matter what view you have. We appreciated being placed in building three next to the spa area. We did end up in a lower room which I would not do again having been in the upper levels in the past. 1. noise from kids upstairs was loud. 2. vaulted ceilings upstairs make the room seem so much bigger. Beds are very comfortable, towels are fluffy and thick. Love having a chair and ottoman in the double queen room to sit and read or watch TV. We love the quietness of the spa pool. We have enjoyed both on site restaurants. Love having the starbucks coffee available and the fresh baked goods brought in were delightful! The new furniture in the lobby is gorgeous and screams grab a coffee and sit here by the fire. (which I did)
My only disappointment was having glass coffee mugs in the room that had dried coffee in the bottom. I also think a deep clean of the grout and tile in corners of shower and where the bathroom door meets the wall needs to be done. We also had to hunt someone down for towels in the pool and plastic cups for the water. All the little touches of the flavored fruit waters, coffee and tea, etc are so wonderful, but cannot be enjoyed if staff does not keep up with the demand. (now granted, my husband is a manager at a prestigious country club so our expectations are high, but there's nothing wrong with that, correct?)
Overall, we love the Abbey. We love that it is two hours from home, it's peaceful and not in the midst of downtown Lake Geneva (which can be crowded) and that there are multiple areas for all age levels from littles with the family pool, kids club, to teen areas with a movie theater, game room and Virtual Reality, ice skating for all, and adults can enjoy peace from the noise of kiddos in the spa and spa pool, a beverage at one of two bars, and some amazing services at the spa.
We will definitely return. It has become a tradition while we are on winter break!
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Date of stay: January 2020
Rooms
Location
Service
Room Tip:Choose a higher level room for noise control.
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 RebeccaR3733, Guest Relations at The Abbey Resort
Responded Jan 16, 2020
Thank you for taking the time to leave a detailed review! We're so glad to have you visit us year after year. I will be sure to share your comments regarding the pool service and housekeeping with the appropriate staff. We are glad you enjoy your time at The Abbey and look forward to welcoming you back again!
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When I think of a room that costs $350 a night this is not what I am expecting. Very dissatisfied. If you are going to say that house keeping isn’t going to clean your room due to Covid-19, a discount to the guest having to clean their own room would be nice. We have stayed 1-2 times a year at The Abbey Resort for many years and the rooms are in need of some TLC. Many updates have occurred around the resort and I think its time to put some love into where the guest is staying. We had our fan broken, no glasses in the room, stains on the lamp shades and couch, and the room had a very strong Indian food scent in the room. When asked to switch rooms they sent someone to spray air freshener since they were ar full capacity which wore off within hours. Hopefully they will be able to make some changes soon.
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Date of stay: July 2021Trip type: Traveled 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.
Response from Tim Somerville, Guest Services / Front Office at The Abbey Resort
Responded Jul 30, 2021
Thank you for sharing your experience with us. We are honored that you stay with us on a repeat basis and I'm sorry that you were disappointed in your recent stay. If you would like to speak with me regarding the issues you head, please email your contact information to info@theabbeyresort.com.
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I’ve never left a hotel early in my life until my visit to The Abbey Resort. I had connected to the Resort through a search of great family resorts on lakes and was very excited to take a low key trip with my wife and two young children. Please understand I do not have discerning tastes and it takes very little to make me happy - pretty much a modicum of customer service, cleanliness, and value is all I need, and none have to be perfect. Here is how it happened. It started poorly as, on our way, my wife called the spa multiple times to set up a massage. Nobody answered. It just rang and rang. No voicemail, nothing. She was able, however to reach the concierge who was able to get in touch with the spa. Odd, yes, but problem solved. I drove with my family eight hours and arrived 30 minutes after my check-in time. Upon arrival I was informed that my room was not ready. I asked how this could be the case and was told that the staff was busy and it had not been cleaned. I was told I would be called when it would be ready. I asked why we weren’t called to say that it would not be ready on time and was told “we only call when rooms ARE ready.” When I inquired how long it would take, the lady attending us said she did not know, “there have been people waiting in the lobby all day for their rooms.” I asked if she had any estimate, “would it take until 8 pm?” and she told me she did not know and had no way of knowing. We ultimately talked to Jacob up front who was nice and, after about an hour of essentially loitering, we were ultimately called by him and told that our room was ready. While in the lobby, I overheard another guest having the same struggles we were, along with another guest who requested family rooms close to each other which was not done. The lobby was a TENSE place. Upon arriving to our rooms we noticed a musty, body odor smell, but by that point we were so exhausted we just decided to deal with it. We went to dinner in the Lakefront restaurant. The staff was nice there and did a good job though it was pricey for what was provided. We returned back to the room with leftovers, opened the mini-fridge and found it filled with leftover food from the prior guests! If the fridge isn’t cleaned out, how do we know that anything has been properly cleaned? In this time, I need to feel safe about that for my family. We canceled the rest of our nights (again, Jacob at the front desk was helpful) and are moving on. It was truly a disappointment for us as we looked forward to Lake Geneva and all it had to offer. Also, a tip for those inclined to stay here in the future — building 4 is quite a distance from every potential parking lot. If you have a family and a bunch of stuff to bring in, I would suggest pretty much any building except 4. Icing on the cake. Check out was a BREEZE!
