Arrowwood Lodge at Brainerd Lakes Info
Amenities
Other
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Pool
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Free parking
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Free breakfast
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Free Wi-Fi
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Star rating
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Check-out time
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Check-in time
Amenities
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Free Wi-Fi
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Free breakfast
Best KPortal Reviews
Very fun! The kids had a great time at the water park. It's nice because you can see most of the park from your table. The bar/grill attached had great food and service! They need to upgrade their pillows in the rooms. They're like 20 years old with no support.
We were very happy with this hotel, it had a nice waterpark that my kids (6, 8, 9) all enjoyed for a few days. We thought the rooms were nice and spacious and the staff friendly and helpful, with a very nice hot breakfast in the morning. I'm taking one star off for something that I hope they address in the future. We've been to several waterparks over the last decade, and I've never been to one that had such inattentive lifeguards, and that's assuming there even was any. There were times we saw no one at all on the main deck, or none up at the waterslide, or them sitting around on their phones, or throwing a ball around with their friends in the water. This didn't diminish the fun my kids had at the park, but they are old enough to swim. If you are there with younger kids, do not trust their safety to the life guards.
Here is the thing, this hotel has the potential to be a 5 star experience but there are some issues. Let's just say you get what you pay for.
The main issue is they didn't charge us correctly and I'm not asking about taxes and fees. The room rate was different and a special room fee was assessed when we didn't even get the room we booked. That could be a mistake but other people that day had the same problem. So it's a big mistake, that's as far as I would call it but some others have a different word for it.
Sub issues.
Garbage lines the halls. Several times throughout the day the same halls had Garbage outside over half the rooms. That is disgusting.
The carpets are dirty with visible dirt along all edges. If your hotel team doesn't have and attachment for your vacuums get one and use it.
Something all hotels at some point have... yellow stains on the bed linens. That was bad.
Water fountain by the lobby basically does not work and needs serious maintenance.
Breakfast was bad. Burnt sausage Burnt Potatoes and dry. Eggs were ok. Didn't have sugar free syrup or cream cheese. No jelly. No bagels or toast. Orange juice was out of order.
Easily things to fix.
No manager is available to fix anything. Not even our bill. This is an operational/management issue not so much a direct issue with the staff with everything about this. If owned this hotel I would put changes in right away.
The rooms were decent size and had an older look. The front desk staff were not the friendliest. The room was not ready at check in at 4 pm. The bedding for the sofa bed was less than adequate and only provided one flat pillow. The pool was over crowded and so strong of chlorine we couldn't stay longer than an hour as our eyes just burned. Life guards really didn't do much and would be swimming at your own risk. Very little amount of tubes were available for the waterslide and we had to wait a long time to go just one. Later I received my credit card statement and was charged for having my kids with. The room size was for 6 people and we were within that room limit. I booked through a third party site due to a promotion. I've stayed at many hotels before and don't think about changing the people as it has never made a difference. It was not noted on the site. I called to talk about the charge as I was never informed upon check in. I was told that the credit card on file was for incidentals. This should be something they verbally inform you about. Would not recommend.
Decided to come here for my son's birthday with his friend. Check in is at 4pm. We arrived a bit before 5 and our room was not ready. Could not tell us when it would be ready. Was given our water park passes and told they will call us when the room is ready. There were no towels available on the table for water park guests. Lockers were all full regardless of them in not being locked. Had to hold all our stuff till a table opened. Let our kids start swimming. Went back to front desk and no one was there for 15 min. Asked about room and we did not even get checked in by the last person. Finally after 630 pm we got a room. One TV remote didn't work. Beds very uncomfortable. Room was hot. Water park was OK, run down and floors were dirty. No life guards. Crowded. Unable to get tubes for waterslide and one kid had 2 or 3 of them stacked together down the lazy river. Did not get to use the arcade due to late check into room. Found stains on our bed, my son found finger nails on his bed. Breakfast in the morning was picked over, long waits, milk in a weird glass container has been out all morning. Did not end up eating there. I do not feel like we got our money's worth at all.
