Our family was excited to visit Kalahari in the Poconos (http://www.kalahariresorts.com/pennsylvania). Our 2.5 year old daughter LOVES swimming and we showed her a few pictures to get her ready for the waterpark. As soon as we arrived, she was anxious to get right into the pool.
We booked the regular Desert Room with 2 Queen Beds and it was a good size for our family. In addition to the 2 Queen Beds, there is a queen size sleeper sofa, microwave, Refrigerator, Free high speed Internet access, Ironing board and iron, In-room safe, Complimentary access to Fitness Center, Table and chairs, HD Television.
Upon checking in, we were extremely happy with how clean everything was. All in all, our family enjoyed our stay. The waterpark itself entertained all of us, the chlorine smell wasn't overwhelming and our skin didn't get any rashes! The toddler area is really nice and that is where I spent most of the time. My husband did go on a few of the other slides and he said they were great!
The first complaints we had was the bathtub in our room wouldn't fill. It is a beautiful tub and part of our routine with our daughter at night is to have a bath before bed. After repeated calls to have it fixed went unanswered, we gave up and were forced to give our daughter a shower every night. This is extremely inconvenient for many families and even when we mentioned it at checkout, no one apologized. Four days without a broken item to be fixed is unacceptable, especially at the prices they are charging.
The second complaint was the food. While I was surprised it wasn't more expensive, I was disappointed in the offerings. Almost everything is fried or carb heavy! After the 2nd night we had to leave the resort to have dinner elsewhere. Even our daughter was happy to eat something other than pasta or chicken fingers! We would've had every meal in the buffet, but it was only open for breakfast while we were there. Apparently they make the call base don occupancy as to whether to open the buffet for dinner or not.
Third complaint was the hot tub area. There are signs posted that no children should be in the hot tub. While my husband was playing basketball with our daughter, I snuck away to the hot tub and was upset with how many unsupervised children were in there. After about 10 minutes, my husband and daughter came to the side of the hot tub to get me to go for lunch. My husband was immediately apprehended and warned "no children in the hot tub" at this point I snapped back and told the "Head Life Guard" he should be less concerned with a supervised child NOT in the hot tub and focus his attention 10 feet away to a bunch of children splashing and screaming. He did go over to talk to them, but I was already annoyed.
While I would probably go back to this resort, I likely will not stay longer than 2 nights. With a 4pm check in and an 11am check out, you almost need 2 nights to be able to experience the resort.
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Great Wolf Lodge Neighbors Promo Code!
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Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Review - Fairfield Inn & Suites Hershey Chocolate Avenue
My family and I recently returned from a one night stay at
the Fairfield Inn & Suites Hershey Chocolate Avenue(https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/harhs-fairfield-inn-and-suites-hershey-chocolate-avenue/). We live about
2 hours from the park, but since our daughter isn't a fan of long car
rides when she's over tired we thought it would be best to stay the
night close to the park. Being a Platinum Elite member, my husband's
only request was that I book a Marriott property and I was extremely
happy to find the Fairfield is only 1 mile from the park.
Before heading to the park, we decided to drop our suitcase off at the hotel instead of leaving it in the car all day (it was predicted to be in the 90s). From the moment we walked in, we weren't greeted with the usual hello and smile we were accustomed to at other Marriott properties. We let the woman at the front desk know we'd like to leave our luggage at the hotel since the room wasn't ready. At no point did she say anything remotely friendly, just business. She assured us our bag would be placed in our room when it became ready (this was NOT something we requested, but something she offered) and we were thankful. Off we went to the park, in the car both my husband and I commented that a simple smile would've gone a long way.
After a long (hot) day at Hershey, we were looking forward to a restful night. We went to check in at the hotel and since we used mobile check in, we knew our room was ready. The man who handled our check in was pleasant, explained when breakfast was and told us they were able to get us a room on the top floor even though they were sold out because we were platinum elite members. At the time, we were happy to have the top floor room because it meant no one would be stomping above our heads all night. As we were walking to the elevator, I noticed our suitcase sitting there with a note on it to deliver to room when it was ready. Obviously, it wasn't. So we wheeled it ourselves (not a big deal, but don't offer it if you cannot accommodate it.
As soon as we walked into the room, you could tell it smelled like moldy old wet towels. We assumed it was the air conditioner, but did call to mention it to the front desk and they didn't really seem to care. When it was time to go to bed, it was impossible to ignore a vibrating sound that turned on and off every 6 seconds right above our room. By 1am, after neither my husband or I getting any sleep and our usually sound sleeping toddler had woken up approximately 20 times we called the front desk again to complain. They knew exactly the sound we were speaking of, explained it was the air conditioner and they have complaints ALL THE TIME. Seriously? FIX IT THEN! And DO NOT brag to your platinum elite members you secured them a great room on the top floor KNOWING how loud it is.
After a night that was far from restful, we headed to breakfast which was okay. The coffee, as usual, was so HOT it melted the cup. At this point, we were just happy to be leaving so we went and packed everything up and checked out.
At check out, we again expressed our dissatisfaction to the woman at the desk, and she said she KNEW the noise and smell was an issue with those rooms.
