Basswood Resort — Hotel in Platte City

After 3 stays and wanting to embrace Basswood as our regular vacation spot, I feel it's fair to leave a review on why we likely won't be returning. The first stay in our RV was fine and we found it to be a nice community in a tucked away location.

The 2nd stay in the jacuzzi suite was not the best. The jacuzzi wasn't working, tiles falling off it the sides, lights in room not working, literally holes in the shower, and more. A staff member also took our rented golf cart which resulted in a 45min wait at the office for it to be brought back. He removed the rented placard in the window and claimed it wasn't there, only to later unapologetically say that Basswood is short on carts, and staff has to do that sometimes.

Not super happy about our last experience but still wanting to see Basswood as our spot, we recently went back for the 4th of July weekend. Cabin C50 was our spot and we were greeted by ants and roaches in the kitchen, doors that don't shut (bathroom doors you wedge shut with rocks left on the floor by staff, and the door to the porch only closed if you lifted it with all your might whole closing), door knobs falling off all the doors, the toilet literally falling into the floor and rocking terribly, a shower that doesn't turn off, a dirty couch with holes in it, and the list goes on. We said nothing and wanted to just have a great time away from our daily lives. Then I went to the pool, and simply walking around the pool at the back side, stepped on an area of the concrete that was apparently slick with algae, and fell hard. I tore a bunch of skin off on my foot and ankle, bruised my hip and was done for the day. We said nothing about that. Then we had to sort out the golf cart situation again when housekeeping took our rented cart. Finally, as we rode our cart around in the evening, we were suddenly approached by a woman angrily screaming at us that we weren't operating the golf cart correctly and demanded we do what she said with regard top how we drove it (we were cruising at half speed by the office doing absolutely nothing extraordinary). We asked if she was staff at which point she said she was Rachel and married to staff and she'd be happy to escort us to speak to the managers because she know them personally. I politely told her that we will be happy to listen to staff guidance but that we don't know her and that we wanted to be left alone. She then read our cart number off to us and said we'd be sorry, drove like a maniac through a crowd of people near the office doors, literally jumped out, stomped to the door, turned and gave us a face as she threw the door open and stormed in to report us for being guests riding in the cart we just worked to get back from housekeeping. Our little one was so shaken up, she didn't want to ride on the cart anymore which was her favorite activity to that point. This finally pushed me far enough to ask to speak to management. I requested through Laura at the desk as well as another woman at the desk later. I've also called twice. I've yet to hear from anyone.

Basswood is in a nice location aside from the airport traffic, and the activities offered are great. This could be an awesome place but staff really is the biggest problem. Aside from the gentleman that drives the activity wagon around, the staff doesn't care much. Whether it's the office folks who seem to not care and certainly don't follow up, or the staff's organization (everything always gets confused with booking carts and rooms), or the lack of maintenance from workers who look like they're barely alive and we've watched countless times just drive around in circles on golf carts to stop and take hour plus long chat brakes with one another as we sit in another rental here that's literally falling apart. When a problem is brought up, eyes roll, sighs come out, and you feel like a burden to ask for anything. It just feels like an older very "good-ole-boy staff" where everyone's been there forever, no one cares anymore, and no one is going to report their coworkers wife for randomly...

