Bear Creek Resort — Attraction in Big Bear Lake

I had a horrible experience at Bear Creek Resort. I was told they were renting cabins for long term stays. We were told that we could rent until ski season in November. When I called the resort to inquire about the cabins for long term rentals. I was told there were several available. I spoke to Andrew. He asked if I had any pets. I told him no pets but a small service animal. He told me someone was coming to look at the cabin and he would let me know if it was still available after they were done. He proceeded to hang up without asking my name or information. I proceeded to give it to him anyway. About an hour later I asked my husband to call and inquire about the availability of the cabins because I felt I was being discriminated against. My husband calls and Andrew told him they have several available and asked if he has pets? My husband says, yes. Andrew tells him he can come and look at the cabin the next day. On May 16, we checked out of the cabin we had booked for week and headed over. No one was in the office so my husband called. Andrew said he could come look at it and asked again if he has any pets. He told him they don’t allow any pets or service animals. My husband told Andrew that he would find a family member to take my service animal. He went over to the restaurant and met with Angela. The lady that works in the restaurant talked Angela into accepting our service animal. He gave her $1200 and asked for a receipt. She kept pushing for us to order food while she went to the office to get a receipt. We ordered rice and orange chicken and dumplings. It was $65. The rice was fishy tasting. I couldn’t eat it. Angela handed him the receipt. He glanced at the bottom. She had wrote May Rent and $300 deposit. He didn’t look at the itemized receipt. It stated arrival date May 15 Departure date June 01. One adult two twin beds. $47 a day. We actually moved in that evening on May 16, She told us that we could bring our king size mattress but not until Monday because she didn’t have the staff to move theirs out. The first day the TV wasn’t getting a signal and the WiFi was horrible. We couldn’t stay connected. My husband inserted a DVD into the player on the TV. The TV wouldn’t play it and the dvd was stuck. The ceiling looked like it was caving in as soon as you opened the door. The cabin was infested with ants. The following day Andrew came to change the battery in the keypad lock on front door. Angela text my husband and asked if we removed the battery from the keypad? She said it was showing 0%. That had apparently never happened before and we had to have tampered with it. The cabin was hot when we entered and the air conditioner was on. The following day I checked the heater and it was giving out heat even though it appeared to be off. Andrew came and put in new battery and was very friendly. He apologized for the TV and asked if we were okay without one for the night. We told him we were fine. I asked about how to get rid of the ants. He told me he would bring a bottle of spray over the following day. He said they are using a peppermint base spray. The next day Angela started blaming my husband for breaking TV via text. Andrew knocked and asked if we are aware the air conditioner was on. We never saw Andrew again. He never brought the ant spray. The shower was full of black mold. The exhaust fan in bathroom didn’t go on. My husband looked to see what the issue was and it was unplugged. He cleared the vent and plugged in. It was super loud and barely worked. The bed was comfy but full ants. They were everywhere from the storage closet, in and around the bed. All over the kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen that was described as fully equipped had 1 fork, chopsticks, a pot with lid, a baking sheet that didn’t fit in oven, no plates, 2 colanders, a coffee maker that had used moldy coffee grounds still sitting inside it. The blinds were broken. The curtain rod was over extended and bending in half. There were only 2 sheer panes. The middle window was missing a panel. The front door didn’t sit properly in the frame. There was absolutely no weather stripping around the door. The gaps under the door were big enough for all kinds of bugs, spiders and rodents to enter. Angela texted my husband and said we were using too much utilities. She said we broke the TV. We had brought out 75” Samsung TV we spent hours trying to get the floors cleaned with our steam mop and hours trying to get the black mold out shower. We brought my instant pot duo and keurig latte maker and I guess that was the overuse in utilities. Angela told my husband that she needed the cabin back because of upcoming events and we could move back in August. Then she said it is not zoned with the city as an R. She said the other long term tenants also had to move. As far as days that we paid for we should’ve been paid until the 2nd because of her mistake of putting May 15th instead of actual date of May 16. I have proof of my Airbnb paid reservation until 11:00 am May16. On June 1 she came banging on the door with the sheriffs. We were told we needed to get out then and there or we would be arrested for trespassing. She told the sheriffs we were lodgers who booked under short term rental and refused to leave. She also claimed we had damaged and destroyed her property. The sheriff’s deputies agreed to give us a few hours to remove belongings. We are both physically disabled. My husband is awaiting surgery on his foot and has a medical boot and a knee scooter. The deputies were unsympathetic. They didn’t want to hear what we had to say. They just continued to threaten to arrest us. Angela