Roland Martin Marina & Resort — Hotel in Clewiston

What was supposed to be a wonderful fishing trip, purchased as a gift for my mom, ended up as an exhausting disappointment. We arrived Wednesday afternoon, browsed the very nice marina shop, purchased souvenirs, and received our check-in packet for Bass N Sun condo 115.

A musty smell greeted us when we opened the door. The condo was decorated in early 90s decor and furniture. Scraps cut from the wallpaper border were glued on the lamp shades. The comforters on the twin beds were thin polyester, like in an old motel. The dining tables had 4 rickety stools with ripped pleather covers. The only thing newish was the vinyl planking on the floors. It was downhill from there.

The twin mattresses were so old, worn out and thin that the springs were pressing against our bodies when we laid down. The frames were wobbly and both beds squeaked with every movement. I moved to the couch. My husband went to his truck to try to find a more comfortable place to sleep. In the morning, I asked my parents to be honest and tell me how the queen bed was in the other room. They were hesitant to admit it because this trip was a gift to my mom, but they said it sagged so badly that they rolled into the middle all night, with the bed creaking at every movement. I pulled back linens and discovered the off-brand twin mattresses were manufactured in 1992 and the Queen was manufactured in 2013. No mattress was designed to last 31 years!

We were exhausted and I knew we couldn’t suffer through another night. I went to the office and told the desk clerk we’d need to check out because of the condition of the condo. She denied having ever received any complaints about 115’s mattresses, which we found impossible to believe, but she quickly offered another condo (138).

We were so discombobulated from lack of sleep that we left behind many items when we moved to 138. The new unit smelled better and the queen bed was quiet and felt soft when we pressed on it. The twins were still old innersprings, but slightly better than 115’s so we moved our belongings in. We didn’t get out on the water until after noon, so that day of fishing was pretty much wasted.

We finished out our stay in 138, but discovered that the queen mattress also sagged in the middle and was just covered with thick mattress toppers to compensate. It was like trying to sleep in quicksand. We bought two mattress pads at the local Walmart in order to be able to tolerate the hard twin beds.

The kitchen faucet leaked. While we were fishing on day 2, we received a text saying they were going into the condo to repair the dishwasher. It was still not working when we checked out. The master bath faucet was missing its drain stopper. The main kitchen drawer was off its tracks. However, at least this unit had better bedding and new ceiling fans.

The tiki bar on site offered decent food and our waitress was friendly. We ate there 2 of the 3 nights. No maid service, but a tip envelope magically appeared on the counter the last morning while we were fishing.

The dock master was an interesting fellow with wild feathers fastened to the back of his hat. He hassled us rudely when we pulled up to use the dockage we had paid for (boats over 21’ have to pay for separate dockage), telling us we couldn’t dock there because he had a “30-footer” coming in. The dock was approximately 100’ and we were the only boat there when he said this. He laid off when he saw our name on his list.

The fishing was extremely disappointing. Even in what appeared to be perfect bass habitat, fishing with fresh shiners and a variety of artificials, we observed no signs of bass or specks. The hydrilla appeared to have been recently sprayed with defoliant and was dead and brown on all the borders. Several times we encountered bass tournament boats, so we were confident that we were fishing in “good” spots. We caught only two catfish the entire trip.

Overall, this property is in very bad need of renovations and Lake O is nothing like it used to be in terms of fishing. We were embarrassed to have taken my...

I booked a surprise birthday weekend fishing trip for my husband this past weekend also with the rental of a bass boat for a day. We arrived Thursday night around 8pm to unload our vehicle at the park model I rented. When we arrive, the A/C was on 95 degrees and was not working. There’s were bugs in the kitchen and the place was very run down (not as advertised on their website). I immediately call the after hour phone number and had to leave a voice message. We waited for 15 minutes for a callback and never received one. We then went to the tiki bar and told the hostess (who was very nice) our situation and asked if there was a manager on duty that could help us. She went to tell the manager at the bar, but the manager never came to talk to us ignoring us for over 20 minutes - too busy making drinks for her bar customers. The hostess went to get her 3 times while I stood there and watched. We finally gave up after over an 1 hr waiting for help and informed the hostess, we were leaving the premises and they could refund us. When we got back to the park model to load our things and leave, the manager finally called me and was very rude and nasty to me. I informed her we were leaving and were not staying at the property. Customer service was horrible and the manager was very rude. I am not sure if Roland Martin is aware or even cares about the poor customer service his staff treats the potential customers at his property. I would be embarrassed if I were him. We were given a complete refund, but No APOLOGY for what happened or how we were treated. I do not normally write reviews, but felt I needed to prevent this from happening to someone else. We were really looking forward to our getaway weekend for my husbands birthday at the resort. Please be cautious about staying at the resort, the park models are not clean like the website states and the customer service is horrible! I have left several messages for the manager to contact me due to their response and 9 months later, no response. I guess they just respond to make it...

This is a review about the Resort, not the Marina, Tiki Bar or fishing Captains.||Traveling across from Miami to Sarasota we needed a one nighter to crash. Read Google reviews which said 9.4 Excellent. Did not check Trip Advisor, and always should.||Do not book this "resort" for a night arrival. Do not book thru a 3rd party site. Very hard to figure out for the first time in the dark. Your keys are left in the mouth of a large Bass mailbox outside the marina store. The resort buildings and rooms are off the road, not where you pick up keys. This is truly a motel with outer doors. Lighting to see building numbers is challenging. Stairs only for 2nd floor.||We were road weary, so this was not a great experience. The room was on the 2nd floor. It was damp feeling and very musty, mildew smelling - definitely from the overworked AC. There was an adjoining room door I thought was a closet, as there was no lock, but alas anyone could have walked into our room. Glad we didnt wake anyone. The door to our room had significant gaps letting in light, and possible insects (photo).||The bathroom... toilet was child sized, low, small seat. Plenty of clean towels though. There were no wash products apart from 2 bars of soap. The coffee maker was a 1 cup older plastic unit with a scattering of coffee supplies heaped on the bathroom counter. Shower and hot water were fine.||The bed was comfy, clean sheets, pillows were OK. No phone, no alarm clock, no front desk. Pool area looked clean. The staff who did pick up the phone at 10:30pm to assist us were calm, patient and pleasant.||For a quick overnight and convenience, you'd be better off at a brand name hotel off 27, however, we found the benefits here, especially for the room rate, were that there is absolutely no smoking and no pets allowed without substantial fines and penalties. We do appreciate this from an allergen standpoint. But unfortunately the musty mildew smell did a number on...