This review is in the water park specifically. Do not rely on the “life guards” to look out for anyone’s safety. The three I saw were jaw jacking and on their phones the whole time. There were no rounds being made, no safety checks at the designated times and they basically had no eyes on the water. This place is a swim at your own risk, so you better be watching your kids. This place is a liability waiting to happen. The locker rooms have little to no space to change and there is no privacy for you and your little ones. Last but not least, don’t order the pizza, it may smell good and look good from afar, but it’s not worth the money. Order out!
Maybe this hotel was great at one point. But the only pros to this hotel were the size of the rooms and the arcade prices. having a "living room" type set up, and adjoining rooms was nice when we went with our friends. We were able to put our kids to bed, and still hang out. Other than that, the beds were terrible, with sheets that are clearly very worn. The faucets on the shower would only switch half way, so the pressure for showers was awful. ||The arcade was also the best prices we've ever seen for those cards you load up, and how many "credits" each game cost. They also had great toddler games (however over half the games didn't work). This was our saving grace for how much time we DIDN'T spend in the waterpark. ||The water park was one of the worst we've been too, and the main problem was the chlorine. It was very evident that there is no staff hired specifically to monitor chemical levels. The chlorine levels were far too high, and we could tell by all of the excessive coughing, rashes, burning skin feels our group had. It honestly felt as if it was at dangerous levels, as we all felt sick, until we left and were on our way home. I had a chemical smell in my nose for a whole day after we had left. Besides the obvious health risks, the main picture on the Arrowwood website of their waterpark includes a toddler type slide area/stairs, and the dumping water bucket. THAT IS MISLEADING, because that is no longer there! My 4 year old often wanted to leave after only a short time because she was't feeling good, and the lack of things she was able to do.|You would be better off (and healthier) saving some money and going to somewhere like Great Wolf Lodge, where you will be safer and healthier.
You get what you pay for. I'm grateful that my family booked a last minute getaway- we all needed a rest and with a huge age gap in siblings it was nice to go to a place that could accommodate a toddler and preteen (the pool) and a teenager (the room and arcade). We are laid back people with pretty low standards, especially when we see the price- while perfect for last minute it was definitely a "you get what you pay for" experience.
Pros-
-The pool was nice. All 3 kids enjoyed themselves. I throughly enjoyed the outdoor- on-a-crisp-spring- day hot tub experience. The kids lives the slides and everything. The pool area was clean and taken care of
-We were able to check in early. We arrived at 2 and asked if we could use the pool. Our room was ready and everything so we were able to check in at 2. This was nice bc it gave us that 2-4pm windows where the pool was not busy at all.
Cons-
- I get really excited for hotel breakfast. I know I know- lame. But something about not having a kitchen full of dishes with a family of 5 is just - relaxing. However this breakfast was - meh. No milk for the cereal, everything was running out and no one attending (and we didn't go late or anything- just no staff around and everyone is looking at each other like "ummm"), yogurt was expired. Idk- I get that breakfast is "free" but I also don't want to get sick and would've appreciated the basics.
- the blood. I have been to many many hotels. I have never run into blood before. 2x here. One- on the toilet seat rim. And the room was serviced- new trash bag, sink wiped, etc- but they must have missed cleaning the toilet. With a toddler, I'm always prepared with some Lysol and wipes, but idk, even with my low standards it's off putting. But that's not the worst. We asked for 2 more pillows. The pillows here are like 10 yrs old. We got the pillows and went straight to sleep. When waking up, I like to strip the bed for the cleaners. I removed the pillow case from one of the extra pillows and the pillow had blood on it. It had clearly been bleached/laundered - so it wasn't fresh blood and nothing was on the pillow case, but the pillow itself had blood. I was beyond disgusted that I slept on that. Again- I have pretty low standards- I'll camp without a shower and brush my teeth with River water- but to sleep on blood that doesn't belong to you is.... groosss
- just the overall cleanliness. I totally sympathize with the probably-underpaid and overworked staff. In April you are coming off spring break and probably need a break yourself. But I'm surprised they let us check in early sitting the room was ready when soooooo much was missed. The fridge had a spill in it, the dresser had empty Doritos bags, the coffee table had food crusted on it (I only care bc that's where we ate dinner- thankful for those Lysol wipes), the chair had crumbs on it. Nothing too terrible on its own, but combined with the other bullet points, so much was missed.
All in all it was a good quick getaway from our very hectic lives. But I'm relieved to go home and shower.
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