Bel-Air Motel

My husband and I spent two nights at the hotel to celebrate our anniversary on July 14-16. The Illinois Beach Hotel is a diamond in the rough. Built on our beautiful lakeshore in the 1940's, it has a unique quality and style. The new management, the same who man Starved Rock Lodge and White Pines, are making strides to bring this hotel up to it's former glory, yet the "to do" list is long and the challenges are great. That being said, a multi-million dollar pool renovation is almost complete (maybe done now), the restaurant serves GREAT breakfast and good dinners. Beds are comfortable and the rooms are clean, but need some updates. Best of all is the friendliness and responsiveness of the staff. We needed a bathroom refresh and had someone respond quickly to our request. The front desk, especially Kelly, seem proud to be taking care of the hotel. And, did I mention the beach? During our weekday stay, the hotel was peaceful and we relaxed in the sunshine both on the deck for breakfast and at the beach. Overall, we had a nice stay for our anniversary.

The views and access to the beach are great! However, if you decide to go, please know the following. 1. The hotel looks as if it is still under construction. 2. I asked a couple of time if someone could come and clean the windows. I paid extra for the lake view. No one never came. 3. When I checked in, there was hair on the toilet and bed. I asked if someone could clean the room the next day, they said the cleaning staff had left for the day. They said someone may come later to “refresh”. A guy came later to take out the trash, and that was it. I would say if you want to be close to the beach, book another hotel or house, it’s not worth it

Poor customer service the room is not available closer to checkin time and the manager front desk told us to refund our hotel because it is not ready until 4pm she told us to be back before checkin they should be able to get the room ready when you booked it she just giving us reason not to checkin after 4pm this place is outdated and old and musty smells not recommend the view is perfect not the room. So we waited 4 hours and we are soaking wet there’s no shower at the beach or even wash ur feet off the sands. So we booked 2 Queens lake view property hopefully its cleaned will update later and take a pictures on how overall the room otherwise will cancel and refund us back if the room is dirty and smells bad.