Barker's Island Inn Resort

I’m updating my review of Barker's Island Inn & Conference Center to reflect both my stay and the eventual resolution.

My experience during the stay had several challenges. My room was not ready at arrival, and my room keys had been issued to another guest without full ID verification, which was concerning. The room itself also needed attention, with noticeable dust, towels left piled on furniture, a broken table, a missing light bulb, and what appeared to be mold in the bathroom. There was no hot water in the sink, and the heat stopped working on the second night.

Maintenance did respond, but it took multiple follow ups and some time before issues were addressed, and I ultimately chose to check out early.

After the stay, communication with management took some persistence. An initial partial refund was provided, and after further discussion, an additional night was refunded. I do appreciate that the hotel followed through to reach a resolution.

Overall, while I’m grateful the situation was eventually addressed, the stay itself highlighted opportunities for improvement in room readiness, maintenance response, and communication.

We had an unexpected fire in our home that caused smoke damage that made us unable to stay home for multiple nights. Every staff member went above and beyond for us to make sure our stay was everything we could’ve wanted. HUGE shout out to Shirley at the front desk. She was SO compassionate, kind, and truly cared about my family and I. Woman deserves an award!!!! We love barkers!

Such great staff. What a nice vacation. We will come back;)

Did a staycation at Barker’s with friends and loved it. Super relaxing location, lots of parking, staff were above and beyond and so friendly. Nice pool area and jacuzzi. Loved they have a sauna. Rooms were good size and value for the price. Didn’t get a chance to eat at the restaurant or bar but loved that they have both on site. Will be back.

We have stayed here several times. While it is dated, it is always a great deal and we like that there is a small exercise room, pool and hot tub and restaurant. It too is convenient to Duluth and was a far better price than anything comparable in Duluth. We will come again!

This hotel is dirty. I’ve stayed here in the past and it was a beautiful wonderful experience. That was around May of 2024.
I stayed very recently. The rooms were filthy. Mold in the fridge and microwave. Didn’t look like it’s been cleaned at all between guests.
I was there during a snow storm, and I could hear the GM BERATING an employee, and even head that employee later make the comment that she could smell liquor on his breath.

This place has really gone down hill in the last year and a half.

It’s a shame.

The check in was smooth. It seemed we had to walk a quarter mile to the room. Not sure why I was given a room so far from the entrance. The parking lot definitely was not full when I checked in. And it was almost 9:00 pm. After arriving at the room, I did a walked through. The room had a smell, it smelled like dirty clothes that had been worn for a week. There was toothpaste splatter observant the sink, faucet and mirror. Worse yet, the toilet had not been cleaned in a while. And, there was only five feet of toilet paper left on the roll and two feet of the roll was hanging to the floor. Honestly, the room looked like it had been lived in and they did a hurry up of cleaning. The bed smelled the worst. We called the desk, no answer!! We decided to sleep on the roll out couch but as we took off the cousins we saw what appeared to be mold under the cushions. We decided to sleep on the bed, with our clothes on. We wrapped the pillows in our jackets to hide the smell. The bed felt like a piece of plywood with a pad.

The bar tender was awesome! But the receptionist not so much. Dirty room and I had to change my own sheets and pillows cases. Hopefully they can improve because my experience was not the best there.

nice pool and hot tub. sauna was really hot. best i have ever been in

In it for the views! It met the needs of our one day stay. Restaurant was nice- Clam Chowder was amazing.

This place was a no go for me, food leftover in microwave and fridge from previous person, blood on ceiling of room somehow. Just gross would never stay again.

It was a very nice, quiet place

Got to my room and tried watching tv. It wouldn’t turn on so I
Asked the cleaning people for help. They called maintenance and they never showed up. I tried calling the front desk after 90 minutes and no one answered. They switched my king room for
2 queens. Bathtub was not clean. Was told I would get a 50% discount but would have to contact hotels.com and they would contact the hotel for the discount. Still waiting to hear.

The property had a beautiful view. Room was older and needed to be updated. Not very clean, bed was very uncomfortable.

Front desk staff was exceptionally friendly and helpful.

Family friendly hotel for a Duluth/Lake Superior weekend getaway. Very accommodating and located on a nice quiet strip next to the lake.

The view of the lake is awesome.

It was older but still clean and nice pool area. Beautiful waking area outside. No wifi as far as we could tell.

very dirty..on the floor:
dental floss pick
some other listerine pkg
dusty

the room was very clean and parking was great
check-in person was very good