A small group of my scrapping friends were looking for new weekend retreats and I came upon the Scrapbooking Company. When I explored the store and retreat center, I found the owners to be quite personable and welcoming last summer. So this winter my friends and I stayed for a weekend. We were very excited to visit the store which includes good brands of items and a nice variety of examples of cards and pages. The retreat facilities were clean and sufficient. Space was very tight but we could manage with a little extra organization.
The weekend was a bit if a disappointment. It would have been a better start if the owner had escorted us to vacant rooms and showed where things were located. The owners could have been more visible in the retreat area to ensure that everyone understood and followed the rules about sharing the space, courtesy, quiet time, and cleanliness. They could make sure that there was equal time for watching movies (and movie selections) and music and quiet. They could have checked in to make sure space was adequate, rooms were good (we had two burned out lights in our room). Ensure that the showers were cleared of belongings when not in use (2 people put their clothes in two showers apparently to save them for when they wanted to shower.)
The weekend experience for my group would have been improved had we been escorted to our rooms and maybe introduced to the women who were there, been oriented to the facilities, and known that everyone knew and understood the ground rules for living with 24 people for the weekend. I expected to see the owners checking in and conversing to ensure that everyone was getting along and felt comfortable.
I did not expect to have to insist on the other guests to be considerate when selecting movies-not select movies with excessive foul language and violent speech and actions, or that there would be a steady stream of movies for more than 12 hours. I did not expect to have to ask for a movie to be turned down at 3:00 a.m.
The owners' lack of attention, perhaps overly concerned for the privacy of the guests, was a key factor in the "misunderstandings" and subtle abuses of decorum and the clear violations of the ground rules. The concept is very good, execution is tricky when you throw people from all walks if life together and leave them. The owners could set the tone for courtesy and fairness for things like, sharing the time and air for doses of communication, movie time, background music time, and maybe even showing a technique or tool. Something that can provide a check in and a change up so everyone can experience some comfort and something different.
We learned some good things and got some good work done during the weekend in spite of the annoyances. When in the area, we will shop the store. We like to support local small businesses who support and supply our crafts. We will consider this venue again for a larger group, but our small group was not comfortable with the unchecked atmosphere created by some of the guests. read more