Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort — Attraction in Hot Springs

I hate leaving bad reviews but I truly did not feel heard during our previous stay and I'm hoping maybe this will catch someone's attention for change. What was supposed to be a chill couple of days turned into somewhat of a series of unfortunate events which I felt weren't taking serious and it's a bummer because I am always RAVING about Oaklawn. That has unfortunately changed and I'm not sure we will be staying again.

I will start with check in. We were gifted a $300 giftcard so within checking in i asked how the giftcard could be used. I was told the spa and hotel/room would accept it. We decided with the staff we would use it for the spa the next day. (This is necessary to reference for later things). We get checked in and ready for a fun evening/next day.

The following morning the series of unfortunate events begun.. For starters, the bed! It HAD to be a one off because Oaklawn is normally my go to for nice beds and relaxation.. room #429 changed my mind about that though! After a rough sleep and waking up hurting (I'm in my 20s and can sleep on a floor mind you) my husband and I decided to check out or move rooms. When I told the clerk about the beds it was an easy "I can get you checked out when you're ready, we will just charge you for the 1 night since that's all you're staying now".. I was like oh, okay. No attempt to move us rooms or anything which I thought was weird but I'm sure they deal with people all day and were over it so I just took it as a sign to check out at 11.

That brings me to my next event.. Right at 10 we decided to order some easy room service that way we could pack up, check out, and head straight to the spa. The tablet said it would be ready at like 10:20 so it seemed like plenty of time. The clock is ticking.. 10:30.. 10:40.. 10:50.. I got worried about what to do or how to cancel if it was on its way so I went the front desk and asked for advice. They called room service and room service said there must have been a glitch and they didnt get the order. I was glad there was a solution but a little hungry with a spa appt in the next 10. Whatever, we grabbed a snack and went on about the day that we wanted to make good.

11:00 hits and we head to the spa. Super relaxing spa. It was an great spa visit.. That was until we got to checkout and were told Oaklawn Giftcards were not accepted... (mind you, we had already checked out and saved our giftcard for this per staff recommendation). The lady said "We are still new and haven't gotten our systems combined".. I was like uhhh... what.. Anyways, we pay and head to the front desk to hopefully get a refund on the room and to pay with the giftcard. We are small business owners and wouldn't have treated ourselves to a spa day if we didn't have our gracious friends gifting us a giftcard. Anyways, front desk is confused and calls spa. Long story short the spa manager calls back and says they DO accept giftcards. We are sent back for a return and to use our giftcard. This took a solid 30+ minutes.

Our 1 day off that was supposed to be full of relaxation was just not that. We made the drive home and finally had a chance to celebrate our day off after the holidays and wedding anniversary.

Oaklawn, please listen to your guests. Especially the ones who visit your establishment quite often. This experience was 1/10. It would have been super nice to feel heard.

Sincerely, a disappointment...

Id give them negative stars if at all possible. Went for just an hour while in town, sat down at one of the slot machines in shorts. As I was walking out of their establishment ( this should also all be documented on camera there).I felt something bite me on the back of my knee. I knocked off a freaking bed bug that had feasted on my legs while I sat and played my machine and almost transferred them into my personal car and home! Reported it immediately to the staff bc I did NOT hve bed bugs prior to this hour yuck, they did NOTHING ABOUT ANY OF THIS NIGHTMARE ! I DONT THINK THEY REMOTELY TOOK ME AT ALL SERIOUSLY BUT NEVER WOULD I CONSIDER STAYING IN THEIR ROOMS IF THATS WHAT HAPPENED JUST SITTING AT ONE OF THEIR GAMING MACHINES! DISGUSTING AND DISAPPOINTED THAT CUSTOMER SERVICE DIDNT GIVE A DAMN ENOUGH TO REMOTELY ATTEMPT TO RESPOND BACK2ME EVEN. THAT TELLS ME THAT THEY CERTAINLY DIDNT CLOSE DOWN LONG ENOUGH TO TRY RIDDING THAT PLC OF THE INFESTATION WHICH IS DISGUSTING AND PATHETICALLY SAD! ALL THAT MONEY THAT PLC PULLS IN YET THEY CANT GAURANTEE YOU A BED BUG FREE GAMING EXPERIENCE? NOR DO THEY REMOTELY CARE! THIS OCCURRED AUG OF 2025 SO ANYONE BEWARE B4 ENTERING. I WILL NEVER BE BACK SEEING I WASNT A PRIORITY TO AT LEAST CALL BACK, EMAIL BACK, REMOTELY EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE! YES! THIS IS A VERY TRUE STORY AND NO I DIDNT GET ATTACKED SOMEPLACE ELSE! THIS TRULY HAPPENED AT THE CASINO. THAT TELLS ME THEIR ROOMS R ALSO LIKELY INFESTED AND NOW KNOWING THE ESTABLISHMENT OR EMPLOYEES ARENT TAKING ME SERIOUSLY NOR REMOTELY TRIED OFFERING ME EVEN AN APOLOGY BLOWS MY MIND. AS much as I enjoy playing, I will NOT EVER step foot in that plc nor will any of my entire family and friends. Hopefully losing a handful of high stakes players will grab their attention bc my story and polite complaint obviously didnt work! Gross! Play if you like, stay if you like, but DONT SAY YOU WERE NOT FULLY WARNED PRIOR TO. GOOD LUCK! BETTER YOU...

For the price of the room, I would think everything would be top of the line. I came back in February, and when I went to check in, I was told they didn't have a room for me. Then, nevermind we found you one (I had done the reservation in I think October?) but it's not clean, come back in 45 minutes. This is while the races were on and we already had our luggage. I proceeded to come back at 45 minutes, get told it was another 45, then no ETA. The manager Meagan Morgan gave my husband her business card and said the one night would be comped. I thought that was generous so perfect, not so bad for not being able to check in until after the races were over. Unfortunately, 3 months after the fact, my card has been charged without any communication or phone call. I called up to Oaklawn to leave a message for Meagan hoping it was a mistake, the person on the line was nice and said she'd call me back. That was last Thursday and it's been nothing from their end. Had to dispute the charge with my credit card company. All in all the room was very nice, while we were there their customer service was nice other than not being truthful about when we'd have a room, which made me miss some of the experience with my friends. The communication after the fact and the charge messes with me though, as to why they'd hold onto my information after making false promises then charging me 3 months after the fact. Maybe they've gotten their stuff together and your room will be ready. If so, I'd recommend it there although $300 charge minimum for the room is hefty, but it is nice for the experience of staying up as late as you want in the casino and getting to just walk to the room. Prior to the no contact after charging me and my calling up to the hotel and leaving my name and number for them, I planned on...