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The Wickwood is As Elusive as the Wizard of Oz

Where: 510 Butler Street, [map], Saugatuck, MI, United States, 49453

September 5, 2006 at 9:28 AM | 0 Comments

Reading the New York Times Fred Bernstein review of a small B&B just outside Detroit, the Wickwood, we're left a little confused.

The description (and the hotel itself) appears bi-polar. It's great at times and it's bad at times. We first learn that the owners, Ms. Rosso, a former famed cookbook author, and her husband were elusively missing at all times of Bernstein's stay. Yet somehow the cookbook guru keeps the place stocked with food and apparently has ulterior motives of fattening up the guests. Why else would apple bread pudding and cappuccino mousse be served for breakfast?

While stuffing your face on the mousse might be heavenly, you'll probably sweat out all those calories just trying to get into the bed.

The opulently outfitted bed was stacked with so many pillows it was a chore to take them off. Rooms lack individual temperature controls -- at one point, on a unseasonably warm evening, it was too hot to sleep, and I didn't feel comfortable bothering the staff to adjust the air-conditioning in the middle of the night

Bernstein goes on to let us know that the bathrooms are a complete bore but the common areas and the garden "couldn't be nicer". Back and forth the review goes until the final let down when checking out, the price had gone up $66.00 more than originally quoted and assured upon check-in. You see, at the Wildwood prices are subject to change at all times but that's not at all weird when considering this:

There's a hand-lettered sign in the office of the Wickwood Inn that reads, "Nobody but nobody gets in to see the Wizard, not nobody, not no how.

Related Stories:
· Check In Check Out [New York Times]
· Wickwood Reviews [TripAdvisor]