Arrowwood Resort & Conference Center — Hotel in Alexandria

First off - I can honestly say I NEVER leave negative reviews as generally any issues I may have had with prior hotels/resorts have always been resolved amicably and positively - - UNTIL THIS RESORT! I truly have never experienced such blatant disregard for the customer/guest as has been the case with The Arrowwood. I asked to see a manager several times during our stay and again when we checked out; however each time I was told no Manager was available, but that a manager would contact me. Since our stay, I have left at least 6 messages for the Operations Manger (DAN) but have not received the courtesy of a reply. Additionally, I have spoken to at least 3 lower-level managers, all whom have been very sympathetic and kind - assuring me they would try to help me get resolution - -but alas, it has been over a month since our stay and I have not received a single return call or e-mail TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE - any reputable establishment would at a minimum, grant you the courtesy of a return call. ||To clarify - all the staff we encountered during our staty were extremely helpful and responsive, but the message came across loud and clear - - staff moral is very low ! |We heard from multiple staff members that there has been high staff turnover due to poor management.||We were so excited to surprise our two young grandsons with a stay at the Arrowwood Resort to celebrate their 7th and 9th Birthdays with promises of kayaking, paddleboarding, swimming in the pools / water park and an afternoon fishing on a pontoon! ||SO MUCH DISAPPOINTMENT! The room was damp/musty smelling; the indoor pool was closed for maintenance; the slides in the water park were FILTHY as evidenced by dark brown/orange streaks down the backs of the boys' water shirts/swim trunks; the water park was understaffed on several nights with no lifeguard/staff at the top of the slides to ensure appropriate spacing; the hot tub was cold on the first night of our stay and out of service on the remaining nights; the indoor pools was closed for maintenance; the outdoor pool smelled terribly (I don't think the filtration was working); the marina docks were covered with gull poop; the marina water was very dirty/slimy and definitely not conducive to paddle boarding/kayaking - - but the final straw was our arrival at the marina at 1:00 pm on a gorgeous sunny day to rent a pontoon for the afternoon only to be told that the marina was closing because there had been no customers! WHAT????||I reminded him that we were guests and CUSTOMERS and the Marina was supposed to be open until 5/6 pm. I requested to speak to a Manager, but to no avail. The Marina worker recommended we go to one of the other nearby resorts to rent a pontoon! WHAT????? It was a hot sunny day and our final day at the resort but we had to tell our grandsons NO PONTOON/NO FISHING! We tried to salvage the day by attempting to fish from the paddle boat which did not go well !-we decided to attempt to TOW the kayaks to the beach area - but just when we thought things could not get worse - it turns out the KAYAK PADDLES were locked in the Marina!|UNBELIEVABLE. I can only surmise that any positive reviews are plants OR things went terribly downhill over the course of the summer!||IF YOU HAVE RESERVATIONS FOR THIS FALL - CANCEL THEM! IF YOU WERE DEBATING STAYING AT THE ARROWWOOD NEXT SUMMER -...

Where to start? DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!!! Our Children said “we got scammed” Definitely false advertising on its website (click bait) in regards to the pool and waterslides. The photos are not updated on their website, so please rely on the reviews. The rooms are very dated, wallpaper peeling and mould noted in our room. The beds were on the plus side and thankfully no bed bugs. The Resort states free WiFi lol! Unable to connect to the wifi unless you’re standing outside of your suite door or near the front desk which it made our stay impossible to work remotely.

The main pool near the fitness room looks as if it should be closed down indefinitely. The bottom of the pool is falling apart, dirt/gravel on the bottom and it’s yellow in color. I honestly would not even allow my dog to swim in there, let alone my children. WHERE’s the hot tub…. it’s taped off with caution tape and is not be in working order for months or maybe years by the look of it. The Banana Cabana is also run down, staffed by young adult teenagers which we found them to be fairly pleasant and one engaged in conversation with us. Unfortunately, the slush machine has not been in working order for many months, unable to order a beer as the staff are too young to serve alcohol. Bravo to the young man that spoke with us, as it has to be difficult to continually repeat the same to every customer. How embarrassing for him. We did not order pizza from the Cabana as the kitchen looks as it would not pass any inspection. Product is left out of refrigeration and the serving area is very unsanitary. It does not appear to be regularly wiped down or cleaned.

