well at first when I got here I was kind of disappointed in the lack of information I got when I was on the phone with the hotel. but when I got here I was very impressed with Austin and Anita how they handled it I tried to go to an ATM to deposit money into my account cuz my card was declined. My closest bank was 40 miles away so I came back to the hotel and told them that I uploaded the money on a prepaid card which it would take some time. Anita the manager insisted that I get my room keys and she would process the payment later which I very much appreciated considering a 6 year old birthday party was on the line. frustration and anxiety sometimes gets the best of me and at this point they really alleviated some of the tension that I had. I definitely recommend the hotel considering everybody treated us very well for her birthday party she got to pick a top shelf prize. I was very impressed with the staff overall on a Friday night. Understanding and very helpful. read more

I give this place zero stars. It was an absolutely horrible experience. Apparently it's between owners right now, but whether that is true or not here is the list of reasons I will not go back (and it takes a lot for me to write a bad review): 1 - Checking in with a crying 7-month old, and the woman told me to please wait for the next person to come onto their shift. She was already counting her drawer (fine, I understand the closing down process). But the next girl wasn't due for 10 minutes, and she could have taken a break from counting, and checked us in. It takes 1 minute. 2 - After checking into the room, I was greeted by a cockroach next to my foot when setting up in the bathroom. Requested a room change immediately after showing the host a picture of the roach. 3 - For whatever reason, they were out of towels, and out of bath soap. My family made a run to the local grocer to pick up both. 4 - if you want to catch that continental breakfast show up quick! They don't stay open the full time the hotel promises. 5 - DON'T PAY IN ADVANCE FOR ANYTHING! (i.e. Arcade or Pool). The hours were posted all over the hotel, however after my Uncle purchased a decent amount of money for his boys to use in the arcade during our weekend stay, we found that every attempt to use the Arcade failed. The doors were always locked and the front desk attendant claimed she couldn't open it up, and she also was not permitted to return the money. After everything else we experienced you can be sure we eventually got the money refunded. But this place goes on my "worst places in the US to stay" list. Sorry that this needed to be said. If I were to find one positive thing about the hotel, the indoor waterpark is a great touch for children. However this is not enough to keep me coming back. They need to make some major changes to keep that place open. read more

My family stayed at this hotel this past weekend and it was the worst hotel I have ever stayed at. To start off the front desk has no clue about anything, as I found out when making the reservation. Then upon arrival we were walking up to our room and there were many families who had overtaken our hallway and we could barely get to our room. Later on I had called the front desk, because they were drinking and cursing in the hall, and had been for hours. The desk said they were okay to do that until 10. This is not a great family environment. We then went to the waterpark. We did not stay long, because it was awful. Very trashy! I have pictures of the lifeguards talking to each other instead of watching the water. There should have been at least 4 guards on at all times and there were only 2. There was one area that had tons of kids in it and the guard never walked over once. I questioned the guard on that and was given a rude response stating she only had 2 eyes. The lazy river was very dangerous. There is no one there to monitor how many people are in it and since the guards did not watch it carefully there were kids on top of kids and there is no way to know if anyone is drowning, especially on the back half of the river. The kiddie pool was also awful. There were tons of kids running around without parental supervision and the guards did not really pay attention. The guards never once walked around the back half of that area either and when I questioned the guard about that she said it is the kiddie pool so they did not need to. I am not sure if they are actually certified as guards, but they should know a child can drown in just a couple inches of water. It was also very cold and dirty in the whole area. There is a door directly off the kiddie pool (very very very very unsafe) to which they let people go in and out of to smoke!! We were appauled. It became very unsafe so we left. Upon arriving back to our room we wanted to make a pot of coffee. The coffee pot was never cleaned from the last guests. It was obvious the rest of the room was not cleaned very well at all either. There were only 2 bath towels and 2 wash clothes for 4 people also. I requested to have coffee and towels sent up and they asked me to come get them. I refused. I did not want to have to walk passed the parties in our hallway again. If you dare attempt to try this hotel I suggest not getting bunk beds as we did. They are not put together very well and rocked the whole night. I worried about my son sleeping on top and he is 10. Every time he moved I thought it would fall apart My 8 year old however could not sleep on the bottom bunk, because the sheets were blood stained. The bottom and top sheet, so you can tell they had NOT been changed since the last guests. Ewww. I called and after many attempts no one answered at the desk so she had to share a Queen size bed with myself and my husband. Needless to say no one slept. There were also kids running up and down the halls on the 3rd floor all night or at least until 2 am when I think I finally fell asleep. The next morning we tried to eat the awful breakfast which we took from a tray that was on a very dirty table. It was quiet in the pool area when we were picking up our breakfast to take back to our room so we thought it would be best to give the pool area another try. Still only 2 guards and within a few minutes of us arriving the lazy river was packed. 15 minutes later an older gentleman, trying to grab his young daughter, who was pulled in to a pack of teenagers running wild in the river accidentally pushed my 10 year old son in to a wall. I saw it happen and my son hold his mouth, he had chipped his tooth on the wall. I gabbed my son, walked over to the guard and asked why they can't control the lazy river as my son chipped his tooth. He just looked at me, I repeated my question and asked what I should do about my son's tooth. He looked at me and said they are not responsible for accidents. Without even grabbing a towel we went back to the room, quickly packed our bags and left. I grabbed the blood stained sheets, took them with me to the desk to check out. I voiced my concern to Linda, the manager. She offered me a gift certificate to try them again...I refused as I will never return there again. It is unsafe, unsanitary and just plain awful! I did not get to express all of our issues while checking out as the check out line was long so I emailed them when I returned home. I still have not received a reply. This was a family weekend away without our older children before our son is born. The kids refuse to go back. I will also now have to pay to fix my son's tooth! Thank you Surfari Joe's for ruining our weekend! read more

