Kalahari Resort Convention Center

Review: I have reached out to the lost and found employee several times to retrieve some items I left in a room I stayed in on Oct. 20-21. I have called and left voicemail's, no one called me back and I physically went there on Oct. 30, 2015. When I actually went there I spoke with the gal that runs the lost and found over the phone after the receptionist got her on the line. I was interrogated over what my items looked like, what they actually were, and what color of the clothing. Since these items were left in my own room, 2450 I didn't understand why all of this was even asked. The lady told me that she would call me in a couple hours to get my address and have my items shipped to me. I still haven't heard anything from her. I described the clothing and where I left them in the room, in the dresser the TV sits on in the master bedroom. I don't even understand why I have had to spend so much time and energy on trying to simply get my own clothes back. I have never had any problems with any other hotel retrieving items from that were left in the room I stayed in. A couple of the items were brand new and one shirt I can't replace so easily. Every year my husband and I go up north and it's tradition to buying something to remember our trip by, this time I bought a T-Shirt and for some unknown reason I can't get my clothes back. I feel completely ignored and disrespected on many different levels. I was there for a conference, a lot of the organizations I work with book with Kalahari, however I will never recommend this resort to any planning committee I sit on.Desired Settlement: I would for sure like my clothes back and I should be compensated for driving all the way there and still not coming to a resolution or even be able to talk to the lost and found physically, in person. I will need a significant reason to ever come back to your resort. Possible a stay for my family for my troubles, I've been driving my husband crazy because I keep talking about this situation. I ask for something for my family because I usually stay there for business, never for pleasure. Since I have already driven there once I think it seems fair for a complimentary stay for wasting my time and money. I'm sure that a resort as large as yours would have no problem swinging this since all the organizations I do work with spend $30,000 plus for a group of a hundred. I know this because I have organized events for the organization I work with and I know how much these conferences cost. This particular one that I was at was upwards of 400 people, so I am sure it was at least $100,000. I know the people that plan these types of conferences and I am sure they would like to hear about how I couldn't even get my clothes back from my actual room, not in a general area.

Business

Response:

Good Day Mr. and Mrs. [redacted]:I am grateful that our Security Manager has been in touch with you over the last couple days offering compensation for the challenges you experienced in trying to recover your items. If there is any way I can further assist, please do not hesitate to call or email at any time.Thank you for your patience and understanding. We truly look forward to serving you many times in the future.Warm Regards, [redacted]Kalahari ResortsDirector of Rooms Division

If you are thinking about booking a room... Buyer beware!
With this hotel the best rates are the last minute ones.
I booked 3 months ahead for a middle of the week October getaway ...then kalahari had a groupon deal. I called and asked if they would give us free theme park passes with our room(a groupon perk and a savings of $80) I didn't ask for a price adjustment, so we were still paying a higher room rate... They still said no.
This is the third time that I booked a room there and friends and family pay way less by booking last minute.
I cancelled my October trip and will be heading to great wolf lodge...
FYI. ... Calling customer service rep was awful, [redacted] was nasty to me on the phone ....we have been to this resort over 15 times ... Being a loyal customer means nothing... Time to find a hotel with better customer service!

Review: We dealt with so much grief at this resort. It started with mother-daughter pedicures that they didn't schedule correctly but still charged full price for. Then we get up Sunday morning and discover my husband's medications have been taken out of his bag and we just filled his pill box before we left. We contacted front desk as soon as we discovered this and security did get called. They looked at something and said only the housecleaner was in our room. They talked to him and he denied it. They asked us if we wanted police involved, thought that was a given in medication theft, but we had to push for it. Police did come later morning on Sunday. Claimed he spoke with the housekeeper and since he denied it, nothing they can do. Hotel did nothing else. We went to lunch after this happened and dealt with a situation where the waitress disappeared after serving us food that took a long time to get. We asked for napkins and never got them. We had to flag down management to get to-go boxes and he dropped a check without asking if we needed anything. We ended up being late for an appointment we had scheduled. We ended up going back to the room and a housekeeper showed up at 3 in the afternoon. We didn't want anyone else in our room after the incident but they continued to have them come to our room. We had to block the door and insist she not come in. We ended up staying there for most of the afternoon to make sure they didn't come back. When went to the pool later and came back to voicemails wanting to know why we didn't want housekeeping service. Why would we after someone stole from us? The final straw was no one calling to follow up with us about any of this. We ended up spending most of Sunday in the room to protect our things, we even ordered delivery so we didn't have to leave. We spent about $1,000 just to stay at this place and didn't even feel good about leaving the room for long because they wouldn't take care of us. On top of all of this, we were stuck in a condo room that is an insane walk to everything including the conference center for our daughter's cheer competition. My husband is disabled, we asked for accommodations, did not get them in the room. He didn't have bars for the tub, toilet, etc. and the walks made it that he didn't do much with us most of the time he was there either. We also had the enjoyment of listening to a large group of people in one of the condos on the 3rd level above us yelling, jumping, screaming and running that would start about 8 pm and could stop around 2 am ALL 3 NIGHTS we were there. This was the biggest disappointment and waste of my money and time I've ever come across in my life. How can a place not try to take care of a situation that a theft happened in their rooms, shouldn't matter if the guy denied it, why would we lie about something like this? Due to the medication being stolen, we had to go home and order more medication and deal with explaining why we needed to order a week earlier than usual because of this. We deserve to get our money back, it happened on their grounds, only one in the room worked there and then they allow those people to come back to our room.Desired Settlement: I want my money back, my time was ruined by having to worry about if anyone else was going to enter our room because room service kept trying to get back in there after we asked them not to.

