Northwoods Inn & Suites

Anywhere but here. We booked through
and chose this place because it was «dog friendly». We called the hotel twice prior to arrival to confirm our reservation and that we were traveling with our dog (12 pound, best dog ever). After brief check in with a teenager (at front desk), my family went to nearby go-​kart track for some mini golf etc. I came back to hotel early to relax and take the dog for a walk (this is about 7pm day of arrival).
Here’s when I knew we took a turn into crazy town. I had to ask for an additional key, the woman at the desk told me was «a big hassle» and she would prefer to let me in with the pass key. No problem, just wanted to rest and let the dog out. Once she heard «dog» she started to freak out and a man came out from the back room and also proceeded to have a full blown tantrum/​melt down. They were the most unreasonable people I have ever met, and I have worked in Sales/​Customer service for over 25 years.
They proceeded to verbally attack me, with arms flailing and repeatedly yelling «you can’t stay here with your dog — we only let people whose dogs we know stay here» and «we have to have the room specially cleaned.» I’m not kidding when I say that the man had a full blown tantrum. They were calling me a liar as if I was trying to sneak my dog into their motel.
I tried to reason with them, but there was no chance of any compromise. I offered to pay an additional pet deposit and cleaning fee. They were not hearing any of what I had to say. I remained calm and went to pick up my family. My husband tried to talk to them — no luck. We packed up and got out of this place within 5 minutes. We were not physically in the room (only our stuff and dog) for more than 2 hours and I insisted on paying $ 50 for a cleaning fee. I did not trust these people once they became threatening. Of course they took my credit card.
Luckily through the niceness of people from surrounding hotels and lots of phone calls later, we miraculously found a pet friendly place to stay on the busiest weekend of the summer. At no time did the «managers» of Northwoods offer to help us find another place to stay.
This motel is tired, the people who work there should not be in the service business. There are so many better options in this town and surrounding area that I would not waste the $ 100/​night (and more) they are trying to charge during high season. The rooms were musty, dated and cluttered. It’s a must miss in my book.

I’ve stayed here several times, and it has always been a good experience. The rooms are clean, the beds are comfortable, and the price is reasonable. There are some rustic themed rooms available including a hot tub suite. A continental breakfast is available in the morning. The location is really convenient as well, right in town on the highway with easy access to restaurants.
Also, this is a mom and pop motel, so if you stay here you are supporting a local business. They seem to run a pretty tight ship.

The Northwoods Inn and Suites is a gem. It’s a family owned facility located right on Hwy. 51. Easy to find and ample parking. We needed a place to spend the night so I Googled places to stay in Minocqua. Since we didn’t need water access or view and did not want a pool this place seemed like the place for us. A few other reviews on this place also sounded good. Upon arrival we were greeted by the owners in their lobby behind the desk. Very friendly and informative. Our room was a pleasant suprise, it was a regular twin bed room with microwave, fridge and a view of mother nature out the window. AC worked fine, beds and pillows very comfortable. What more could you ask for in an overnight stay. A small continential breakfast also available. Yep, they have free Wi-​fi too. If you are looking for a nice, clean place to stay with easy access to the highway make this a consideration. We will be back.

We booked a room here via
, and knowing that we were going to be spending a night in a resort town on a holiday weekend — and scoping out the facilities via their website — I had a pretty good idea of what to expect.
At checkin time, the couple behind the desk give me The Briefing: «Payyourbillnownosmokingintheroomsbreakfastissixth­roughnineleaveyourkeysonthedeskwhenyouleaveandhere’sthewirelesspassword». Then they book out for parts unknown.
When we got to the room, it was rustic. Not hole-​in-​the-​bathroom rustic, mind you — this is a 50s-​era motel building and the rooms were decorated appropriately (antique fishing gear and pictures to match), but it was clean and functional and the bed was quite nice according to my spouse. However, two annoyances reared their ugly head shortly after we assumed residence therein.
Y’know that «bip-​bip-​bip-​bip-​braaaaack» sound your radio makes when your cellphone is near it? The clock radio in our room made that noise… even while the radio was off. Since my wife and I were packing a collective three cellphones, listening to that stuff all night was not an option. So I follow the cord and gently put the radio out of its misery for the night. The next unpleasant surprise (and, to be honest, the last, although this was more than enough) came when my wife wished to indulge in some microwave popcorn. The microwave is dead as a stump, due to my diving under the adjacent desk and finding out it was not plugged in. Evidently, though, the intent of the proprietors was to run both the fridge and the microwave through a three-​way adapter, a grounding adapter, and then 9 feet of 18-​gauge ungrounded extension cord. My estimation of that circuit’s ability to support an operating fridge AND an operating microwave not being terribly high, I remained under the desk to unplug the fridge while allowing the microwave to prepare the aforementioned snack, and then unplug the microwave and plug the fridge back in before it defrosted all over the rug.
The morning continental breakfast was actually a little better than I expected — coffee, tea, milk, single-​serving cereal boxes, and a variety of cellophane-​wrapped vending-​machine pastries. Beats the usual bagels-​and-​a-​toaster I’d expect to find in a place like this, so props to the management.
Come checkout time, nobody at the desk, so I left the keycards (as I was informed to do during The Checkin Briefing) and rolled on out.
So I’m conflicted over my rating. Our room was clean, well-​decorated, and pleasantly un-​humid. The rate was what I reasonably expected given the location and time. The bed was to my wife’s liking, which is vitally important to me. The radio problem was fixable. The goofy (if not unsafe) appliance wiring scared me and made me wonder if they planned it that way or just ran out of heavier extension cords. So… my rating sort-​of ends up saying this: If you’re gonna ding somebody a C-​note per night, at least make your customer feel like you appreciate their business, and make sure your in-​room appliances work as advertised without resulting in a fire-​department call.