The Historic Lutsen Lodge

Sadly, the Lutsen Lodge burned down this week. It was a lovely classic Northwoods resort. I don't know all details or the cause of the fire at this time, but I am certain there will be more information to follow in the coming weeks and months. 😔

We loved coming up here- have been coming for 15 years. It’s turned into such a joke. We loved it because it was so family oriented. Bonfire on the beach, equipment check out, the hot chocolate in the lobby when you sit by the fire. Now you can buy a hot chocolate for $18 (that’s without liquor). Sure I’m going to go right ahead and spend $70 on hot chocolate for the family. Ridiculous. We are obviously not the kind of travelers they want. Makes my heart sad.

Lutsen lodge and its properties need to be updated and need new management. We’ve been celebrating Christmas there with our family of 10 for 15 years and this was the worst we’ve ever seen it. The pool area and locker rooms were disgusting. Mold had formed on the poolside tables and the locker rooms were filthy. Very disappointed in our stay. Would not recommend it.

If you come to Lutsen….prepare yourself! 1. There is no convience accommodation. We just wanted bottle water for the night. Couldn’t find anything on site. No vending and nothing at guest services. Everything closed in town at night and no one is around. We drove up to the next town and everything was closed. 2. The coffee shop was not open for breakfast. Their restaurant was burnt down but they didn’t have a coffee truck. Nothing. We had to drive back to town and found a great little restaurant called Lockport market place and deli. Great little restaurant. 3. No food around for lunch. I ate a snack at the restaurant on the mountain which was cool but my wife didn’t go with me. She had a snack from the morning shopping. 4. We made reservations next door for supper. Got there and they didn’t have our reservation. The guy did find room for us. 5. Got back to our room to get on the Internet to write a real estate offer. Couldn’t get on the internet. Had to call 2 different phone numbers to get to the front desk. No phones in the rooms. Front desk couldn’t help me and said I had to wait in the morning. Told him I was pretty disappointed. You are in no man’s land and no convience accommodations and no one goes out of their way to help. Something’s wrong in the customer service department.

Once upon a time it was a great family resort, a historic gem of the north shore. After 30+ years of stays for us, that run has ended. Rooms have a mild facelift since new ownership took over, and there are a few nice touches added to the rooms. But they’re well-photographed, not in good condition (one of the accent walls may have been painted by a 4 yr old). They even removed the clothes hangers and coat rack from our lake view room - weird thing to do considering it has a formal dining room and nowhere to hang formal wear. They now charge a nightly "resort fee" now (c'mon, this isn't Vegas). Food establishments are notably few and far between on the north shore, yet new ownership closed the pub and aren't reopening it. So you can't enjoy a beer and casual meal after a day out on the trails or slopes. Rebranded the dining room to have a "wine bar". There is no bar, don't be misled. It's a really nice dining room that has great wine on the wall (and yes, the food is impeccable) but it serves $90 entrees for dinner and $20 bowls of quick oats for breakfast. Okay for a one-off special occasion, but unacceptable if you want to spend several days on the property and expect a breakfast and dinner option daily. Even the pool and sauna haven't been adequately cleaned or maintained in a decade. Lutsen Lodge will always be a beautiful location, and its lobby is truly the best place to lounge in all of the North Shore. But “elevating the experience” (charge more, offer less) has sent this property on an unfortunate trend.

Our room was extremely hot. When we told the staff we were told to turn off the heat and where to find a fan to put in the open window. Mind you this was on December 14th, 2023, in northern Minnesota. We ended up getting colds and leaving the next day. To say that these rooms are rustic is putting mildly. The tiny bathroom was dirty with a fine black sand on the bottles shampoos and in the bathtub.The tv connection went out early in the evening and never came back on. All of this and when we asked for the resort fee for the following nights stay to be returned to us we were told by the manager that they wouldn’t do that. I just wish it were possible to give this place a negative rating. It certainly deserves it.