Business

Response:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. [redacted]:I am very sorry you experienced these challenges while staying at Kalahari Resorts in Wisconsin Dells. We strive for our guests to have a stress free experience and leave with wonderful family memories. It sounds as though your stay was far from that. I apologize I was not able to speak with in person about the several errors in service you witnessed. I was aware that the police were notified regarding the medication missing out of your room. The authorities did advise they did not feel the housekeeper was guilty; we do follow the authorities insight in this type of situation. I spoke with our Spa Director and am sorry for the confusion regarding your bill. It was very clear in her explanation as she her self was both responsible for the appointment booking as well as the payment at the end of your services. She informed me that you were not overcharged in the spa, that she pulled your receipt and verified that you received a shape and polish (20.00) on your toes and that your daughter received an express pedicure (40.00) and you left a 20.00 tip, 10.00 for each provider bringing the total bill to 80.00. Per the Spa Director, you insisted your daughter have the more expensive service as you didn't need anything but your nails polished. I certainly apologize that our high standards were not upheld in the food and beverage areas. I have reversed and refunded the charges from the food and beverage outlets as you requested upon departure ($40.71) for the challenges you experienced. I would be most grateful for another opportunity to prove our standards and regain your trust in Kalahari Resorts. I have mailed a complementary upgrade from a standard room to a two room suite. Please feel free to contact me once you decide to return. Thank you again for your time.

Consumer

Response:

Review: I received an email stating they had a special for a two night stay on the weekend of Oct 2nd and 3rd 2015 for the rates of $199.00. So I reserved a room from this email. A few days later, I received another email stating that one of the water park areas will be closes. The Tiko's Watering Hole area which is the main area for my 5 year old daughter to play in. I called the Kalahari resort to understand why its closed and possibly get a different weekend. The customer service rep said that the rate is lower because of the maintenance. This was never explained in the original email I received with the special rate. This is a bait and switch advertising that I feel is very misleading to customers. I was able to cancel my room but this was a waste of my time and cost me not getting a better rate at another hotel water park in the WI dells area because they filled up.Desired Settlement: I believe they should not advertise lower rates if its because of maintenance to a water park. Be honest and let the consumer know up front why you are lowering our rates.

Business

Response:

Dear Revdex.com Representative: We are sorry to hear of Mr. [redacted]'s frustration over the fact that some waterpark attractions were closed for necessary maintenance during the dates of his intended stay (October 2-4, 2015). While there will never be an ideal time to close any of our attractions in full or in part, we take very seriously our responsibility to ensure that all of our attractions are vigilantly maintained in order to ensure the safety and welfare of our guests. Many times such maintenance is able to take place during the overnight hours, but on occasion some projects do require some attractions to be temporarily shut down while all necessary processes are completed. We acknowledge and regret that Mr. [redacted] was unable to learn of the partial closures from our web site when booking his reservation on September 21, 2015 but wish too to point out that (1) The room rates were already lower than they otherwise would have been on the dates of Mr. [redacted]'s intended stay as a direct result of the fact that some waterpark attractions were shut down for Maintenance, and (2) we did send Mr. [redacted] a confirmation email shortly after he booked online, and this email did inform him of the fact that some waterpark attractions would be closed for maintenance during his upcoming stay. When Mr. [redacted] called our reservations call center after receiving this email, he certainly had other options available to him than cancelling his reservation. He could have rescheduled his reservation for another date, perhaps, or still enjoyed many of our waterpark attractions on the dates of his originally-intended stay. Again, we truly do regret any inconvenience and we are sorry to hear that Mr. [redacted] chose to cancel his reservation. It would be our privilege to serve Mr. [redacted] and his family at some point in the future! Thank you.[redacted]Director of Rooms & Guest ServiceKalahari Resorts & ConventionsWisconsin Dells, WI 53965

