Drift Lodge & Fly Shop — Local services in Island Park

Unfortunately, due to a death in the family, we never got to stay here. Our Nana was unexpectedly hospitalized and subsequently died two days before we were supposed to leave for our trip. We were heartbroken due to the death, and obviously needed to postpone our trip.

When I called management to explain and ask for any kind of refund (they took a while to get ahold of by the way) I was told and this is a DIRECT quote, “you should have had travel insurance”. Yep, I was told that while our Nana was dying in the hospital. We argued back and forth a little bit and the call ended with them telling me that if they could fill our room, we’d get refunded. Pissed about the insurance comment and hot from arguing, I decided it was best I said nothing else and agreed. Fast forward a few days, I checked availability online at their site and hotels.com- no vacancy. So, I email to check in and was told the room wasn’t filled. I sent screenshots of what I was looking at and waited for a response. I was told to make sure I was checking the “all rooms” selection -as if I didn’t double check that in the beginning. I said I did, and this is when it got rude. They sent me a photo of their schedule- the one only THEY can see- and this is what I was told. “ As I mentioned in previous email, a guest staying last night was moved due to a disability. If the night is not colored cabin is open. I have no idea what you asked for. This issue is over and done.”

We lost our 87 year old Nana and this is the kind of response we got from a “family” run business. I’m $800 in the hole and we lost the matriarch of our family in the same week. DON’T stay here.

In response to the owner- I was unable to post a review without marking a star on all 3 categories. I have no idea what the facilities look like because we were never able to see them… since we had a death in the family.

Yes they offered us a stay at a different date, but we had had this trip planned for over a year. We both have jobs and cannot just move all of our arrangements around to accommodate a different date. With PTO already taken off and flights already booked, the days we chose were the only option.

We were very, very polite about asking for a refund from you all and were trying to do what was best for us at that very difficult time. Unfortunately, we were met with rude, unprofessional, and inconsiderate responses. So, we’re minus one grandparent...

We booked this cabin as we wanted to spend a few days in a rustic place near to Yellowstone Park. This was about 20 miles away. The cabin was rustic and gênerally well presented albeit very small; the bed was nice, plenty of towels, a fridge, microwave, TV, kitchen sink, dish cloth and t-towel, and a coffee maker with some coffee. And small toiletries. But there were some things that could have made the stay better. The main one was that despite the kitchen area and fridge and microwave, we were given only one plastic cup and one paper cup for three nights stay, for $600. We asked for plates/cutlery and the kind men in the shop said they’d sort it, but didn’t. When we called management they said they don’t provide any eating utensils. I pointed out that we’d been promised them in the morning and it was now late (about 9pm). As we wanted to eat our food, they kindly provided two paper plates and some plastic knives and forks, but advised we could buy more at the store down the road. We are grateful for the paper plates etc but think this policy is flawed- there’s not much to buy to eat in Yellowstone, and there’s not much point in providing cooking and refrigeration utilities if you then don’t provide basic crockery/cutlery / it’s not something we packed in our luggage! We had to eat our pre-purchased breakfast out of the cups we were using for hot drinks! And you need more than one paper and one plastic cup for three nights stay. For this reason we wouldn’t go back. The doors and window frames also had gaps in so the nearby road noise was louder than expected. ||The shower was adequate in strength, and nice and hot. I wouldn’t recommend this cabin though if you’re a large person. ||The only other thing was the waiver you’re asked to sign on check-in which says you agree to pay 120% of fair value for any damage. But it doesn’t clarify that it applies only to damage that the tenant causes, and gives no opportunity to disagree with anything. For example, the microwave needed a bit of a clean (nothing drastic) but I wouldn’t want to be held responsible for a previous tenant if something hasn’t been noticed. We understand the need to protect the asset and maybe past experience has caused issues, but it needs also to be fair to the tenant. ||Overall, a nice little cabin, but policies...

In early June I made a reservation at the drift lodge and fly shop for July 10-11, shortly afterwards I realized that the reservation should have been for July 09-10. I called the drift lodge and was told to cancel the reservation through booking.com. I explained that booking.com indicated that i would not be receive a refund for the reservation through their website and the employee that I spoke with (who did not identify himself) told me that information was correct but once the drift lodge could confirm the reservation cancellation email from booking.com they would make a refund to me for the cost of the room less $50. I felt that was reasonable and I agreed. A couple of days later I spoke with a guy named Patrick when I called to confirm when I would see the refund, I could clearly hear someone in the background coaching Patrick to tell me that I would receive a $110 refund by the end of the week for sure. By Friday I had not noticed the refund and I so I placed another call to the drift lodge to clarify and the man who answered the phone (who also did not identify himself) said that he had no idea what I was talking about or why anyone would tell me that I would receive a refund, as I would not be getting one. I protested, explaining that I had called multiple times and was given the same information each time-that I would be receiving a $110 refund. At this point I said, " it sounds like regardless of what Patrick says you're not going to honor the refund" to which he replied, "that's exactly right". If I had known what would of happened, I would have kept the reservation and spent another night in the area. This is a very poor business practice and I feel that based on what I was told, I should be entitled to a refund. I definitely wouldn't recommend staying here to anyone. Not to mention the fact that I've read several reviews from what I'm guessing is the owner, being really...