Whitefish / Kalispell North KOA Holiday — Hotel in Whitefish

This was the worst and most expensive ($180 per night) RV site we have stayed at. Their advertised WIFI did not work the entire stay, the park is not well maintained and trashy, the slots are too short for the RV and truck, and the roads are extremely narrow.

We are on a 5-week long RV trip. Staying near Glacier Park was supposed to be the highlight of the trip. We originally booked 3 nights here so we could have two full days exploring Glacier Park. Because of how bad this park was, we ended up cutting our visit to this part of Montana a day short, so we only had one day to spend in Glacier Park.

We had absolutely no WIFI or cell service (T-Mobile or AT&T) within the RV park. I work in the evenings when I travel and cannot be without any type of service for days at a time. I ended up going into town and working in the car the first night and outside at a pavilion in a park the second night. The whole reason we bought an RV was so I could be in my own space to work.

When I went to cancel because of the lack of WIFI, the response was "Montana is behind the times with broadband." This is simply not true. We had perfect service literally as soon as we pulled out of the park and have had service at the other 4 parks in Montana we have stayed at on this trip. I told her that they shouldn't advertise they have WIFI if it never works. Her response was "it does work, just not when everyone is using it." REALLY...so basically it never works because everyone is always going to be on it. We couldn't even get it to work to check email at 3:00 in the morning. This could be avoided by simply putting in 2-3 towers with amplifiers throughout the park to pull the signal.

The site we booked had the following description: "Pull Thru, 50/30 Amps, Full Hookups, Deluxe Patio Site. There are a limited number of these large full service pull through sites. Each one is different with its own charming features." The "deluxe patio" we paid extra for was a simple wood deck that was falling apart.

When we originally booked our slot, we designated we had a 37-foot travel trailer. That plus a truck to pull it would mean we need at least a 50-foot site. We ended up purchasing a shorter 32-foot fifth-wheel RV just before the trip. Even with the shorter RV we couldn't park our truck in front of or behind the RV. We ended up parking next to the RV in the grass. I don't know what about this site would be considered "large" as stated in the description. It wasn't just our site that was too small/short like this. The majority of the sites had people's vehicles sticking out into the roads, parked sideways, or in the grass. Driving down the roads with the RV attached when entering and leaving was problematic because the roads were not wide enough, and you had people's vehicles sticking out into the roads.

I would absolutely NEVER consider staying here again. I would have been better off to just park in a parking lot or rest area somewhere and saved myself the $350 this ended...

1 STAR. Red Flag: when you check-in, they give you a map of the camp, which includes a written request for you to rate them a “9” or “10” on the corporate KOA “How’d we do?” exit survey. It seems they know they don’t deserve such ratings and are trying in advance to mitigate the issue.

Whitefish deserves a quality KOA, but this location is tired and rundown. WiFi & cell phone reception were poor. “Adult hot tub” was dry and not functioning. Playground equipment was old and outdated; might be unsafe. If there was a petting zoo for the kids, we looked for it and never saw it.

When you plan to stay for more than a week, all the advertised amenities are important and factor into your decision. Don’t advertise these amenities if they don’t work or don’t exist!

The worst problem was the lack of transparency from the office about site placement, and the lack of equality among sites of the same price.

RV sites here are far from equal! We were placed in site 18: impossible to level, wildly slanted in 2 directions; like a carnival funhouse (but not fun)! The site was also narrow & not suitable for our rig size/configuration. Trees prevented us from extending our awning. We did not ask to move because we were camping with friends, who liked their site next-door to us.

Note: The map on the website does not contain site numbers. It’s all a mystery and feels like a bait and switch game. We reserved two sites 5 months in advance and asked what numbers we had booked. We were told 2 specific numbers, and upon arrival we were placed elsewhere, with no explanation as to why, other than “the owner moves things around without telling us.” Yet, we were assured that we still had secured “the best sites in the park.”

We have stayed in 40+ RV parks in the past 4 years and have NEVER experienced a site so unlevel/unsuitable for the size of our rig! The couple in site 40 told us they had been placed in site 18 earlier in the week, and had asked to move.

Note: we also witnessed a 5th wheel back into another too-narrow site, scraping a tree, and damaging the rig. This confirms that other people were experiencing similar problems. Does the office consider these issues when assigning spots?

If you cannot guarantee a specific site, then don’t tell people what site numbers they booked and where they are located! If your sites of the same price point vary greatly in quality, then don’t train your staff to tell everyone that they have the “best sites.”

Other RV parks advertise with full disclosure that there is no Wi-Fi in certain spots, or that the pool/hot tub is closed.

I expect better from a KOA. This type of “hospitality” is not worthy of the KOA brand. And this experience has caused me to question what company I will choose for...

Very outdated KOA with rather run down grounds, dirty bathrooms, and unlevel sites for both RVs and tents. Not enough bathrooms (10 showers for the entire campground located in 2 buildings, most of which were pretty far from many sites) and several tent sites I saw were the size of postage stamps and wouldn’t hold anything larger than a 4 person tent or were directly next to the check-in building or the road. My family ended up placed in the group tent area, which luckily had plenty of space, but was not very level, had no privacy from the neighboring group sites, and was overgrown with very tall grass and weeds, including giant stabby thistles that were the bane of our feet’s existence. It was far from the site grooming standards I expect from KOAs or even state/national parks. The group sites are all up a steep hill from the nearest bathroom with a narrow deer path leading the way down, which was not an ideal situation with kids at night. The pool was nice, but while the idea for the paddle pool and petting zoo was cute at one point, the paddle pool was a green swampy color that smelled funky and the mini horses’ water trough was in similar shape, which couldn’t be helping the mosquito situation. Free hot breakfast was a pleasant surprise we appreciated, nothing fancy but it did the trick for our kids, hence the 2 stars.

NOTE that this is NOT the closest KOA to Glacier NP!! We discovered the West Glacier KOA Resort was basically right across from the park, and a quick drive through gave me the impression that it was very clean, new and...