Travelodge by Wyndham Merrill

The hallways smell like smoke and the bathroom smells like urine. The front desk staff is outside in the parking lot all day and evening with at least two others sitting in cars with their doors open and smoking.

Nothing.

The breakfast was very sparse. The waffle maker is always fun, but the waffles tasted off somehow. Toast was available, but butter was the only topping, no jelly or honey. Two dry cereal options were available. Orange juice was gone by 8:30, when breakfast was supposed to be available until 9:00. Coffee was very weak and only lukewarm.

The location was ok.

very comfy beds, slept well

The shower was great! The towels were very soft and fluffy. The mattresses are a bit hard and could use updating. The room was clean enough and very quiet. All things considered it was great for the price.

The location was at least close to fast food and shopping necessities.

I'm not even sure where to begin, but to set the backstory, we were traveling with our baseball team for a weekend tournament in Merrill. Our first warning sign should have been the 4 people sitting in lawn chairs chain smoking in the luggage drop off lane, but hey, the pictures looked nice and we assumed they were guests. I will summarize the situations we encountered below:

1) Since the time we booked the block of rooms back in February, the hotel was telling us that their pool was under repair and they weren't sure if it would be ready for our stay. We were prepared for this, but had scoured the website the week before and there was no mention of it, so we thought it was in working order. One of the moms did, however, call the day before and they confirmed it was still out of order. No big deal, since we already knew, but members of our group witnessed 4 families not associated with us leave because they were unaware it was out and argued with the front desk clerk that it wasn't listed anywhere. He said the owner said it was and that he couldn't refund their money. He later told us that the owner told him to say that but he also checked the website and couldn't find it either and its been that way for months. We later learned that the pool was condemned and no repairs had been started. The hot tub was green and had stuff floating in it and there was garbage littering the "pool room".

2) We walked in to the hotel with a few other families from our group. The first was told their reservation was cancelled and the hotel was at capacity so they didn't have room for them. They were able to produce proof of reservation on their Wyndham app, but the front desk clerk said sorry, it shows you cancelled and I don't have any more rooms tonight, but we see you have a reservation for tomorrow.

3) I told the first family not to worry because I booked 2 rooms and we could squeeze into one if we needed to make it work. I get to the counter and the clerk says, I see you booked 2 rooms, but we only have one for you. I said, what do you mean we only have 1? He said I'm really sorry, I don't know why it's saying that, but I only have 1. I said I dont know how that's possible when you see I have two reservations, they are both active on my Wyndham account and in fact, Wyndhams website is still showing you have availability and I can still book rooms. He said please hold on a moment while I call my manager. He called his manager, who happened to be one of the people chain smoking out front. She came in and consulted a notebook where she kept her "official" reservations and then grumpily said, "give 'em 213."

4) We headed to our two rooms, which the first one appeared to be ok, but the room 213 smelled so terribly of cigarette smoke that not a single person in our party of 11 families said they could tolerate sleeping in it. Back down to the front desk we go. I tell the clerk, I'm sorry but you must have put us in a smoking room. Do you have anything else available that you can give us because we cannot sleep in there. He again called his manager who came in, consulted her notebook and said, I only have king rooms, which we said was ok (we originally booked a double queen), so she told us to go to room 209. Never changed anything on the computer, just threw us the keys to a room that another family (not a part of our group) had already refused to stay in and had turned back the keys. This room also smelled like cigarette smoke but was tolerable.

5) While we were getting rooms switched around, they also miraculously came up with a room abandoned by another family to give to the members of our group who were told their room was cancelled. Instead of inspecting the room themselves, the hotel staff gave them a handful of unfolded bedding and said they'd need to change it.

6) Back in our room, it was discovered that the TV was not working. It said to check the cable connection. When trying to make sure the cord was plugged in behind the tv, a potato, yes POTATO fell out. Not sure how it got there or if the hotel staff was using it to stabilize the tv, but there it was. We later learned that the direct tv boxes were no longer in service, but that all TVs were ROKU TVs so we could use our own streaming services. The problem with this is that they were missing ROKU remotes and only about half of our 11 families received any in their room, meaning only half of us had functioning TVs. The hotel clerk said that he had given out his personal remote and had none left.

7) Once we were in our rooms and actually looked around. The conditions of our room were actually terrible. We don't need the newest and nicest hotel, but I would expect it to be clean. Every single wall was filthy. Not just a little, but spills, stains, spots, and lord knows what on EVERY wall. There was chewed gum on the air conditioner unit, a backpack still hanging in the armoire from previous guests, stains on the bed skirt. These pictures are from 1 of the 2 rooms, but I assure you, both rooms were similar.

8) On day two they tried to place 3 more families in Room 213 and they all refused for the same reason, but the hotel would not refund their stay.

9) We were also notified on day 2 that 3 members of our party only had reservations for Friday night and they didn't have rooms for Saturday so they needed to move their items before we left for the tournament. Again, we were able to show proof of reservation and they somehow worked it out in the magic notebook and came up with rooms for everyone.

11) On top of all this, almost every room had issues with something or another not working. Broken mirrors, stained bedding, no shower pressure, etc etc. The breakfast was basically a joke and when we went to get coffee from the pump canister in the lobby in the morning, it was cold from the day (or more) before. Our key cards often quit working throughout the day and we'd need to get new ones made. Nobody ever asked for verification of identity, which is itself is slightly scary, and their card making machine didn't work so they would have to swipe the card no less than 50x before it would actually take and then they would only give you 1 key because it took too long to make another.

10) Lastly, throughout the weekend it became clear that the resident smokers in the parking lot (They were never NOT there) were actually living in the hotel, as well as all of the employees, who were usually out there smoking with them. After all the observations, we are pretty certain the owner/manager was renting rooms off the books and that's why they all smell like smoke and their reservation counts were off.

I wish I was making most of this up, as it truly seems like something made for comedy tv, but this all happened and it is true.

Our stay at the Travelodge by Wyndham in Merrill was fantastic—a perfect home base for our sports getaway to Wisconsin. The complimentary breakfast was a great way to fuel up before heading out to explore the beautiful Ice Age Trail and the stunning lakes and parks in the area. Merrill's reputation as a hub for sports competitions proved well-deserved, and we loved being centrally located to access these activities. The hotel's event room was perfect for our group to gather and plan our daily adventures, and the staff was welcoming and knowledgeable about all the nearby attractions. The rooms were clean, comfortable, and reasonably priced, making this an excellent value for our extended stay. Whether you're visiting for outdoor recreation, competitive events, or simply to experience the natural beauty of Wisconsin, the Travelodge in Merrill is an outstanding choice that I'd enthusiastically recommend to friends and family.

It was okay.

Convenient

Room was nice for the price.

No pool available. Was not told when I booked the rooms. I didn't not stay and it took 3.0 hours out of my time to cancel reservations. This took time away from me and family during our vacation time.

I enjoyed how friendly the staff are. I enjoyed clean towels.

Breakfast & the bed & size of the room