Kah-Nee-Ta Hot Springs Resorts — Hotel in Madras

You could be a Karen and complain, but my wife and I have realistic expectations of a new resort. They are still hiring staff, need to pay higher wages for people to drive to the resort and work all kinds of wierd hours, train staff, new people are learning as rules and policies are being updated as they learn Ski Bowl management rules. The cost being high keeps the rif raf out, pays the hopefully high wages, and saves for future upgrades. Even with higher prices the place was jammed on a Sunday but as the pics show good on the weekday but they def made money that day with a couple hundred people showimg up. I understand why the pool isn't deeper than 4 feet - insurance is probably half as much without a slide and deep end, and statistics probably show way fewer deaths with no deep ends. It's has soaking mineral hot spring pools, colder lazy river and volleyball pool. If you want a VIP experience their are private tubs along the river, cabanas and beach style shade chairs, but plenty of free regular pool chairs. They have good music so you don't have people blasting their phones everywhere like at the lake. The RV bathrooms need to open vs walking all the way to the pool/TeePee area. I assume it might open soon and understand they needed to open the resort to keep staff, make funds this year to show profitability for bank loans/more improvements. River tubing starts next week and I saw their shuttle over by the RV camping (8/18). They need an FAQs web page (yes they have noodles, don't bring floats, you don't have to reserve a chair but for a chair with a shade you do, there is overflow parking for the camp sites if you kids drive their own car, you can fill water bottles, they do have a real restaurant all day (not just garbage/junk food like hot dogs only). Compared to hotsprings at Baggby, Cougar reservoir, Crane, and Belnap - Belnap charges $8 per hour, other hot springs are a bunch of naked old people, Crane is the runner up, but def not as nice. Kahneeta is the best hot springs in Oregon right now. Keep all of this in mind when you complain or have expectations about prices, staff, schedules, etc. The staff is amazing and friendly and it doesn't seem like management is micro managing them so much they hate their job. The Tee Pees are amazing, I want one! I do wish the RV spot had two day passes included, but I understand. I hope they are open in the fall when it's cooler, even snow around the hot pools would make for a really nice day. Horseback riding and river floating sounds like a lot of fun :) update: FYI you guys need to get some white plastic chain with signs and run it between the signs on the pool divider wall that kids keep climbing on vs blowing an annoying whistle every five minutes. You could also get a multi tool and buzz out the grout on a few top blue wall tiles and put in white ones that say "No Step" ;) I was glad to hear you will be open year round :) also, robes would have been nice, we didn't think to bring ours, but with soaking at night in the pools I would have bought two of them especially as trip souvenirs. That brings me to - maybe do spa relaxing music at night when the lights come on. All day loud music makes you feel exhausted mentally, even just turn it down, then you won't hear it in your tent or RV at 930 pm - think of how you feel after a concert now multiply for more hours from 9am to 10pm because you can here it across the whole campground, even just the last 30 to 45 minutes to wind things down ;) My wife was locked out of the bathrooms by the TeePees during am cleaning and walked around to find a place and the pool gates were locked so there was no where to go. On your cleaning sign tell people to go to the restaurant. Also as she found out on her bathroom adventure, had I known there was a breakfast buffet I probably would have gone a few times to give cooking a rest so we could all relax. It seems your signage/ education to perceived pool dangers, camping and other options, and potential sales are lacking but can easily be fixed as you find out and fine...

