Pine Hollow Lakeside Resort — Hotel in The Dalles

As a person who's worked in customer service management for 10 years for a major retailer, I'm appalled at the experience I had this weekend at Pine Hollow resort. Where do I even start? First off, my partner had been visiting this place since she was a child and we were finally able to visit with a group of friends (and their child) for the first time this weekend. As we pulled in, the resort looked nothing like it did on their website. It was poorly maintained, the restaurant has a "for sale" sign on it, and the campsites are packed so close together. You're basically bumping elbows with your neighbors, which is fine for some people, but for those of us who rely on the website, hope it's information is accurate. We'd never sign up for that type of camping. But what was even worse was their lack of information on their site pertaining to campfires. Now I know it's fire season and open campfires are against the rules. So my partner called the resort and personally talked to the owner about using a propane fire kit, which we were told would be acceptable. Since we live THREE HOURS AWAY we really expected the staff to know what the current laws are and we purchased a propane kit which they rudely told us we couldn't use...thanks for wasting our money. Then they assigned us a site so far away from the lake (which by the way, was extremely low...information not included on their site) by the out houses, only accessible by walking through our camp. I was patient and polite up until that point and we all decided this place was a HUGE LET DOWN!! So I went to the office and explained how we would just like a refund because we had only been there not even an hour. The woman working behind the counter was extremely rude and unprofessional. She proceeded to throw my receipt of payment on the counter, told me she didn't have to deal with me, and that there are no refunds. I told her that was horrible customer service and that I'd like to speak with the owner, who was also very unprofessional, let alone offered no effort to make our experience better. Even after I told her my partner had been a long time patron and we had expected more. The woman I originally spoke with accused me of lying and acting like some ungrateful teenager (I'm an educated, successful 27 year old professional, with a family of my own. Why the hell would I lie about something like that? I'm not a law breaker folks!). The owner honored the refund and I was scowled at upon leaving the office. I'm truly disgusted at this level of service and would recommend visiting other campsites around the area. We ended up camping at Sherar's bridge, which is fantastic btw. Pine hollow also tried charging us for everything thing imaginable, which is clear why because they must losing funding. DO...

They do have a strict cancellation policy but if you want to have a good time for both grown ups and family (there is a playground) there is a really a lot there. However, this is not roughing it. There is a restaurant/bar, a store, and mostly RV sites with electricity. There are a few campsites that are not the best, but if you are spending most of your time on the water what does it matter? Warning, if you are in a tent on a busy weekend the road noise from all the people going to and leaving from the bar is VERY noisy. However, if you are in an RV, or cabin I'm sure it is better. We were right next to the bar so I barely slept for 2 days, on the Monday, our 3rd night I slept well. Another thing, on one review it said how they are money grubbing here. I found this not to be true. Yes they do charge a deposit for the bathroom card. That is to keep the bathrooms only for the people who are staying there. And they do charge $1 for a shower. But if you think about it, this is a Private Camp Ground. State and county campgrounds charge an additional fee on top of your daily rental anyway, it's about $8. So here there is no additional reservation charge, and they are just covering overhead. Additionally, we found the owners, very nice, very considerate, and very helpful. Just keep in mind, this is a campground for having a party weekend full of fun on the water, you can go to the bar if you like, and the store is well stocked with about everything. They even sell gas and propane. There is even a restaurant so if you didn't want to cook you could probably eat there. We went July 4th, 2015 weekend and were not able to make a fire because of the risk of fire. But we used our gas Barbque no problem.

Lastly the dock to get on the water with a waverunner, or boat is way around the lake. It looks close from the water but is about a 20 or so minute drive. The closer dock is closed for...

The owner Frank seemed okay until I just asked!!!! If he had people on a waiting list for cabins if I needed to get out of the contract and if so could he see if someone would take my place and get back to me (he said that was confidential if he had a list, Really!) I wouldn't let him lose his money just because I'm sick or the weather wasn't what the weather online said it was suppose to be 2 weeks ago. It seems greedy because he would gladly keep my money if I canceled and rent it to someone else too, after I canceled. They have run it for 30 something years. I'm sure their financially fine. A lot of people I know have houses on the lake that probably use his store. Probably not a morning person either, very grouchy, then in the afternoon he was nice. He was fine while I was there. His wife Gail (blonde hair) that works in the store seems very quiet. The A-frame was really nice, although you might need a porta potty if you need to pee in the middle of the night. I believe there is a ghost there. i had my magnetic bathroom keys disappear 3 times and one time I put it on top of the toilet paper holder then found it on top of the quarter machine and the magnet in the card had it stuck a little. I could see a white misty ball above my head in the bathroom and took a picture. I seem to attract them throughout my life though, so it may be me. Looks like they remodeled cabins and a-frames during covid to look more...