Callaway Resort & Gardens — Attraction in Durand

Long story and no way to make it shorter. My little sister used to go here every summer with her 4 daughters and take part in all the warm weather family centered activities. And she raved about the place. My wife and I decided to go in December to experience the Fantasy of Lights show we heard so much about. We had reservations for 3 nights and arrived on a Sunday afternoon. Our room wasn't ready when we arrived after a 4 1/2 hour drive so we found some seats in the lobby by the large fireplace. Once ready the room was fine with a "woodland view" (can't imagine why anyone would pay for the "lake view" in December when it was bleak and barren). We had a balcony with two uncomfortable chairs and a little table, but it was too cold to use. Dinner our first night in the Lodge's main restaurant was okay. Atmosphere was non-existent, it was like a brightly lit cafeteria, but the food was decent. The following morning we hung the service requested sign on our door and headed out. First stop was the "Country Store" at the top of Pine Mountain where we had a very good breakfast in the restaurant and enjoyed the mountain view. From there we headed back into the main gardens and went to the "Birds of Prey" exhibit/show. Well done and quite interesting. Following that we drove through the grounds and stopped at the "Butterfly" building and the historic chapel. Again, both were positive experiences. That was when we should have stopped...it's all down hill from here.|We returned to our room to find it hadn't been serviced and at that hour we needed to refresh and get ready to go to the Fantasy of Lights where we had a 7:00 p.m. window to arrive. I found the housekeeper and exchanged our towels for fresh and we got ready for the evening. We went to the quick service cafe off the lobby where we planned to get a couple of their advertised panini sandwiches and a beverage a little before 6 p.m. They were out of food. The sign said "fresh, made to order" etc. All they had was some sad looking pre-made salad and one lonely turkey sandwich. So we went into the Pub room. Took a seat at the bar and told the bartendress that we needed to catch the 7 o'clock shuttle to the Fantasy. She immediately took our order, said she'd get it right in and we have plenty of time. I'll skip over the details, but at 6:55 our food wasn't there yet. We watched several patrons who arrived after us order and get served. I paid for my beer and we left, stopped in the lobby to get a small bag of chips and a small box of M&M's (almost $11.00). When we got out front thew shuttle had left so we had to sit and wait for the 7:30 bus. When we finally arrived at the starting point the bus dropped us at one end of the Christmas Village and we had to walk through the entire area (probably a quarter mile to the other side where the trolleys loaded to drive through the show (7 mile trip and about an hour in duration}. We were on the very last trolley of the night after waiting in a line that resembled the TSA check at a very busy airport. Once aboard we had the misfortune to be seated behind two women with the most awfully behaved children. The little boy kept trying to pull the emergency stop cord, they yelled constantly and totally detracted from what was a very nicely planned Christmas light experience. When we finally finished it was 9:50 and we were told the last shuttle back to our hotel (Lodge) was at ten. We again had to traverse to entire property to get to the pick-up point and when we about 100 yards away the bus left. There was no one around who had any managerial or customer service attitude. The parking lot fellow finally called his supervisor who said for us to go back and wait, that another bus would come. It was a golf cart and the young man driving did get us across the property and back to the Lodge...exhausted and still hungry.|The next morning I drove into Pine Mountain and purchased 2 sausage/egg/cheese sandwiches, a pastry and small coffee for less than the chips and m&m's at Callaway the previous night. We decided to go into town for the day and put our "service please" sign on the door. Stopped at the front desk and spoke with the gentleman on duty to discuss the lack of housekeeping service the previous day. He informed me that was their standard...unless you are staying more than 3 nights they don't service the room...just change out towels and empty the waste can. Terrible policy.|Okay, hang in there, I'm almost done. When we came back from town, we took a walk around the lake and then found a comfortable spot in front of the lobby fireplace to finish the afternoon. After about 15 minutes the fire went out (gas logs) and didn't come back on. So we went to the room, freshened up and decided to try the Pub again but asked to be seated outside where they had heaters going by the tables. We were then informed that somebody cut a gas line and they couldn't cook anything. We were limited to items that could me microwaved or served cold. Our server was very polite, we had some interesting conversation, but this was our second night without a hot meal.|This might be a nice family-oriented place in the summer, but I would never go back. They charge a $40. resort fee each day and all the warm weather activities are absent. Other than the walking and biking trails there's no resort activities and very little to do. This place is way past its "Heyday" and appears to be on a downward slide. Don't say I...

