General Butler State Resort Park — Hotel in Carrollton

Bad .. worse yet, not a single response to the details below from the KY state park survey taht was filled out (i.e do not waste your time) nor the direct email to the park manager ...

Pre room matters: • Check in person at desk was not at all friendly (i.e. whoever was on the front desk Dec 4 prior to Bobbie) – did not really greet, did not respond to a question, had a frown at all times, etc. • Could not check in at 2pm ... we understand that check in is at 4pm, however in 1000+ hotel stays an hour or two early has only been an issue twice (and in those cases was expected). Also not sure why, since this was December and, based on a general lack of cars throughout the entire stay, there were notable vacancies ... all I can assumeis that you have short staff in winter months. Room 521 • Fireplace was not working – staff claim was that someone had created a real fire there and melted the wires. In addition, we were not clearly informed that this was not a real fireplace when booking and did not knwo until we checked in and asked about firewood. We were looking for a place with a real fireplace. • No dial tone on room phone – various stories including that they have not been working since the summer. • Odd thermostat - couldn’t determine what room temperature was –only a setting temperature. • One kitchen shaded could not be lowered; the other kitchen shade had the bottom four slates off and wouldn’t close. Had to spend a few minutes on a bedroom shade to undo a multitude of knots to close it. • Initially no coffee packages, but housekeeping brought some quickly. Room 536 (inconvenienced to move here the second day since maintenance that was supposed to fix the fireplace in Room 521 and was to come early that day, was apparently not able to) • Same issue with room phone – in this case I missed a business call because I couldn’t use the phone (see below regarding Wi-Fi) • As opposed to other room, Wi-Fi link in this room was extremely weak and not functional ... had to use cell phone as a hot spot that made me miss internet aspect of a business call, only had audio since I could not use the room phone for the audio. • There was an exposed power outlet in the living room (no cover plate) ... I assume a violation of some sort. • Fireplace seemingly working but heat was minimal and only extended out about 3 INCHES. Also, no instructions, but was able to find a switch turn it on. • Same issue with an odd thermostat – but here, we had it at max of 78, temperature was much less ... fireplace provided no heat and we had to put the oven on and keep the oven door open. • The oven handle was extremely loose and about to fall off. • Wife slipped on wooden deck due to overnight freeze after rain (luckly only sore and now scared of wet decks)... deck wood is very slippery when wet and especially when iced ... no ice melt was available as far as I could find ... apparently no maintenance to address the issue (at least with occupied cottages) came by either. • One TV remote was not working (not the batteries, I changed them with the working remote!) ... but luckily one remote that was working, was able to operate the one bedroom and...

Though the location was beautiful and the amenities offered were nice, this resort might not be a comfortable choice of lodging for everyone. I would strongly advise against visiting this resort if you happen to be person of colour. There is no way for me to emphasize enough that this resort is NOT the place for you and your family. If you decide against listening to this warning for some reason, I offer secondarily that you, at the very least, avoid the Two Rivers Restaurant located on the resort campus. There are certain places where you know your presence is neither welcome nor approved, and I was immediately made to know of everyone's tacit disapproval. I might as well have been either invisible or a genocidal dictator given the lack of service I was met with.

Again, if you are a person of colour, this will be an extremely uncomfortable resort experience for you unless you are extremely resilient and socially oblivious. If you are looking for a place to stay while in town for an event, stay somewhere else. If you are looking for an all-inclusive, relaxing getaway in a remote location, STAY SOMEWHERE ELSE. This property would benefit greatly from a "Whites Only" sign near the entrance, as the attitudes of everyone already scream both loudly and clearly what no one will openly say; might as well post it for the sake of everyone's comfort. If you still choose to disregard all of what I've said so far and decide to visit the restaurant, please accept at least this small, but ever so crucial morsel of advice that I wish I'd known myself originally: From experience, for the full duration of your stay, bring your own drinks (or buy a closed bottle from gift shop area) and eat from the buffet where the food has not been exclusively prepared for you. The consequences I encountered were of such that I would rather not explicitly describe here, but I include this note to provide ample caution for potential visitors. **Important to note as well is the fact that this is not an ideal location if you are flying in and have no car. Everything other than the restaurant and pool is quite far from the lodge itself, so absolutely not walker-friendly. I would suggest having a rental car. There is also essentially nothing to be desired of the location beyond the campus of the resort park in the surrounding area, so put aside any expectations of local excursions other than a local pizza joint and ATM. Also, the words "pastries" and "fruit" included in the provided description of the "grab and go breakfast" may be more accurately translated to "individually wrapped, thaw-and-eat, elementary-cafeteria-quality bagel with mini cup of peanut butter (if lucky)" and "high-fructose corn syrup plastic fruit cup". The juice also comes in a fun little applesauce sized cup with an aluminum, peel-back top. The best thing in the bag is arguably the Quakers chocolate chip...

My 3 star rating is based on the trails alone. Not on any services or other park amenities. My wife and I made the trip down to get in some hiking. We felt it was worth making the 1.5 hour drive since we could get a good number of miles in hiking all at the same place. We began at the Turpin House and hiked up the Boy Scout Trail to the Forest Trail. The Boy Scout Trail had the best elevation gain of any of the trails and got my heart rate up right off the bat. We turned left when we reached the Forest Trail. This trail was more rolling than steep and traveled close to the main road for the majority of the first couple miles. This really prevented us from getting the "middle of nowhere" feeling we like when hiking. This part of the trail was built on the hillside rather than in the hillside. Meaning that the trail had the same slant as the hill itself making it pretty uncomfortable and hard to walk on when the trail was wet and muddy. Half way around the Forest Trail we took the connector trail towards the campground and the Woodland Loop Trail. The connector trail runs behind the lodge and directly over what appeared to be and what smelled to be the septic system run off from the lodge. On one part of the trail (at the bottom near the campground) we actually sunk ankle deep in a nasty, smelly black ooze that could have been nothing other than sewage. Really not what I would expect at a state park. Once we got past that the first time (as you do have to retrace your path to get back to the Forest Trail) we got on to the Woodland Trail. This was a nice trail that traveled through the woods near the campground. It was relatively flat so not much of a workout but we'll maintained and sans sewage! The way back up to the Forest Trail takes you up another good hill that got the blood pumping. Once back on the Forest Trail we found the second half to be more secluded than the first half and the trail was not quite as slanted. Keep an eye out for the old stone lookout which will be on a hill to the left. This is worth the short diversion off the trail. From the lookout there is a great view of The Ohio River, Kentucky River and the town of Carrolton, KY. On this part of the trail we ran into power lines hanging down at chest level and only supported by a couple small trees and we'll placed branches as it drooped over the trail. Then it was back down the Boy Scout Trail to the car. On the way out of the park we stopped near the main entrance and walked around the 1.6 mile Lake Trail. This trail was nice and had good views of the lake all the way around. My wife's Fit Bit said we got in just under 11 miles for the day. I really wish the trails were better here but between the road noise, slanted trail surface, low hanging power lines and SEWAGE! I can only give Butler State Park 3 star

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