Review: I made a reservation over the phone for a group of 7 adults at this resort, and was quoted a nightly rate based on the 7 adults that would be attending. We then received an emailed confirmation quoting the same nightly rate and indicating that it included 7 guests. When we received our bill upon checking out, we noticed we were charged for an additional guest for both nights we stayed. This was not something that was conveyed to us when the reservation was made that we can remember, and it certainly wasn’t something that was conveyed on the electronic confirmation we received the day the reservation was made. As you can see from the attached reservation confirmation, it is clear what the nightly rate is for SEVEN guests. It doesn’t say SIX guests with an additional nightly charge for the 7th. When we disputed this, we were told they would go back and listen to the recorded phone conversation, and it was later determined by “two reservations managers” that we were properly informed of this additional guest charge. However, they would not let us hear the recorded call to determine that was actually the case, and they denied that the reservation confirmation should hold any weight given that “they have no reason to lie.” Well, I take offense to that as I have no reason to lie either. Over the course of the weekend, our group probably spent over $1,500 at the resort, so even though the discrepancy only came down to about $75, it is now a matter of principle. Why do they get to validate on their end with evidence that is not made available to me, the consumer? It is unethical in my opinion, to send out a reservation confirmation that does not convey the true terms of the reservation. How is a consumer supposed to know what the resort will charge them in the end if they can just rely on hearsay to validate their claims? What is the point of a reservation confirmation if consumers cannot rely on it to be accurate?Desired Settlement: Well, of course, we feel we should be reimbursed for the difference between what our reservation confirmation said we would be charged and what our final bill was. (We should have been charged $1,039.25 for the 2 nights, but instead were charged $1,114.38 for a difference of $75.13). But, since this has escalated to the point where the resort representatives practically accused us of lying for a mere $75 after we had spent over $1,500 as a group there, we would be happy with a an apology for their poor customer service in their response to this issue AND we would ask that their confirmations be changed to actually hold weight as a RECEIPT for what the consumer will be charged so the consumer knows what to expect upon checkout.

Business

Response:

Dear Revdex.com Representative:?

Review: Can I talk on phone? Disability barrier.

THERE was oil smell in hotel room #1459, bathtub then next day, today, black, flakey like substance floating in thewater in bathtub,When filling with water.

It was reported to front deskmDesired Settlement: They don't want bad publicity, what will there settlement be offered ?

Business

Response:

Dear Revdex.com Representative:

We are sorry to hear of Mr. [redacted]'s impressions of his room, and wish that he had made us aware during his stay of such concerns in order for us to have had an opportunity to have addressed them immediately. Upon a thorough inspection of the room upon receipt of Mr. [redacted]'s feedback, we found no indication of an "oil smell" in the room. We did find that some adhesive used on a tub patch had worked free, and are willing to believe that small particles of this adhesive, if floating in the water, may have been the debris in the tub referred to by Mr. [redacted]. The tub itself was and is clean and free of mildew, etc. This patch has subsequently been rectified fully before the room was returned to service.

Mr. [redacted] lists as his purchase price "$50"; for the sake of clarity, Mr. [redacted]'s room was paid in full by the group whom was hosting the event held at Kalahari. Mr. [redacted] then reimbursed the group $50 under the terms of his scholarship with the group. We can not, therefore, "refund" Mr. [redacted] money which he did not pay us. What we have done, however, is to speak with the head of said group and explain our desire to make things right with Mr. [redacted]. We have now refunded the group the $50 with the understanding that the group will now refund Mr. [redacted] his $50.

It is our feeling that this matter may now be considered closed. Thank you.

Director of Rooms & Guest Service

Kalahari Resort

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Bedbugs! We stayed at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells in July 2015. My children were bitten by bedbugs when we stayed there only one night on the 4th floor. I called the resort asking them to inspect the room for bedbugs to confirm my suspicions. They gave me a speech full of lies ensuring me that they have a certified team who inspects the rooms on a quarterly basis and takes bedbug complaints seriously. The supervisor assured me that she would have the room inspected and call me back with the results. I have not heard back from the Kalahari resort and they refuse to return my calls. Let me assure you, this place has bedbugs and you can bring them home with you. Stay away. The staff who run the place are mostly young kids (kids in their twenties). They like to say things such as, "we will be in touch and work something out with you," but they don't really give a crap and they don't return your calls. It's a money making business. Where water slides are, people will go. Visit at your own risk and don't let the bed bugs bite!

Review: On March 3, 2013 upon exiting the resort after a long weekend stay with my family, I tripped on uneven pavement at the bottom of the stairs. It was not an ice or snow issue. The sidewalk at the bottom of the stairs had an uneven seam and upon stepping down from the last step on the stairs, my toe caught on the edge of the seam causing me to fall forward landing on both my knees, my daughter standing just ahead of me reached out to catch me, braking my fall and helping to avert my head from hitting the pavement. In doing so, my neck and shoulder were twisted causing muscle strain, plus both my knees were injured in the fall. Even after 5 months I still can not kneel on my right knee with out pain.

