Ruby Lake Resort — Hotel in Area A (Egmont/Pender Harbour)

Here are copies of the emails that were sent to the reservations manager, followed up with a phone call, in order to give them the opportunity to "make good". Hopeless attempts.||Please note the pictures of the accommodations at $195/night and please make sure that to read through all of the reviews. The negative ones are spot on and give more details of the same experience.||1st email sent at 11:00 PM, after trying to call someone at the "resort":||"We had looked forward to coming to stay at your resort after having visited Ruby lake last year. We booked a trail view Safari tent. |We were charged $140 + $30 for a pet fee + taxes for a very basic tent on a wooden platform, with camp style public washrooms nearly a 10 minute walk away.|A week ago, we camped in our tent at a BC provincial campground in Squamish for $35/night (with our dog) and honestly it’s hard to justify spending $160 more to sleep in an improperly cleaned tent on a wooden platform, on ikea sheets, and then having to endure very loud music blasting across the lake well past 11:00 pm which served only to drown out the constant road noise. This is not only unpleasant but unacceptable, as it made it difficult to sleep.||At the BC campground with hundreds of people staying in tents, one could hear a pine needle drop between 10 pm until 7:00 am.||I don’t mind paying for accommodations but I hate feeling ripped off. ||These accommodations are grossly overpriced and it seems outrageous to charge an additional $30 for a pet to sleep in a wooden platform camp style tent. ||At 10:30 pm I tried calling to ask about the loud music and party noises and was connected to the restaurant as the reception was closed. I was told to call you on your cell #. |This is not a professional hospitality service for accommodations charging $195 a night. ||I am requesting some form of credit, starting with the extra charge for the dog, but also for an additional 50% credit for the tent would be warranted given not only the low standard of accommodation, but also the ongoing loud noise at 11:00 pm, and no one to be there to handle the situation.||We are very disappointed and have decided to leave early in the morning, certainly not what we were hoping for when booking a night at a lake resort.||I have recorded the noise as well as the interior condition of the tent.||We look forward to hearing back from you asap."||Email # 2, sent the following morning: ||"Hello again, ||The outrageously loud party noises, music and fireworks went on past 2:00 am, constantly being woken up who knows how many times. It’s now 7:00 am and are now woken up by a steady stream of cars heading for the ferry, and the sounds of neighboring guests in their tents, and their cars.||This experience can hardly be called a night at a lake resort and having been charged $195 now feels like an insult. ||It’s been a huge disappointment and we just want our money back and to leave asap."||We arrived at 7:30 pm and were gone before 8:00 AM.||Tried calling the manager for 3 days until was finally able to reach her.|I was met with defensive and snarky attitude such as: " Do you expect us to pay for someone to be there all night in case something happens?"||This is an excerpt of the email response which we received 3 days later:|||"After reviewing your email and our phone conversation I have decided that no refund will be issued. |I understand that your sleep was interrupted but as previously discussed, what happens outside of our resort is out of our control. |Even if there was someone around to answer the phone at 11.30 they wouldn't have been able to do anything about it anyway. ||I'm thrilled for you that you had a great time self camping in squamish in your own tent that you had to pitch and provide all the linens for. Perhaps you should keep your vacations there if the Sunshine coast is out of your budget as it is very expensive here for accommodation. "||Here is our excerpts from our final reply email: ||"Based on the reviews we read more thoroughly (after our visit sadly), we are far from being the only ones having had a terrible experience at your “resort”. |In fact the similarity of many of the remarks is uncanny.||I was also told by neighboring guests that were also kept awake that night, that “they (the management) just don't care”. What a sad concept for a hospitality service. |It is your responsibility to have a contact number available to guests 24 hrs, in the event of an incidence at your resort. |Your restaurant staff should have contacted you and it was your job to inform the authorities about the noise in your neighborhood that was affecting your guests. |There are always noise ordinances in effect. |However this was not the only issue, you conveniently avoided responding to any of the other ones (cleanliness, noise, bathrooms) other than the need to charge $30 for cleaning a tent platform after a dog. I am certain that many humans have done more damage, which is always unfortunate. |We have travelled extensively, and I have not had an issue paying for additional cleaning for a dog, if it's warranted.||I find your reply and reasoning not only presumptuous but rude, which is telling of the kind of management that runs this decaying overpriced “resort”. ||You are incorrect in “assuming:” that this is a budget issue, which is not only insulting, but representative of one not wanting to assume any responsibility.|There are ample examples of far superior accommodations on the Sunshine coast for $195/night, let alone provincial campgrounds that are also $35/night and have cleaner facilities and better services, and which was only brought up in comparison. In case you are misinformed, the Sunshine Coast is no more “exclusive” than Squamish is, however none of that has ever been the point.||You were given an opportunity to make good, however since you chose not to accept any responsibility, you leave us no choice but to post reviews of our experience online, so that other travelers will be...

