Pros: The setting is beautiful, and our room was fairly comfortable. Food in the restaurant was delicious, although pricey. One clerk was nice and helpful in securing us an upstairs room (which we requested in our online reservation, but it wasn't held for us - we were grateful that she fixed what her co-worker would/could not). Beautiful sunset on the little beach. Cons: Expensive for what you get. Wifi is not free. Bed and bathroom were clean, but the place could use some dusting (thick dust on ceiling fan, for example). Clanging radiator ALL. NIGHT. LONG. made a difficult night for me, as I am not used to that noise. It didn't bother my partner, who grew up with noisy radiators - he said he didn't notice it (!!). I made our reservation online, and called to request an upstairs room. The clerk I talked to couldn't have been less personable. He told me to request it in my online reservation, but that it wouldn't be guaranteed. He said the upstairs rooms would be given to the first guests who arrived and requested them. I asked if it was of any use to request it online, then, and he said, "no." Sure enough, the rooms had all been assigned when we arrived at 3 p.m.-ish, and the clerk mentioned above was able to change us to an upstairs room. She said all the rooms had been assigned, and ours was not upstairs; she was unclear why our request wasn't honored in the first place. We stayed in several different places on this trip, and this was the worst service we had, and the most expensive place we stayed. I would give this lodge a very mediocre recommendation if a friend asked if they should stay there. I'll make a point to stay away from Aramark-run hotels, too, after seeing a pattern..

Lake Quinault Lodge has been around since 1926 and is truly in a beautiful part of the Olympic National Forest. Sadly, the Lodge itself seems to be stuck in 1926 as well. Firstly, the good notes: parking is ample, staff were friendly, and many walking trails are available and easily accessed from the lake area nearby. The main lodge area is itself reflective of history and has space to relax. On the other hand, the deficiencies are numerous in number and the Aramark Destinations management company shows no “ownership” of the property; specifically, a lack of care for the rooms, and amenities being nearly non-existent. For instance: excessive dust collected throughout the room – ceiling fan blades, headboards, and all corners/ledges. While there is no a/c, windows were full of debris and paint chips in the sills and hard to manage. A box fan was in the room that was also full of dust and rather beat up. Curtains were tattered and torn, closet hangers cheap and rusted, miscellaneous screws and nails were in the walls, drawers were missing hardware handles, faucet in room sink would not dispense cold water and rotated from the base. No outlets were available for both sides of the bed, an extension strip was on one side haphazardly placed, and one plug would not hold because its plug inserts were too loose. Additionally, no housekeeping is offered, and while not expected, no tv was in the room as well as no mini fridge - ice can only be had by asking the bartender of front desk clerk – people were lined up with buckets in hand – bit of a comical scene. A Keurig type device for coffee is in the room but no regular coffee pods were placed in the stand, only decaf and tea. The main restaurant is expensive and the menu limited. Minor issue - no technology is linked between the hotel and the restaurant so charges must be paid at the restaurant. Wifi is only available unless purchased from ViaSat at the rate of $8 for a 5 gig plan with no streaming, or $16 for 10 gigs – while very slow, it is manageable. The plans are good for 7 days or the term of your stay. ***CAUTION – the wifi “term” of your stay ends about 4am on the morning of checkout when room invoice is finalized. We awoke the morning of our checkout with the wifi cancelled. All night long the pipes in the lodge would make a considerable amount of noise with clanking and clattering the likes of which I’ve never encountered. Thinking it was just our room, we asked other guests and they too acknowledged the incredible noise throughout the night. Finally, considering the high expense being charged by Aramark (in our case $300+ per night for a Thursday/Friday stay), there simply is not enough historic character of the Lodge to overcome the poorly managed upkeep as well as the alarming lack of ownership in making the Lodge a truly unique experience. There were multiple other choices nearby making this stay a one-and-done for my spouse and me.

The historic Lodge is in a beautiful setting, with a lovely large lawn down to the lake edge. However, it was clear that the National Parks budget cuts have really hurt the maintenance of this grand old lady. Our bathroom window was stuck open and the facility was very worn. Hopefully, it will get some much needed TLC soon.

Cons: terrible customer service! Rooms are in awful condition. Dirty, no cleaning service during stay. First room was missing a screen on the screen door and the windows are SEALED shut and it’s blazing hot. Spent the first night sweating and miserable. They moved us for the second night to a different room and the smoke detector wouldn’t stop going off every hour. They had maintenance come and change the battery and it still went off. Later that evening we complained again and they said “just unplug it”. Ummm NO. That’s not safe. We have an autistic child and he was so stressed from the first night and now this. Not only that but there is NO phone in the room so you have to walk three large buildings over to file a complaint in which they respond with “what do you want us to do? It’s an electrical issue!”. Very VERY rude staff. Game room is smelly and gross. No maintenance has been updated or done. Holy smokes for the price (and everything else costs a pretty penny like WiFi that doesn’t work that costs an extra $17). Would never recommend to anyone and especially our military community. Save your money and rent a house! Pros: beautiful lake, great scenery. That’s about it….

Unfortunately, the pricey rooms in this lodge have fallen into a state of disrepair. Dirty, dingy, the plastic on each of the two bed headboards were torn. Guests have to pay for Wifi and even at that, most phones only worked while in the lobby. There are no phones in the rooms - what if there is an emergency?? The food was terrible. Thank goodness there is a very good dinner restaurant nearby called The Salmon House. Too bad it's only open for dinner. The only decent meal we had at the lodge was oatmeal for breakfast. The staff seemed as if they were right out of the Stepford Wives movie. Robotic, never smiling - genuinely unhappy people. The setting is, of course, beautiful but this is a "one and done" place to stay. Do your research regarding other accommodations before just assuming (as we did) that this is the crown jewel of the Olympic National Park.