Madsen's Resort

We stayed here with a large group of family members.nThe good.n- There is a nice beach area that stays shallow for quit a ways out witch makes it nice for kidsn-The lake itself seems fairly clear and cleann-Ther are about 2 miles of public hiking trails across the streetn-the cabins were very cleannnThe badn-No wifin-No air conditioning or even ceiling fansn-The pillows are terribly thin and you only get one per person even if you try to request moren-The beds are uncomfortablen-The docks are in poor conditionn-The water is quite shallow even at the end of the dock. Much of the dock is only in 2 ft of water.n-A employee of the resort got in my boat to move it without asking me or anyone else first because they were worried about the old dock getting damaged with a heavy boat at the end of it, but it's too shallow for me to move up the dock much at all even the the outdrive trimed up all the way.n-No doors on the bed rooms

I hate to say it but these were some of the worst and most uncomfortable accommodations I have ever stayed in. Paper thin walls where you can hear the person in the next room breathing, no AC, no Wi-Fi that actually works, no towels or washcloths, the most uncomfortable bed I have ever slept in in my life, and there aren’t even doors on the bedrooms! The only room that had a door in the cabin was the bathroom. No blinds or actual curtains just a flimsy piece of fabric to barely cover the windows. But honestly it doesn’t really matter that there’s no decent window treatments because the bed is so uncomfortable you won’t be sleeping anyway.nnThe lake itself is fine but it was hard to really enjoy any part of the experience when you’re sleeping terribly in the most uncomfortable bed you’ve ever tried to sleep in and sweating your butt off. The docks on the lake are super old and deteriorated and rickety. they sway as you try to walk on them making you feel like they could break at any moment and you’ll fall in the water. I’m genuinely shocked at the price they are charging for these cabins compared to what you get. I will not be going back.

Continued from Josh Hansen's ReviewnnFirst, I never saw a canoe. Whether they had them put away or not, I didn’t see any. And now for the coup de gras, how much equipment do you think they have? 16 cabins…that’s a lot of people if they are booked solid. 4 each? 6? Nah, two kayaks and two paddle boards and that is it. Oh, and how many paddles to use those 4 pieces of equipment? That is right, 2. The kayaks had been sitting out all season, you can tell. When I went out with my dad, they were just full of dirt and spiders, and I am not even kidding.n-I also just want to make a statement to future possible guests and the owners about the state of their docks/decks near the water. They are dangerous, outdated, and need some serious TLC. I would never dare let a child near that dock or the deck that leads down to it. Heck, part of it collapsed from a small wind storm while we were there.nIn review of amenities, I have to say that if you go in the off seasons that you are likely to be treated like an afterthought. If your business is open, you should be providing what it says on the tin. Doesn’t matter if we were the only people at the resort, we deserved what we paid for and we didn’t get it.nnContinuing beyond the amenities listed on their website, do not expect to be able to cook with ease at any point outside of your Frankenstein grill. In fact, my fiancée, when she asked for different kitchen equipment was met with total surprise by the owner. The owner stated that most of their guests don’t do too much cooking and go out to eat…convenient for owners of a local restaurant to say haha. The ovens are from the 1950s and are the smaller versions, DON’T BRING FULL SIZE pans. Ours was broken and when turned on, the temperature didn’t regulate and just kept rising. Homemade buns that take 30 minutes BURNED in 10 minutes. Two dozen buns down the drain for nothing. We notified the owners about the oven being broken and it never was even looked at. Once again, an afterthought.nnThis led to my fiancée asking, since the resort was empty, if we could use the kitchen next door. Guess what? Stove was the same, very small, and had to be watched constantly to get anything done.nnWe pushed through with the knowledge we weren’t coming back to Madsen’s. The final day, we went to the office to settle our bill with Eric. We were charged extra for the use of the kitchen in the next cabin and that wasn’t something we were told. Eric charged us $50 and stated that Tammy wanted to charge us $100, a nice little round of the blame game there. A broken kitchen never looked at and we had to pay extra to cook. When my fiancée stated this to Eric, he stated to us that he runs a business and that’s the way it works. He now had to pay $20/hour for a cleaning crew. I saw their cleaning crew the next day, oldest kid had to be around 17. Twenty dollars an hour? Don’t think you fooled us sir. Your cabins are supposed to be mostly cleaned by your guests per your policies on your website. It would take one teenager about 20 minutes to spray down counters and do the tiny floor.nnA final statement about “that’s how you run a business”. At Stub’s, would you serve someone a rotten steak that fell on the floor? No. Would you provide them with a new steak? Yes. Would you charge them for the new steak? Well according to Eric, he would because that’s how you run a business. Doesn’t take an MBA to know that if your customers aren’t happy, they aren’t coming back. Repeat business is the key to keeping a business afloat.nnAs a final statement, I wouldn’t stay here unless assured that some of these issues were fixed. We went around to other resorts for next year, we were treated, as non-paying guests, with twice the amount of care and respect as we found at Madsen’s. The owners have a grand opportunity in one of the best lake’s areas in Minnesota, but they will be buried by competition if they don’t make some changes. I hope this helps

We have been going up to the resort for probably around 9 years. The owners are very wonderful, clean cabins and fishing is always good. We went twice this year wish it was more, so relaxing.

The vacation for the four of us was fantastic! The beach was awesome. Lots of nice panfish. Nice people and a super cat named Marley!