I was deeply disappointed with my recent stay at Callaway Gardens Spa and Resort from February 14-16, 2025. As a resort that prides itself on providing high-quality service, my experience fell far short of what I expected and what your brand promises.||It all started even before I arrived. On my way down I called to inquire about your restaurant since I would be arriving around 7:30. I was told the restaurant would be open until 10:00 pm, but it was completely sold out and that there would be no room service on Friday night. I was forced to stop to eat, and as you know, the only places available are fast food, greasy spoons. I had to find dinner at one of those locations, which was an unnecessary inconvenience. || When I arrived at the resort at 8:30 PM, I noticed the restaurant was half empty. Upon asking the hostess, she informed me that there was plenty of room and expressed confusion as to why I was told I couldn’t be seated once I arrived.| |That same night, I requested extra hangers and a pair of slippers. Despite multiple calls, these items never arrived. ||This pattern continued into the second day when I ordered room service breakfast. Not only was it late, but it also arrived cold in cardboard boxes with plastic utensils—hardly what one expects from a $70 breakfast. ||I was not able to eat it. If I had been told that room service at this resort came in cardboard boxes with plastic utensils, I would have never ordered it. Unfortunately, due to scheduled spa treatments, I did not have time to lodge a formal complaint at that moment.| |After returning from a wonderful three-hour spa experience, my attempt to rest was disrupted by constant hammering from the floor above, leading to a severe headache that nearly ruined the spa treatments. When I called for the manager, I was informed that no manager was on-site. Thirty minutes later, the Guest Services called to apologize, acknowledging the construction work. However, the hammering continued for another two hours, making it impossible to relax.| |She also informed me that hangers were on their way—far too late by then—and that the lodge did not have slippers. It is baffling that four previous staff members were unaware of this. As a spa resort, the absence of slippers with robes is perplexing.| |The valet service was equally frustrating. One valet could not find the parking brake, and another struggled to exit the vehicle due to unfamiliarity with the door handle.| |To make matters worse, a power outage occurred around 2 a.m. on Sunday due to a storm. There was no communication from the staff about the outage, safety instructions, or alternative breakfast options. My calls to the front desk went unanswered, leaving me feeling unsafe and uninformed.| |Finally, before I left, I asked for a Manager's name and email address to send this letter. (With the blackout I felt it was not the appropriate time to discuss these matters.) I was told that it would be the manager who called me who I needed to touch base with, but the front desk did not have her email address or telephone number. Really??? ||I was told that first thing on Monday I would get a call or an email with your email address so I could contact her - It never came.||I had to spend a lot of time looking for her email address.||A resort charging $500 per night should provide impeccable service. My experience was far from that, and I am deeply disappointed. I urge you to address these issues to prevent future guests from facing similar inconveniences.||The incorrect information about dining availability, unfulfilled requests for basic amenities, subpar room service presentation, disruptive construction noise during spa recovery time, valet service issues, and lack of communication during the power outage all significantly impacted our experience. ||Maybe they should remove the word ‘Resort’...

The hotel room was very nice and comfortable and the only thing I can say that would be better with the room itself is if the bathroom light switch was actually in the bathroom and not in hallway by front door and also if there was a fan in the bathroom. The food at the buffet dinner and breakfasts were absolutely delicious! I was skeptical at paying $47 per person for a buffet that I knew I couldn't eat that much food but what I did eat was truly fabulous. I did order off the menu one night and ordered the sweet tea baked chicken and sweet potato's and that was actually not good and i ended up having to go to the bar to eat the buffet. Each time we dined in the restaurant on the property, there was never a host at the stand. Employees would even walk up to the hostess stand and see a line of people waiting and not say a word and just walk off. I do recommend that someone be at the hostess stand or have a seat yourself sign to not keep guests waiting for long periods to be seated when paying a decent amount of money for food. Our waitress we had each day in the dining room was amazing at making you feel so welcomed and always delivered superb service. The map that the hotel gives you to navigate the grounds does not even begin to name all the roads and it took us about 30 minutes to get to the butterfly atrium. The festival of lights was happening this weekend and they had some interior roads blocked. Also, some of the areas required a card to get through gates which we finally tried our room key and it worked but had someone (Andrew) who checked us in would have told us about there being areas on the property that has gates but our room key would work then we would have saved a lot of time and headaches. When asking for information on getting tickets to go through the Christmas lights, no-one seemed to know what was going on or where to purchase them or where to get on the trolley. It would have been more helpful if the concierge person or the other hotel staff had more knowledge of the events and grounds. Lastly, I was highly concerned that the cleaning service employee let someone in our room. As we were standing in our room, the door opened and a couple walked in and was surprised just as we were that they had come in the wrong room. The couple apologized and explained that they had locked themselves out of their room and just asked one of the cleaning ladies to open the door but they pointed at our door by mistake and the cleaning person opened OUR door for them. What should have happened in my opinion is the cleaning personnel should have told that couple that they would need to go to the front desk to get another key and not just take their word that the door they point at is...