Clarion Hotel and Convention Center

Too much $$$ for this class of hotel.
The good: Comfy beds, flat panel TV w/​satellite, quiet, pet friendly
The bad: Hallways are HOT (it had to be 90 degrees in the halls), rooms were hot upon arrival as window units were turned off, common areas are dirty, dirty window sills (dead bugs), old A/​C units in windows (need replaced badly), old refrigerators (dented, scratched, stained), breakfast is terrible, strange looking man walking the halls, old elevator that looks like its never been cleaned.
Overall, this place isn’t the worst I’ve seen. Once you are in your room, its not too bad. I slept pretty good actually.
However, it needs a deep cleaning especially in the common area (halls, elevators, lobby, etc). The building is definitely dated and needs some maintenance. Also, please update the refrigerators and window-​A/​C units immediately. My room had 2 A/​C units, 1 per window (we had a suite) and they were two different models and appeared very old.

I wouldn’t even review this hotel, but Clarion sent me an email asking my opinion. Writing it out got me riled up, so here it is. This hotel is literally ridiculous. I am embarassed that I paid money to stay here. I could have just as easily stayed in a garbage strewn alley– just as dirty, but less expensive.
(I should say– front desk folks were nice. Only employees I interacted with. Good job in a junky hotel)
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There was dried up pasta sauce on the pillow case. This means that, since the last occupant slept in the bed and spilled pasta sauce on it, the linens were not washed. Who knows, maybe SEVERAL people slept in that bed since it was washed. My girlfriend wouldn’t roll over in her sleep for fear of touching her face to other folks face germs. Perfectly genuine concern, IMO.
The fact that I am writing this out is simultaneously hilarious and infuriating. I paid 130ish dollars. I mean, I get that it’s in Baraboo Wisconsin. But, and this is really simple and probably elemental to success in hostelry: WASH. THE. SHEETS.

Oy. People were nice, but ew.

This hotel is dirty, nasty, and manager and employees are rude and downright unprofessional. My room was dirty, bathroom had a roll of toilet paper with like 4 squares left, lights were burnt out, switch in bathroom for heat lamp was broken as well as the light was bad, had to plug in microwave in outlet which had no cover plate on it and was lose and sparked when I plugged it in, no continental breakfast and had to pay for food but restaurant wasn’t open. They took $ 50 of my room saying that should satisfy you sir. Really? Hell no I’m not satisfied plus you are rude and treat me like a piece of chit? No way do I recommend this place to no one

For a weekend trip to Wisconsin Dells I and two of friends shared a room at the Clarion Hotel for one night. We didn’t really care that the building was run down and obiviously have seen better days. We were there to enjoy the tourist trap that is Wisconsin Dells and not hang around all day in a hotel in Baraboo, Wisconsin. So after a day of food and minature golf we settle in the hotel around 12:30am and iie in our freshly made beds and sip drinks while watching some Sportscenter. That is until my friend gets up to go to the bathroom and we see that the back of his shirt is very damp. It turns out that his side of his bed was wet and that he was sleeping in a bed that was made up with a urine soaked mattress. After changing his shirt he went to the lobby to complain and get a new room. No such luck. No new room or even a different mattress was available. Seeming that it was now 1am and it was going to be a tough time finding a different hotel in the Wisconsin Dells area during primetime tourist season, my friend got a cot, his wife slept on the non pee side of the bed, and we all stuck it out for the night. In the morning we packed our things, ate their crappy breakfast, and went to the front desk to get our money back. They refused to give us a full refund because we decided to stay the whole night not mattering that pee was involved. So what does it cost to stay in a hotel room with a pee bed? $ 30. I suggest avoiding this place so you’ll never ever have to pay that price.

This hotel needs to be remodeled a bit to be appropriately priced. We paid about $ 85 for a room. The bathroom was small and the pillows were very squishy. I did like how quiet it was and the attached Glacier Rock is super nice. This place needs a bit of a remodel to reflect the rest of Choice Hotels. I’ve stayed in nicer Clarion Hotels.

With the limited lodging options in Baraboo (and the Devil’s Head area in general without heading into the Dells), it’s a decent choice, but a bit expensive for what you get.
Rooms are well-​sized and beds are pretty comfy, but the bathrooms are miniscule. Seriously, claustrophobia while showering. The A/​C works well, as does the TV, so no complaints there. Everything appeared clean, though the hotel has seen better days.
It does have one of the most roundabout ways to access rooms that I’ve ever seen in a hotel, though. To get from the lobby to the hotel rooms, you basically have to walk around the entire perimeter of the hotel. Annoying and odd.
Free wi-​fi works well. Complimentary breakfast is nice, but the selections are quite limited.
At this price point in Baraboo ($ 130/​night), you have this Clarion and the Best Western across the street. The Best Western appears better maintained and a bit newer, though I have not seen the rooms. While I understand rooms are supply and demand (and I was staying here during Tough Mudder, which overwhelmed this poor small town), I think the price point is set a bit high for this hotel.

This is a hard review to write because this hotel has both positive and negative aspects that could swing the rating either way. I usually stay at this hotel for the points (Choice Privileges) as I travel to Baraboo for work on an annual basis. It’s generally what you’d expect from an older Choice hotel. The rooms are nice, but look a bit dated. Not all rooms have a flat-​screen television (mine didn’t, and I was stuck with a 23-​inch or so Zenith TV). The bathrooms are fine, and overall my room was pretty clean. The biggest issue for me was the fact that the room did not come with a refrigerator, which in my mind is an egregious shortfall given their relative cheap cost and energy efficiency. I should make it clear that the hotel does have rooms with refrigerators, but I was informed by the man at the front desk that most double queen bed rooms will not have one. Talk about a bummer, as I enjoy being able to prepare at least two meals for myself each day.
There are some mitigating factors. A super wal-​mart is not too far away, Baraboo’s proximity to Wisconsin Dells, and the fact that the hotel is attached to a pretty good restaurant (Glacier Rock). It just makes me think that it would be hard to save a few bucks if I came up here solely for pleasure to visit the Circus Museum or Devil’s Lake State Park if I can’t even fix a few sandwiches with stuff from my own fridge. To me it doesn’t make sense to go out and buy every meal.
Again, depending on what your priorities are you may not particularly care that there is no refrigerator. If that’s the case then this is a decent hotel in a good location with a good restaurant attached. But for me it’s a big deal. I could go 2 or 3 on this one, but I’ll go 3 because the rooms are well-​priced and if you get a room with a king bed, you’ll get a fridge. I just feel like in 2011 they should be in all hotel rooms.

Nice, well-​priced hotel in a location that’s convenient to the Dells-​area attractions. I stayed here on a Sunday night and we had the indoor pool/​whirlpool/​sauna to ourselves the entire hour we used it, which was nice. The rooms were clean and recently updated. Comfortable beds (although the pillows are a little squishy for my taste.) The bathroom was pretty small and the toilet didn’t flush well, but I was pleased to experience a hotel shower with decent water pressure. (Being on the first floor probably helped, but still.) The only real negative was a strange mechanical sound that came from above every 12 seconds or so (yes, I counted). The elevator was out of order, so I’m guessing it was somehow related to the laundry room two floors above us. Fortunately the noise stopped from about 10pm-​6am, so it didn’t affect my ability to sleep. The continental breakfast was about what you expect from these types of places — toast, bagels, bits of pastries, cold cereal, and various packets of things to mix with hot water. They have a waffle iron, which is a plus, but that gets cancelled out by the unappetizing vat of lumpy yogurt.
I’d stay here again.