I recently stayed here for a wedding (Thursday and Friday nights). We had two hotels to choose from, and we chose this hotel because we were quoted a lower price. Most of my family members were also quoted this lower price. After we checked in, we found out that the hotel had raised the price by $50 for the second night. The manager on duty Thursday night told us that he couldn't do anything to help us and that we had to wait to speak with the general manager, Brad, on Friday. When the groom (my brother) and I approached the manager in the morning to discuss the issue, Brad the manager was extremely confrontational and rude. He had been "forewarned" by the manager from the night before and was not willing to listen to us with an open mind. He accused the groom and his guests of lying about being quoted the lower price and refused to acknowledge the possibility that his staff might have quoted us a different price--even though most of the 25 families who booked at this hotel were quoted the lower price, which was the only reason we stayed here. During this conversation Brad the manager became heated and had his finger in our faces--not the way guests should be treated by anyone, let alone the head manager. Furthermore, one of the other managers told the bride and groom that it is normally the hotel's custom to include something special (champagne, chocolates, etc.) in the room for the newly weds, but because of our family's attempt to "strong-arm" the hotel into giving us the lower price we had been initially quoted the hotel did not do anything special for their room. The fact that this manager actually said this to the bride and groom is yet another example of the poor leadership at this hotel and their petty and spiteful nature. Overall, while the quality of the rooms was fine, the management and their response to customer issues was one of the worst I have ever experienced. Also, while the hotel is supposedly near St. Joe's, it is a solid 20 minute drive from downtown--it's in the middle of nowhere, and if you have a room on the side facing the highway (I-94), it is very loud. The soundproofing between rooms is also lacking. I do not recommend this hotel at all. read more

Water park great. Hotel , terrible. Let's start with the good. Our family had a great time at the waterpark. The kids are little and had a blast playing. After an afternoon of playing, we were looking froward to a good nights sleep! The hotel is now a newly remodeled Fairfield Inn. Each room has a window heater/ AC that does not turn off. It kicks on every 20 mins and is as loud as a tractor starting up in your room. It is IMPOSSIBLE to sleep! We called the front desk at 3am, he said it needed to be reset. He came and reset it. 20 mins later and it was back on. We moved rooms, the same issue in the next room. Our family members in another room had the same issue, when they asked the front desk about it they said they were the only people with that issue and we moved our room because our tv was broken. Why lie to your guests!? read more

To sum it up in one word: filthy! We enjoyed our stay for the most part and the staff was friendly and helpful, but it was like no one really took very good care of the place, which is a shame because it looked like it was once a nice establishment. The water park was, to put it in a nice way, interesting. It included a very inattentive "lifeguard" and a layer of scum on all the pools. There were 3 nasty bandaids floating around in the kiddie pool. It has a restaurant that they informed my mother in law wouldn't open until November, and not because it was new but apparently was open open in the cold months? Several things weren't cared for, our tub was dirty, and the shower head was coming off. All in all, we had a place to sleep and the continental breakfast was alright, but other than that it was just super dirty. read more

I normally take my daughter to Great Wolf Lodge every year, but I forgot to reserve and as a result was unable to obtain a room. I tried many other water parks, and everyone was full with no vacancy. Surfari Joes offered an option in that while their hotel was booked, they would provide day passes to their park for those who didnt have a room with them. I jumped at the chance, booking a room for the night with a hotel 20 miles away that had rooms, and made the 150 mile trip from my house to Surfari Joes with mt 6 year old daughter in tow. When I got their I discovered a very small water park, which is ok, as I knew it wouldnt be on the scale of a Great Wolf or Calahari...what bugged me is that there are no family restroom/changing room options. I am a single dad, and had to take my young daughter into the mens room with me to change, and there were naked guys all over in there...not cool for a little girl in my opinion. Also, there are no lockers available...all your belongings go in random cubbies along the wall. If I had a room to change in a store stuff, it would have been a great time, however, the lack of any amenities for day rentals made it a nuisance. Suggestions: Have a family changing/restroom for single parents with kids of different genders, and rent locker space. read more