Lake Elowin Resort — Hotel in Exeter

The first time I went to Lake Elowin Resort was about 22 years ago, as a child, for a family reunion. It was magical, there was a lovely lake and so much running around to do. ||||As I got older, and my friends started having children, I had a dream of coming back and recreating that magical time in my life for the children now in my life. ||||I decided to book a trip in May of 2018 for June of 2019, what can I say? I like to plan things out. So I booked six cabins (which is most of them) and paid the first night plus a 10% tax on all the rooms, they told me the cancellation policy was full refund as long as you cancel at least 24 hours before check-in. I cleaned out my ears, and repeated, "Did I hear that right? I get all my money back as long as I cancel a day before check-in?" "Yes." they confirmed. Great!||||As things go, and to make a very long story only a medium story, the families I invited had things come up one-by-one over the course of the coming 6 months. ||||So at about 3 months before the trip, I call them to cancel a couple cabins (the people who had officially backed out at that point), I'm told by the woman in the office (not the owner) that because I booked so long ago, she doesn't have the ability to refund me the money on my card, but can put a credit towards to remaining rooms, which I wasn't thrilled about because people had paid for their rooms already and now I wouldn't have the money to pay them back until the trip was over... not ideal. So I asked the woman, hypothetically, what would they do if I canceled the whole trip? How would I get paid? And also, the policy is still 24 hours before check-in for a full refund, right? They said they yes, and they would have to send me a check. Huh. Okay. Whatever. I'll work it out with my friends, guess I have to take the credit for now.||About two weeks before the trip, more chaos in my friends lives and more people drop out. With my dream of sharing Lake Elowin with all the kids disappearing in front of my eyes, I make the tough choice to cancel the whole trip. ||||I called Lake Elowin 8 days before check in, which is when I got the last call about one more people not being able to make it. ||I called them and said I was sorry, and that people have dropped out and that I was heartbroken we couldn't come, etc. They said they would send me the check for my deposit which was $962.50. ||||Flash forward 2 weeks, and I had not received my check. I live in the same state. It takes 2 days for normal post to get to me from where they are. I called them 3 times between the 2nd and 3rd week from when they said they sent the check and no one was calling back. My third message got a little mean, because I was frustrated with the lack of communication, and I had friends to pay back for their deposits, I don't like to owe people money, and Lake Elowin shouldn't either.||The same woman I booked with finally called back and told me she thought they sent it, and they are sending it today... okay okay. ||I got a check for $700 five days later. Uhhh.... huh?||I call them again, "Hey, there was a problem with the check, please call me back." Again, 3 calls and 2 weeks go by, no response. I'm getting pissed. I shouldn't be dealing with tracking you down. ||I had to have a friend call to see if they were avoiding me, or just not calling anyone. They called her back. I was livid, they were blatantly ignoring me!||||Again, my last message threatened legal action because apparently being a reasonable human-being is too much to ask. They send me a TEXT, a text. Explaining they owed my some more money, but they were withholding some for a "cancellation fee" $150 dollars. ||Look. I don't care what your policy is. But if you tell me it's one thing, then decide to change it just to spite me, that just BS. ||They next check took a week to get to me. ||||At this point we are at about 5 weeks after I originally canceled the cabins. ||||I would have happily tried to make a trip out of Lake Elowin again, for my inner child, but they have totally made that impossible for me now. ||They are rude, unprofessional, and just cruel. ||Don't give them...

The resorts private lake was a highlight for our kids. They kayaked and swam each day and loved it. It is only 3 miles from the entrance to Sequoia. We wanted a kitchen. That is where the benefits ended for us.||||There were mosquitos in the morning and evening. This is not the resorts fault, just making you aware, to take spray. There are tons of bug everywhere, which is to be expected, because you are staying back in the woods. But they don't seem to do bug control inside the rooms, like you might expect from a hotel. There were tons of harmless bugs flying around our room at night. My wife got bit by a spider during the night. We had to shower in a different cabin, and when we went in there, a couple big roaches went scurrying.||||The outside of the cabins are not attractive. They look like they are barely holding together. So, if attractive or quaint is what you are looking for, this is not it.||||Inside isn't just rustic, it's old. The linens were clean and surfaces were clean, but all the furniture and carpet was super old and worn.||||There is no TV, no internet, no phone service. We knew that going in, so we didn't expect it to be a problem. But there are no phones in the rooms either. So with no phones at all, we couldn't even call the hotel owner, and at one time couldn't reach him by knocking on his door. Had to drive 2 miles down the hill to get cell phone service.||||The hot water on our cabin was broken. The owner offered to let us move, but there were a couple problems with that. One, we had already unpacked all of our stuff into the room. Two, I'm glad we didn't move, because we went to that other room to shower, and it was dirtier than ours, smelled, and had roaches. The owner did let us shower in that other cabin. For the inconvenience he didn't give us anything. That was surprising. The owner was a nice guy; this is just not a well run business.||||I've stayed in nicer hotels that were $60. I would never...

Vacation from Hell The resort consist of several old, rustic, small 600-800 sq. cabins that are way too overpriced. Some of them have visible damage and are in desperate need of a repairs. The only highlight is man-made lake. Cabins inside are somewhat clean, but clearly outdated and overused. Lots of bugs, mosquitoes inside and outside of cabins. The fridge in our cabin did not work and, in our several attempts to contact the owner, we only received rude answer on the edge of “take it or leave the property”. Owner's dog pooped everywhere on the property and the owner did not care at all, one of our friends has to clean dog's poop so that the kids did not step into it I've heard that the owner was a nice guy some time ago, but not this time. He appears to be some kind of intoxicated, rude and un-responsive to the guest needs. Constantly repeating to new guests: "I can ask you to leave anytime". He was trying to enter our cabin when my wife was changing so that I had block the door from him. For the price that we paid we could’ve stay in much better spot at this location, even inside of the...