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Date of stay: June 2020Trip type: Traveled 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 Rebecca Rosencrans, Marketing at The Abbey Resort
Responded Jun 22, 2020
Jacob, I am so very sorry to read about the experience you had with us. This is, of course, not the experience we want our guests to have. Our Resort Manager would like to speak with you personally. If you would like, please email Cernohous@TheAbbeyResort.com with your contact information so that she can reach out directly.
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Pictures and website are deceiving. Resort is older and smells of musty, wet linens. We checked in and were assigned a room that smelled like an ash tray. We went to request a new room, which ended up being in a separate building and received very little assisting moving our luggage for four people to the new room. Upon checking in no one notified us there would be no room service. I called down to request towels and for our trash to be emptied (two tiny bathroom trash cans can not hold enough trash from 4 people for an extended weekend) and we even put the cans in the hall due to social distancing. The trash remained in the hallway for the rest of our stay. We actually took a trash bag off a cleaning cart to use the rest of the weekend. When we turned down AC in room at night and it kicked on, our room filled with the smell of weed. We called the front desk and were told “that’s just because someone is smoking it outside”, which to me was unacceptable. At 12:45 am there were patrons in the room next to us screaming expletives and kids were screaming and jumping on the bed. Front desk was called again for that as well. The walls are very thin, you can literally hear conversational speech clearly and of course yelling without any issue. Also if you are traveling with teens between the ages of 12-18, don’t expect a suitable outdoor pool. There is an adult pool over for > than 18, or a very tiny kiddy pool and splash area which is barely big enough or deep enough to actually swim in. The worst part is that I gave this feedback of our experience to the hotel “manager” and she told me she was “forwarding“ my complaint. It has been a week and I have not received a response. There are plenty of places to stay along the water, task if I were you I’d pick a different one!
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Date of stay: June 2020Trip type: Traveled 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.
Response from Rebecca Rosencrans, Marketing at The Abbey Resort
Responded Jun 22, 2020
Cherie, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us. This is in no way the experience that we want our guests to have, and we apologize for the hardships you encountered. If you would send your contact information, I will have a member of our Executive team contact you personally.
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My sister and I went for a 4-day weekend only after receiving assurance that the hotel was only booking at very limited occupancy and taking necessary steps to properly sanitize. We checked into the hotel in the early evening (after dark) and were quite surprised to not have the harbor view room that we paid for. We called the desk to inquire and were told that we’d need to talk to someone the next morning. We did move to the correct room the next morning but no refund on the price differential or for the inconvenience of having to repack everything and move. We chose to dine at the resort to limit our exposure and it didn’t appear that they were concerned with social distancing. We had to ask to sit away from the other guests who were all seated in one area. We were quite surprised to learn there was a huge wedding at the resort that weekend and many rooms were occupied. By the fourth day, after wearing our masks and spending a lot of time outdoors walking along the lake, we had both started coughing. We woke up at home the following day, very sick and both tested positive for COVID-19. When I called the resort to tell the manager, he had a very laidback attitude and just thanked me for calling, like I was giving him good news. Twelve days later, both of us are still very sick. The stay was definitely not worth losing our health.
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Date of stay: November 2020Trip type: Traveled 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.
We chose this hotel because their website had clear guidelines for how they were sanitizing and practicing a safe reopening. They specifically mentioned a contactless check in and state of the art sanitizing practices. We found none of this upon arrival. I emailed ahead of time to clarify their practices and never got a reply which should have been a red flag. The hotel felt like one big frat party and it is definitely being sold at full capacity. Employees are required to wear masks but most have them pulled down and are constantly touching them. The resort is not on the lake but rather a marina which is across a busy street from the lake. Room very worn. Overall a very very disappointing visit. I wish they hadn’t lied on their website. Many of the language has since been taken down.
