Bring your own towels
Written: Jun 19 '03 (Updated Jun 20 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Experience a simulated POW camp without the hassle of war.
Cons: Experience a simulated POW camp.
The Bottom Line: I can't recommend Lakeview. The rooms, although large, were wet. The staff was stupid, and the service horrid. Bring your own towels if you ignore my recommendation.
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| javajnkie's Full Review: Lakeview Resort & Scanticon Con Ctr |
Edited to add the hotel rack rate
Last Memorial Day weekend, our family trip to some obscure woods in the hills of West Virginia was ruined. A last minute stab at Priceline for alternate plans turned up rooms at Lakeview Resort for $30.00 a night. Whoohoo! The rack rate for a cheap room is $150. The kids were psyched, mostly because (I'm guessing here) they could pretend to be rich kids for three days. This is, after all, where the rich kids play. Off we went--we had two double rooms with adjoining doors.
After hanging out there for a weekend, I have to wonder why the rich kids play here. I slept terribly all three nights. The beds were comfortable enough, the rooms were large, but I kept having nightmares that I was a POW in Vietnam. Each time I woke up, I'd remember why water torture works. It didn't matter where I moved, there was always a rhythmic drip from the ceiling onto my forehead. Lakeview should work this into their advertisement: Lakeview, where you can experience the outdoors in the comfort of your room.
Yeah, I complained. No, they didn't move me. No other rooms were available, they said. I could hearing what they didn't say, "for cheapskates who got their rooms on Priceline."
Maybe it would have been more fun had I used some of the amenities. Swimming anyone? Lakeview offers two pools: a heated outdoor pool, and a heated indoor pool. The outdoor pool was closed because it was raining, and I suppose the staff figured you'd get wet enough when you tried to sleep. The indoor pool was just gross. It's in dank and musty closed-up room with inadequate ventilation; stepping into the pool area reminded me of going down to my basement after it flooded when I was on vacation. Except this room was packed with seventeen 12-year-old kids who had stayed over for a birthday party. I jumped in anyway, because..well..why not, when I realized that the pool smelled odd. A quick look around and I realized there were no bathrooms in the area. Thousands of empty two-liter soda bottles were piled into the wet-towel bin (someone thought it was a trash can despite the sign. All that liquid had to come out, yet none of these kids were looking for a restroom. It didn't take long for me to decide to try some other amenities, so I hopped out and hunted for a towel. For heaven's sake, they had to have towels!? I asked an employee who happened to stumble in, and she shook her head. "We're working on that."
S'okay, what's a little pee water on a Saturday morning? I dealt with it stoically, and returned to my room. I don't golf, which was Lakeview's main attraction, so I walked down to the fitness center. They've got a climbing wall down there that sounded like fun. It still sounds like fun, actually, but since it was closed, I'll never know if it actually is.
By now, my kids were kind of bored. My oldest decided to go to his friends graduation party and he left us for the night. The other children wanted to go fishing. I'm not sure what the attraction is with fishing, but I wanted to please these little guys. Someone once told me fishing was fun because you got to see if you could outsmart the fish. Sorry, I've got nothing to prove. Anyhow, Lakeview is situated on Cheat Lake, although there aren't actually any views of the lake from any of the rooms. The only place onsite that you can see the lake is one of the golfcourses. Still, I figured the "activities center" would know where to go. I called down and asked where the best place to fish was, and was told all about some outfit 100 miles away in Pittsburgh that will take you on a guided fishing expedition. "That's a little much, they just want to stick some poles in the water. Is there a fishing hole nearby?"
The person on the other end seemed lost. She didn't know, but she'd ask around and get back to me. When she finally did call back, it was to tell me to just go driving around town and I'd find something, and that perhaps I should ask at a bait shop.
After finally finding someplace to fish (not at Lakeview and with no help from them), we decided to go to the driving range. I've never golfed in my life, but my husband has and wanted to take the kids to just "hit some balls." The front desk directed him to one of Lakeview's many golf courses and told him there was a driving range there. However, when he got there (it was a few miles from the hotel), they told him the driving range was at a different course. The front desk didn't even know where to find their own amenities?!
The weekend was a comedy of errors, including a backed-up sink in our room (it was backed-up when we arrived, but we had two rooms and just used the other), maid service that forgot to replace the towels (she took the old ones, but left us towel-less. This hotel really has something against dry guests), and cable service that kept pixelating the picture. I was hoping they ask me, as I checked out, how everything was. Sadly, they didn't.
For thirty bucks a night, I find it hard to complain too loudly. Well, that's a lie. It's not hard at all. In fact, I think I'm going to send them a letter right now.
For the record: our rooms came with the usual: an in-room coffee maker, tv, cable, charge for local calls, loud neighbors (remember that birthday party? I think they had the room next to ours), a sink, toilet, and shower.
If you're thinking about heading to Lakeview, just remember to bring your own towels.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
javajnkie
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Member: Mari Nichols-Haining
Location: Somewhere Out There, USA
Reviews written: 26
Trusted by: 22 members
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