Grande Hot Springs RV Resort — Hotel in La Grande

This is a bit of a lengthy post so please bear with me. I’m a travel Occupational Therapist and my husband works remotely for a radiology systems company. We have traveled a large part of the country for my job as an OT. We’ve never had a single problem at any of the campgrounds we’ve stayed at long term.

At surface level, the campground is okay for short stays but for long term stays, I do NOT recommend staying here. It’s in the middle of the marshlands so there are a TON of mosquitoes and you will be eaten alive at all hours. The hot spring pools are small and chlorinated. The building front is missing siding and the grounds to the far left has a mound of rotted wood/trash. They report being pet friendly on their website but there is nowhere to let your dogs off leash to play or run. The front lawn area is marked on the map as the dog bathroom area but it’s often being sprayed by sprinklers during the day. They would benefit from having a dog park on site as many campgrounds do these days. The campground reports that sightings of dogs off leash results in automatic removal from the campground. Several campers were letting dogs off leash at times in the morning and it appeared nothing was said. Additionally, multiple people would walk through the campgrounds and allow their dogs to poop without cleanup with no word said from the campground staff. It appears the staff pick and choose who to harass. Most of the La Grande locals have nothing nice to say about this place and its owners/management.

Now, to the nitty gritty details: we arrived at this campground May 4th and had been here for a month before being notified that we had a complaint that we were not picking up after our two dogs. We were really confused as we have a big waste bucket with a trash bag and a dog scoop that resides by our camper and we routinely picked up after them. Sure, there were a handful of times we didn’t pick up immediately such as when our dogs went to potty at midnight. We’d pick up in the morning. We had discussed with the office staff if we could pick up during the day rather than at night and had confirmation to do so. Regardless, it was always picked up. We also made a point to clean up after others who allowed their dogs to poop in the area and didn’t clean up.

We resumed life as normal after the initial complaint. Then, out of the blue we had a call with a threat to call the sheriff and a tow truck to remove us from the property. Normally, there is more to the story between an initial contact and a final threat. There should be phone calls, a voicemail, a staff member talking to us, a note posted on the door, or even a video where we allegedly never picked up after our dogs - anything that would immediately convey the seriousness of contacting law enforcement. We had no idea what was going on and received nothing but three emails which we did not know we were sent until the day of being threatened with towing and law enforcement (one on the 5th, 25th, and 28th). That was it. One of our emails stated that we had also talked to a maintenance man about this issue and “verified receipt of receiving the emails.” This was not the case and my husband and I would’ve been happy to be reviewed on security video if that were the case. My husband even requested the alleged maintenance man who spoke to us to be brought to the office and the response to that was “well, we’ll just have to look into that.” This is not a sufficient answer. Prior to this, any mail for us that was received at the office, any change in information, the first complaint, and even when the water was shut off for a day was all via phone and we were notified immediately. However, being removed from the grounds by towing and law enforcement wasn’t deemed as important enough to call???? That seems odd to me. A few of my nursing co-workers at the facility I’m contracted with who had dogs were evicted as well.

I felt very unwelcome and share the same thoughts with the locals in La Grande that the management and owners are money hungry and nuts. Avoid...

Unfortunately we did not have a good experience here for multiple reasons, including someone in our campsite at night. We were tent camping. The sites are right next to a creek of 165 degree water, so careful if you have kids. The noise is extreme all night long, with trains rumbling the ground every 30-60 minutes and lots of frogs. There was someone in our campsite snooping around our car at 1am. I shone a light from our tent and heard them freeze but couldn't see far enough to make them out. My light timed out and I heard them rush away. Shortly afterwards the family next to us packed up their tents and crying baby and left between 2-3am (maybe due to the issue of the snooper or noise?) Needless to say I didn't sleep a single moment. We waited outside for the office to open at 8am and tried to cancel our 2nd night because we were so uncomfortable with what transpired, but were told we would have to ask for a refund by email and that the owners were on vacation. Also the pools were unfortunately not clean, we stopped by the pools on our way out for a few minutes, my husband stayed out of the water, I lasted a few minutes pushing lots of dead bugs out of my way, but the wad of human hair that brushed my leg had me out in a jiffy. After several emails and phone calls and 10 days later, we were refunded only half a night (so $27 instead of $52.50), without any email response at all and zero explanation or apology. So we basically spent $78 for one night in a tent site and access to dirty pools. The bathrooms in the main building seemed clean and renovated at least... we didn't use the showers because we just wanted to get out of there. Also worth noting, there aren't bathrooms near the tent sites. I'm genuinely shocked by how bad out experience was, given the positive reviews. We won't be...

I really want to give this place a 3 but it actually is a 4 because it is above average. If you are looking for a special “Hot Springs” or some natural attraction you will be disappointed.

There is plenty of open space to walk your dog and go for a walk after dinner. There are no personal campfire pits. & the community campfire pits were closed. The grounds are clean and neat. The place has a slight feeling of pretentiousness. Trailers, tent camping and tiny homes etc are available for rent. The campsites have green grass and are a decent size. They strangely have the tables situated next to the water, power and sewer of the neighbors connections rather than where your door would open. I confirmed that every sight is that way. I moved the table to a more convenient location. They probably have them there for convenience of mowing. The gift shop is updated and has a modern feel. As with most RV parks there is an active train track.

As for the main attraction I was a bit disappointed… “Hot Lake” is nothing more than a mucky pond surrounded by cat tails and full of lilies. The owners have a junk pile and other misc stuff pushed up to the edge of the pond. There is a small cat tail filled ditch that heads towards the pool. The pool is pretty underwhelming it is a smaller circular pool about 3-4’ deep. The warmer pool is the size of a hotel hot tub. You wouldn’t realize that you were at a hot springs if it wasn’t for the mosquito infested ditch behind the pool with a slight off smell.

So congratulations owners on reducing your heating bill and being able to advertise something special and unique about your place. If I hadn’t read the sign that it was a hot spring than I would have just thought they had an...