Great Wolf Lodge

Great Wolf Lodge

We arrived at Great Wolf Lodge in Gurnee, IL around 530pm Friday night. We went to the checkout in counter and we were told we would get a text when our room is ready. We immediately went to the water park. The water park closes at 9, we stayed til closing. We checked our phones for our room- nothing! I went to the front counter and they said our room isn t quite ready yet. A women nearby had overheard me and she told me good luck, she d been there since 1pm and her room wasn t even ready! Her and her family packed up and left! I gave GWL the benefit of the doubt and we took our 4 and 6 year old around the hotel to do some other activities. Still no text about my room. I went back to the front desk at 10pm, frustrated and tired. They STILL had no answer for me on my room! I was furious at this point... my kids are tired, we are tired, we just want to sleep. The man at the counter apologized for our troubles and comped is for our stay that night. We appreciated that. HOWEVER, we still didn t have a room!

At 11pm, a manager named Raph came up to us in the main lobby where we were sitting, (thinking we might be sleeping there) and had our name and room number on a piece of paper. He told us our room was ready and to follow him. A sigh of relief!! We followed up to our room 3209, we walked in to find the place was not cleaned yet! The bathroom wasn t cleaned, no bags in the trash, not vacuumed, and no sheets, pillows, and blankets on the bed!! I was beyond furious at this point. I went with Raph to find the cleaning crew down the hall. They said they thought they did that room. I said it s not clean and the beds are not made. I asked what is going on?? One cleaning lady said that they are lacking employees and help, and because of the weather the hotel overbooked. She then told me that I was welcome to pick up a broom and do it myself!!!! I was appalled!!
I said give me the supplies... at this point I ll clean it myself! I just want somewhere clean for my kids and me to sleep. Three of them followed me to my room and they got the job done in 4 minutes.

We complimented Raph for his willingness to help us. He said we will be granted late checkout at 1pm the next day for our troubles and free Wolf passes for our kids.

I get a call the next day while we are at the water park again at 11am from a lady (she never stated her name) from the front desk. She asked me my name and said that the cleaning crew is trying to get in my room to clean it but our belongings are still in the room and we were never granted late checkout. I went on to explain what had happened the night before and that Raph had granted us late check out- she then rudely cut me off and said that it says nowhere on her paper that we had late check out. I tried getting a word in.. no such luck. I told her to stop talking while I was talking... and she hung up on me!!!
Now, I ve worked in retail and have dealt with PLENTY of customers.. one thing you don t do is hang up on them! Rude, disrespectful, unprofessional, to say the least.
I RAN to the front desk... out of breath... explained what just happened to the nice young woman at the front desk, and she so kindly granted the late checkout, free of charge, as easy as that. Turns out.. they got our room mixed up with someone else s!
We got what we wanted, but I jumped through hoops for a one night stay that was supposed to be a fun family getaway. No one wants a crabby mom. It really ruined MY stay. I m glad my kids are too young still to understand fully what was going on, and they were still able to enjoy themselves, even as tired as they were.

Overall, our stay was a more negative, stressful energy than a happy and joyful time for our family.