Lakedale Resort At Three Lakes

My wife and I were visiting family on Friday Harbor and because their house was packed, we needed somewhere to stay. We looked at the Lakedale Resort and thought it looked nice and that we'd give it a try. Although the rate was extremely expensive, we figured it was due to the weekend and because the room was nice and had a fireplace and jacuzzi soaking tub. Big mistake...

We arrived at the lodge late and because the staff couldn't be bothered we actually had to find our keys hidden in an envelope in the lobby, not the most fun thing to be doing @ 11pm after a long day spent with family....

We went to the room. It seemed nice. The beds were stiff and the pillows seemed uncomfortable. However, the room looked nice and we settled in.

The first thing I did was start the tub running, I wanted a long hot soak with the jets turned on. The tub was large so I left it running BEFORE I got in and watched TV with my wife for a bit. I am so glad I did...

Imagine my surprise when I get back to the tub and IT'S FILLED WITH PUTRID GREEN, VISCOUS OOZE. I would have said water but this was slightly thicker and had weird bits of sediment in it that I hoped was mud but frankly I had no idea since it also smelled terrible and soon stank up the whole bathroom. I could not figure out what was going on, I thought it might be a problem with the tub. No such luck. I filled up the sinks in the room and they also filled with the nasty smelling green muck.

Check the pictures attached to this review. You have to see what I am talking about for yourself.

This is like something you see in a horror movie, like The Blob, so naturally I tried calling the staff. No response. I was tempted to start banging on doors and trying to rouse any sleeping managers but I was exhausted and we went to bed. Luckily we had some bottled waters with us that we could drink.

In the morning I went down to the front desk when it opened and complained. The woman down there, who claimed to be married to the owner or manager, told me that nothing was wrong with the water and that they extensively filtered it as it came from the "lake." At this point, since it was daytime, I took a look outside and saw more clearly what the "lake" looked like. It was basically a swamp with stagnant water and muddy ground lining the whole thing. That explained everything.

The woman tried to deny anything was wrong and said the water was perfectly safe. I showed her some pictures from my phone and also told her the water was sitting upstairs and she could come take a look at it herself, right away.

We went to breakfast while they "evaluated" the ooze in our room. I euphemistically call this breakfast because it was cold cereal, cold hard boiled eggs, some cold fruit and some bread products, all fix it yourself style. We were also afraid to eat anything made with the water (or ooze) such as the only hot item they had there—instant oatmeal and a hot pot of ooze to make it with. It felt like we were staying at a Motel 6, definitely not an "upscale hotel." I took some pictures to illustrate this. For the huge price tag of this place, I expected a menu and a chef, or at least some hot entrees served buffet style. What a joke. We could have had a better breakfast at the grocery store.

Breakfast was eerie, as only one other guest came to it. We wondered why the place was so empty on a holiday weekend.
After breakfast was over we decided to check out and go find some running water where we could bathe and brush our teeth.

Down at the reception desk, the real circus began.

The woman at the desk told us she went to the room and saw the ooze for herself. She agreed it was unacceptable and that something was seriously wrong. That was good. Here come the bad parts:

She tried telling us that although it was "unacceptable" that the water was safe to bathe in or even drink. Being a trained scientist, I decided to call her bluff. I immediately walked back upstairs to the room and filled a glass with water and brought it back down to the front desk. I asked her to drink it right there in front of us. She refused and started mumbling...

She offered us a 50% discount on the room.
The price for this place was enormous, and they had jacked it up due to the holiday rate as well. The price even at 50% was still outrageous for a room WITH NO SANITARY RUNNING WATER. I was about ready to start shouting and then she realized how upset we were and pulled out a large gift-box (wrapped, so we could not see inside). She told us that there were "premium" Aveeno amenities inside and that it was to make up for our awful experience. My wife likes Aveeno a lot so we took the box and left.

As a final insult, the woman told me she was sorry that "you are your friend had such an awful time there." My friend?! It was my wife! Our wedding rings were plainly visible and we had referenced each other as husband and wife several times to her face! I cannot believe the sheer idiocy this woman displayed... did she think we were both married and having an affair?

Outside in the car we opened up the box and discovered one tiny, SAMPLE, thimble-sized Aveeno product and two large plastic jars of the basic soap and shampoo that the hotel uses, WHICH WE COULD HAVE TAKEN FROM THE ROOM OURSELVES.

All in all, this resort could have been something nice. While the location was probably bad due to the time of year (November), the place looked like it had potential. Unfortunately, they don't have a reliable plumbing system and I sincerely hope that there were no sewage complications involved either. Who knows what was in that ooze...

Also, their customer service is awful, deceptive, and disrespectful. Unfortunately, because it seems that the bad customer service came from the owners themselves, it is not likely to change due to firing, hiring or re-training, so your best bet is to avoid this place for several years until they sell it or they get old and turn it over to a competent management staff.

-They lied about the water being safe enough to drink, because they themselves wouldn't drink it.
-They pulled a fast one with the gift box and made us think it would be worth something.
-They were rude and insulted my marriage.
-They think its fair to give a 50% discount for a room with no sanitary running water. At least the toilet worked I guess... Whoohoo!

I'm sure the Hotel management will reply to this and try to downplay the whole thing, or possibly even deny it. It will be tough for them to do so considering the pictures we attached to this review. Given their responses to other reviews on this site, I have no doubt they will do their best to pretend that none of this ever happened, or at least deny as much of it as they can. Save your money, you'd be better of staying at the cheapest motel on Friday Harbor rather than this dump.

I wish I could give this place "0" stars—they couldn't pay me to stay here again!!

Stayed in November of 2010.

Unique Quality: Is anything unique when there's no sanitary running water?

Directions: You don't want directions, stay away from this place.