Review: Still Waters Resort

[wwilli1707]

This resort appears to be a do-it-yourself type of operation for the guests. We rented a poolside studio with kitchenette. We called in advance to inquire if the room had a hairdryer and various other amenities. The person who answered the phone went to go check. They asked us what type of room we were in and told us that the room was not equipped with these things. We packed our own and found later that the room did have many of the things the staff had told us it would not including a hairdryer. It would have been nice to know in advance, but when you’ve asked and the staff can’t tell you, who can? The plumbing is pretty shoddy in the rooms. You can hear some of the pipes vibrating violently when guests in other rooms turn water on. You can see where the water has been leaking from the bathroom above and there was always a small pool of water on the front porch.

There is no maid service whatsoever during your stay. You have go to their towel exchange building to trade in towels while it’s open between 9 and noon if you want fresh ones and to pick up toilet paper, soap and trash bags. You must take your own trash out to the dumpsters. There are tons of staff everywhere, but none are very helpful and most don’t appear to be doing much of anything.

On our second night there, after returning from a show late in the evening we could not get back into our room. Neither of our electronic keys would open the door. We called the front office from our cell phone (hopefully we won’t have roaming charges on our next bill.) No one answered and there was no emergency contact number on the recording. So, we decided to go up to the front office, which was about a ½ mile up the road to see if there was anyone there, or at least an emergency number we could call. There was no one in the front office and their phone in the emergency box outside didn’t work either. After calling the emergency phone number on our cell phone we were told someone would be out in twenty minutes. Forty minutes later we were still waiting. All of the pool bathrooms were closed so there was no place for us to use the restroom in the meantime. When the person finally arrived an hour after we had called them the first time they were unable to open the door with their master key. They were not very helpful, ignored repeated requests to unlock a bathroom for us to use somewhere and had to call someone else to try to let us in. We asked if they could unlock a room nearby so we could use the bathroom. The person said they were all occupied. Eventually, they offered to drive back up the road to the office to unlock a bathroom for us there. They admitted that guests ONLY get locked out of their rooms about once every three or four months, but were not sure why it happened or how to fix it. This was typical of the reactions we got from the staff we had to interact with. Eventually, someone else was able to get our room unlocked only after reprogramming their system.

The next morning we got up early to go the office because we were not prepared to stay in a room that we could not both leave for fear of being unable to get back in. They first offered to put us it the room above us and then the room next door. No one apologized for the inconvenience. In fact, the manager stated that everyone was inconvenienced and was very unapologetic. They made the excuse that someone in another room could have slammed a door causing the deadbolt to lock itself in our room. Well, that didn’t happen. However, we agreed to go ahead and move to the room next door. They gave us an additional key to the new room. I’m not sure how an extra one was supposed to help if no keys work when the lock goes out. The room next door was not much better than the first one. Water dripped from the ceiling anytime the guests above were running the shower.

This resort is about 5 miles from Branson and Branson West so be prepared to drive a bit to get to anything.

There were five staff members at the marina when we went and no customers. Three were standing around in the office. We wanted to take a paddleboat out on the lake. They told us we could get a life jacket around the corner and take a boat as long as we didn’t leave the small cove. No one offered to help us get in the boat or offered any kind of assistance though.

Their web page says they offer free Tanger Outlet coupon booklets. We asked for one when we checked in. They said we would need to go to the Tanger mall office and show our room key to get the coupons. We did that and the mall office manger said that they could not give us a booklet. The resorts had to request coupons from them and could then distribute them to guests. The mall sent coupons for free to the resorts, all the resort had to do was request them. The mall was selling them for $5 and could not give one to us though. The Tanger mall office manager called the Still Waters office to let them know they should not be sending people to the mall office for the booklets without a coupon in the future telling them that they could get one for free by using their room key card as that was not how it worked. The Still Waters staff said that is what they have always done. The mall manger said that was impossible because they had never given out booklets to guests showing their room keys. It appeared to be another instance where Still Waters was just too lazy to do what they were supposed to in order to provide their guests with what they promised.

This property has a lot of potential, but unhelpful, lazy staff and improper upkeep of the facility make it a real disappointment. Their processing and cancellation fees are also pretty steep, so if you book you will want to avoid cancellations at all costs. We won’t be going back as long as they are under their current management.

[CLUCKINGHEN]

Wow! Sure dont want to stay there. Thanks for the report.

[Lydia1959]

Wow! Thanks for the candid review! Hope you will consider posting on the tripadvisor site and bring that resort down a notch or two! Right now they are rated #6 of 127 Branson hotels/resorts. I had considered staying there last summer and am glad I didn't now.

Here is what others have said about Stillwaters:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR..._Missouri.html
Hope this link works!