We took our family for a 2 night tee pee adventure, and we had a lot of fun. I have attached some pictures of our stay and I hope they help. They are only in phase one of re-opening, so remember that they do have bigger plans. They are going to build a bigger pool and bring back the slides I was told by the upper management. I will also say that all of the staff and all management that I encountered were extremely friendly. My experience with all staff was exceptional. The pool stays open until 10 pm. for overnight guests and music from open to close in the pool area. Day guests can stay until 7pm. The restaurant closes at 8 pm . The store closes at 10 pm. They do provide 2 royal gourmet propane grills to cook with in the tee pee area. We brought our own. They do have a few charging stations/wall plugs outside of the bathrooms and grilling area for your devices if you bring any. I noticed that every morning the women's bathroom was closed for 30-40 minutes every morning at 8 am so ladies be aware you may have to walk aways to the other restrooms if your in the tee pee area. We had 80 to 85-degree weather during our stay, and the tee pee was not too bad, but fortunately, there is a pool. They also have 3 cold plunge tanks, which you are only allowed in every 4 hrs, and depending on how big the line is, the maximum is 5 minutes if they are busy. They have 2 jacuzzi spas, one is 108 degrees, and the other they told me was 102. These both are actual water from the hot springs they said aswell as all the hot tubs in the upper cabanas. All the pools are heated using geothermal heating from the warm springs natural heat. Chairs along the pools with padding and shade range around $20+ each and up for larger chairs . They have plenty of free plastic lounge chairs also. I'd say if you want comfort for tanning, you probably want the cusion. I was in the pool and spas most of the time. After having coffee and breakfast, I was hiking and jogging in the mornings. We also brought our bikes for riding, but within hours, all four of our tires were deflated by the many bull thorns in the grass. I would definitely recommend puncture proof tires if you or your kids bring bikes. There really were not any good trails for your bike that I found. Outside of kah nee tah in the surrounding area, I'm sure there are plenty. Hiking is super cool to me, especially once you get out of the sight of any buildings. I would not recommend any night hikes due to all the rattle snakes. Watch out for rattle snakes during the day in the rocks and shady areas since during the day in the heat, they want to stay cool. We went horseback riding on a guided tour. You can also hike this same trail. The cost is $79 per person for a one hour ride. The horses are between 10 and 16 years old, if I remember correctly. I rode tex, who was 14 and was a great horse. I have zero experience, and it was my first time on a horse, and I felt comfortable. The couple who owns them are very friendly, and I can't remember her name, but when we were there, she had just had a baby 3 weeks prior and had already been riding horses shortly after her pregnancy. I just thought that was amazing. Their little boy was also so friendly helping his parents. Great people! When we return, we are hoping to do the river float, which is a 3 mile innertube float. They were still doing safety testing and hopefully will be open when we return. A staff member did tell me that the river is shallow in some places, and they touched bottom a couple of times. Knowing that I might put on some padded bike shorts, idk. I look forward to that.

The resort has plenty of activities. They have a volleyball court, a basketball court, two pickle ball courts, put put golf, Frisbee golf, cornhole, hiking/jogging trails (my favorite).

I saw plenty of wild Mustang, cows, some rabbits, coyotes, and thankfully, no cougars.

I also commented on the drinks and how the prices at the bar were never consistent and seemed to change even for the same drink. I also commented on cups of ice that would go from...

Overall disappointed in our experience here. We stayed here 3 nights in the hotel. I'll try and break this down into 4 areas for a better understanding. Hotel - 1 out of 5 stars. The room was clean, beds were comfy and the AC did well to keep the room cool. The room was stocked and WiFi worked well. When looking for a plug near our bed we picked up an extension cord only to be shocked by the broken end, leaving a mark. The after hours security/front desk number told us they could not help until morning but approved us to unplug the broken cable after we asked to do so for our safety. This was the only plug near the beds, they showed up about 30 minutes later to remove the cable and put in a power strip instead. The second lamp in the room was also broken so we did not turn it on. We also requested more TP on the second night but this only arrived from housekeeping at 7am the next morning. The after hours help, after 3pm mind you, did not want to help with any issues. TV and channels were set to a time zone 4 hours behind and the guide would not load any info of what was on, so we went channel by channel to find entertainment in the room. Pools - 4 out of 5 stars. This was the best part or our stay, the pools were clean and clear. Plenty of room to sit and safely keep your items. The lazy river did get a little crowded at times but the staff did well to keep the horseplay down. The cold plunge was exciting and fun, the pool snack/drink area was to easy access, bathrooms and showers well kept. The different temp spring water pools each had their own experience. The hours of the pool was a little confusing, our folder of resort info said the pool was open 9am-9pm but posted signs at the pool gates stated 9am-10pm. The 9pm was the correct time, though it would have been nice to stay a little later after the sun went down. Restaurant - 3 out of 5 stars. Food was OK, just a little above bar food, not that bar food is bad but I expected more from a resort, and being an hour away from any other option this should have been better. Food came out quick. My guacamole on my nachos came from a squeeze bottle and their chopped chicken was obviously frozen and reheated in a microwave. The breakfast buffet was fine the first day but for $19 a person I had hoped for a variety change each morning besides just swopping out the frozen/reheated French toast for pancakes. Events - 2 out of 5 stars. The free things are the mini golf, ping pong, bingo and a number of courts for a variety of sports. The paid events are guided horse tours and a 2 hour tube ride down the river. I am 20 lbs over the horse weight limit and the river was 50-55 degrees in June, for the safety of my daughter we did not do this. Not holding either of those events against them. It would have been nice to have some historical or meaningful events hosted by the staff. I would imagine there is a strong history and some passionate people working here but there was very little here to learn from. Overall there is not much to do here...