Antioch Hotel & Suites

We live in Fox Lake and sometimes stay here when the price is good, or bring our little kids for a swim on a snowy day. The pool works for my child under six: half is deep and the other half isn’t, and there’s a hot tub for adults. It’s right downtown, the pool is always clean, the rooms are always great, and people are always nice. The location is great if you’re nearby, but it’s quite expensive. What can you do, given the distance?

We stayed eight nights and paid over $1,000, but the broken pool and hot tub lifts made the trip a disappointment for my husband, who uses a wheelchair. Antioch Hotel & Suites advertises itself as handicapped accessible, and most staff were polite, but when we asked how to use the lifts on our second day, the front desk told us both were broken and couldn’t say when they’d be fixed. They were never repaired during our stay. My son helped my husband into the pool, but getting him out was a nightmare. A rail by the steps was loose and moved when he tried to pull himself up, which scared both of us. He couldn’t get into the hot tub either. They’re not ADA compliant in the least, and he could have been hurt. The hotel doesn’t care enough about disabled guests. Very disappointed.

The pool area looks nice, but the water was so cold we couldn’t stay in for more than 15 minutes. The carpets were very worn, and the walls so thin we could hear the room behind us talking. The young woman who checked us in was pleasant, but housekeeping left a lot to be desired. I used Lysol wipes and picked up plenty of dirt, especially in the bathroom. The tub enamel was chipped, the door stuck, and the water drained so slowly I was ankle-deep after a quick shower. First time here, and I don’t think we’ll be back.

The noise from upstairs kept us awake all night. The bed squeaked so loudly it sounded like mattress springs scraping across our ceiling, with constant trips to the bathroom and the toilet flushing a dozen times. My boyfriend was so upset about not sleeping that it pretty much ruined the stay. We also left the hot tub after about ten minutes when six teenage girls jumped in, loud and uncomfortable, even though the sign says adults only. You have to ask for pool towels, and they’re only hand-towel sized, so I was freezing on the way upstairs. The TV had no streaming services despite what the website said, just basic cable with terrible reception and no way to sign into Netflix. Staff were extremely scarce, and breakfast was just okay. I spent nearly $200 on a second-floor deluxe suite, and it wasn’t worth it. Pretty miserable.