We visited The Homestead in August of 08. We booked our travel with the resort directly and had never heard of the place prior to stumbling upon it online. We read no reviews. We should have.
We traveled with young children and stayed for several days hoping that a resort setting with food included in the package would be restful and easier. It was anything but.
Our first impression upon driving up was very positive. The area is beautiful and the facility grounds and exterior are very well maintained.
When I drove up, I specifically asked for guidance to the self parking area. The valet said, �Oh, we�ll take care of that.� So I was essentially nickel-and-dime pissed off before I even walked in the door.
The lobby felt a bit worn. Not bad, just worn. However, our personal expectations were high based on the cost of this resort. So we had a bit of a sinking feeling right off the bat.
There was a line at the front desk that was a bit annoying, but the folks were friendly and helpful.
I�ll start with the room, as that is where our angst mostly lies.
The web site and postcard show a beautiful, historic resort. They don�t show you a picture of the Garden Wing, which looks like it took its exterior architectural inspiration from late 1960�s East Germany.
When we entered the room, it seemed decent enough. Not as plush or as nice as we expected, but OK. Then we started to see the details:
The microwave was not plugged in and the cord wasn�t long enough to reach the plug. The fridge wasn�t turned on and was not cool. The alarm clocks were flashing and not set, a table was rickety, the porch had a bunch of mold that stained our clothes, the door lock on the bathroom was broken, the soap and the soap dishes were concave and quickly made slime-soap, the Kleenex box didn�t fit into the appointed cabinet hole, the sink spout was broken, there was mildew in the bathtub, the bathtub surfaces were all slanted so that a bar of soap could not be placed anywhere, there was no hot water and low flow in the bathtub the entire time, there were no vents or fans in the bathrooms, the carpets felt slightly gross, the big screen HD TV (which was nice) simply highlighted the crappy non-HD analog signals�there was no HD programming, the main doors didn�t have any internal locks that would preclude children from leaving (the deadbolt actuated with the door handle), the wallpaper was peeling, very slippery bathtub/shower floor, really cheap and crappy shampoo and conditioner, no hooks for towels anywhere near the sinks, bricks separating from building on porch, and porch ceiling was missing chunks.
We also enjoyed other people�s hair in the shower and the stained carpet, and the worst part for me was the pillows. I can usually tell you how much a hotel room will cost by the pillows. The more I get asthma and allergy eyes, the cheaper the room. (I only get asthma from hotel pillows�nothing else in life). These pillows were bad�like crappy Motel 6 bad. I woke up wheezing every morning. We felt unclean when we woke up in the mornings. That generally only ever happens at the cheapest road side motels.
They also left a room service tray in front of our door for over 24 hours after goofing our order and they never vacuumed the room. My wife had to ask from one and vacuumed herself.
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We will not be returning to The Homestead.