Blue Hills Ranch — Hotel in McGregor

Our experience had highs and lows, but ultimately we came to the decision that the animal adventures were fun (for now) but we would not stay in a cabin setting again. Prior to check in we were emailed and texted prior as a concern because we were traveling with Service Dogs. Upon arrival, even though we had texted our eta well over two hours in advanced, we were unable to go in the front “office” because of an out of control St Bernard. The teenagers in charge of check in were more distracted that they could not tag along with the rest of the work crew to goof off instead they had to check us in and give us a very rushed run down of the property. It made us feel immediately unwelcome. The only thing they could harp on was that the “service dogs must stay in the cabin or in your vehicle they cannot interact with the animals”. That was the only thing they felt the need to repeat more than once. And they left as quickly as they could. We stayed in the Kraken cabin which was spacious and had great theming. BUT: they boast about a $30 fee if you don’t wash your dishes. Pro tip cleaning crew: you still need to check the dishes to make sure they were actually cleaned and not stacked back to avoid the charge. 90% of the dishes had food residue caked on them which was very difficult to clean since it had been sitting so long. There was chocolate on the couch, drapes, and blankets for the couch that the cleaning crew had missed. There was an ice bucket and scoop, which is a nice idea but no where to get ice. They offer a keurig and k cups, but no creamer, sugar, or add ons. So this is good only if you like black coffee. Oh and don’t forget to read the fine print, you have to strip your own bed. They boast that animals come up to the cabins. While we had an automatic feeder right behind the porch, we saw no wildlife come up to the cabin. It would benefit people to remember to bring binoculars. Our neighbors had their own private mule/gator/ATV. When we went up to the office to purchase a treat bucket and rent an ATV like our neighbors, we were informed that was a service no longer provided that they must have booked it in advanced. The teenager that informed us of this had no idea how to upsell and did not offer to give us a tour (which is a service they offer) instead he told us to stand on our porch of our cabin and wait for the animals to come. Needless to say, we were frustrated and didn’t purchase the treats. You can see more of the animals from the side of the road for free than your $450/night cabin porch or $50 guided “safari” tour. Overall being physically disabled and unable to walk far distances, there is not a lot of ground that is ADA compatible. So we were unable to see a lot of the property, except from the roadside when we went in town for dinner. They have a lot of equines, bovines, and other animals around the park that look like they haven’t been maintained by a farrier or vet and overall are looking like they’re starting to be in poor shape. I wish they had other “treat” options than cattle cubes, seeing as most of the animals on site could use a less sugary option. Overall the cabin and resort experience is lack luster especially if you already live rurally, and mostly came to experience something that wasn’t cows or horses.

We opted for the otter experience, which was a fun cute hour which was shared with the owner of the property. The two new young adolescent otters were super cute and playful and it was interesting to hear how they were going to intertwine them into their current otter program. Otto and Sweetpea were two very happy and excited otters that offer a fun a sweet experience. We would do this again before they expand the otter habitat, as it’s a cool experience with just the two otters. More than that in an enclosure sounds overwhelming seeing as they fight for attention and you have multiple otters crawling on you at once. I’m happy we did it once. But...

The venue itself is beautiful. I feel like it has so much potential but it's being dragged by an incompetent manager and owner. It's a great place to take a photographer and have pictures done. I can't say much about just staying a weekend at the cabins like some people do, but to book a wedding here shouldn't be so difficult.

When my wife and I booked our wedding last December, we were promised a bunch of things. Clean venue, put together tables and chairs, bridesmaid and groomsmen cabins, etc. It seemed like a perfect deal. We had signed a contract and paid to have two cabins to stay in the night before the wedding and for the night of the wedding. About two weeks before the wedding, we were informed that they had crossed out our night before reservation, and booked the cabins for someone else. Even though we had already paid for both nights. They wouldn't give our money back, but we had to deal with it because we couldn't find another venue two weeks out. They had a wedding the day before ours which was their reasoning for double booking themselves. So the morning of our wedding, the bridal party got there at 8am and the venue was a complete mess. Matt had not cleaned up after the wedding the night before, he had not set up any tables, he had nothing prepared for us on the morning of our wedding. The bridal party had to clean up the mess and move things so they could get setup and get their hair done, makeup, etc. Because the bridesmaids cabin was a mess as well. Matt could not be reached for most of the day up until a couple hours before the ceremony. By then he had barely gotten anything ready himself like he told us he would.

We had warned a friend of ours that she shouldn't book her wedding with BHR because the management mishandles things. She did anyway. She had rented out 6 of their cabins for her wedding weekend and was told later on by the manager, after paying for them, that they were going to cross them out and book them to other people that weekend. After that our friend was done with BHR. They wanted to cancel their reservation with BHR, and in their contract it specifically stated that if a reservation is canceled then BHR kept only the money paid to that point. Which was their down payment and cabin rental. By that point they didn't care about the money and just wanted to cancel. The owner then threatened to take them to court over money they didn't owe, per the contract statement.

Again, beautiful location that has lots of potential. But the management needs a few years of experience in maintaining a schedule book and the owner does as well. I don't know how they do business in California but here it was...

We totally deserve the one-star review Mr. Lieberman gave us. We are in the business of making dreams come true. We like to help people who have saved their hard-earned money and want a truly great arena at a great price. When our truck pulls up, we want a happy customer. Matt Lieberman was not a happy customer the day he ORDERED the arena- we should never have taken his order. We thought we could make it happen, but supply shortages and equipment malfunctions kept us from making everything work as planned. He signed a document that acknowledges that our time was 7-14 business days, but it could take up to 6 weeks. We delivered 21 business days from the date of order- yes, we were 7 days late. We tried to call him and deliver what we had ready the week before, but Mr. Lieberman would not answer repeated phone attempts or emails. When his order arrived, he damaged a good bit of it unloading it and then blamed us. Mr. Lieberman is from California and has moved to Texas- he does not understand the rodeo/western way of life, but I give him credit for trying to learn. We had hoped doing business with him would help him further his “come to Texas and be a cowboy” dream, but we have failed. But anyway, my point is, Mr. Lieberman did not have a dream of a rodeo arena, he did not purchase an arena for his family, he purchased this arena to make a profit on other people. He was never going to be happy with us and even though we tried, we fell short and that is fine. We have been in business for almost 40 years and we have made countless dreams come true and we will continue to do so customer after customer, just please understand we are human, we are a manufacturer, and we are a small, family-owned business. We do everything possible to make each customer happy and satisfied, but obviously we didn’t make Lieberman happy, so we totally deserve his one-star review. We wish Mr. Lieberman success with his business in Texas and hope that others will enjoy his Red River Arena and appreciate what he has purchased even though he does not.

And if you are a vendor with Blue Hills Ranch, just understand his expectations going in and expect to not satisfy him. He doesn’t mind you delivering $40k worth of equipment and then reversing his credit card or threatening law suits, he doesn’t mind unloading what is not his and then not answering his phone to help make it right. Just understand, Mr. Lieberman is not a fun person to do business with and he just...