Hotel Winneshiek, Decorah IA

We stayed Saturday, December 3 for Christmas at Luther. The room was not clean - dust, hair, and food wrappers on the floor. The floors are a hard surface, not carpet, and the headboard is attached to the wall. The bed frame & mattress were not attached to the headboard, so if you sit in bed and lean back against the headboard to watch TV or read, the bed rolls away from the wall. The cost of the room was ridiculously over inflated simply because it was Christmas at Luther - $250 a night after fees & taxes for a VERY small room (right next to the loud elevators) with a king bed and a small, outdated, dirty bathroom.

DO NOT STAY HERE! TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!
I booked a room here through Expedia and bought the protection plan in case I couldn’t make my trip. I ended up getting sick and not being able to make it, so I canceled my room with more than 24 hours notice (adequate for what Expedia said was necessary). For some reason, the hotel charged me and won’t refund me for the room.
I hope potential customers see this and stay elsewhere because of their inconsiderate and shady business tactics.

Great hotel with a wonderful history. The staff was amazing and welcomed us. Great views from the rooms.

The presidential is as beautiful as the rest of the hotel. Comfortable bed, and the suite has many amenities beyond it's multiple rooms, including an additional 1/2 bath off the living room.

This has got to be one of the coolest places I’ve ever stayed. When you walk in it’s like you stepped back in time. Great atmosphere in the entire hotel, bar and in your room. It really feels like you are in another era inside this hotel. Very friendly and helpful staff. Right on the Main Street for Decorah with tons of places to shop and eat within walking distance. Thoroughly enjoyed my stay here and look forward to coming back again very soon. Highly recommended.

Tip: Hotel lobby is very nice to hang out at with a large fireplace. Had a wonderful conversation with some guests sitting in the lobby by the fireplace.

Fantastic customer service. I screwed up and booked the wrong date for our stay, which would have ruined our short window for a visit on our way home. HOWEVER - the kind and helpful staff at the hotel helped me rebook and not lose my MIND as well as not lose a night's stay. I am beyond grateful for the kindness shown- not expected these days but certainly welcomed by me and my bride.

Wow is all i can say for the price the room was dirty the remote was missing unable to control room tempature wall paper falling off, lamp is taped up other peoples combs in the couch the only good part was the bed was comfortable and the fridge worked

Came for Nordic fest and the hotel was really well located for that, but I can’t say I’d stay here again. The mattress was really uncomfortable and the room wasn’t cleaned well. We ended up leaving a day early because we were so tired from not sleeping. Most frustrating, when I went to the counter to tell them we were leaving early I was immediately told I would not have a refund - before asking why we were leaving early. I didn’t really feel owed a refund knowing it was a three day minimum and their peak weekend but to be blunt the poor sleep we got here sort of wrecked our weekend.

I should also note, I was told the mattresses were only three months old but I just can’t believe that. When I was packing I saw the tags on the box springs said 2013. That could have just been the box springs as I didn’t look at the mattress tag itself but it felt like an old mattress to me. It wasn’t the least bit firm and the springs were very loud.

Great location, nice rooms. Service staff is a mixed bag, and the continental breakfast leaves a bit to be desired; but all in all it's a nice property in step with a little gem of a midwest throwback.

One of the most beautiful and interesting hotels I've been too. Restored beautifully to its original state. However, the front desk guy I found to be somewhat argumentative and rude. Told him about a potential fire hazard on August 6th, 2022 at 4: 25pm. Just a bare wire in a lighting system and he said " nothing I can do. That is a maintenence thing" was very standoff-ish and definitely should not be in customer service.

The hotel is gorgeous. Well worth a stay. Disappointingly, the bar has microwaved hors' doeuvres only for food in the hotel.

This was our first time staying at Winneshiek. It is an older hotel which is part of the charm. Everything has been beautifully restored over the years. They have an opera house upstairs that takes your imagination away. The old drop cloth is on display which still has all of the hand sewn stitches for repairs in it. I was really mesmerized with how beautiful this hotel is. They have a gorgeous stained glass sun roof that you can view from the center of multiple floors. I am not sure why this hotel has received bad reviews. Our room was very clean. Our bed was extremely comfortable. There is a light switch you have to turn on so you have power to your television so if your tv is not turning on this is why. The shower was nice and very hot plus they have heated lamps in the bathrooms. They also give you a bath mat to put down in the tub which by the way is very slick and recommend using the mat. I really liked their samples of shampoo, conditioner and body soap. Great clean smell and very moisturizing. Most hotels don’t have great samples but kudos to whoever is in charge of ordering them at this hotel. Breakfast was mostly cold options. They have a large choice of breakfast bars, cereals, yogurt and some fruit. They also provide microwaveable breakfast sandwiches. Breakfast was our only let down staying here but by all means it was not awful. Our favorite part of our stay was how pet friendly this hotel is. Yes you need to register all your dogs with the front desk. Pet fees are a bit high at 35.00 per night but we travel with our three dogs ranging from 35 to 55 pounds. Lots of places will charge per pet per night with a limit of two dogs. Our dogs are very well trained, clean and go everywhere with us. It was a relief that the Winneshiek did not mind our three furr babies being present. We will absolutely be staying at this hotel again if we are in Decorah. Thanks you to the hotel staff for such a friendly and relaxing experience!

I really, really wanted to be able to give this hotel 5 stars - it has a fantastic location, beautiful lobby, and is historically significant to the community. But unfortunately as many of the other reviews have stated, the walls are paper thin, the bed is cheap quality, and ultimately the experience feels overpriced. We also brought our dog with us and were very happy that it was a dog-friendly hotel, except you’re not allowed to have your dog on the hotel patio with you.making it not so dog-friendly after all (especially when all the other patio restaurants downtown allow it). There aren’t a lot of other hotel options around so it’s probably still worth a stay if you’re traveling through, but some small improvements could make a world of difference!

We booked a room for a summer visit to the Luther College campus and Decorah. It was an opportunity to stay in this historic hotel that I wasn't able to take advantage of while my son was attending Luther. The room was comfortable, clean and well-appointed. Staff gave recommendations for dining in the hotel.
We were able to bring our puppy along, which was a bonus. The additional $30.00 charge for the puppy seems high, but not uncommon. Perhaps a pet-friendly room or two without carpeting would provide a way to both welcome pets and assure that costs can be kept to a minimum for those who need to travel with pets.

They rooms and bed are nice enough, the continental breakfast inedible. The staff wrongly charged both myself and my colleagues credit cards causing them to be maxed out, which left of us both without money for 3 days. An enormous inconvenience when travelling abroad to say the least. Hotel offered no compensation for this mistake.

If Hospitality School offered a class called How To Keep Your Hotel In Top Condition, they'd include a field trip to see how it's done here. From the outside, it more or less just looks like an old building. Inside, it's kind of like stepping back in time, to the days when folks built nice hotels with lots of cool architectural details and craftsmanship. But it's actually better than that, because modern amenities like air conditioning that works well are found in today's Winneshiek. Pro Tip - if your room is too warm, ask at the front desk for them to adjust the temperature. They can do a lot more from there than you can in your room, where you only have +/- 3 degrees of control.

What a hidden diamond. Was not expecting anything when I bumped into this amazing place. Amazingly decorated, very clean, close attention to details. Very comfortable. There is also a very facinating story to the place and the acquired Opera House. It is away from the maddening crowd, so make the modest extra effort to visit this hotel.

Beautiful hotel! The continental breakfast was good. It was clean and the staff were also wonderful!