I realize accidents happen, however, had the hotel posted the spot with a warning of uneven pavement, until the matter could be corrected, I feel the fall could have been avoided. I called and talked to the front desk to alert them of the situation, she did not offer to fill out a first report of injury and as we were on our way home, I didn't think of it either. I didn't know the extent of my injuries until I got home and could really look at knees, see the scrapes and swelling. The next day I emailed them my concerns with what happened and that the area should be posted until it could be fixed. I was very disappointed that no one responded to my messages either by email or by phone, even if just to make sure I was alright.

I did receive medical attention for my knees and shoulder, which I covered under my medical insurance and paying the deductible fees. After several weeks, I sent a letter through an attorney that was helping me. I did explain that I did not want to file a formal law suit regarding my injury, but I felt because of the extent of my injury sustained on their property and the medical costs I covered, I felt it called for compensation on their part, by refunding the cost of my stay their. They did not respond. I then did a second letter, once again explaining what had happened, the update on how I was doing, and once again requesting a refund of my stay or complementary return stay comparable to my first stay. Once again, they have not had the courtesy to respond.Desired Settlement: I have felt from the beginning that their failure to post the uneven pavement, put them in part at fault for my fall. I do not wish to go through a court battle regarding this causing both of us excessive time and money. I would like an apology for their lack of response to my concerns and my well being. I do feel I am entitled to compensation equal to my stay there, either monetary or a complementary return stay of equal value to my first stay.

Business

Response:

We have been in contact with Ms. [redacted]'s attorney.

Consumer

Response:

Review: We were given the Royal African Queen Suite on the 4th floor which was considered the quiet zone because it had key access only, however the key access doors were not shut the entire time we were at the location, allowing anyone to roam through the halls, also the halls were not monitored by security any of the days we were there for what we can tell. We actually had to call security on the first night because the party suite that had a hot tub on the balcony was making excessive noise and slamming things against the walls which was very disruptive enough to make me move from our queen bed room to the other room just to try and get a good nights sleep. The noise started at 930pm and lasted until I finally broke down and called the front desk - why is no one monitoring this.

Also upon arrival we were told that on Tuesday night from 10pm - 6am the water would be shut off in our bldg for repairs, this was fine as we would be sleeping. However when we turned the water on there was an issue with our kitchen sink and it not working because of all of the air in the line. So we opted to wash our dishes in the bathroom sink, just dissatisfied with our overall stay enough to make me start questioning whether or not we will be staying at the Kalahari for our next trip. We have loved the Kalahari over the years however it was clearly represented by this stay that they were unstaffed and did not appreciate the guests that were at the hotel even if it was a "full house" which was explained when I called. When you are operating a large expensive reputable hotel this means that you need to find a way to be fully staffed and ready for the amount of guests you have agreed to accept.Desired Settlement: I would really like a refund for at least one of the nights we stayed at the hotel. Especially being in the quiet zone with the key entry to the hall not working, this allowed anyone to enter the hall the entire stay. We specifically upgraded our room to make sure we were feeling safer and this made me very upset while I was there. At first I thought maybe its because they were cleaning the rooms and the staff was in the hallway however, while staff is cleaning the rooms and the hallway is open the doors are propped open allowing ANYONE to come in the rooms if the staff is not present and paying attention. We instantly opted out of having room service while we were there in fear that someone could enter our room that was not hotel staff. I honestly do not know if we will be staying at the Kalahari every other time we have stayed I have come home raving about our experience, and this time I am not - hence I am writing a complaint through the Revdex.com to get these issues taken care of. They need to increase security presence, as Im sure if someone from security were walking around they would have noticed that the secured doors were not shut. Also it would be nice to explain if there is a water shutoff notice what it could mean for guests.

Business

Response:

Our Guest Services Manager, [redacted]. has been attempting to speak directly to Ms. [redacted] regarding her stay and they have been unable to connect up to today. [redacted] will continue to work directly with Ms. [redacted] to regain her confidence in Kalahari.

[redacted]'s notes are as follows:

5/30/14 [redacted] S- attempted to contact Ms. [redacted] to speak further; left voice mail mssg at 2:00 pm requesting return call.

6/3/14 [redacted] S- attempted again (Ms. [redacted] had not returned my 5/30/14 call) to contact Ms. [redacted] to speak further; left voice mail mssg at 2:40 pm requesting return call.

6/3/14 [redacted] S- Ms. [redacted] returned my call, left me voice mail message requesting return call.