[IslandGirl]

We had stayed there in one of the cottages and it was smaller than they told us. Then we stayed in the condo after Christmas and it was a nightmare to sleep. Everything was clean though, but when we called and complained about the noise upstairs (the parents and kids stayed up until 2 and 3 a.m.), the girl at the emergency office phone said she'd have a word. Nothing changed the following night. We haven't been back there since!

We did have a few problems with the paddle boats in September last year. The guy wasn't around to give us the okay, and by the time we did get permission and life jackets, we only had about 30 minutes on the lake.

I'm glad to see someone else had a problem. It's about time these people get their act together.

Try Treehouse condos. I think that's the name and we were pleased with their condos and the view. Very clean, wonderful view, no noise but there isn't any paddle boats and kayaks. I'd rather stay with Treehouse any day than return to Stillwaters.

[LovetheLake]

Our family has stayed on the lake for many years before finally settling on Stillwaters. Based on our experiences, I can say the resort is by and the far the best family resort operation on the lake that I have seen. The facilities are impressive, the property well-maintained and the rooms are nice and very clean. This is a true family operation that really takes pride in their work. I have never any problems with the staff and I just emailed the resort the experience described to see if they can explain.

After reading your comments, you would think this was an older property ran by incompetents. We stayed in a 3 year old condominium building this summer and it is still ran by the same family who ran it 25 years ago. The place is packed when we are there and we have to get our reservations in a year in advance to get the rooms we want. Then again, we go on vacation to have a good time. Stuff happens and you do not let it ruin your vacation.

I woud take this report with a grain of salt. No place is perfect but this resort comes close. Anyone who does not stay there because of this is missing out.

I will post any reply I get.

[wwilli1707]

Originally Posted by LovetheLake

Our family has stayed on the lake for many years before finally settling on Still Waters. Based on our experiences, I can say the resort is by and the far the best family resort operation on the lake that I have seen. The facilities are impressive, the property well-maintained and the rooms are nice and very clean. This is a true family operation that really takes pride in their work. I have never any problems with the staff and I just emailed the resort the experience described to see if they can explain.

After reading your comments, you would think this was an older property ran by incompetents. We stayed in a 3 year old condominium building this summer and it is still ran by the same family who ran it 25 years ago. The place is packed when we are there and we have to get our reservations in a year in advance to get the rooms we want. Then again, we go on vacation to have a good time. Stuff happens and you do not let it ruin your vacation.

I woud take this report with a grain of salt. No place is perfect but this resort comes close. Anyone who does not stay there because of this is missing out.

I will post any reply I get.

The two rooms we stayed in were both in building C. They were definitely much older than three years. Twenty-five years old seems about right. It doesn't sound like we stayed at the same place at all. The place was definitely far from packed and about as far from perfect as you can get. We weren’t about to let it ruin our vacation, but we sure wouldn’t waste it there again knowing what we know now. Just passing our experience along so others can avoid unnecessary problems. Our week long experience was not based on an isolated situation but appeared to be indicative of the overall attitude at the place.

[wwilli1707]

Originally Posted by Lydia1959

Wow! Thanks for the candid review! Hope you will consider posting on the tripadvisor site and bring that resort down a notch or two! Right now they are rated #6 of 127 Branson hotels/resorts. I had considered staying there last summer and am glad I didn't now.

Here is what others have said about Stillwaters:
[url]http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g44160-d96580-r3723503-Still_Waters_Resort-Branson_Missouri.html[/url]
Hope this link works!

I took your suggestion and posted a review at tripadvisor as well.

[LovetheLake]

Wow. I did not think I would get replied to. You really seem to be going out of your way to be totally negative. I had no idea where you stayed but we stayed this year in Building H which is extremely nice and built just recently. I can only say that everything I have stayed was really nice except the cottages and many of those were taken out this year.

I looked at Tripadvisor too and it sure looks like you're going to be the first person to really bash this place so it looks like you are the exception to the rule. I will doing my own review as well.

I did forward this to Stillwaters and I got a short email from Stillwaters saying --

"Thank you for bring this to our attention. No one at the front desk was aware of these complaints from this guest. I will get this to management immediately. Still Waters Resort"

I used to deal in customer service quite a bit. I hope that someone from Stillwaters will get involved.

[wwilli1707]

Originally Posted by LovetheLake

Wow. I did not think I would get replied to. You really seem to be going out of your way to be totally negative. I had no idea where you stayed but we stayed this year in Building H which is extremely nice and built just recently. I can only say that everything I have stayed was really nice except the cottages and many of those were taken out this year.

I looked at Tripadvisor too and it sure looks like you're going to be the first person to really bash this place so it looks like you are the exception to the rule. I will doing my own review as well.