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Date of stay: May 2020Trip type: Traveled 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 Rebecca Rosencrans, Marketing at The Abbey Resort
Responded May 28, 2020
Thank you for sharing your feedback with us. Because the conditions are constantly changing during this unprecedented time, we are keeping an eye on conditions and operations to modify our best practices when necessary to keep our guests and staff safe. Because of the changes, our web page is frequently updated in order to give the most current information regarding our health and safety standards. I'm sorry to read that your email was not responded to. We want to be sure our guests' questions are answered so they feel safe about choosing The Abbey for their getaway. Again, thank you for your feedback, and I will be sure to share your concerns with our management team.
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My family and I were really looking forward to this trip. I booked the Abbey Resort after reading it was one of the nicest family resorts in the Midwest. I found this information to be outdated at best.
We booked a harbor view room and requested a room with a balcony. Unfortunately they were unable to give us a room with a balcony. Our room was on the first floor, smelled horribly of body odor and what I could only assume was mold, and the view from the concrete walkway outside our room was blocked by bushes. We had to take our chairs beyond the bushes in order to see the harbor.
The first night we were rained out. Not a big deal since we were monitoring the weather and expected the rain so we planned on relaxing in the room and watching tv. Of course, the cable didn’t work. So for the next hour or so we read and looked for other things to occupy ourselves.
The next day we decided to go check out the beach. That was until we learned the local beach was no longer selling day passes. If you were not local you had to buy a season pass for $100. It wasn’t until overhearing someone else at the front desk the following morning that we learned you could get passes for free from the hotel. Would have been nice to know from day one.
Still, we tried to find ways to relax. My wife and I both booked massages at the Avani Spa. Yet again, we found ourselves unaware the spa was under construction so we got to listen to saws the entire time we were in there.
Later that evening we went to order room service only to learn the room service menu was not the same as the restaurants menu so some of the things we wanted were unavailable unless we went to get it ourselves.
Last night when our daughter went to shower, there was no hot water. As I write this the following morning, we still have no hot water.
The hotel staff has made no attempt to communicate this information with hotel guests and they rarely answer the phone. I had to go to the front desk to learn they are aware of the hot water issue and will have an update by noon.
Why doesn’t anyone make the effort to notify guest? Slip a not under the door or leave a message for each room.
I’m completely dissatisfied with this hotel. Would definitely not recommend.
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Date of stay: July 2020Trip type: Traveled 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 Rebecca Rosencrans, Marketing at The Abbey Resort
Responded Aug 10, 2020
Thank you for sharing your experience with us. I'm sorry your stay was far from expectations. I have shared your comments with management so that we can improve our communication when unexpected events arise.
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I was disappointed to learn at arrival that there is no housekeeping being offered at the resort. Considering COVID conditions I would expect more frequent cleaning not less. This also wasn’t disclosed to me until we checked in. Be warned.
I was happy to see the staff wearing masks, and the pool staff will clean the chairs if you ask them to, so at least there’s that.
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Date of stay: June 2020Trip type: Traveled 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 Rebecca Rosencrans, Marketing at The Abbey Resort
Responded Jun 30, 2020
Thank you for sharing your feedback. As many other hotels and resorts have done due to the health crisis, we have suspended our stayover housekeeping service to help further practice social distancing and reduce contact between our guests and our associates. Our housekeeping service between guest stays has been enhanced to make sure all high-touch areas have been disinfected. This and many more of our enhanced cleaning and safety protocols are listed on our website on our Health & Safety page.
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This is a very nice place to stay and has all types of entertainment. Bring your credit card, because it costs $$$. This place is incredibly popular in that we stayed one of our two night during the weekend, and we only got the room because of a last minute cancel. Cleanliness is always at a high standard and the cleaners will come at a moment's notice to restock any items missed. My issue came in billing. The front desk clerk tried twice to charge us the weekend rate on our last evening (Sunday), even though it was explained and proof was given that I am both a retiree and veteran of the Navy.
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Date of stay: October 2020
Value
Cleanliness
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.
Response from Rebecca Rosencrans, Marketing at The Abbey Resort
Responded Nov 9, 2020
Thank you for sharing your experience with us, Christopher. I'm very glad to read you enjoyed your stay. I hope the issue with your room charge was taken care of satisfactorily. We hope to see you again in the future.
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There are more places to choose from in the Fontana area.
PRICE RANGE
₱8,183 - ₱14,180 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
abbey hotel fontana, abbey resort and spa, abbey hotel and fontana, abbey resort and fontana, abbey wisconsin
LOCATION
United StatesWisconsinFontana
NUMBER OF ROOMS
334
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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