Honey Creek Resort — Hotel in Centerville

I was really looking forward to this couple day trip with my young Grandson. So many disappointments! ||We didn’t take our own bikes because the website indicated bikes would be available to us. Out of 18 bicycles, several had the chains off, handlebars were wonky and with no grips on many, the seats were all jacked up on several, flat tires on many, pedals missing. We were unable to find two of the 18 that were in good enough shape to ride. Ridiculous! We brought this to the attention of the front desk and were met with a ho-hum attitude. Nothing changed. No bikes were cared for to provide two for us to ride.||The room was decent and spacious. We were on the lower level so had a door to the outside where there was a table and chairs on a concrete patio. Unfortunately, the table and chairs, as well as the concrete, were very splattered with duck poop everywhere. Not good. The towels in the room were small and well-used. The shampoo, body wash and conditioner were nearly empty the first time we tried to use them. NO room service even attempted at any time. NO clean towels, no refills of the shampoo etc., no beds made and God forbid, certainly not clean sheets which should be expected for a room costing this much. They never entered the room The afternoon of the first day, I called the front desk to request room service. It never happened. ||The swim area is very misleading on the web site and the hype. It is very much geared for very young children. The towels supplied were basically oversized hand towels and extremely well used. Pathetic really. The hot tub “spa” was inoperable!||The grounds to the entire resort were well-mowed all the way into the main resort building. However, the landscaping around the building was not very well kept or attractive at all.||Signs were posted in many places indicating that no outside food or beverages were allowed. Interesting, given that there was only one restaurant, with very limited hours. There was also a little coffee nook that also had some junk food and junk beverages, but I only saw it open once. The other option was the clubhouse at the golf course, which had a limited menu but great hot dogs and very inexpensive. Wonderful people working there too. Very friendly and nice to us. The golf course was the best part of our stay in every respect. ||Back to the restaurant. Extremely overpriced! The first night, my Grandson and I were going to split the salmon dinner which was to include a salad bar. Then we were told the salad bar was not available, but they’d make a salad, which they did. Not much to it, but better than nothing. The salmon plate was served so unattractively. Just a white bowl of fries, which were pretty good, but maybe worth a dollar or two. White bowl on white plate with a piece of salmon that wasn’t even attractive, wasn’t cooked to order and had very little flavor. Supposed to be lemon but we detected no lemon flavor at all. No garnish – no nothing. The salmon was also very dry, which should never happen. This “fine dining” meal cost us $27.00!!!! Outrageous!||On the second night at the restaurant, the “special” was fried chicken. There was a sizeable group of people in one room, but other than that maybe four other patrons. We were told they were out of fried chicken. My instincts told me that was untrue, so I asked the waitress if they were really out of chicken or if they didn’t ever have it at all. She confessed that “the chef forgot to unthaw it that morning so there was no fried chicken available at all!” I appreciated her honesty but how lame is that???? Both nights, I ordered a draft beer. The woman behind the bar had apparently NEVER poured a draft beer before because when it was served to me, half of it was foam. I took it back to her and requested she either re-pour it or pour off the head and fill the remainder with beer. She did the latter. Same stupid situation the second night!!! ||For breakfast on our last day, we had been told the night before that there would be a breakfast buffet, complete with fruit, pastries, yogurt, cereal, biscuits and gravy, bacon and eggs etc. NO pastries, NO fruit, NO yogurt. ||The only ice we could ever find was available only the first floor. This is a big place. There was nothing to direct you to where the restaurant was, pool, or anything else. Find it yourself.||No carriage rides were available as advertised they would be. No train as advertised.||In the main lobby area there was a nice selection of games, including a nice pool table, great shuffleboard table and other items. Next to the golf course experience, these games were the only saving grace. ||No in-room literature to advise of any amenities or anything in the area. No bag stations outside for dog poop pickup.||Needless to say, this was the most outrageously priced lodging I’ve ever encountered, costing over $700 just for the room! I cannot see how most families could ever afford to come to this joint, especially when you add on the ridiculous prices at the restaurant. ||I think the State of Iowa is being taken for a costly ride by contracting with whatever company owns and operates this joint. I for one will never recommend the place to anyone, will never go back and will definitely tell anyone and everyone about the terrible experience we had here, with the exception of the golf course personnel and the two waitresses we had at the restaurant. Front desk staff was abundant yet unresponsive to everything. ...

Honey Creek Resort is such a beautiful location. As a family, we have been coming here since it opened and our children have grown up doing trips here.

When the State of Iowa owned and operated it, it was pristine, everything was kept in perfect condition, and there was more offered to guests.

Last week was our first visit since the private company took over as concessionaires. There is sadly such a noticeable difference since when the State of Iowa DNR was taking care of it.

Before I go into the cons, I want to say that all the staff was very kind, courteous, and helpful, the rooms were very clean, the restaurant food was very good even though the selection is more limited than it used to be, and the pool was very clean. We were able to make our stay enjoyable, but it seemed like there was disappointment after disappointment this time around.