6/4/14 [redacted] S- attempted to contact Ms. [redacted] to speak further; left voice mail mssg at 12:44 pm requesting return call.

6/4/14 [redacted] S- attempted to contact Ms. [redacted] to speak further; left voice mail mssg at 5:02 pm requesting return call.

Assistant to the General Manager

Kalahari Resort

Business

Response:

Ms. [redacted] and I were able to connect this afternoon via phone (as Ms. [redacted] had indicated, the fact that Ms. [redacted] and I had not yet been able to speak was not for a lack of trying). Ms. [redacted] acknowledged that she had been made aware at the time of check-in of a maintenance emergency which necessitated a temporary disruption to water service during the overnight hours of one of the two nights of her stay, and acknowledged being informed of the fact that when water service was restored it would be advisable to allow the water to run briefly in case there may be any remaining air bubbles in the line. Ms. [redacted] said that she found the temporary water disruption to be inconvenient, and I apologized for the inconvenience. I asked her about noise near her room, and she said that the noise had come from one of our rooms near hers which has a hot tub on the balcony, and said that the noise was caused by several people who were in one of the hot tubs. I explained to her that our Security staff had responded to the one call that she placed to the front desk complaining about noise from a nearby room, and said that they had been in the hall near the room in question within 4 minutes of her call and found no noise. I told her that my takeaway, and one that I will share with the Security team, is that the Security team -knowing that they were responding to a noise complaint which may involve a room with a hot tub on the balcony, should have investigated from the perspective of listening to/observing the balcony. I told her that this may have happened, but -given the fact that Security reported not hearing any noise from the room- it may not have. I told her that her feedback is valuable and appreciated, and apologized for the inconvenience. I told her that I would love to send a certificate good for a complimentary 1 night stay in a Royal African Queen suite good anytime (based upon availability) within the next 12 months. Ms. [redacted] said that this room style -the style in which she stayed during this visit- has become her family's favorite, and said that she finds my offer to be very fair. Ms. [redacted] said that she and her family will look forward to returning to Kalahari in the near future. Ms. [redacted] thanked me for the followup, and I thanked her for her valuable feedback. We both agreed that we would like to meet the next time that she and her family return.

Dells location--This place sure gives you the run around when there is a problem. We stayed at the Kalahari because of my daughters cheer competition to take advantage of what they have to offer and let the girls enjoy their down time at the water park. We arrived on Friday enjoyed the water park, Saturday morning the girls had to compete after the competition we headed to the water so the girls could have some fun. After a few hours we got out of the water so that they could go see the older girls from our gym compete. We got them showered and headed to the convention center. After we were done there we ate and then headed back to the room where the girls actually showered again so that we could prep their hair for the morning. When my oldest daughter opened the bathroom door bright red and crying I knew something was wrong. Then we noticed that another girl in our room was the same so we began to check everybody and noticed that in our room 2 adults and 5 kids were effected. I headed down to the front desk to see if anyone else had complained, I was informed that in fact others had and that they would send a first responder to our room. The first responder came to our room along with management and looked at just one of the girls from a distance and handed us some burn cream and said its probably going to be a long night but it will be better in the morning. The cream made it burn even more and one of the girls in our room actually began to spread and we noticed fevers. So first responders came back to our room and said cooling rags etc. I went back to speak with management and was told that there was in investigation on the matter and that they would get back to me soon but the didn't want to call the room to late. I offered them my cell phone number instead. The also made the comment that this seemed to be an isolated incident surrounding the cheer convention. And that there was no way this could be chlorine related because they were checking levels every hour. I woke up Sunday morning to no phone call from management so I went down to the desk and was told that I had to wait till after 8. After eight I was told that no compensation would offered till the investigation is closed. We headed down to the convention center for the second day of competing and after awards I received a phone call from the head of first aid I gave her as much info as I could as we headed back to our room. She game to our room with hydrocortisone cream to apply to the girls. This seem to take the sting away but redness stayed however the relief didn't last for long. There are several girls and families from our gym that have the same thing going on also in passing I also learned that families from other gyms are experiencing the same issue and we are all getting this big run around and being told that this is related to the cheer convention. My 3 year old didn't cheer and has it the adults in my room didn't cheer and have it. So swim at your own risk. We have avoided that area the rest of our stay. Last night while picking up more cream for the girls a new case was reported at the front desk. Things happen but when you don't take responsibility it makes you look really bad to a lot of people that paid good money to stay at your resort. Team Champion put on a great event for the girls but SHAME on you Kalahari. At this point we have an upcoming reservation at the Sandusky location and I can't say that we are going to keep it. We have enjoyed your resorts in the past with no issues however this really sets a tone of how you feel about your guest and I can definitely say that the lack of customer service leaves a lot to be desired and I can't say that I will even return at this point if there is another competition hosted at your venue. I would rather stay somewhere else and be treated with respect and not be talked down too. Also while staying the bathroom light fell out of the ceiling yes it was fixed in a timely fashion, glad someone wasn't on there and the bulb didn't shatter when it came crashing out.

