Deer Creek Lodge & Conference Center — Hotel in Monroe Township

This place was one of my fondest childhood memories. Back in the 90s it was the place to be, only the upper middle class could afford this place. The restaurant used to be absolutely amazing! The bar was taken care of, and almost every weekend there would be some sort of event going on whether it was a wedding or some sort of company retreat. But now it's become a run-down husk of a resort. There is very little staff to keep the place nice and clean, if the prices would be reflected on the hotel I wouldn't have as much of a gripe. We spent so much money there and it was for barely any service and to top it off the rooms were pretty dirty. When I filled up the bathtub there was about a quarter cup of dirt in the bottom... It look like it hadn't been cleaned for a very long time. The molding was cracked around the room and the coffee machine was broken and missing pieces. The beds were decently clean and the TV worked, those were about the only positives. Like I said it may just be my nostalgia but it seems like this hotel has fallen from Grace since the late 90s to the early 2000s. I think inflation and covid has hit this place with a 1-2 punch that it may not come back from. The highlights are the indoor pool and hot tub, the outdoor pool is also nice. I absolutely love the wild life!! There is a family of groundhogs and skunks that live under a little shed by the pool, they are tame enough to pet! It was a very nice experience to let my kids feed them and pet the groundhogs. I used to have a pet groundhog when I was younger so I knew how to handle them. They were the sweetest things in one of the highlights of our trip, I see people complaining about the wildlife and I hope that they don't relocate them. They add to the charm of deer Creek! After having kind of a depressing experience, the wildlife really cheered us up right before we left. I know that it's hard keeping a place running but they're just putting money into the wrong things at the hotel. Instead of focusing on blowing tons of money making everything different and new they should just fix what is wrong and keep the place clean. Along with good service that would go a very long way. The fact that we spent over $100 for only two adults and three children at the breakfast in the restaurant was absolutely absurd! It was a buffet style and you could get just a limited variety of items including eggs, bacon, sausage, home fries and that was about it. They also had just one little waffle maker but it was broken and would not work. I felt sorry for the poor 17-year-old kid that was trying to be our server. It seemed like he was the only one there and was trying but you could tell he was burnt out from doing all the work. And also the night before we got pizza at the bar, it gave me food poisoning later that night. I spent the next 12 hours throwing up which was not fun in the least. While we were down at the bar getting pizza we got yelled at by the mean old woman for the 18th time. It seems like every time we go there, she has a problem with something. Whether it's because we walked out for a split second and came back in to get a refill or because we had to be standing right beside our 14 year old daughter while she played pool. That old woman that works at the bar needs to be fired, I can see from other reviews that she has pissed off many customers and not made them feel welcome whatsoever. Maybe start with that? Higher staff that is friendly, that can go a very long way. But all in all if you take all of that out of the equation I still love this place. Growing up coming here since the 90s was the highlight of my Summers, I even had my 13th birthday party here at one of the cabins in 2003. Sadly I feel like whoever is running this place is going to run it straight into the ground. I don't see them lasting much longer. with all the thefts and riff Raff hanging around it's only a matter of time. It's very sad and depressing, but I guess entropy doesn't discriminate. If any upper management reads this review please bring back deer Creek to its...

Walked into the building on 7/13/2024 the lobby was literally 80 degrees. Was given keys and headed to the room. Room was not Lake View as promised and it was not even woods view it was of the main parking lot (false advertisement and they realize that). Went down to the desk to inform them of the mistake to which I was told "room type is not promised", however admitted seeing the notation from April that Lake View Room was contingent upon booking in the first place. Candace at the front desk was rude and condescending because I wouldn't just go away. Candace went and fetched Michael who is the front desk manager to speak with me. I waited for 20 minutes for Michael to come out of the office to discuss the mistake with me, and when he finally walked out sighed, and rolled his eyes. His response was to tell me "I have nothing for you, if you don't like it then you can leave". Told him I would discuss the issue with my party and we would decide what we would be doing.

Returned to room, this is where my nightmare really started to become clear. My family had stayed in the room and I had initially left so quickly due to the mistake that I had not noticed the following:

Room #224 was 82 degrees with No AC, which according the the HVAC technician that they sent to fix our AC Unit was the "coolest wing in the building. Restaurant and Bar was over 90 degrees and could only serve limited hours due to the need for breaks from the heat. Bartender said it had been this way for over a month. HVAC technician said they have already notified the property the cooling towers were too small for the building and the water was coming in over 100 degrees which was killing all the AC units all over the building. He also informed us that they were discussing bringing water straight from Deer Creek in an attempt to get clearer/cooler water. HVAC also said "sediment in the water was blocking the filters in the cooling towers, which could also be why the water is brown". He said he had been in our room 2 times already today as someone else reported it being too Hot and "was moved to a LakeView Room". He said he has already told him that our room could not be fixed yet he keeps telling new guests that he "is unaware, and will get it fixed". Michael as a manager if your service people are telling you it can't be fixed, why are we still booking the room and acting "unaware".

