Kalahari Resorts & Conventions - Sandusky — Hotel in Huron Township

My kids ages 12,10,2 and I arrived at the waterpark around noon the day of check-in. It was a beautiful day so both water parks were open. Our room was ready early but my two older boys wanted to keep swimming so my daughter and I went to the room to relax for a little bit. Upon entering I noticed the floor could’ve been swept better, I saw hair in the shower, and the room had a terrible smell to it, but overall it was perfect size for the four of us so I couldn’t complain. We all had an amazing first day. My 2 yr old daughter was having the time of her life and I felt safe letting my older boys play on their own since they could get into the room and charge food. The waterpark closed at 9 so we headed to our rooms and this is when our perfect birthday getaway turned into the worst birthday. We got back to the room, everyone showered, and we ordered pizza. We ate and then started to wind down. My daughter was extremely tired but over stimulated from the day and was having a hard time falling asleep. My boys asked if they could go to the vending and look around and I said sure because I wanted some quiet time to get my 2yr old asleep. I took my medicine and laid down with her and ended up falling asleep myself (my medicine is for PTSD and helps me sleep). I wake up at approximately 12:30 to my son saying mom there’s a security guard that wants to talk to you. I’m half out of it because of my sleeping meds and the shock that I fell asleep and wake up to this. The security guard tells me my son did damage to a wall with the cart. I asked him if he had proof and he said not at the moment so I told him to come back when he did. Mind you, it was almost 1am, I wasn’t very coherent due to my sleeping meds, he had no proof of damage, and there was no hotel manager assisting him. I go back to bed and wake up maybe 30 mins later to three cops and the same security guard. The police tell me I have to get out and if I don’t leave immediately, I will be arrested, and my kids will go to DCS. I was mortified to say the least. Trying to maintain my composure for my children. Trying not to freak out wondering where we’re gonna safely stay at on Labor Day weekend at 1am. I frantically pack our belongings and load up my three kids. I go to the front desk to see how and why this is happening. I couldn’t understand why there was no manager involved when a guest allegedly damages property, why a manager wasn’t notified when a security guard wanted to make a guest leave, wondering why there was no warning, wondering why that security guard couldn’t just let us sleep and have front desk management handle whatever damages may have occurred the following day. The lady at the front desk wasn’t much help. She said had she been informed of the situation beforehand she wouldn’t have kicked us out. However, if the security guard makes that call then it’s official and there is nothing the desk could do about it. She tried looking for hotels for me, but at that point I felt like it was a slap in the face. I went back to my vehicle feeling totally defeated. Here I have three kids and we just got kicked out of a hotel room at 1am for alleged damage in the hallway by a 12-year-old (to this day I don’t even know what damage was done). But what was worse, we live three hours away, and as I stated before, I take sleeping medicine. It makes me loopy and disoriented at times so it is not recommend I operate a vehicle while on that medicine. I called my dad and he helped me call around to find any available hotel rooms and there was nothing. So me and my three kids slept in our vehicle in the parking lot that night until I felt comfortable to safely get my kids home. This happened last Sunday/Monday and I’m still shook over it. I cannot believe Kalahari threw a single mother and her three children out at 1am with no remorse. And what’s worse is I have reached out several times to guest services to have someone hear my side of the story but no one cares about what we were put through. Kalahari collected my money and they’re moving onto the next...

