Rend Lake Resort - Whittington

The room: OK. Comfortable beds, some of the amenities one might expect, like in-room microwave and refrigerator. Wifi was good. The staff at the front desk was completely clueless, however. They were under-trained and amateurish at best. They were unable to answer basic questions about the hotel. The maid staff did a very poor job of making up our room. We were not actually sure if they had made the beds up when we returned to our room because the sheets and blanket were so skewed. They forgot to replenish our shampoo and our paper cups. The prices at the restaurant were not bad. However, the wait staff and the kitchen seemed not to have their act together. For example, some of our party received their food long after other diners who ordered much later. Decent hamburgers and a nice view of the harbor. Hotel security was quite lax. The side doors are left unlocked at all hours so that anyone can enter the hotel. It would be very easy for management to install locks on the side doors to reduce the chance of intruders entering the facility. My wife was very uneasy about this sort of access to the building. The entryway is not particularly well thought out. There is one small door that is the hotel entrance and it is not clear if one should enter there or through the conference doors, which are about 100' from the registration desk.

Terrible terrible food. We drove out of our way to visit this resort, and all we found out was a place that needs some serious maintenance, cleaning and good food. I will NEVER go back to this place. I ordered a salad and they substitute the lettuce because they ran out of romaine lettuce. Chicken soup was awful, the cat fish my friend had was half frozen, chicken wings were saggy and the nacho chips were stalled. Terrible and expensive place...YUK!

We were greeted by a young woman who clearly was not fully trained to sign us in. She did not explain the hotel's policy regarding when you initial certain boxes, you are committed to pay for the four nights you booked. She said nothing about AARP or AAA discounts. No manager on duty. When we entered the room it had a very musty smell, the bathroom floor had not been cleaned and the coffee pot still had the used grounds in it from previous customers. The shower piece was coming off the wall. When we tried to leave after one night we were told we'd be charged for the full four nights. Run as fast as you can from this tired and collapsing hotel and head for Seasons at Rend Lake. The owners obviously do not care about good service.

Resort? HAHAHA nice try!! Where do I begin. Ok, list is long, bear with me. I have stayed in motels and hotels all over the country, this is by far the worst excuse for a resort I have ever seen. Here goes. 1. No shower water pressure. Drips..yes...drips. 2. 20 inch TV. Granted you are not there to watch TV, but it is nice to chill at night with a movie if it is raining. Good luck. 12 channels at best. 3. No WiFi. None, notta. It's a conference center! No WiFi? Are you kidding me? 4. No towels in rooms. Thin and horrible if you get any. 5. The beds are Horrible! 6 inch mattresses. Seriously? UNACCEPTABLE! 6. OVERPRICED! 7. OVERPRICED! 8. Food is sub-par. 9. Staff are 15 years old kids that have not a freakin clue. 10. No bicycle lock up racks. Huge mistake!!!! 11. OVERPRICED! I am done slamming on this place, I could go on and on and on. They lacked giving customers information about anything. No in room info packets about Anything! In closing: This place has Huge potential. Needs major overhaul and staff. Seems like the owner and manager Gena do not care about anything and hence this place sucks. We will not be staying here ever again. The lake is awesome so we will be staying at a nearby campground.

This has been the location of our dog cub's National Specialty four times in the last six years. Each stay has been a week long. Suffice it to say, I've stayed here. It seems ideal for fishermen and groups that want to stay with large numbers of dogs. That's about it. Don't come for the food, don't come for the decor and certainly don't come for the customer service. It's just awful. The Wifi has NEVER worked, not one time in my four visits. I asked for a cup of hot water. I was told they didn't have that, just what was out. I stood there holding my cup, wondering if I'd heard correctly. No hot water? Could she check? BIG SIGH, she went and checked. Fiiiine (another sigh), water retrieved. Yikes. This happened twice more during the week. Seriously. It's just so basic and so run down, I do not know how they call it a resort.