Review: Services not rendered as advertised and numerous accounts of information withheld and mis information given which resulted in the entire loss of a family events and cost , stress for our family and guests.

I first want to say that we have made the Kalahari resort a tradition in our family and often meet with other family and even drive down for the day to play or meet up with others. It has been a happy place for our family over the years and I think we are advocates for the resort and desirable guests. We normally try to stay on site and eat on site and purchase from the gift shops etc.. rather than go out to other local businesses and spend time and money there. We have never had a problem to this extent at this resort .

Our family had planned a surprise 21st Birthday party for our daughter . We were coming the the Kalahari over Mothers Day weekend for 3 days. Prior to arriving on numerous occasions we had phones reservations and the front desk to gather information regarding anything being closed, water park features being closed, eateries etc.. Normally we would not go to such painstaking efforts but in this case since it was going to involve a special event and other family members who would be driving we wanted to be sure we had accurate information.

In order to pull this off as a surprise we needed to be able to check into our room early the day of arrival. It is not the policy of this resort to promise this, but we were told by reservations that we could call the front desk the night before arrival and see if they could accommodate this. It would be based on occupancy. We did this as requested and called the night before at 8pm and were told they were not busy and we could for CERTAIN get into our room early. I explained we would have food that had to be out of the car and made certain we could get into our room as early as 10am. the young lady said we could and that she was making a note on our file to make sure we would be allowed in early. At that point I called all the family and friends and let them know it was a go for the next day , so they could plan to leave early and arrive at the resort on time.

We arrived early and could not get into our room .. this was the first event in numerous events during that stay.

Not only could we not get into our room which ended up causing me to have to call family and friends who were on the road already and cancel the events , but the loss of a large amount of food , stress and an enormous amount of time spent trying to deal with the issues during our stay.

We spent the entire trip trying to recover from one misinformation after another... just trying to find a way to make it okay .

We had requested we be re issued the gift certificate we used for the first night the evening of that first night . We also asked about being able to check out and go home without penalty due to the numerous amounts of misinformation given us. We were told no we could not check out at that late stage without basically paying for the stay.

We did not end up getting checked in on that first day until almost 8pm . Our daughter was not allowed to use the FLo Rider because of a NEW stand up rule which required a course. We explained she had surgery on her neck 4 weeks previous and could not stand up anyway but it did not matter. This trip was so well planned out and in advance that the surgery on her neck was scheduled so that she could be able to heal and ride that flo rider . That is the only reason she prefers the Kalahari waterpark over others in the Wisconsin Dells. Because that is the only reason she likes to come to this resort , we made certain in our planning processes that it would not be down or being repaired etc..

they were offering a Mother Days special and we know from past experiences that sometimes when they offer specials like this it is because some of the waterpark features are not operating, so we asked.. We asked Many times. We were told every time everything would be running. We verified this the day of check in. We were told again everything was going to be operational during our stay.

We had factored in weather and had an itinerary. The majority of time for using the water park was to be Monday, a day that was scheduled to be raining which would prevent other activities outdoors. Staff was made aware of this during our discussion regarding the issues we were having.

We had requested the gift certificate be re issued the first night. We were offered drink and food coupons instead and we declined those stating we would not accept those in place of the gift certificate being re issued for the first of the 3 nights. We were told no it was not in place of but just something they could do that night. We were also offered a Birthday Cake which we said we would let someone know later. Everyone was so upset by this point at the entire loss of the first day that the idea of getting a cake and trying to celebrate this even without friends and family was pretty upsetting.

The next day we spoke to a Front Desk Manager. We asked to speak to [redacted] S the person we were told to talk to but were made to speak to Tiffany B instead. We told her what we were requesting and she told us she knew [redacted] S would not re issue the gift certificate. She offered us more coupons and the option of coming to stay again at 150.00 per night no restrictions. Along with the other coupons and the promise of theme park wristbands and a cake We explained that since we come during off peak times and normally using a special that was not really compensation. She insisted that was our only option. We felt something was better than nothing and after an hour just wanted to not lose anymore time on that day to this mess and said that would be okay ... We assumed there would be no more issues for that stay. We were wrong.

We went on that day, Mother's Day and golfed expecting to come back to the waterpark at 9pm with an hour to be able to use the hot tubs and enjoy drinks and relax before going to our room. We arrived at the waterpark sat down in the hot tub and were told they were closing in 3 minutes at 9pm. We had specifically asked about closing hours at the d front desk that morning and were told 9pm and made our plans accordingly.