Room was filthy, sheets unchanged, finger nail clippings on the floor. Housekeeping Supervisor reported to Candace at the Front Desk that she had "just finished cleaning it herself". Fridge did not work and brown water in the toilet , though? Ever clean or inspect a room before? There is no oversite, leadership, or accountability in any position and it is clear. The staff is exhausted because they have been working in 80-90 degree temps and their attention to detail, customer service, and general attitude is a reflection of this. Everyone in this department should be held accountable, including the supervisor apparently only by title.

Candace and a Brunette (In Training) routinely laughed at our experience and ignored us while standing at the front desk throughout.

Turned water on to try and hydrate and it was sludge brown, toilet bowl looked like instead of water someone poured Pepsi into it. Michael said the State was working on a pipe and they did not notify them. Maintenance Man (New to the company ~30days) responded and said that was not the truth as it had been this way on and off since April as reported to him by the maintenance man he was replacing. Michael called and said that "rest assured it would eventually clear up", maintenance guy had already informed us that would not/could not clear up and he was unsure what was causing the brown color. Michael also refused to answer what was causing the brown water but told us "we should be safe". Note this is also the water they are washing dishes and cooking with its also the water in the ice. But I guess "we should be safe". Health Department was notified, and will hopefully...

If you dont want to read this all, I recommend finding some place else.

There are definitely good things to say about our experience. We encountered some wonderful staff members who were helpful and kind. One woman in particular went out of her way to find a package of medical supplies I had to have delivered there. The box went to an unexpected office at the park and she had to spend a fair amount of time locating it. The gift shop has fun gifts, treats and basic necessities you may have forgotten. The property itself is beautiful.

The restaurants were only OK. We had family near by who told us it used to be fantastic but that the quality had declined. The indoor pool was not clean and important maintenance was not taken care of. There was a slimy substance near the vents and sharp broken plastic on the floaters holding up the ropes. No one enforced any of the posted rules so people were doing dangerous things and at one point a fight broke out. We learned that the majority of people who were swimming were not hotel guests but had snuck in.

Our group had to be split between the lodge and a cabin, which I will explain in a moment. The hotel room was much smaller than was shown in pictures online. They crammed 2 queen beds and a set of bunk beds in a regular size room. The room was dark and quite outdated. No one came to empty trash or do any kind of routine housekeeping in the 4 nights we were there.

The cabin offered some nice options and more space but it was in rough shape. The inside had some cosmetic upgrades done and the living room furniture was nice. The bedroom with 2 bunk beds was nice. Unfortunately the cabin was absolutely infested with bugs. The outside walls, the porch and the only door were just covered in thick spider webs and spiders. There were huge ants all over the inside of the cabin in every room. There were also birds living inside the wall outside the bedroom with the queen bed. We could hear them in the walls all day and night. There was a family of groundhogs living under th3 cabin. The cabin floor felt odd, like it was possible to fall through. Again, in 4 days there was no housekeeping and getting additional towels was very difficult. Beds in both places were very uncomfortable and the beeding was truly uncomfortable.

Why did we have both a room at the lodge and a cabin? Because we brought our dog on our trip. When we booked our reservation we had an in depth conversation with whomever answered the phone about bringing him. They told us the lodge was pet friendly and that there would not be an additional fee. This conversation included us asking about the dogs breed and size. When we arrived at 11:30 pm after driving from Colorado the staff on duty informed us that the lodge is not at all pet friendly. There were no other places available and the staff ended up putting some of us in a cabin. They then charged us $40 a night as a pet fee, which is a bit more than normal and also was not what we were told. We were treated as if we were trying to pull one over on them when we had been very upfront. I encountered another mom while staying there who said she had a similar experience not long before ours.

Today when we checked out the manager was very rude to my father. She gave him grief about the dog and let him know the lodge had never been pet friendly. She behaved as if it was our fault this happened. We did everything we could to be upfront about our dog, including 4 separate phone calls to confirm details and arrival times. The manager then complained that she would have to deep clean the cabin because our dog had stayed in it. Our dog is hypoallergenic and does not shed. He did not have any accidents nor cause any damage to their property. We cleaned up after him and he barely barked. The cabin was their solution. We also payed $120 extra so it was unprofessional to complain about this to us. This is not the guests fault.

We are glad to be on our way elsewhere and...