Eek! Methinks not is right! 1-star is generous, and giving full credit to the good location & decently maintained grounds of the "resort". And that is about all I can say that is neutral / positive.
I unfortunately made the mistake of planning a 2D-2N stay with a large group (a social team, ages between 25-45 yrs old). Our team has travelled all across north america to participate in regattas and races -- in our 10+ year history, we have not have a single incident. To the contrary, we have been invited back to re-visit & stay again with proprietors who have become good friends.
Not the case with Mill Lake Resorts. We should have known based on initial interactions with Mike McLean, the owner, that we would NOT be welcome to a comfortable or pleasant stay.
We rented out all 5 cottages, paid the deposit months in advance of our stay, paying for each "extra" guest to sleep on the old sofas in some of the cottages as stated on the website. The week of our planned stay, Mike demanded that absolutely NO more guests were allowed -- forcing 2 team members to re-locate to another motel. Yet, one of the evenings we noticed 4 or 5 others on the resort (not part of our group). Hmm, interesting. Despite Mike's claim that we had reached capacity at least 4 or 5 other guests were making use of the common grounds -- not exactly sure where they stayed, but strange Mike made room for them, but 2 members of our team had to stay elsewhere.
OK, maybe there was space elsewhere, or he was letting them stay in his own house. Who knows ... If anything, inconsistent communication as his reasoning for not allowing the other 2 was due to overloading the grounds & the septic tank, etc., etc., etc.
Worst of all, despite what Mike promotes & advertises on the outdated website, he was uncomfortably inhospitable (to the point where individuals on the team felt interrogated upon arrival), inflexible & very openly did the bare minimum to accomodate & welcome our group. He made us feel like he was doing us a favour by letting us stay. Now I understand the need to communicate the do's & don'ts to guests, but I'd highly recommend that Mike change his tone & approach to orienting his guests upon arrival. Instead of feeling like welcome guests, he patronized -- we felt like we were checking in to detention hall.
In addition to a cold & discriminating attitude, Mike & Mill Lake Resorts fails to mention what they provide, and what will charge you extra -- we learnt the hard way about what costs extra. Again, this is something that can easily be fixed with updates to the website, but as it currently stands, I feel the website misrepresents what guests should expect.
A couple of examples:
-- there is NO potable tap water, you must bring your own drinking water, as well as water to brush teeth and for some, even to cook (depending on how sensitive your stomach is)
-- arriving with a larger group, there was more than 1 car per cottage. In the end we were charged "extra" for parking even though all the cars fit within the parking area
-- kitchen counters had ants crawling all over even when no food was left out (gross!)
-- no handsoap. Now I know this isn't a high end B&B, but there wasn't a single bar of handsoap despite most of our group arriving late at night, well after local stores closed. When mentioned to Mike, he made it clear that he could "try" to hunt 1 bar down, but it wouldn't be an easy task. This may seem petty, but in context to our broader experience, this really begins to illustrate how inflexible & unwilling to help Mike is.
Lastly, the website also advertises access to a beach, boats, rafts and waterslide. I'll be the first to admit -- our team was in Parry Sound to race in the regatta -- not to frolick at the resort. But for any of the hours we were there, there was no equipment made available (although I did spot a sailboat and canoe in storage). I suppose we could have asked to use equipment, but given the cold shoulder & lack of willingness to help, we didn't feel welcome to ask.
It is a real shame that I couldn't write a more positive review ... but the truth is that my teammates and I checked out as soon as the races were over & hit the road to head back home to our comfortable homes, with no ants, un-squeaky beds AND clean potable tap water! read more