The next morning we printed off a written request to submit to the Front Desk Manager that we spoke to the day before requesting we be allowed to use the offer of the 150 per night on our next 2 stays instead of one stay. We wanted something in writing at this point because of all the misinformation we had been given.

Our plan for Monday was to use the Theme park in the morning and then be in the waterpark the rest of the day for the florider. We did not want to spend more time talking in person about the situation and did not feel the offer made to us that was not what we asked for was enough compensation for the damage that had been done.

This request was passed on to the general manager and while we were in the theme park he called our cell phone to talk about this situation.

We had spoken with him previously over a year ago when he reissued the gift certificates for us as they had expired and found him polite and helpful. We have previously purchased those certificates as part of a non profit auction and they were expired. He agreed to re issue them.

This call however was not as polite and in fact very off putting

We have stayed at the Kalahari with our family or friends and other family for 14 years. . IN that time there have been little issue here or there , an unclean room, mis information etc.. but nothing huge and nothing that falls out of what is common when staying at hotels or resorts. Staff have always been helpful and polite. that does not mean however that we would not tell staff if there was a problem. Things we felt were important to know so that perhaps future incidences of that behavior could be prevented., but nothing big..

Mr. [redacted] however made it clear and stated numerous times that he was concerned that they could not meet our expectations. Not only did I feel he was unapologetic for the issues caused on this trip but that our business was not appreciated or wanted. I explained again that this trip still cost our family the same amount of money as if the Party had gone off , same vacation days , same time etc.. and that our goal was to be able to come back during the summer sometime and try to pull this off again and celebrate this event as planned. This is why we had asked for our one gift certificate back . We had asked for 1 of the 3 nights back. the Saturday night we arrived on since we would not have come that night at all if we had been told we could not check in early and host the party as planned.

Not only did he not agree to accommodate that but I had to argue with him to even be promised the items we were already promised. I explained we had not been able to use the food drink coupons and were told at the bowling alley we could not use those either and again asked for the one night back.

I also explained that we were on property for the day and that our plans for that day were Theme park and Flo Rider. It was at this time he asked me if I knew the flo rider was down all day that day. I said I did not and explained we were told it would not be down . He said well they could not control if something breaks or not and that it was unexpected. Now not only have I lost time with my family in the theme park but I have to go to our daughter who was already devastated by the events to this point and tell her the one reason the one thing she wanted to do was gone. The one reason we held on, the thing that was supposed to turn this around.. was not an option. The amount of stress on this trip caused by the mis information given us by staff was too much and she was in tears as was I. It broke my heart to have this ruined for her .

It had been such a stressful year with surgeries and biopsies and the Kalahari has always been a family fun place, a place to unwind and enjoy our time and it was ruined.

Once we knew our plans for that Monday were now ruined due to the flo rider being down I asked Mr [redacted] if they would honor the request to be able to use the 150.00 per night offer for our next 2 stays. He said absolutely not. HE felt we had been compensated enough. I explained my position but he made it clear he did not feel they could meet our expectations.

He stopped just short of asking not to stay at the hotel. Again after 14 years of our family and co workers and family and friends... and no real big issues during our stays this is how we were treated. HE made it clear that for future stays we would not be compensated for any issues. I told him if there was an issue we would report it and that I found it disturbing that we were basically being told if we had a problem we should not report it to staff in future stays. I think that may have been a mis communication and that may not have been what was meant but it was unsettling all the same.

I explained that we travel a lot and I grew up in the business and that we are VERY forgiving when it comes to things, but that this surpassed anything acceptable . I also clearly stated the expectations we have when staying someplace.

1. Service and amenities as advertised for the price advertised

2. A clean and safe environment

3. The ability to ask or obtain information from staff and have it be accurate.

I told him if those 3 things were not met then yes we are going to say something and that does not make us difficult it makes us customers with basic expectations. He did not seem to agree.

I am dealing with health issues having had a cardiac event in January and felt the stress was too much and opted to get off the phone with him and try to find a way to save yet another day that was a disaster due to mis information.

It was at this time.. for the first time at 1pm in the afternoon on our 3rd day that he offered to allow us to leave the hotel early and obtain half of our Mothers Day Stay back. He said we had to let the front desk know by 3pm.

SO basically we would get less than 100.00 back from our stay and would still have lost vacation days and the cost of the rest of the stay and incurred the stress. We decided not to check out . Everyone was tired and did not feel safe to make the drive home and again we asked for our one night back so we could come down and try this again . It was denied.

We had given up.. decided to basically toss in the towel and leave it be.. We had asked for a face to face meeting with Mr [redacted] because of the phone conversation we had. We felt he has mis information about our family and previous stays as well as this stay and we felt concerned over his demeanor during the call. Not only did we not get to meet with him but no one even bothered to let us know we would not be meeting with him.

