Camp Lakewood Campground — Hotel in Effingham

Not sure how to start this. I guess, I'll start at the beginning, of the last 6 months of my life. I lost my Mommy, in March 2022 and I was her full-time caretaker, for 7 years. Moved from Fl, gave up a job I Loved, I did it Because She Was A Amazing Mommy, worked at the hospital during the virus and came home to her, at that time she was 92 she was 94yrs old, when she passed away. The last two years of her life I did not work we lived on her Social Security income. When she passed away there was five of us, My oldest Brother was in charges. Needless to say it was just a total disaster still waiting for the final outcome from her estate. They decided to sell her home when I had given them an offer, they declined. So when I got here, I was a broken person. I felt defeated and unloved. I Google to look at the Hotels in this area and happen to come across this Campground. This was half point for me before I reached Kansas. I had called on Sunday and the lady, I had talked to said she had to talk to housekeeping cuz usually they have to have a reservation in advance for that night, She had talked to housekeeping and the lady said everything is good to go, for cabin . I had asked her, if the Cabin had kitchen and she had said yes. I told her I was hoping I would get there before they closed. But she said if I didn't they'll keep a key in the envelope, with my name on it by the office. When I had arrived here I was exhausted after driving a 9 hour trip. Upon arriving at the cabin it was dark. Their directions was right on, with the key and where the cabin was. When I pulled into the cabin. I discovered that, I was on the Lake, I kept Thanking God. I had not even asked them for it and they put me on the lake. I stayed up until 3:00am cuz the view was so beautiful just to look at, I didn't want to waste the Beautiful nite. . The next morning the Sun was shining and I just sat on the deck looking at the lake and reading and relaxing. A few things I would like to mention also EVERYBODY, that WORKS here was AMAZING. I mean Absolutely, Amazing, Beautiful People!!!! ❤❤❤ I had one lady that found a chair for me because I wanted to make a fire and sit by it but had forgot a chair. She also went and found me a grill to put on top of my fire so I can put my pan on it and cook. Upon paying for wood, she said she would bring it down to my cabin for me. The lady just this morning with housekeeping had brought me down my towels and my robe that I had in the washer. She had stuck them in the dryer and dried them for me and brought them down. Everybody was just beautiful and so sweet to me, that I'm leaving here feeling, filled up with Love. I came a broken person and I'm leaving with the process of amending, what has happened since my mom died. The campground is Beautiful, EXTREMELY CLEAN and Bathrooms , Laundry room, CLEAN. Their Gift Shop Had A Calming Affect when you walked in, Great Job. So I want to Thank All of you here I Camp Lakewood, for treating me so good and making me Feel at HOME. I cannot wait, to come back and stay with you again. Bless You All for making me Feel...

Pros- level spot (although you pay for it), clean bathrooms, friendly staff

Cons- Most expensive spot to stay so far in all our experience, over $70+ for one night, very loud secular (not kid friendly) music blasting in bathrooms, the lounge has games but not really any for kids, laundry machine didn't dry our cloths after two tries and staff said there was nothing wrong with them after we brought it to their attention, lots of people walking their dogs which isn't a bad thing except one lady wasn't controlling her dog and it was huge and aggressive, lady just laughed about it and kept walking. Also their premium spots Don't allow for any room when leaving. Big trees in the middle of where you need to turn. Better take it extra wide or you will scratch up the whole side of your trailer.

Basically - if money isn't an issue for you this place is alright to stay at. Otherwise you could probably find a spot somewhere else for way cheaper.

Update: your response says it all. You guys think that because you keep your grounds at an operating level that it makes it to where y'all can charge an arm and a leg but that shouldn't be the case as I bet the employees that maintain your grounds probably live on grounds so that should help with costs. Also the dryer was on high heat not low heat. Also I doubt me saying anything to the people on staff would've changed the experience I had with the aggressive dog and rude owner of said dog. Sounds to me like y'all are making excuses for a bad experience instead of trying to make it right but that's your prerogative. Also that wasn't my wife that left a review that was my mother who felt the need to state her issues as well. Shouldnt be a key factor for y'all in a response but whatever. Sounds like poor people skills to push blame and not take responsibility for ones companies short coming. Just saying. Definitely wouldn't recommend staying here if that's how y'all conduct business. Have a great day!

Also, sucks y'all didnt address the loud music that isn't kid friendly. That was a huge turn off for us and our family. Maybe find something less secular to blare for customers and their families. Idk,...

Pretty lake and clean bathrooms. Tight navigation between the trees for a wide body camper. Little lounge is clean and had nice bathrooms, but there was a drunk guy right outside peeing on the propane tanks. He said hello to us shortly thereafter and told us he worked here! We have a toddler with us, very inappropriate for kids. Beautiful grounds but very Tight spaces and wonky alternating parking. Neighbors complaining about the same issue. We either have to share a picnic table with the neighbor our door faces or use the picnic table over the sewer on the other side where our other neighbor and us are hooked up to sewer. Icky. Good city water and sewer hook ups. These pictures I took are after the campers cleared out in the morning. Would be 4-5 stars if this place had 30% less sites and no drunks peeing outdoors. Older permanent campers sitting around giving it a run down feel in places. Decent playground. Bright bright orange traffic lights on all night long all over the grounds. Good if you like bright light, bad for stargazers and relaxation. Not happy with their reservations issues. We made a reservation at noon for that night with the condition we may have to push it back a day or two because our rig was in the shop. They said not a problem, BUT When we called two hours later (rig still in shop) they threatened to make us pay for changing our reservation, on the same exact day we had originally made the reservation and told them we may have to change it, which we were originally told would be no problem! Frustrating. Inconsistent, rude treatment. Made us feel unwelcome yet forced to come save getting charged. Would not have given my CC if that was their stance when I initially called. Good enough place for a night but wouldn’t plan to come back. The spaces are very very tight. If you have a large/tall pull behind rig or lots of slides don’t come here unless you are cool with lots of trees on your rig, acorns and nuts falling all night, and tight spaces where you can reach out and touch the...