I did forward this to Stillwaters and I got a short email from Stillwaters saying --

"Thank you for bring this to our attention. No one at the front desk was aware of these complaints from this guest. I will get this to management immediately. Still Waters Resort"

I used to deal in customer service quite a bit. I hope that someone from Stillwaters will get involved.

I don't feel I went out of my way to be negative, just refuted the comments you made since there is such a huge disparity with them and what we experienced during our stay. I'm just giving an honest account so others will know not to set their expectations too high for this place.

The person we talked to at the front desk the morning following our being locked out of our room claimed to be a manager. This 'manager' was the one who was unapologetic, claimed everyone involved was inconvenienced by our call in the middle of the night and was not interested in making it right. This person also claimed to have knowledge of the previous night’s events (I assume from one of the staff that attempted to get the door open) and said she was expecting us. We didn't appear to catch her off guard and if that's how they choose to handle problems, other potential guests have a right to know what they may be getting themselves into. After the number of problems we experienced we had to finally conclude that's the way they choose to operate.

By the way, I'm not the only one who left less than glowing comments on here and on Tripadvisor. There are others who found the staff rude and were disappointed with Still Waters. From the bias of some of your comments in their defense, I'm almost inclined to think you must be on their payroll.

[LovetheLake]

This will be my last post on this as I have read the rules and I do not think I'll have much more to add to this thread. I can only tell you my personal experiences and that they do not match yours. Looking at the other threads, there are others who feel the same way so I'm not alone.

Now, I looked at tripadvisor (which is a really nifty idea) -- you are the only person to give it a "1" star rating. There are other people who have had problems but none so negatively as your experience. I am surprised you stayed the entire time. Believe it or not, I would not say every experience we have had at Stillwaters has been heavenly as we have had no hot water in the room and even had an air conditioner freeze up one time. However, the problems were fixed by their maintenance people and we went on. I have no illusion this place is perfect, but I am not going to crucify them for having a maintenance issue. I guess I recognize that everyone has problems and it is how they respond it that matters. Your experience was different than mine. My basic problem now is that it is not about a bad incident giving your opinion -- you have taken it to the point where you are now attacking me -- after you attacked the people who own the resort, the people who work there, the location, the quality and age of the accommodations. I respected your right to your opinion and I most certainly would not ask if you were being paid to go after the resort or attack any facts that did not match the picture you are painting.

To respond to your little statement -- truthfully, I would defend any number of places on the lake, particularly Indian Point which I love (like Treehouse as was also mentioned in thread) -- it is a wonderful place with awesome views (and cheaper), but it does not have the lake access that we have at Stillwaters. I also know and like the people who work in this area who work hard at a lot of these resorts. None of these people are lazy. A lot of businesses are also family run and they work hard aswell. I'm only 25 minutes from Indian Point at the moment but maybe I should go apply for a job and relocate. Seriously, if that is bias, so be it -- I'll give a little input if I have something factual to add now that I'll try and be on more often -- at least everyone knows where I stand -- hence my screenname.

I am sorry if I disagree, but you've more than made your point about your experience and I'd appreciate it if you'd not make it your mission to bash my statements. I certainly have tried to respect yours.

[schnauzermom]

I am so sorry to hear that you had a bad experience. It seems to me that you did everything right but was not treated right. You have every right to post on how your visit was. I would not stay there or recommend anyone to stay there based on how they were non helpful and unapologetic and really didn't seem to care if you were happy or not. That to me is not customer satifaction and should not be tolerated whatsoever.

[lsheagney]

OK - I have been watching this thread and debating with myself as to whether to get into it. First of all, I am not an employee or anyway affiliated with any business in Branson. In fact live 850 miles away. We have stayed at Still Waters Resort several times and have had a great time with none of the kinds of problems this person seems to have had. I still believe that Still Waters is one of the nicest condo resorts that I've stayed in and again, had no problems while staying there. I would hope that people would not boycott a business simply based on one review like this - especially since there are many good reviews of the same place. That would be wrong.

[IslandGirl]

I've stayed there twice and wouldn't stay there again. The staff really were not efficient, and I belive the author of the thread based on my experience.

However, I believe the location is great (like Treehouse condos), and yes, the kayaks and paddle boats are a plus IF the person who is supposed to give you the life jackets are around!

There was a post I made earlier on in the year about Stillwaters where I actually met a lady who works for them. She said she would take my complaint to the owner because I was not the first to complain. She was living in Treehouse condos by the way, and she did agree that the condos at Stillwaters had 'paper thin walls.' Now if you have a bunch of little ones and you're the offender then you wouldn't have a thing to complain about.

Treehouse gets A+ from my experience.

[avery4]

Cant say anything about Stillwater.. but we stayed at Treehouse Condos and we were very happy. Never heard of a door key not working three or four times a month? Just remember everyone has their own opionions. what I might like you might not!