Heard of the campground from a family member. Due to health issues, I can’t really tent camp anymore so we like being able to rent cabins for our summer getaways.||We rented a deluxe 4 person cabin, C146, over the weekend. It comes with a bathroom so I can’t review the public bath houses.||The cabin itself was small and nice. Some reviewers mentioned cobwebs and being unclean. It’s a rustic cabin, not a hotel. We’ve camped in a lot of primitive sites and were pleasantly surprised how stocked the kitchenette was with basic cookware. The AC was very welcomed too as it was a hot weekend. We spent lots of out on the screened porch enjoying the breeze as the sun set.||The cabins are very close together. Parking can be a hassle if you or anyone in the area has more than 1 vehicle. We only had 1 car and beyond having to wait for other people to move vehicles out of the middle of the road, we had no problems parking in our spot. There are golf carts for rent, for $50 a day at the time of the review. They make for easy trips around the site as the roads can be narrow for multiple cars. And as everyone is close together, if you get loud neighbors you will hear them which was our Friday night. ||Sheets do not come with the cabins but can be rented. Each set comes with 2 pillowcases, a fitted sheet, a flat sheet, a blanket, a washcloth, and a towel. (It might have been 2 washcloths and towels. We only used the sheets and pillowcases for the provided pillows). For the 2 mattresses it was $36. For the price of the cabin, I would have at least expected sheets and pillowcases on the pillows in the cabins (and hand soap!). ||The beds were the big drawback. We knew it would be full sized bunk. We didn’t know that the bottom mattress is on the floor. Attached picture is from the angle of sitting on the futon couch. It was too tough getting out of it in the morning and I opted to sleep on the futon the second night. And because the frame and mattress is on the floor, it didn’t look like that area got cleaned as much. It doesn’t bother us but it might some folks.||The way our cabin was situated, the fire pit and picnic bench were in the back which wasn’t ideal and we didn’t use it much because of this. ||The pool was good. There is only set 1 of steps into the pool and no ladders so it gets congested with kids playing on them and shoes and toys piled up. It was nice to float and cooled down though. Lots of activities for smaller kids like a glow parade, a foam wagon ride, movie night, and a lollipop hunt. My teenager wasn’t too interested in them but I did talk him in to a ceramic painting class. We did a lot of fishing in the 3 ponds that allow catch and release. They also had playgrounds, shuttle boards, horse shoes, and other fun camp play areas. ||Accessibility - I saw only one cabin with a ramp but the general store where check-in is has 2 small steps in and the check out counters are up high. I would say it’s not wheelchair accessible. I have mobility issues but can use a cane for short distances. Park spot was right next to the cabin. The stairs into the cabin had railings. The golf carts make moving around the site easy but you may need to park and walk short distances to where you’re going. There were benches by the ponds and some shaded depending on the part of the day. The signs didn’t have braille or raised lettering that would help vision impaired folks. ||We had a lot of fun! It was relaxing and the staff we interacted with were friendly. It was really nice listening to the frogs on the ponds at night. I think if you go in with hotel or luxury cabin expectations then you may get disappointed. We expected a rustic cabin and had a lot of fun. It’s going on our list of...

Those visits were very good and the reason we returned for this trip. And I have always recommended and talked up Basswood Resort to locals and visitors to our area. I can no longer do so. I read online that the resort is under new management. I assumed that would be a positive change and that property upgrades would be plentiful. I was wrong. the suite is nothing like pictured online. There is zero hominess or inviting atmosphere to the suite. It appeared you offered the bare minimum in the accommodations, just enough to get by. The whole suite just felt dirty. The floors were dusty and dust bunnies abounded on the floors. There were cobwebs in the living room window, complete with active spiders. I realize it's summer in a wooded area but given the fact the unit was recently "cleaned," that leftover is unacceptable. The main bathroom was also lacking in cleanliness. The outside of the shower had obviously not been cleaned in some time, as the caked-on dust and grime were evident. And the towel rack fell off the wall when there was nothing even on the rack. The towels were also dirty, with lint and hair. I also found human hair and what I assume was dog fur in the freezer and the kitchen drawers. And the dog fur was plentiful on the sofa. The couch was broken, with one of the feet off. And it was filthy with dog fur and hair. It is also very uncomfortable, with little cushion. The couch should probably just be burned. The queen bed was very uncomfortable, also with very little cushion to the mattress. The king room's bathroom door lock was broken and there were red smears of something on the headboard. The living room and king bedroom curtains were paper thin. Given those windows get sun all hours of the day until sunset around 9:00 p.m., it would be wonderful to have sun/heat blocking window treatments. Although we appreciated the idea of the outdoor table and chairs, we were unable to enjoy them due to the sun beating down on the front of the unit. A shade or awning of some sort would be very useful in the sun and heat of high summer. A light outside the front door would be helpful for safety reasons. The grill is literally by vegetation, a bush. That seems very dangerous and frankly, we were afraid to use the grill. After one attempt and the bush catching fire, we gave up on the grilling. The sidewalks in front of the Rudy and the pool area are in need of repair. Too many holes and uneven services made for dangerous walking. The area near the pool, I assume it was once a spray park, is another example of a dangerous section. The potential for slip and falls on that uneven and unused space is great. The information related to hours of the office, store, and pizza shop were all very confusing. The printed map information varies from the site information, which also varies from the information on the app. Not sure the main office and store ADA accessible? I saw no signs showing where the accessible entrance is located.

We did find a few positives in our stay: the pool was a good temperature, and we were able to swim in the early evening when few others were there; the oven was very clean; the ac unit put out very cold air; and the new store and the array of products was impressive.

After two months of planning, budgeting, and anticipating our stay at Basswood Resort, we were very disappointed in the experience. I really was hoping for more from the new...