I would NEVER recommend this property to anyone and regret wasting the money we did on it. They are charging for a high end hotel, but you would likely get better service and sleep at a budget hotel. We would've been better off driving home, at least we all would've gotten some rest.
We are extremely disappointed. We have stayed at other hotels in major cities that offered better rooms and a much better quality of sleep. For instance, my husband just returned from San Francisco and stayed at the Courtyard downtown and had less complaints about noise! Sadly, the Fairfield in Hershey was ALMOST the same price!
Before heading to the park, we decided to drop our suitcase off at the hotel instead of leaving it in the car all day (it was predicted to be in the 90s). From the moment we walked in, we weren't greeted with the usual hello and smile we were accustomed to at other Marriott properties. We let the woman at the front desk know we'd like to leave our luggage at the hotel since the room wasn't ready. At no point did she say anything remotely friendly, just business. She assured us our bag would be placed in our room when it became ready (this was NOT something we requested, but something she offered) and we were thankful. Off we went to the park, in the car both my husband and I commented that a simple smile would've gone a long way.
After a long (hot) day at Hershey, we were looking forward to a restful night. We went to check in at the hotel and since we used mobile check in, we knew our room was ready. The man who handled our check in was pleasant, explained when breakfast was and told us they were able to get us a room on the top floor even though they were sold out because we were platinum elite members. At the time, we were happy to have the top floor room because it meant no one would be stomping above our heads all night. As we were walking to the elevator, I noticed our suitcase sitting there with a note on it to deliver to room when it was ready. Obviously, it wasn't. So we wheeled it ourselves (not a big deal, but don't offer it if you cannot accommodate it.
As soon as we walked into the room, you could tell it smelled like moldy old wet towels. We assumed it was the air conditioner, but did call to mention it to the front desk and they didn't really seem to care. When it was time to go to bed, it was impossible to ignore a vibrating sound that turned on and off every 6 seconds right above our room. By 1am, after neither my husband or I getting any sleep and our usually sound sleeping toddler had woken up approximately 20 times we called the front desk again to complain. They knew exactly the sound we were speaking of, explained it was the air conditioner and they have complaints ALL THE TIME. Seriously? FIX IT THEN! And DO NOT brag to your platinum elite members you secured them a great room on the top floor KNOWING how loud it is.
After a night that was far from restful, we headed to breakfast which was okay. The coffee, as usual, was so HOT it melted the cup. At this point, we were just happy to be leaving so we went and packed everything up and checked out.
At check out, we again expressed our dissatisfaction to the woman at the desk, and she said she KNEW the noise and smell was an issue with those rooms.
I would NEVER recommend this property to anyone and regret wasting the money we did on it. They are charging for a high end hotel, but you would likely get better service and sleep at a budget hotel. We would've been better off driving home, at least we all would've gotten some rest.
We are extremely disappointed. We have stayed at other hotels in major cities that offered better rooms and a much better quality of sleep. For instance, my husband just returned from San Francisco and stayed at the Courtyard downtown and had less complaints about noise! Sadly, the Fairfield in Hershey was ALMOST the same price!
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Review - Residence Inn Colorado Springs North/Air Force Academy
My family recently spent 7 nights at the
Residence Inn by Marriott - Colorado Springs North (https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/costw-residence-inn-colorado-springs-north-air-force-academy/) in a 2 bedroom suite
and while there were MANY issues with our stay, there were also really
good things too.
I'll start with the good:
-Room was ready on time.
-Staff was extremely friendly and even knew us by name and went out of their way to be kind to our daughter (who was 1.5 at the time of the stay)
-Great location
-Free Parking
-Clean
And on to the not so good:
-Even though we requested the top floor months in advance and again a week in advance, we were put on the 3rd floor with a LOUD group above us for the first half of our stay. At no point were we offered to move to the 4th floor after that group checked out. AND another group was put above us. While they weren't AS loud, it would have been nice to have our request honored.
-We also requested our room face the mountains, this request wasn't honored either.
-Housekeeping always came LATE to our room, close to dinner time, which resulted is not having our room cleaned a few times. One time they even put a sign on the door that we didn't need service, but our door handle was STILL in our room.
-Breakfast ran out really quickly
Overall, we would stay here again, but would hope to have the top floor. Would also hope that housekeeping would come a bit earlier in the day.
I'll start with the good:
-Room was ready on time.
-Staff was extremely friendly and even knew us by name and went out of their way to be kind to our daughter (who was 1.5 at the time of the stay)
-Great location
-Free Parking
-Clean
And on to the not so good:
-Even though we requested the top floor months in advance and again a week in advance, we were put on the 3rd floor with a LOUD group above us for the first half of our stay. At no point were we offered to move to the 4th floor after that group checked out. AND another group was put above us. While they weren't AS loud, it would have been nice to have our request honored.
-We also requested our room face the mountains, this request wasn't honored either.
-Housekeeping always came LATE to our room, close to dinner time, which resulted is not having our room cleaned a few times. One time they even put a sign on the door that we didn't need service, but our door handle was STILL in our room.
-Breakfast ran out really quickly
Overall, we would stay here again, but would hope to have the top floor. Would also hope that housekeeping would come a bit earlier in the day.
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