He made us out to the problem not only to us but to other staff. We were never the issue , we only expected what we were promised, told and what was advertised. We were concerned about that and wanted to meet with him.

During our last Day at the park we found out that the flo rider was not shut down due to an unplanned maintenance issue. We found out that it was scheduled to be down at least a full week before it was shut down. It was planned.

We realized at that point we had been lied to. A front desk manager told us they had all gotten emails about it being down a week in advance and all knew about it. This was disturbing because at no time when we asked and when we did not but made it known that our entire plan for Monday was the florider did anyone tell us it would be down. Had they done that we could have adjusted our plans but they did not. We literally asked management and were told it wold NOT be down. Mr [redacted] literally used the word we can not control when something breaks... Stating that it was unplanned. We were outright lied to.

In short.. we did not get what was advertised. Once we realized that we had actually been deliberately lied to we felt we needed to file this and again request our gift certificate be re issued as previously written and re dated.

IF this was any other hotel and we were treated that way by management and had this number of issues we would simply never go back. We would advise everyone we knew to do the same... BUT because of the long history with this hotel and previous positive experiences we simply did not feel it was fair to write them off.

We wanted to give them another chance and a chance to make this right and to come back down and try to celebrate this event over the summer and leave with a positive experience . We needed to undo what happened during this stay .

Once we got home and sat down and decompressed from all the events and lowered our stress level , I remembered that several of the phone calls to the resort were made from my business line and as such would have been recorded.

I submitted a ticket to ask to have any calls to the resort numbers pulled and audio files sent to me to review.

After listening to them and hearing staff, numerous staff members from reservations to the front desk during several calls give mis information repeatedly. This includes the flo rider being up, checking in early, where the Mothers Day buffet was being held, waterpark hours etc.. and then also having staff recorded at the resort stating that in fact the flo Rider was scheduled to be down in advance , that it was not a sudden break that caused it to be down, we felt we had to file a more formal complaint.

This is not how you treat guests. We did not get what was advertised. We were not given accurate information by staff on an inexcusable number of occasions, we made our plans according to that information and our family suffered emotional and economic losses due to that.

It would be our hope that not only would our family be compensated for this event but that steps will be taken to prevent this for other guests in the future.

In reviewing the recordings of calls the amount of mis information was staggering. While do not feel the misinformation was deliberate in most cases , we do feel it indicates a lack of communication between departments and lack of training. Being told by management the flo rider repair was an unexpected event however was what we feel a deliberate mistruth.

It is not acceptable.Desired Settlement: We would also ask that since portions of this complaint involve the Hotel general manager Mr. [redacted] and his handling of this , that this be escalated to someone other than him, his assistants or anyone within his authority. We would ask a regional manager or the owner be the person to contact us.

We are once again requesting our gift certificate for that Saturday night be re issued as it was written previously which was for a Nomad , no restrictions as to time of year or weekends. Restricting major holidays is fine since we do not visit during holidays.

We are now asking that this done in addition to the other certificate we have for a discounted rate on a future stay. This will allow us to try to do this again . To try to celebrate this family event again. This attempt will still cost our family vacation time and finances in addition to what was already done with this last stay but we feel it is important that we have a positive experience and that we give the resort another chance because of our history and positive experiences there.

I am sad to feel like our business may not be appreciated but our expectations are not unrealistic..

1. Service and amenities as advertised for the price advertised

2. A clean and safe environment

3. The ability to ask or obtain information from staff and have it be accurate.

We are asking that any negative remarks concerning this previous stay be removed from our folio so as not to negatively impact future stays and how staff treats our family.

We are happy to speak with someone over the phone or set up a a time to speak to them etc..

I am also able to provide some of the recordings of phone calls and a recording of staff confirming that the flo rider repair was planned and a scheduled event.

The above would be our desired settlement, HOWEVER....... We do not want to return for a stay and have hotel staff treat us differently or have our folio flagged so that if there was an issue we are treated badly etc.. so,

IF the hotel does not feel they want our return business then I would ask that the value of that Gift Certificate for a Saturday night stay in a Nomad room during the summer be issued to us in the form of a check for 319.99. This is the rate for that room in July on a Saturday night. We would additionally ask that we be refunded the charges for the Mother's Day stay if this option is chosen by the hotel. The cost of that was 139.00 plus tax and resort fees for the two nights we stayed. It would be our hope that this option is not the one chosen but wanted to offer an alternative to reissuing the gift certificate in the event our business is simply no longer desired.

There are plenty of other vacation options in Wisconsin as well as the Wisconsin Dells area to choose from , and while we are willing to give the Kalahari another chance , we are not willing to do so if a negative undertone is already going to be shed on future stays due to this issue and our last stay.