Riverbend Campground And Canoe Rental | Camping, Canoeing, Kayaking, and Tubing On The Rifle River! — Hotel in Arenac Township

Update: I really wish I were Lying. I mean you no ill will. This was your attitude towards us before we even arrived because we had a problem with you calling the Sun before (5 days) to advise us of "new management" & wanted us to pay in full for over 30 ppl in our family?? We live in MI, GA, PA, TN, WV, etc. already had a deposit, like every year when reserved upon checkout. That's when it started - not one staff could keep your "NEW POLICIES/PRICES" correct. When you're organizing 30+ ppl that's chaos! You blamed Debbie, she "must've let us get away with something' simply because we were frustrated with the inconsistencies, attitudes. I've read the reviews and it was not just us - other people will "see" what I've written is true. I'm sorry for that. I hope you look inward and try to take my critical feedback kindly, as it was meant. Myself and my family left early so consider yourself ahead. Take care. Let me first just say- we've been coming here, almost annually, since 2005. I'd give this place 5 stars simply for the location & coziness of the grounds - more importantly Debbie, Mary & Buzz that we've gotten to know in the 20+ consistent yrs our large family has been coming. They make this place what it is- Fun, relaxing, safe, etc. They are pretty Great down to earth people! Now, the reason I am "Not" giving a 5 stars, is that the owners that took over about 10 yrs ago have not invested anything into these grounds and it is starting to take its toll. On the -"Electrical", the current isn't consistent (make sure bring a surge protector) if have sensitive cpaps, etc. The bathroom was out of power, over and over until finally it was just "we are waiting on Consumers because it will not stay on"? The "Plumbing and Bath", mostly concerning the bathrooms... these bathrooms look identical to 2005. Same surrounds, shower heads etc. I get it we are camping but seriously? 2005 and you can't go to HD and get what is the cheapest surrounds $260-$360 x what 5 or 6 showers? roughly $1500-1600 for surrounds and $200 for heads? in the time you've had the property? No cold water in shower? the flooding and backing up of whooo knows what in the bathrooms? and your "new very young indifferent" staff, were just like - "Ok I'll let them know it needs to be cleaned"?? HUH? NOT JUST CLEANED - HOW ABOUT PLUNGED AND SANITIZED AS WELL! GooodLORDT! No T.P. "Tubes & Buses" - tubes are decades old and patched multiple times, some belong to different grounds, buses have broken down in the past on way to access, barely driveable/missing cluster panels, headlights, etc. Are they even street legal? insured? I've never even asked... While we are on Customer Service, how about just "Overall" the "NEW CUSTOMER SERVICE employees"- Inconsistent, Inconsiderate, Untrained, Unnecessarily Disrespectful or rude when it IS entirely unwarranted- advised me that if my wristband fell off to comeback and get a new one but someone else's fell off and young lady advised "Well I don't know you, Drunk people do stupid things? Wth?? I hope you stop trying to pass the blame onto others for the mismanagement & failure to implement your changes. No one "Spoiled us", gave us "SPECIAL TREATMENT" - We SIMPLY built a rapport with Debbie, she always made us follow policy and rules that were in place - we came every year -PAID- had a great time - with the exception of the drunk, out of control folks that come with the river but our stay was always "BY THE BOOK". Its a shame that our family has decided after this long that we need to move on. By looking at reviews, there's a FEW big groups like ours- that made RIVERBEND a part of their traditional family trip every year, it then morphed into a Family & FRIENDS tradition. Sadly, it looks like you are losing that loyalty. In ANY business that is KEY. Instead of deleting valid reviews on facebook to control it- why not use that energy & focus it on bettering new staff & especially the property? Anyway, Tx for the good years. I'm extremely sad. I ended up leaving early (health issues)the heat, sanitary conditions...

Do not stay here if you expect professionalism or the rules to be enforced. I paid ahead of time for a tent site with electric & water and informed them of my yorkie yet when we arrived I was informed we owed $25 for him to camp with us (what the $25 was for we aren't sure considering this isn't a hotel- no cleaning fee & no sign of the fee online) and also spent $25 on wood that would be delivered later in the day which ended up only being enough for the night & no outside wood allowed. We paid and headed to our site only to find out we needed a "dog bone" to use the electricity as they only have the set up for RV electric. So another $20 (cash only- no ATM anywhere near the camp) to rent the piece to blow up our mattresses. (Had they told us this prior we would've bought and brought our own but the communication is sooo lacking at this place). Once we started setting up, a dog locked in the trailer next to us barked constantly with the campers gone from their site (which is a "rule" at the camp- no unattended dogs at the campsite) and a group of campers across the way were screaming profanities and acting belligerent and scaring our 4 & 6 year olds. Our campsite was finally set up and still our wood hadn't been delivered so our kids were hungry waiting for dinner. We walked down to the Port-o-potties and the toilet was completely filled over the blue liquid with liquid feces and toilet paper with pee all over the urinal and ground- completely disgusting smelling & unsanitary. Im currently pregnant and walking to another bathroom to see if it was in better condition was out of the question. Finally the wood was delivered and we were able to make dinner however come "quiet time" the loud group of campers did not settle down and had our kids scared and uncomfortable to sleep so they were up until midnight in the tent asking to go home- a 3 hour drive and no way to take down our equipment in the dark so we consoled them the best we could until morning when we packed up and left an entire day early. When we called to complain about the issues with the toilet, the barking dog, and the inconsiderate campers there was no answer. When we left in the morning we went in to return the dog bone and told them at the front that we were leaving and disappointed they clearly didn't care because they were too busy checking people in for the rafting and told us no refunds under any circumstances and that this wasnt the place for us. We didnt even do the rafting. 100% this place sucks and so does management. Also, all of the roads are dirt so dont expect any bike riding to take place if your kids aren't strong enough to pedal through the rough terrain. All in all a total waste of money, gas and time. 100% not family...

I've been a loyal costumer to his establishment for over 10yrs. With a yearly family trip of over 30 people. Always have had a great time until this year which not as pleasant as the prior years due to the lack of communication between owner and employees. My family made a contract for a camping site and we were promised a river front site, only to be faced with the reality of having our site "lost" due to other people moving sites. There was only one person at the counter and she did say she was new and didn't know much. While we attempted to communicate with owner he wasn't available at the time. We had a 1030 time slot for the river so we all agreed to sort the problem out after our tubing trip. Once we got off the water we were placed in between 2 residential RV's. We had no way to hook up to electricity which is one of the services they proudly offer. Also no water hook ups. We asked for a grate and was told "we will deliver it later"only to be faced later on with no grate was ever delivered. The next day we finally got to speak to the owner who was very rude and refused to acknowledge that their employees had mistakenly given our site away. He stated that due to people moving, our site was "lost" and there was nothing he could do, when asked about the grate he stated that is something they dont provide, which when asked why we weren't notified of this, he said all his employees are new and aren't aware of the policies. Had this information been provided to us at an earlier time we could have made adjustments. Due to his lack of communication we lost all our food due to not being able to cook it, it did spoil. Most of my family and friends decided to leave due to the inconvenience of no food and the site not being what we desired and had paid for. When asked if he could do anything to accommodate us he stated that if" we weren't happy from the start of the trip you should have just left" this is not the first time they have lost a "reservation" in my experience. And for them to just casually "loose" a reservation that is paid for already, it gives careless and poor...