UGHH The waterslide and pool…. We’re not sure how this place would pass any inspection to remain open. The dumping bucket has not worked in years, the water gun does not spray, every interactive accessory is leaking and doesn't work. The ropes all around the poolsides are full of rust, as is the structures. The wooden structure and beams has water leaking onto them which is a cause for concern of the safety and integrity of the structure. Both the pool and waterslide area don’t appear to be sprayed down or cleaned regularly.

There’s no lifeguards at the top of the 4 story slides. Lifeguards were too busy playing basketball on the main level instead of paying attention to the safety of customers. If there was an emergency or drowning, it’s highly unlikely the staff are trained in any first aid. There appears to be no accessible defibrillator, long board, scoop or first aid kits on site that we could see. All basketball hoops are rusted and have no ropes on the hoops. The lazy river is just that as it barely flows unless you push yourself. The slides are extremely dated as are the structures. If you do decide to try it out, I would ensure your tetanus shot is up to date.

The first night we ordered Nachos from the 2100 Chop restaurant and it came with maybe a tablespoon of dried out Hamburger and liquid cheese on it. Even our kids wouldn’t eat it. BARF! Being completely unimpressed and displeased with this so called resort, we ended our stay a day and a half earlier than expected and asked for a refund for the last night. The place does have potential if the owners invested to improve the place with some major renovations and replaced the waterslides completely. We will NEVER return and would NOT...

Booked a two night stay Thursday June 5–Sat June 7 via booking.com. Came back from being in a wedding Friday night and my keycard didn’t work. Ok, no big deal, front desk gives me a new set, walk in to 404 to a bunch of other people’s stuff there and mine nowhere to be found. Double check my room number outside the door. Go to the front desk and see my suitcase and a little trash bag of my other belongings behind the front desk. Asked why my stuff was there, mind you this suitcase had an iPad, Apple Watch, and jewelry in it, but the staff had been kind enough to pack all my stuff for me so I didn’t have to and they were even prepared and did it early! Turns out the lady who had checked me in the night before had given me the wrong room. So instead of using critical thinking skills, Arrowwood staff rubbed their two brain cells together and deduced someone would just “forget” all of their belongings—entire suitcase, bathroom items, and all. Was told I could have room 408, but standing at the counter in my bridesmaid dress, half my crap scattered on the counter, and people sitting in the lobby staring at me and sending me looks of both pity and disbelief, and my bag already kindly packed for me, I wasn’t in the mood to give this 1-star dive another night of business and told them I wanted a refund for my second night stay. “You’ll need to call Booking.com for a refund since you booked with them.” Fine, I’ll stand here and call them, put them on speaker phone, and let you explain your screw up and why I wanted a refund, so I did just that and was told booking.com will call Arrowwood to get what happened and then I will receive my refund. We just told them over speaker phone what happened? Asked to speak to the manager, Dan, and wanted an explanation for why you would assume someone forgot not just a hairbrush or phone charger, but their entire set of belongings and just clear them out of the room? His line of reasoning was they have a lot of conventions there so someone may have forgotten all of their stuff and not checked out. No, Dan, nobody just leaves a convention, gets in their car with none of the things they came with, and drives home. My IQ dropped listening to this ludicrous explanation. I don't have a degree in hospitality and tourism management, but one would think the correct procedure for a situation like this is not to just evict someone, but to put the incoming reservation in a different room while figuring out why the original room is still full of belongings by maybe calling the person on the original reservation and asking if they plan to come pick up their stuff? Ask if they forgot it? The young guy behind the counter was very patient and courteous given how peeved I was in this situation and handled it very well—he should be promoted to supervisor as the real “supervisor” offered no apology, no comps for their snafu, was the antithesis of hospitable and should probably consider working in a different field. Upper management definitely needs training. This place has really deteriorated since I worked at the waterpark and the gift shop here in high school. Who knew being a guest could be worse than an employee. Do yourself a favor and don’t stay here—it’s glory days are long over. Adding a photo of my souvenir from my stay. I’ll be saving it for my...