Bay Center / Willapa Bay KOA Holiday — Hotel in Ocean Park

We called several months in advance to reserve our RV space. Three other families (our friends) also made reservations for the same weekend. The reservation process was a great experience. The people on the phone were professional, kind, personable, and welcoming. I grew up camping at KOAs and assured our friends this would be wonderful. Upon arriving, we noticed the grounds were small but well-kept. The young lady who checked us in was polite. The camp hosts walk you to your site after check-in. The grounds were quaint and fun...several photo opportunities. The beach walk was also very nice. Very family friendly and clean. Unfortunately, after sundown, the owner exhibited some odd behavior as evidenced by his lurking near our campsite the first night. He walked by several times and then stood behind the bushes before addressing a very specific portion of a story our friend told (eavesdropping). We are all in our 40s and 50s and were casually seated around the campfire — two couples — talking at a normal volume and tone. We understood that quiet time was at 10:00, which is why we were not loud. No music. No drinking. No movies. No small children nor adolescents. He told us we could “stay out” but that we’d need to whisper. Then he tried to make awkward conversation after scolding us. In 45 years, I’ve never been reprimanded at a campsite anywhere. The next day, we were gone, taking in the local sites. Upon returning, we spent 45.00 in their gift shop and chatted with a woman who appeared to be a manager/owner. She discussed being a volunteer firefighter since my husband had disclosed he was a career firefighter. This purchase experience appeared to be a pleasant exchange. The male owner who addressed us the evening prior, took our payment. Fast forward to night #2 when our other friends arrived: at 10:30 pm or so, the owner came by again after several paces by our site. There seems to be a pattern of lurking. I had anticipated this simply because we had more people visiting in our circle. We were not playing music, not sitting in a drum circle, not loitering all over, nor shouting. While we had double the voices, we were respectful of our neighbors. The owner came and told us to be quiet. My husband asked him if he had received complaints (3x he inquired if anyone had complained) and the owner initially dismissed him then said no. Because my husband gave pushback and wanted to understand the odd behavior, the owner told us we needed to leave in the morning. In fact, while writing this review, the refunds have been given to half of us per email confirmation. Both evenings around the campfire felt targeted, controlled, and bizarre. Moreover, being addressed as though you’re engaging in some sort of criminal behavior when you are not, is thoughtless, authoritarian, atypical, and frankly: creepy. I recognize not all people have had a poor experience here. But we certainly did and can not, in good faith, recommend this KOA to anyone we know, which collectively is thousands of people. The guest hosts were lovely. The scenery was lovely (except for the owner standing on their 2nd floor staring at us). The campgrounds are lovely in theory. We recognize they don’t want us back and the feeling is absolutely reciprocal. The owner will likely respond to this and say we we were breaking their noise ordinance rules, which actually state, “quiet time is between 10pm and 8am. All radios and tvs must be off and other noise kept to a minimum.” We were well within those guidelines. Normally, I don’t participate with this nonsense but we work very hard and had taken time off to try a new campground. I’ve never had this experience at a KOA before so I do want to make that distinction. If you go to bed at 8pm, don’t question others, and don’t mind a man lurking and eavesdropping, then this is absolutely the place for you. Good luck.

Addendum to owner response: Kenny flat out stated we could not be heard...

The reviews here make this place sound so lovely..

"The areas of the campground were mostly shaded with trees, most with some kind of privacy barrier. Most of the sites have a decent amount of privacy also... The sites and bathrooms are immaculate! Nice and small. Great KOA covered in trees Very quiet and clean. Small pretty and quiet campground"

Just the kind of place I was hoping to spend a few days- breaking my quarantine and grieving the loss of a loved one near the ocean.

However when I called to book a cabin on Sept 8th, ( before seeing these reviews) and to find out a bit about the campground and what covid precautions to expect, I got an entirely different impression. I was told it is the busiest time for camping, that the campground would be crowded with elk hunters with dead animals in the back of their pick-ups. (Never mind that elk season isn't til Nov) Were they trying to dissuade potential customers with that bizarre comment?

When I specifically asked about the separation of space and privacy between the cabins I was told again this is a very busy time, I would see people from my site and my site was next to the playground. When I tried to clarify what that meant and bit more description of the site in light of covid distancing and privacy, they got very rude, defensive and confrontational. For some reason they just could not or would not describe the site to me other than, "It is a busy time, expect to see people." They emphasized that I was next to the playground but that is all they would tell me. I wondered would kids be running through my site to catch balls to to get there??

When asked about what to expect about covid precautions was told very defensively, "We do not have staff to monitor this place 24/7"

With the defensiveness and negatively I was left with the idea that this was a big, crowded campground with little space or privacy between the sites and a very laid back approach to making it a covid safe place to be.

These reviews describe my experience with the owners to a "T" ."unprofessionally rude to potential guests, defensive replies. Badly in need of customer service training, The owners are rude, confrontational, and strange (not in a good way)"

So bizarre and unpleasant!! I cancelled my reservation....

We had a great weekend here! We stayed in a tent site that was large and had great growth keeping the sites fairly private. It's a smaller campground making it easy to get to everything and the drive there is so pretty.

The people working were the best and super helpful. Phoenix and Kelly gave us great ideas for things to do, directions, and were a huge help with fire wood and such. The store sells pizza they make from scratch, which was so good, and meant one less meal we had to bring. Apparently they also have a whole freezer of meals and snacks you can purchase and they will heat up for you.

The proximity to the huge beautiful beach is great with a cute path leading there. We didn't do the clam digging, but we saw a bunch of families having a great time with it. And before you get back to camp they have a station to wash the sand off if you need to.

It was also very dog friendly with a dog run right near our site. The bathrooms were clean and they had social distancing rules set up for one family at a time.

We don't have an RV, but the sites I saw looked amazing with so many amenities like propane grills and adirondack chairs. Same for the cabins. It was just the two humans and a dog, but for a family the cabins looked like a great idea.

Only negatives are very minor. The tent sites with electric are sized for smaller tents so we weren't able to choose that option. The sites themselves have a mulched area for the tent and the rest is gravel. It's so tree covered that it makes sense that there is no grass, and without I'm sure it would be very muddy. The picnic tables are a little smaller...