Penn Estates Welcome Center — Local services in Stroud Township

Nice, quiet location in the Poconos. It’s a gated community, with many of the residences available as AirBnB rentals for those looking for a quiet getaway. The only real complaint is the entrance, located to the left of the visitor’s center, guard shack, front office, etc. There are two lanes - one for residents, the other for guests. The guest lane, often gets backed up for several minutes, and it’s frustrating. The temporary pass, with scannable barcode, needs to be waved UNDER the scanner. The red laser scanner thingie needs to hit the barcode before the gate will lift. This seems to be lost on many people, and they just flail their arms at it, open their doors to take a closer look, stop to call the office on their cell phones for help, all while more cars stack up behind them. It’s annoying, for sure. Perhaps a few “how-to,” photos or a video should be required to be viewed before handing out the pass. But it definitely gets old, especially when you’re there...

Security is an absolute power high. They do not care about the safety of others at gates. For those that aren’t from the area, they provide paper instructions at a gate for people to find the right directions. They do not have a security member at the other gate entrance and will make people do a u-turn, meanwhile, there are 6 other guests behind them and no one to effectively flag people to back up so the person can turn out. If anyone has an accent or English as a second language, they will not provide appropriate help.

They will fine people 100 dollars or more if they ask questions. If you ask to speak a manager, they will be resistant. I also went for a paper map and it was thrown at me. I one time called to ask a question about pool hours and was given an attitude. While the facilities and houses are nice, if you want to live in a place where security will charge people fines for absolute nonsense or if a question is...

Terrible welcome area, they WILL tow ur car if u leave any car parked in THEIR lot. “Even if it’s only been an hour” quotes from tow company. Welcome area & security will watch u park there but not informed u any parking regulations, & they have one sign that is hanging sideways & not visible in the dark & overnight security guard stated “we have signs that are visible you should’ve been looking” If the booking has 2-3 cars max nd you bring a 4th vehicle just know it’ll be $520 tow bill coming per day, they will say “we called countless times” but have no proof of call log stating they reached out. Overnight guard (female) stated “go find parking somewhere else” mind everyone that is booking in this estate, you’re in the middle of the woods with no service at some parts & they expect u to park “some where else off their property” even tho u have a booking already in there estate. Very rude service nd disrespectful to...