Reply to Little Orleans Lodge

I normally don’t like to post negative comments about an establishment, but after our bicycle experience at Little Orleans Lodge last summer I must convey a warning to anyone considering a stay here. Judging from the photos on their website the lodge was at one time well maintained and managed, but unfortunately, the place is now a dump. There was trash and litter stunned allover the lawn and commercial grade restaurant equipment stored on the front porch collecting dust. The real shock came when my youngest daughter caught a glimpse of the kitchen. It was disgusting. To ad insult to injury, I had booked two suites with king size beds but apparently we had arrived late so our rooms went to another party and we were offered two rooms (more like one room with a divider through the middle) in the basement that reeked of animal urine. After confronting Steve the owner about the unsatisfactory room situation, we all decided to forgo our nights stay and peddle on into Hancock where we stayed at the Riverrun Inn. While getting some repairs done at the bike shop in town we ran into some other cyclist who had similar experiences at Little Orleans Lodge and encouraged us to contact Allegany County Commissioner Bill Valentine to file a complaint. I did exactly that upon our return home to Vienna and discovered that Commissioner Valentine routinely receives complaints about the filthy kitchen conditions at Little Orleans and other discrepancies like double billing, over booking and false advertising. In closing, I encourage anyone who has stayed at the Little Orleans Lodge recently and personally witnessed the horrible sanitary conditions in the kitchen to please call Commissioner Valentine at (301) 777-5911 or commissioner.valentine@alleganygov.org and file a complaint.

There's nothing wrong with placing a valid complaint concerning a business along the Passage/C&O. Many people who ride the trail come a great distance to enjoy this activity. I happen to have ridden the routes enough times to know the good from the bad but if it were my first time along the route I'd appreciate the info. I too have heard several complaints. About 3 years ago I tried to contact the owner about lodging but no one ever answered the phone, sounds like I got lucky.