Talking Stick Resort

Reviews 3

ST

Stephanie Elliott

As an anniversary gift for our 2 year anniversary, my parents booked my husband and I a room at Talking Stick. I have been to the spa multiple times and was excited to make a weekend out of it. We made reservations at the spa, as well as at Orange Sky for our anniversary dinner. Unfortunately, neither my parents or myself realized that while my mom had used her credit card to secure the room, the card had not actually been charged yet. Once we tried to check in, we were told that the hotel would need a signed authorization form from my mom to process payment. Well...that would not have been a huge deal but for the fact that my parents had headed up north for the weekend with no access to email or fax. Ok, no problem right? What are the other options? Well we could use our own credit card. As luck would have it, my credit card has my maiden name on it. Yes it is ridiculous that two years later, I have not ordered a new card. I get that. But in 2 years it has literally not once been a problem. So the situation is certainly deteriorating. The name on my card matches the name on a bunch of other cards in my wallet but not my license. So the manager says she under no circumstances can take my card or my moms card. How about cash? Seriously, how about we pay for the ENTIRE 500$ room charge in cash? Well, if we want to pay in cash, then instead of the regular 50$ deposit for incidentals, Talking Stick requires another $500.00. Absolutely absurd and I clearly do not have 1,000 dollars in cash. So my mom is on the phone, Im starting to lose my marbles, and yet still, this resort will not budge on any policy to help us remedy this unfortunate situation. We cant use my moms card, she cannot come in the following day, upon her return, to authorize, we cant use the card we have due to my maiden name, and we cant pay in cash. So sadly, we turned around, got our car, and headed back home. Now, I am not trying to be unreasonable and I absolutely understand the motivation behind each one of these policies. I really do. However there are times when flexibility will benefit the business far more than staunch adherence to strict policies. I feel that this is one of those times. I am sure that these policies have saved Talking Stick from being left holding the bag on certain occasions. But does it make up for this situation? My whole family goes to Talking Stick a few times a year. My mom, sisters, and I go to the spa regularly for girl bonding time. Both of my sisters have taken multiple weekend getaways at the resort with their spouses and friends. We have all given and received Talking Stick gift cards for various holidays. But after my anniversary was such a disaster, none of us will go again simply due to the complete lack of understanding, and inability to apply any principles of empathy to their policies. So, yeah, I am saying that they should have made the exception. Even though the situation was partially my fault and their policies are their policies, an establishment with superior customer service would have taken pity on the now crying lady in the lobby and worked something out. Incidentally, the resort with just that kind of customer service was The Boulders, the resort we ended up at and are thankful we did because the service was great, and no one made me cry.

JE

Jenna Lee Dumovich

This was the worst hotel experience I have ever had. To begin, checking in was a complete hassle. I arrived at approximately 11:00 AM and had a cabana booked for the pool for that day, July, 11. We already had another room and had requested for them to be together and for early check in. When I arrived, my family was already in the other room and knew that the conjoining room was cleaned and ready. I was told that it would not be ready until the normal check in time which was 4:00 PM. You have to understand how frustrating this was since I had to be at the cabana by 1:00 or we lose our spot/money. We had called the front desk from the other room to see if my room was ready and they said yes. "Great!" I go down stairs (with ALL of my stuff) and Nicole tells me there must have been some misunderstanding, its not ready yet. We called again, and the front desk told ME to call Housekeeping myself to see if they could make the room, "available", which they did and I was able to finally get the keys. I should have never been the one to have to call Housekeeping myself, that was very rude and not MY responsibility. Next, we were leaving the Cabana when our waitress, Victoria had the nerve to complain about her tip! Which by the way, she gave horrible service and we still left her an appropriate amount and she was upset about the amount she received and made it very clear. This was extremely unprofessional. Next, as we were walking out of the resort to go to dinner, my friend had made a bad face about the god-awful smell that was lingering from the buffet. When she did so, we had two security members demanding we leave the property since we were "intoxicated". This was not the case and I found it very rude and embarrassing having two large men escort 3 young women off of the property (even though we were already leaving for dinner) due to a facial expression. Finally, when we were checking out we asked to speak to a manager, the lady rolled her eyes and said she would be back. When she did, she reported that, "it was going to be a very long wait and that we might as well just call". This was not the case, because when we replied that we rather just wait, the manager instantly came out. I just think that this was overall a terrible experience from check in to check out and ruined by cousins birthday weekend. We will not be booking here again.

JE

Jennifer Chimbur

I reserved a room 2 months prior to my one night visit for a wedding. Two weeks before the wedding I called to make sure I can get a early check in or pay for an early check in to ensure that I am able to get ready for the wedding I was attending. They said they would put a "note" to see if I can get on the list early to get a room earlier than normal check in at 4. I then called 2 days before check in to see if I can get on that list or what the status was. They said they can do nothing. I expressed the importance of an early check in since the wedding started at 4:30 and I need some where to get ready. No luck over the phone. The I arrived at 1:00 to check in an expressed my concern of getting an early check in. They said no. I asked where to guest get ready for such events? They said we have a bathroom right over there. I accepted their answer, said I would give them an hour before I get too concerned about getting ready for a formal wedding. Then I ran into a guest that was also going to the wedding. I asked how he got a room early. He said he had to pay for an upgrade. I went back to the front desk and asked if I could pay for an upgrade. They said no there is nothing available. I said fine, I will have to blow dry my hair and curl it in the public bathroom. THEN there was a room available but they wanted $130 on top of my regular room price!! I said no way! Overall I got a room at no charge. BUT what bothers me is that it was a struggle, added non sense stress and that when checking in they ask you if there is anyone else that I want to add to the room to make orders or be able to add charges to. I said no. But when I came back to my room, there was a roll away bed in it! I was telling my friends and one said, Oh I ordered it just in case I needed some where to stay. I was so mad! This was my first night away with the husband and did not want friends crashing our hotel room. The hotel let a random person make changes to MY room! AND they gave him the details on how I obtained the room and the cost!!! Not anyones business!!!! The room was pretty nice but there was orange slime/mold in the bathroom. I have pictures and plan to share with management there. My opinion is, if you can avoid staying here, I would.

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