We arrived at check in and they have self kiosks to fill out your information and get your wristbands/room key ($1000 for family of 5 25th Anniversary Package with pizza, room, Safari outdoor adventure center) . I spent an hour in line, just waiting to get to a kiosk. When finally up there, the kiosks were so slow processing. There was a 30-45 second delay in between every screen. It asked me at least 5 times if I wanted to continue with my check-in because it was timing out due to the delay. I finally got to the last to page where it prints the wristbands/keys and it tells me I need to go to guest services to complete my check in. I had to wait another 20-30 minutes in that line for them to simply activate my wristbands. So a total of almost 2 hours for check in while my husband waited in the lobby with the kids and our luggage. On check out day, the room attendant knocked on our door at 1015 to turn the room over. Uh, checkout isn't until 11. We had kids knocking on the door and running at all hours of the night. But, the biggest joke of all was the SOAP package. I would avoid purchasing it at all, especially in a special "package deal". Because of the almost 2 hour check in, we didn't get into our room until much later than expected. The SOAP adventure park activities were only open until 6. We figured we would do it the next day after we had checked out and put our stuff in the car. We made sure the kids all had closed toes shoes and full swim trunk and swim shirts. Everything was dry as we made sure to go there before any water activities. We went to the activity registration desk first, waited in line for 15/20 minutes because they only had 1 person working despite a large line. We got up there and the lady informed us that no swim attire can be worn on the attractions, not even dry shorts and shirts. I asked her where this was posted because we had not seen it anywhere or on any signs, and had already put the rest of our belongings in the car. She stated "I don't know where, or if it is posted, but I'm telling you now, so..." Like that was supposed to make it okay. We weren't able to just go to the car and pull out regular outfits for the boys as we had already packed the car so we had to forego the SOAP portion. We went to guest services and asked for a refund of the SOAP package. We let them know that we weren't able to use it due to the long check in process and the lack of information regarding the hours, process, etc. They were quite rude and basically said too bad, so sad as we purchased it as part of a package deal. They were not willing to downgrade our package and refund the difference. They were not willing to offer any food or other comp for our issues. Overall, customer service here was despicable, wait times for registration and attractions were ridiculous, and the overall attractions were mediocre. 100% not worth the money. We did spend another $85 on mac and cheese and $65 on ice cream. They threatened to call security because my husband wanted to discuss why they were so unwilling to make things right. The staff offered absolutely nothing to try and help the situation. Overall, this experience left a poor taste in our mouths and was the polar opposite of "value". They don't seem to care about their customers or their experiences. The thing Kalahari seems to be best at is lightening your pockets. Also, the Murphy beds were uncomfortable and clearly not hotel quality, so falling asleep was challenging. This is the fourth time we've been to a Kalahari resort, and will probably be the last time. The cost for the experience has just not been worth it at all the last two visits. Hopefully the company uses some of the money they bring in with the crazy prices they charge, to teach basic customer service skills to...

My stay here could have been much better. Upon arrival, I was using the self kiosk amd it was showing a different amount due than what my reservation showed. I talked to the gentleman employee that was using a motorized scooter and he had the most unprofessional, unpleasant, unapologetic attitude. I told him what was going on amd he replies "it's the taxes and resort fee." I said no its not, I already paid that. Again he says "its.the taxes and resort fee. I've been doing this a long time and that's what it is." I proceed to pull up a screen shot of my quoted rate and deposit and he doesn't even want to look at it. He replies "if you wanna argue with the front desk, be my guest but I know I'm right." (Side note: any educated employee who has been "doing this a long time" would clearly know that the website says the deposit is one night stay plus taxes and resort fee. I even know that and I don't even work there. If he had the patience and decency to look and try to understand, he would've seen that taxes and resort fee were already paid along with the first night of a 3 night stay.) I then proceed to the front desk amd a woman named Fran at least tried to help. First she told me the price discrepancy was due to upgrading my room. I told her no it's not and told her the exact dollar amount of both quotes. Then she says a second time that it was due to the room upgrade. I said "no it's not but I'm tired of arguing. I'll pay it but it's incorrect." She then offers to pull up the recorded phone call and after 45 minutes of talking to the gentleman on the scooter and Fran, it is revealed that I was correct the entire time. Then when I go to pay, she tells me the incorrect price again. I did the math out Loyd and told her that's wrong again. She agreed and did get the correct price. Shout out to Fran for at least trying and getting it corrected. After that fiasco, get our stuff to the room, go to the water park and return to the room shortly after 8pm. Got a shower and was about to lay in the bed only to notice multiple hairs that weren't ours in the bedding. That's gross. They happened to text around 630 asking if there's anything they could do to male the stay a 10. I replied via text "honestly, just got back from the Waterpark and there's somebody else hair in our bedding." They did have housekeeping come up and swap out bedding. Thank you for that. Then around 11 pm kids were being loud and obnoxious running around and banging on people's doors. I then reported that because we had 2 children sleeping. While that isn't their fault, it's a heads up to what kind of guests and behavior to expect. Definitely wasn't a quiet and peaceful night. Day 2 was eventful. My issue with day 3 was that the fee for the room came out of my bank but for some reason the fee plus $200 hold was still pending. I know they'll ble it on my financial institution but male's zero sense to have the actual charge withdrawn and still have a hold for the charge and the hold. While not a major issue for me, it could very well be for some other guests to have all that money held up. The room itself, after changing the bedding was decent. The waterpark was OK but way overcrowded and way too much chlorine. The parking lot is a nightmare. The spaces are painted very narrow so anybody in a suv or a pickup will have a difficult time opening their door and not hitting the car next to them. Guess it's a good idea to paint them so narrow to squeeze a few more cars in. Overall, I was very disappointed in this stay. The first night set the tone and made for an overall unpleasant experience. Do better kalahari. Also, if they really wanted to help with running water in Africa, just donate some money. Don't sell bottles of water for $5 and donate $1 per bottle. Where does the other $4...