Camelback Mountain — Attraction in Jackson Township

UPDATE: See addendum.

Imagine a trip to the DMV but paying hundreds of dollars for the ‘privilege’.

Congratulations! You booked a luxury ski vacation at a ski-out resort. Upon arrival things quickly become less luxurious.

At check-in, they do not have the lift tickets or rental vouchers. Instead you go to another desk to pick up the rental vouchers and tickets. If you want to ski out tomorrow morning, you’re going to need to get your equipment. Not now though, you can’t rent for tomorrow until 730pm the day before.

At 730pm, you go stand outside and wait for the bus that takes you to the rental place. One luxurious bus trip later, you get to the rental place. Once there, you stand in line while a handful of employees ignore you. Eventually you flag one down and they tell you that the piece of paper that says “rental voucher” isn’t the piece of paper you need to rent equipment. You leave the line and go to a different desk in a different building and answer questions about boot sizes. Then you get a different piece of paper that says “rental voucher” and return to the line. It’s never made clear why one piece of paper works and the other does not. Eventually you get boots and skis and poles and you’re ready for tomorrow. Except the rental place won’t transport your gear to the luxury ski-out hotel.

You go back outside and wait for the bus. You carry your gear onto and off of the bus and into the hotel. Then, the valet can have your gear delivered to the ski out and you’re ready for tomorrow.

Tomorrow comes and you’re excited to hit the slopes. You’re just going to grab a breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee and hit the slopes! Except the line for coffee and a sandwich stretches 100’ from the stand to the lobby and beyond. There is a single register open and zero sense of urgency. There’s a second register in the coffee stand, but they won’t use it. There are 5 employees in the stand, but mostly they stand around while one person fumbles at the register. Keep in mind there’s no coffee in the room and this is the only coffee stand in the resort.

40 minutes later, you’ve got a pre-made sandwich and some caffeine. Suggested slogan: “All the quality of fast food but double the price in triple the time.” Catchy!

Nobody in the service industry could see the line for coffee and think it’s acceptable. Camelback Resort isn’t run as a luxury hotel. Camelback Resort is run as a fly-by-night carnival with better decor. The attitude is the same: ‘We’ve already got your money, so why should we care?’

That attitude works for a bit, but eventually word gets out. This is me getting the word out: Ski and stay somewhere else.

If your heart is set on Camelback Mountain, you’ll get better service at the Best Western around the corner (and save a few hundred dollars)

Blue Mountain and Elk Mountain both have much better slopes and lifts. Jack Frost / Big Boulder have similar facilities and there are tons of rental properties near by. Camelback Resort isn’t worth it.

ADDENDUM We just walked down to the ski out and they’ve lost 80% of our equipment. All that time spent waiting for the bus and and waiting in line and now our gear is gone. One of the sets of skis and poles isn’t rented. Camelback Resort has crossed the line between indifferent incompetence and...

I was told this mountain is under new management. I'm not sure if that's the case, but it definitely feels different there now, February 2021, than in past seasons.

I had booked a private snowboard lesson for my son and we were adding additional students to the lesson. The actual lesson was GREAT! The instructors Alex J. and Nichole F. did a nice job with the small group of kids in the private lesson. They made learning how to snowboard fun, and the kids all wanted to keep practicing after their lesson.

Everything else besides the actual lesson was mehhh...it's really difficult to get someone on the phone that can actually help, that is if you don't get disconnected or hung up on along the way.

The ski/snowboard lesson situation was not very organized. We showed up to our lesson 5 minutes before it was scheduled to start. I guess that wasn't enough time even though we had a private lesson reserved ahead of time. There was a man that seemed like a lessons coordinator that we interacted with at the Lessons tent, but Bob definitely seemed much more concerned about the ski instructors and lessons than snowboarding. He explained that they were short staffed and all the snowboard instructors had left already. Again, a little confused since we had a PRIVATE reservation and showed up 5 minutes before the scheduled lesson and not after.

I figured both ski and snowboard instructors and staff were a team, but Bob made it clear that is not the case. He was not very friendly, but then tried to "act like he was helping" by telling us to go get lift tickets for the kids. This was the first snowboard lesson and it is clear the kids weren't going to go on a lift. I understand a lift ticket is required for kids in lessons, but considering that there was no instructor at the scheduled instruction time, there could have be some flexibility, and he could have been more accommodating.

Instead, Bob advised us to get lift tickets and we were left on our own for a private that was prepaid. So, the lesson was pushed to the next hour. We showed up 15 minutes early for the hour that our lesson was pushed to and somehow still started the lesson late. We got the full hour, which was fine. Other local ski and snowboard mountains have been more accommodating for private lessons whereas Camelback was not. We may not return for lessons because of this experience.

Again, the instructors, Alex J. and Nichole F. did a very nice job. We were very happy with the lesson once it...

We visit camelback this month for an overnight stay. The reason I’m giving it 3 stars is because of customer service. I understand that there’s an major pandemic that we are facing right now. First I received an email to pre check-in online, which I did for 12pm. We got there at the correct time and had to stand on a long line to still check-in. Once I finally got to the service clerk I was told that our room would be at 3:30-4:00 and we would receive a call or text from the hotel. So we decided to take the kids for a swim and start our mini vacation while we wait. So with all the fun didn’t realize how time flew by, didn’t receive no text or call about our room. When to the service desk to find out what’s about our room. The service clerk first said it’s ready, then said give me a minute and went to the back, came back 5mins later and said that housekeeping is checking the room and manager need to check it after. So I’m upset now because I’m 8 months pregnant and just needed to lay down in the room that I paid for. It’s not 5:30 and still no room ready. Spoke to a manager name Kelly which she was very nice and offer us 10% off the room and late checkout. I told her that I understand the situation with what we are facing in our country but your customer service is really bad. Even if your behind in service a text or phone call just letting us know that your behind would have been better than me coming to the service desk and being told different stories about our room. I check my account and the 10%was never taken off and they also charge me another fee of $26, for which I have no idea. My mom call to find out what the charges was for and was told that they don’t have any idea and would get back to us, which they never did. Camelback is a great get away for family and the kids had a great time but the customer service for their hotel needs to do better. Better in communication between employees and guest and better...