What has changed:

-you used to be able to get kayaks/paddleboards on a first come/first serve basis and kayak anywhere you wanted to and enjoy the little beaches around the resort. Now, you have to stay in a very small area marked by buoys, which is really a disappointment. It was explained to us that people were taking the equipment, leaving it at different locations than where they were supposed to and not notifying anyone. In our opinion, this would be easily remedied by having guests check out the equipment by their room number and if they don't follow the rules, then you charge them a penalty and restrict them from using the equipment. Why punish everyone because of a few inconsiderate people? One of the staff members even recommended buying our own canoe at the local Walmart so we could go wherever we wanted to and just return it at the end of our stay. If the staff acknowledges the rules are ridiculous, why not change them?

-the playground equipment/area used to be well maintained. All of the "diggers" at the playground my kiddos love were broken. My son (3 yoa), who really wanted to use one, tried to "fix" it by bringing two big metal pieces together and ended up hurting himself when the two broken pieces fell together on his little fingers. Additionally, the area separating the little kid playground area from the big kid playground area was full of huge thistles, where before, it used it be soft grass.

-The bicycles, offered as an amenity, are in such awful condition they are a hazard. The few bikes available that didn't have flat tires were rusted and in disrepair. My daughter took one of the bikes only to realize while going down a big hill that the front brake was broken and the back brake barely worked. These bikes were so nice at one point in time! It would not have been difficult to build a little canopy or shed to protect their investment and make them last longer.

-The gravel under the concrete pad of the gazebo that overlooks the lake has started to wash out on all sides causing the concrete pad to crack. This was used for a wedding while we were there, and they advertise this as a great venue for such occasions so it's surprising that they're not maintaining it to make it last longer.

-The hours to everything are much more limited than they used to be. Twice we had planned to either have an early dinner or use the pool at a certain time only to find out that the restaurant or pool weren't open at the hours they used to be open when the State ran it.

-The front desk used to offer free firewood and s'mores kits to enjoy in the outdoor fire pit. Now, they don't offer either but you can buy firewood yourself for close to $10 a bundle at their general store, which is only open on the weekends.

-All the educational boards the State had around the Resort were wonderfully informative and we would stop and read them to our kids. The boards have been left around the resort and now are in such poor condition, you can't read anything on them.

Long story short, I wish the State would take control of the Resort again. It is truly a gem in the Midwest but it's going downhill, which is...

I have very mixed reviews about our stay at Honey Creek Resort this week. We stayed from Sunday to Thursday so it was a relatively slow time but it was after 4th of July so it was never dead. We stayed in one of the hotel rooms while my parents stayed at the RV park so I have reviews on both. The good: Reasonably priced rooms Friendly front desk staff TONS of free amenities and activities for everyone RV park was incredibly spacious, full hookups and came with same amenities as the hotel The golf course was beautiful, affordable, and fun! The bad: -The resort restaurant was subpar. Majority of the bar staff were rude and negative towards us. Always acting like they didn't have the time to take your order. This is not to say ALL of the staff was this way just more often then not. We did have a handful of staff that were more then accommodating and friendly. The food was incredibly overpriced for what you get but that is to be expected with the resort. You had to go looking for your own straws as it seemed like they were hoarding them and by the time you were ready to pay your waitress has long forgotten about you. On several occasions we could have just walked out and no one would have known the difference. On our last night we were out playing bags and a waitress was power washing off the patio when another waitress came out and told her "your reservation is here" what did she do? Sets the washer handle down and walks away. Leaving the mess and hoses out and in guests way for OVER AN HOUR. It was getting so bad we almost went and picked it up for her. We understand that they are very understaffed but it would not have even taken her 10 minutes to spray/sweep off the mess and pick the hoses up. Proventing any potential hazard of someone getting hurt. The amenities are in desperate need of attention. Ping pong paddles and balls are bent, torn up, or missing, corn hole bags empty of beads, large connect 4 broken, large jenga missing a block, one section of the water inflatable was completely deflated and becoming a drowning hazard, many beach chairs broken, pool towels sadly undersized and fraying, bikes are all over the place and lots of them broken. I understand a lot of the neglect is due to understaffing but it is a hard pill to swallow paying $200+/night when over half of the free amenities are broken or inadequate. Housekeeping is questionable. You have to request them to come to your room which we only had them come once during our stay which was prompt and from the outside looked fine. However, I did notice one of the fitted sheets coming off one night and assumed they would address it when they were there, I was mistaken. They obviously just did what I was doing when making the bed, pull the sheets up and throw the pillow on. It's not a deal breaker just was disappointed that I had to tear the whole bed up myself to get the sheet back on. Why did I even bother having them come? Grounds Maintenance was pitiful. They are obviously cutting corners and spraying round up wherever they can get away with it. This is supposed to be a notable state park with natural grasses and paths for walking. It's probably the conservationist in me but all I saw was weeds coming up and management not doing their job to keep them at bay or keeping up with regeneration of the current plants. New mulch has not been applied for probably 2 years or more. They have a long way to go before they are what you would concider "resort" status. -They have postings about all these rules and restrictions you need to follow but when you do what they say (for example reserving bikes) other people come in and take what you are trying to reserve or the staff just looks at you like your silly for asking. We got incredibly mixed messages the whole time. I know my review was harsh but I really wanted to love this Resort. I really hope Honey Creek gets the quality help they so...