Pine Mountain Club Chalets Resort — Hotel in Durand

Speaking as a former owner, not a vactioner. I do not recommend purchasing property here. Not only are they strangely behaved when it comes to visiting your own property (These are fee simple-as an owner you own it. Period. Just like any other house you buy. Of course there are rules in case your property is rented at the time and that makes sense, but they take the control here a degree beyond. ) They even chewed our real estate agent out for showing us the property and not checking in first. An honest mistake as again, these are regular properties with lockboxes and special instructions were not indicated other than a sign at the entrance instructing people to stop at the office, but seems logically aimed at people checking in. I was shocked at the unprofessional demeanor of the owners daughter when speaking with our agent. Honestly they are just oddly behaved in general. They even attempted to approve potential purchasers via meeting/interview when you decide to sell. I'm not sure how they can do that. They need to decide if they are selling property fee simple or if they are a rental investment location. Either you own your property and they manage it or its their property and you have invested in. They are in some kind of gray area here that sometimes teeters on feeling like there might be a legal issue if an owner got irritated enough. It would probably work better for them to adopt a timeshare model, rebuy all the chalets (they do own a fair share) and do away with actual property sales since that seems to be the degree of control they'd like to exercise. They make it very clear that even though you completely own the property....you cannot live here. You must rent it out. You will pay the taxes, hold the insurance, be responsible for furnishing and decorating it, but they will have final say about who can buy it and if you can even stay at your own property. Like I said, just weird territory. I'm not even really sure how they can stop you from living there if you really wanted to. Someone should try it one day lol. There is probably a more open, fair, and honest way to do business in the vacation rental realm and they need to access it.

Also as an owner we stayed at our own chalet several times and found it filthy. As an owner you are required to pay their cleaners fees after each stay (yours or a renter, its deducted from your income from renting), it is their responsibility to see it is clean and sanitary. People leave reviews for your specific chalet so these issues will impact your income. No worries for them though...as stated they own plenty enough chalets to offer a potential client their OWN place to stay. If you are looking for a rental investment in the area, go ahead and purchase something elsewhere. Less frustration, less weirdness and even though you would own both purchasing elsewhere and self managing or hiring a professional eliminates a ton of headache...

Last December 5-7, my husband and I and our two fur babies, spent three lovely nights at the Pine Mountain Chalets and Resort. Each year for probably the last twenty years, we have attended the spectacular light show at Callaway Gardens. It always sets the mood for Christmas and has become an important part of our holiday tradition. Since Callaway closed the Mountain Creek Inn, which was pet friendly, we’ve either had to leave our dogs with a sitter or find other lodging, which ended up being inconvenient. ||While searching for pet friendly accommodations for the 2022 Fantasy In Lights, I came across Pine Mountain Chalets and Resort and began to read about them. Low and behold, we’d driven by the chalets for years while exploring the area and eating at Crickets! We’d always assumed the cute chalet themed homes were part of a residential community. The more I checked into the chalets, I discovered that they were actually a gem of a destination and a quiet, relaxing wooded spot to get away for several nights, with the added benefit of bringing our two senior dogs. We both said that we wished we had known about Pine Mountain Chalets and Resort years ago, because the resort is the perfect place to bring kids. There are so many things for the entire family - a pool, horse shoes, small miniature golf area, a playground, tennis courts, miles of trails, and a peaceful lake. There’s a clubhouse too, but we didn’t go inside. There’s the added bonus that the location is minutes away from Callaway Gardens. While there in early December, the weather was lovely and I was able to walk the dogs several times a day around the serene lake. We stayed in Chalet #25 and absolutely loved it. It was quite rustic, like being at grandma’s house and unbelievably roomy, with a large screened in porch. They have a nice website with pictures and details about each privately owned unit. Personally, I found the office staff to be a wealth of information and very helpful in selecting a unit to meet our needs. Should you want to do a bit of work during your stay, bring your laptop, because the WiFi is fantastic!!! We will definitely be staying at the Pine Mountain Chalets and Resort for our 2023 Fantasy In Lights visit! | Diane and Bill Baker| ...

Stunning Venue, But Major Disorganization and Poor Maintenance

I initially wrote a much kinder review, but after ongoing issues with management, I feel it's necessary to share the full truth about this venue. I had the platinum package, and unfortunately, the experience did not match the high cost.

The venue itself is beautiful, but the overall experience was riddled with problems that made our day far more stressful than it should have been.

To begin with, my original coordinator quit sa few months before my wedding, and I only found out through a friend—not from the venue. This lack of communication was incredibly frustrating. The replacement coordinator was new and inexperienced, which only added to the problems. My flowers were completely wrong—both in color, type, and shape. Despite discussing the arrangements in detail, the final result was nothing like what we had requested.

The coordinator also made several mistakes, such as handing out corsages and boutonnieres to the wrong guests, ignoring our decoration setup requests, and failing to follow the event timeline. As a result, the event felt disjointed and chaotic. My photographer even had to step in to help coordinate things, which was frustrating and absolutely not her role.

In addition, the chalet we were assigned was in poor condition. It was dirty, with dust and grime on the floors—my bridesmaids’ feet were black from walking on the floor. To make matters worse, the overhead light and ceiling fan didn’t work. My mother even had to clean the windows and remove cobwebs from the ceiling, which is completely unacceptable for a venue charging this amount.

The venue’s maintenance overall was lacking. There were dead and live bugs in the valances, mismatched or non-working lights, and trash in the bushes outside. The windows were dirty, which took away from the overall beauty of the venue.

For the price we paid, these issues were unacceptable. My advice would be to opt for a more affordable package and hire your own vendors. The venue is beautiful, but the lack of communication, poor maintenance, and disorganization made our day much more stressful than it...