proceeded to call them out several times to intimidate and threaten us until we left the property. The last deputy that entered the cabin to inspect it to make sure our belongings were completely moved out looked shocked at how clean the cabin was. He told me he didn’t want to arrest us and the cabin had no damage and everything looked great. He said he was going to wait for us to get the last strapped down on top of our vehicle. He apologized ad was very nice. The deputies that had been there in the morning were rude and threatening and very intimidating. Angela is an opportunist. All of the drama so she could steal $50 and our deposit??? Even the lady that was nice in the beginning that works in the restaurant turned nasty and abusive. She was yelling while the sheriffs were there that we weren’t leaving fast enough. It was a complete nightmare. What we thought was affordable housing turned out to put us in a worse situation than when we arrived. Maybe for a weekend stay Bear Creek is fine but I wouldn’t trust Angela or anyone who works for her . While I was waiting for my husband to come back to the restaurant the day I met Angela she was making derogatory comments about the Mountain Homeless Coalition and for Andrew to not allow anyone from the coalition to view the cabins. She said she doesn’t want to deal with them at all. She stated next year she wants to put the cabins up for...

This place is a dump, and management is extremely rude and inhospitable for a business that is in the hospitality industry. We booked Unit 14 for a Saturday and Sunday night. When we arrived on Saturday afternoon, the unit had a strong odor that was giving us headaches and making my 70 year-old mother-in-law nauseous. We assumed the smell was from extra cleaning because of Covid, opened the windows to ventilate the unit and went out to do some outdoor activities in Big Bear. Wrong! The smell wasn’t from cleaning; it was from bug spray to try to kill the ants that we later discovered all over the kitchen, downstairs bedroom and living room. In addition to the ant problem, the water in the pool was drained (which was not disclosed on their website or Booking.com), multiple light bulbs were out, there were screens missing in several windows, one of the beds had a crater indented into the mattress that made it virtually impossible to sleep in, the TV remote did not work and the air conditioner literally spit out icicles during the night. Overall, the unit was dated (not in a good way) and run down. We weren’t expecting the Ritz Carlton, but we did expect it to be clean, free of bugs, with a working TV and light bulbs, and a beds that could be slept in. ||||We could have dealt with the other issues, but the ants and lingering smell of bug spray were a deal breaker. Unfortunately, because we had been out enjoying ourselves during the afternoon and evening, we did not realize the extent of the ant problem until after 8 p.m. We called the front desk and spoke with Mandy. She was not at all surprised and did not deny that they had sprayed for ants before our arrival. In fact, admitting that there were major issues with our unit, Mandy offered to cancel our reservation for a full refund. She pointed out, however, that because it was a Saturday night, we might have trouble finding somewhere else to stay. She was right. We went online and called around to a few places, but couldn’t find anywhere else to stay on Saturday night (there were 7 of us – me, wife, four kids and grandma – so we would have needed at least two rooms). Because we could not find another hotel, Mandy gave us the option of staying on Saturday but cancelling and getting a refund for our second night. Since we didn’t have any other options, we decided to stay on Saturday and cancel the second night of our reservation. ||||We were expecting to get a refund for at least half the amount we paid, since we had only stayed one night, and because of all of the issues with the unit. Instead, Bear Creek only refunded us $270 out of a $740 booking. So basically, they charged us $470 to stay one night in an ant-infested, bug-spray-smelling, run down dump of a cabin. |||| For the past several days we have been fighting with Bear Creek to get a half refund (we should be asking for a full refund), and can’t believe the way we’ve been treated. On Sunday, Mandy basically told us we were dumb and that we should have been able to figure out that they wouldn’t give us a half refund. She told us that she was only following company policy, couldn’t do anything for us, and that we would have to speak with the owner, “Angela.” On Monday, I called back to talk to “Angela.” She’s not in, and Mandy doesn’t know when she’s going to be in. I ask her to have Angela call me. No call. The next day (Tuesday), I call again for Angela. This time, Skyla answers the phone. She listens patiently, but says she can’t do anything for me. I’ll have to speak to Angela. She takes down my name and number and promises to pass my message on to Angela. Again, no call from Angela, so I call back. Skyla answers again. She said that she gave my message to Angela, but Angela THREW IT IN THE TRASH, said she’s not going to call me back, and said she’s not giving us a refund. ||||At this point, we’re not sure if “Angela” really exists. But if she does, we’re shocked that someone in the hospitality industry would act like this. I was really hoping that Bear Creek would be reasonable with me and work something out so that I wouldn’t have to leave this review. But it seems like online reviews are the only way to get some people’s attention. We’ll see if it makes a difference. From the way this company has behaved so far, I’m not...