I thought Ruby Lake would be an ideal place to go for a night with my partner to catch a meteor shower. 240 is a bit steep for a room, but I figured it would be worth it to have a bit of luxury in a quiet, dark, beautiful setting.

I was surprised to find, five minutes after I checked in, that there was no electricity or running water in our room, and even more surprised five minutes after that to find that the staff were aware of this because the power had been out for an hour, long before we arrived to check in. When I returned with my partner to calmly but directly inquire as to why I was checked into a room with no water or electricity without being told when the staff knew there was a power outage, Anya got very defensive, claimed she didn't know the power was out (the first of several lies we were told by staff that day) and acted affronted that she was being held accountable for her actions. It was ridiculous and totally clear that she was lying through her teeth given that timeline and the fact that the staff person who told me about the outage had been standing next to her at the time we checked in and the power had been out for an hour. Pretty clear that Ruby Lake is all about the money though, and that became only more evident as time wore on.

After 90 minutes I called BC Hydro and found out that the power wasn't estimated to be on until 11:00 P.M. We returned and let Anya know that the power wasn't slated to be on until 11 p.m. Her response was that "Actually, the power is supposed to be on in a couple of hours." Anya seems to have an interesting relationship with the truth. My partner asserted that this wasn't going to work for us, that we weren't able to access the amenities we'd paid through the teeth for, we needed to be able to have electricity and running water to, say, for example, wash our hands or use the toilet, and we were going to have to go somewhere else and needed our money back.

The levels of greed and terrible customer service that ensued were shameful.

Anya tried to protest, I cut her off and asked her to get the manager (she'd lied earlier and told me she was the manager) which she did. Upon returning, she let us know that the manager was "busy with other guests and can't just drop everything to come and talk to you" which was needlessly rude. Once the manager did come, she was shamey, judgemental, guilt-tripping and rude. She accused us of harassing her staff. I always think it's interesting when people confuse being held accountable with harassment. If requesting information about a bad situation, seeing through people's lies and refusing to be treated like my purpose there was to generate profit for the resort is harassment, then I'm guilty as charged.

The manager suggested that most people who come there come for nature, not power and water. The audacity to tell my partner and myself how we should spend our time there is stunning. Never was there an apology, never was there an offer of water knowing we couldn't access any but they could in the restaurant. Instead there were guilt trips about the fact that someone was hurt due to the accident that caused the outage, guilt trips about them not being able to resell the room (despite our not using the beds or making a mess), and even an ask that we "human to human" leave 40 dollars to make up for the cost of recleaning our unused room.

I found the concept of "human to human" interesting given that we'd been lied to, judged, guilt-tripped, and allowed to check into a room with no power or water, never offered water or asked if we needed anything and generally treated poorly and as though we were a bother, even at check-in.

Ruby Lake, the cost of doing business is absorbed by the business when things like this happen. You are not owed or guaranteed a profit. Getting a refund shouldn't be that hard. Lying to and treating your guests the way were treated is indefensible. Clearly there is a culture of rudeness at this...

It was a great stay at Ruby lake in the Rainforest Tent. ||||I loved how there wasn't any other tents and cabins beside it and had it's own little area, fenced off and a private "portaloo" which was enclosed and clean.||||Tips I learned: ||||For check-ins, the registration hut is right beside the La Trattoria Italiana Restaurant. Our GPS brought us to the first entrance of Ruby lake resort where most of the other accommodations are but not the registration area.||||Bring a large water jug as it is not recommended to drink water from the sink or the shower at the Rainforest tent. You can fill up at the community hut. ||||The fireplace in the tent kept the it nice and warm at night, as I get cold easily i was very toasty and didn't have to use the extra blanket they supplied. ||||The Shower water is no longer just cold but hot water running approx 10 min or so. (longer hot showers can be done at the communal washroom) ||||It didn't have a coffee maker during my stay but had coffee and an electric water kettle which worked out way better for us as i brought my own tea. ||||There is electricity in the tent and next to the sink in the gazebo area. I loved how they had a light there brighter than our flashlights while we brushed our teeth. ||||When we arrived the tent was tidy and the grounds were clean around the seating area and around the tent. It did rain hard one of the nights, we rolled down the outside covers for the windows and everything stayed dry inside including the floors. ||||Parking is fairly close by on a long grass area. Slight incline when walking to the tent but not too bad. ||||Staff was nice and informative when we arrived and throughout our stay. ||||La Trattoria Italiana Restaurant at Ruby Lake was amazing. The location of the tent was just a short walk over the lagoon. Only downfall was it's not open on Wednesdays or we would have eaten there every night of our stay, the food was fantastic.||||We rented a SUP and a kayak for an afternoon on Ruby lake which is one of the warmest lakes in Canada. You just rent at the registration hut and then head across the street and to grab your boards to head out. ||||We had great time at Ruby Lake Resort and it will most likely be an annual go-to...