Grand Harbor Resort and Waterpark — Hotel in Dubuque

|Let’s start with how I was checked in. Two women were discussing how what appears to be the supervisor or other person working the front desk who happened to be on duty is in a mood. In fact, they were encouraging each other and saying in front of customers and guests Yeah, told you she would be in the mood today. but that is just the beginning . As I was getting checked in they charged me incorrectly when I went downstairs and told them you charge me for three rooms not two They simply said don’t worry your bank will give you your money back or it will fall off. They also mentioned that should it not fall off they would credit me however not once did they offer to print out my credit so that I would have proof so now it’s their word against mine. I actually had to get the print out when I checked out and that was just a hassle because it still is not accurate. The rooms were good size and had everything we needed. However traveling with children there was a great deal that we were looking forward to. The waterpark…although I do understand it being available to open public the pool itself is open with horrible hours. A normal pool at a hotel is usually open till 10 o’clock at night. You have guests from all over here especially during the particular weekend we were there for as it’s a homecoming weekend for one of your colleges it’s prime fall weekend and it’s prime wedding weekend and yet the pool closes at 9 o’clock on some nights. I understand staffing is probably an issue, but you are in a college town with three colleges. They say they have a Kidzone where kids can do crafts but it was closed on the day that we tried to access it and we were told they don’t have staff to work in it. we went to dinner and came back and found out it opened at 7 o’clock at night. The staff appear to be very unfriendly infact the nicest staff working were your housekeeping staff. There is no joy coming into this hotel. People travel from all over and with your prime location you would think that things would not look so cold and uninviting. People should be coming into your hotel and be excited to be in the tri-state area where there’s so many things for families and people to do. Yes, my family had a great time and yes, we made many memories most of which were outside of the hotel experience. However, a hotel is a place to bring people together, to bring family together as of this morning the hotel has charged me successfully and gotten the money for the two rooms I paid for however, there is a new amount in my bank account from the Grandharbor, which seemingly is the amount of two additional hotel rooms so if this isn’t resolved, I will end up paying for two rooms that I did not use, I would suggest that this hotel look long and hard at staff, training, and an overhaul on the environment itself. Your water park was open 9 to 4 on a Sunday. I understand staffing shortages, I understand things come up, but if you are that desperate for help, why is there not some incentive for some of these college students to get a part-time job , you have families who are staying there longer than the weekend that we did and they have to budget their time because the indoor water park itself is not always going to be available. with such a strict time line maybe the hotel would be better to carve out a space where has a separate pool just for the guests only is available. All in all the money I spent on the rooms was absolutely not worth it due to the staff. The room quality itself is fine. The water park as far as entertainment was good, but the time to which things were available, and the behavior of the staff, who supposed to be welcoming guests in was not good and less...

I would not even give a star but I have no other choice. From the minute we walked in there were issues. I was charged a $50 deposit twice. Which still hasn't been resolved. But I brushed it off it due to us wanting to enjoy our stay. Well I really should have just turned right around once getting to our hotel floor. We get off the elevator and it smells of weed so bad you literally could probably get high. I don't have an issue with weed but when it is a place for children Wtf!! Then we get to our room and it is extremely dirty. Windows have not been cleaned in how long? Despite all of this the kids get dressed to go to the water park. As we enter we immediately notice how filthy dirty everything is. The water was gray and smelled bad there was a nasty film on the slides from scum. The park is so outdated it needs to be painted. Paint chips on the ground rust all over the tubes. Oh lets not forget the puddle of blood by my table!!! I asked to have it cleaned and the employee had me chasing people down to get it cleaned. Again absolutely disgusting. They were very very under staffed for the spring break holiday. The line at both the front desk and concessions had 1-2 employees making it an extremely long wait. We decided to go back to the room and load up to go to a different hotel. Yess!! We never completed our stay! I went to the front desk to discuss my issues and an employee by the name of Lexi helped me. There was not a manager or supervisor on sight to address the problems. She said we need to come back in the morning to speak to somebody. It was only a little after 6pm!! We'll we were gone long before morning came. She did credit our bill however we still have not seen any credit . I have the nasty pictures that I will be posting on other sights as well. This place should be shut down. If you are like me and really take reviews with a grain of salt, please do yourself a favor and skip this and listen to the reviews they are all true. We were looking for something a little different from the dells and thought this would be it. Boy how I wish I would have just listened to the reviews. Also while we were there a child split his head open from a fall and there was not a lifeguard in sight the to lifeguards were on the water slide playing around like they were on vacation, or on their cell phones. Again as a parent it is your responsibility to watch your child however save the money and don't hire lifeguards because they were not working anyway. It may be because the poor employees are running the place without any upper management. Oh Tony Romas very good food. Very understaffed. After reading the other reviews I am noticing that the resort comes back with an apology instead of admitting they are at fault!! There is not one reason at all that the resort should be as disgusting as it is. Somebody needs to step up and take responsibility and either clean it up or...

I used to work at this property many years ago, and I finally made it back for a visit to the waterpark. I have high expectations, particularly of the staff, as I have first hand knowledge of their duties. The gentleman at the front desk that checked us in was very friendly and enthusiastic. Once inside the waterpark, I was very pleased with all of the lifeguards on duty. They were attentive and friendly. They were following the rules put in place, rules that I used to enforce all those years ago. It was nice to see that consistency.

There was a lifeguard that did stand out to me, her name was Deana. While all the lifeguards had great attitudes, Deana seemed to really enjoy the job. I even took notice of her cleaning up towels and sweeping on her breaks, something I appreciated as a former employee who used to take great pride in my job.

I also stopped into the kids room with my little nieces and let them do a craft. That kids room had a serious overhaul during the remodel, and it brought me back to the early days of the hotel. Sheila was also wonderful with the kids! She definitely seemed genuinely happy to be there!

I feel like to make this an honest review and not biased I also have to list the negative. The only thing I noticed is the little fish slide that had been installed has such a short landing pad. That slide gives the kiddos some speed that sends them past the blue landing pad, so definitely keep that in mind with the littles! I noticed parents waiting at the end to catch the kiddos before they slid too far, which seemed to work well.

I did not utilize the arcade or concessions stand so I cannot speak on those for this visit.

I noticed all of the efforts to maintain the structure we used to refer as the "treehouse". I noticed the color change, it started off white back when the hotel first opened, and I was part of the team to transitioned it to black. The goal was to make it more off a "pirate ship" back then. I see that they have since changed directions and brightened it back up, by changing the black to blue. It's probably not on most people's radar when they visit, but it was something I noticed and appreciated. It's nice to see that it's still being worked on.

Overall it was a great visit to the place that used to be a big part of my life. I see the growth and change and all the efforts that are made to constantly improve. I'm sure it'll be a while before I'm able to make another visit, as I live a few hours away nowadays, but it was definitely nice to be back and I would recommend enjoying some family time at the waterpark for the day! It's a great option...