Whitney Mountain Lodge — Hotel in Eureka Springs

We just got married here over Halloween weekend and rented the place for the weekend (the Ultimate Wedding Package). The wedding coordinator, Linda Maihofer, was very organized and extremely helpful in the months leading up to the wedding and during the event itself. I certainly had a lot of questions for her that would arise during our planning, and she was always just an email away. We had the venue for the whole weekend, including a rehearsal dinner and party on the Friday before and the ceremony and the reception on Saturday, all taking place in the same location, and I can say that all of our events ran smoothly. The rehearsal dinner was on Halloween and the staff even came in costume (we had a costume party and really appreciated their enthusiasm!).

As far as planning for the wedding went, we had a contract that we went over when we signed up that went over all the details of pricing for the venue and staff and details for our use of the public space in the lodge (when you rent the lodge for the weekend as we did, you get full access to your hotel rooms, but the public spaces stay locked unless there is a member of staff available to open them up. It definitely helped make us feel that our personal decorations were safe!) There were no surprises during the set up or take down of our event, because everything went as outlined in the contract. There was even a certain amount of flexibility in the contract, allowing us to go over on the hours of the parties we had and detailing how much it cost per hour if we wanted to extend. Indeed, we ended up extending both our rehearsal dinner and reception an hour because we were having so much fun and it was no problem.

The staff was extremely friendly. They were constantly working during the reception and rehearsal dinner ensuring that our empty plates and drinks were being removed. During the reception, once dinner had ended and most of our party was on the dance floor in the room with the bar, the staff dedicated itself to clearing up the trash in the reception space. At the end of the night, as they cleaned, the organized all our personal decorations that we brought into one location which made clean up very easy for us in the morning. Linda even ensured that our cake servers and toasting glasses had been cleaned and boxed up in the kitchen before setting them with our stuff. On Sunday morning, we simply took our personal items, loaded them up and left. What a relief for you and your bridal party/families to just go back to your hotel rooms on your wedding night and not have to worry about clean up!

Because we spent the entire weekend there, we had a catered meal at both the rehearsal dinner and at the reception. The staff made sure to package all our leftovers from both meals so that no items that we paid for were wasted. And even though we had ordered sandwiches for the hotel to provide for us on Saturday for lunch, they also brought out our party trays of fruits and veggies from the night before so that we could enjoy those as well. On Sunday, Aaron Black, the son of owner Luther Black, who was helping us all weekend, let us know that we could take with us what we wanted and that any food items left over they would dispose of for us. It made packing up our leftover food very easy.

The rooms were very nice, and the housekeeper Sharon did a good job straightening everything up for all our guests during their stays. It goes without saying, as well, but the view was absolutely breathtaking, and a wonderful way to wake up on your wedding weekend.

Although I was nervous as we had never planned an event this large or spent this much money on a party, everything went very smoothly and I am super pleased with everything with the venue. We will happily be returning just to stay in the lodge, but I would strongly recommend this place if you are considering it. Linda is a wonderful planner and everyone at the lodge seemed very interested in making sure that your event occurred just...

So many things were wrong I compiled a list which I will post below. I’m posting this review multiple places as the owner has a tendency to try and take bad reviews down ||- Rooms had dead bug parts, put a cold bottle down and 3 legs stuck to it||- Rooms had living mystery bugs in them||- Breakfast area smelled like a barn||- Linda littered and the property has a littering fee of $1000||- Linda gave death stares to all the women in the bridal party during rehearsal||- Rooms were not previously clean and it was obvious (not vacuumed or wiped down)||- Found a half eaten apple under one of the beds||- Lighting in reception hall was awful||- Linda was late for rehearsal and the reception||- Linda claimed to be owner ( she’s not )||- Dead bugs in the drawers||- Every single sheet, towel, or blanket had mysterious stains from 3 separate rooms||- Served expired food (butter and bagels) for breakfast||- Dead bugs on the muffins||- Wasps in the hallway, stairs, and in one of the rooms||- The balcony door flung open in the middle of the night despite being locked scaring the bride||- Ear worms on the stairs||- Deep potholes marked with orange paint instead of fixed||- Owner not fixing issues and attacking anyone who leaves a bad review (they probably will do so on this review as well)||-Looks up private information to “expose” other guests who left 1 star reviews ( which I perceive as intimidation )||- Went to wash my face and a roach fell into the sink from the ceiling scaring me||- Late to the official reception causing the newly weds to only be able to be at the reception for less then 2 hours before having to leave for the honeymoon||- Linda and the owner causing unnecessary stress and drama for the bride and groom over things that shouldn’t have even been an issue in the first place.||-Only redeeming quality was the view of the lake||I am disgusted by the absurdity of how unprofessional the entire thing was and I’m even more disgusted of the treatment of my best friend who only wanted a happy wedding. Shame on the Owner and Linda for their behavior and...

Went to book a wedding and view the venue. They are terribly unorganized. When we were there, they had a small meeting and they did not look pleased with their hosts. They were moving their own tables, complaining about people just walking through and the food apparently was not what they were promised. We immediately started to ask questions since concerned with the party's comments. The manager was then rude and did not know what she was doing in my opinion. The place was extremely cold and the heat was not on for some reason. Felt sorry for the business meeting being held there. Then when the owner called us later to discuss our interest, he seemed put off with our concerns we witnessed and became very rude and defensive to the point that we were very concerned that if we did hold our wedding there, that the day of service would be a nightmare. They want to charge up to 11,000 for their services but other than the view, not worth a mere 1,000, not to mention their unrealistic fees. They all just seem like a bunch of posers who think they have a great business but are actually incapable of seeing that they are lacking big time! For an owner and/or managers to be put off, upset and rude to people who are seeking a place to hold their VERY special event is just astonishing to me. Since our poor experience, we have researched reviews and some of the good ones come from the same last name of the family or management. Very sketchy. The bad ones sends chills down my back. Often some Adam Black responds in a way to mislead the public that it was not their fault or tries to cover up the truth.......which is they really do not know what they are doing. The lodge has struggled over the years and even though I am about second chances, these people do not deserve the umpteenth chance they are trying for......I recommend you go elsewhere to a venue that has done many weddings and that has business savvy and will actually PERFORM instead of just talk a good game. If I could rate this less than 1 star, I...