Thural rewiew.Stayed in featured cabin on there website big kitchen, private backyard w/own hottub etc. Check in easy & I want to say staff definitely seemed nice accommodating to things. Upon parking noticed door to cabin was open shut it & as always did a welcome recording. It is smaller then expected & I for some off reason though 2 bedrooms but was 1 w/2 beds no big deal.Ktchen is huge feature but fridge ice & water line is not connected so got ice from office.Backyard good size & has bbq(bring own grill stuff)outside seating w/hot tub,this was chosen 3 reasons & 1 w/hottub! Unfortunately we asap had issues Hottub top was broken from group who just left & VERY dark dirty H20 & phone wouldn't work etc, call desk my cell phone & maintenance came out a few Xs that evening so we had unexpected few interferences w/what was supposed to be romantic evening. He 1st needed to fix hottub w/out shock so we could use it & put clarifier &step3 chlorine w/a floater said that way in a hour we can use it, no issue!He then said phone issue was everyone N if he plugged it in it would ring constantly N be better off unplugged, okay!..next front door not opening from weather being hot to cold was doing it to all them & showed how to open it. Okay so dinners done & times wasted but least management was top of things. We went to public pool & hottub because ours had to wait a hour & hottub public one was horrible dirty also on top cold! We said forget it went to village, 2 hrs later getting in our hottub private areas burned we asap jumped out I was laughing but was not in funny way, we shower & said forget that also. Tv time! In the am hottub was finally usable the clarifier did what it does not like a dirty swamp I don't even want to post the pic lol it was fixed suitable so.There are good & bad staying I guess.Price plays a role. I would not pay much because there is no lake water view or wooded solid privacy in back, it is fence & 2 story house watching.Is a outdoor firepit steps away from cabins & wedding/ event area nice. Pool was ok, not the public hot tub thou. Cabin satellite & alot channels we used 1st night plans ruined. A wall furnace or personal heater or fireplace. a window ac unit n kitchen/fan hallway. Bathroom is small & no bathtub, rock shower withOUT soap holder & worked around it. Livingroom futon & 2 chairs. Bedroom 2 queen bds comfy & elect/fireplace, traffic am cars a wake up/turning on fan or etc eliminated n 2nd night slept. We did ask for a extend 3rd night in cabin or of another on the grounds easy if there was availability because next day my bday n 1st night was ruined. got reply it was not booked so planning another night & confirm price.In am I call before walking to office & I'm told higher then was told(not kewl) I mean 1st night of several interesting surprises (ruined it to just say it) but we kept smiling &made best of it. Anyway they definitely made a bad business decision as after being told the higher price unexpectedly 9am next day I asap said ok, we are out! And we did just that. They lost money I mean something better then 0! Nthing personal against nobody all are nice & about business. Good spot near the village if like pool/hottub (if its hot, working & clean) would ask. I think a couple fits this cabin perfectly! Even 2. smaller but suitable & cute! Warning backyard big 2 story house w/windows might bother hottub people. Sun hits porch in am. front not private you see/hear everything. No continental breakfast. Toilet paper out no extra roll.I might stay here again if(hottubs private & public)clean/temp correct n fix little things.pool was fine. In 16yrs 50 cabins across usa we never had a cabin ever have issues until now even here included. Not bad or good...