Sandcastle really that bad?

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g50940-d124673-r7673084-Sandcastle_Suites-Sandusky_Ohio.html

"I had booked online with Sandcastle Suites(Cedar Point) & it was a horrible experience. The pictures online compared to being there...was totally different!! We walked into the rooms & we felt like we were walking into a cockroach hotel. For the price Sandcastle Suites are awful & I would NOT recommend this hotel to anyone. My opinion this hotel was a bad place for a family with kids to enjoy & was tempted to drive 5 hours back home!!
The rooms were dirty, run down & had noticed hair, crumbs in the couch & was not willing to open the bed up to see what's in there.!!"

Can anyone confirm that it is this bad? I have a trip planned for next monday! I need to know ASAP if I should change. Thanks! *** Edited 5/28/2007 5:46:39 PM UTC by Millennium***

Wow...

Thanks for the heads up. Sandcastle is the only cp resort that I have not stayed at, and from the sounds of it for good reason.

I wasn't really thrilled with the cleanliness of our Hotel Breakers suite on opening weekend. It wasn't horrible by any means but at nearly $400 per night I expected a little more. There were lots of cigarette burns on the balcony tables and chairs. The whirlpool had like a soapy film covering it, and there was a decent amount of mold in the showers.

I plan on Staying at SandCastle this July! What else can any body say or should I stay at Breakers!

Have they finished the exterior renovations?

I stayed at Sandcastle last summer and had no complaints. Sounds like just a bad experience to me. Our room was clean and a good size. We had a lake/pool view. I'd much rather stay at LHP but Sandcastle wasn't bad.

As for the exterior renovations, from what I saw last week while riding Magnum they're were nearing completion and it looked really good. The bright new colours made it much more appealing.

I've never been impressed with the cleanliness of any resort at Cedar Point except for Lighthouse Point. Maybe that was only because it was newer when we stayed there?

I'm not sure how CP can keep the park so clean but totally drop the ball on the resorts. Like others have said, for what people are paying, the place should at least be free of hair and crumbs. That's just not acceptable.

Doesn't surprise me. For what they pay their employees and have them work per week, I doubt you can expect a whole lot.

Y'all should get a non-profit group together and sign up for one of those fundraising events where you go in and clean Hotel Breakers for 8 hours during halloweekends... it is a real eye-opening experience... thats all i'll say about that... but Ben is right about the employees in the resorts...

Yeah I'll pass on that. I can only imagine they're disgusting.

Managing the housekeeping operations at Cedar Point is no easy task. Obviously, the fact that they have to deal with part-time staff (and staff members who were passed over by rides, games, merchandise, etc) makes matters difficult.

What is even more difficult is the high occupancy rate the resorts "enjoy" and the fact that there aren't many extended stays. So, they are cleaning an unbelievable amount of rooms every day...more so than most any typical hotel.

Are any of the above good excuses for having a dirty room? No. Particularly at the price you pay to stay there. Is the check-in time still 3:00? If it is the first thing I would do is change that to 4:00 or 5:00. That gives a couple more hours to get the rooms finished.

What happens is the staff takes shortcuts. Then, when the pressure is on to get the rooms finished by 3:00 they take even more shortcuts. It is a recipe for disaster.

Again, I would say that this kind of thing deters the repeat visitor in the same way poor or slow service at restaurants/food locations does. They need to acknowledge their shortcomings and make policy changes to address those issues. If you aren't going to raise the wage to attract a higher quality staff person that will appreciate their job more then you need to do things like adjust the check in time.

I'd rather check in later and have a clean room than check in earlier and have a dirty room.

Finally, if I ended up in a dirty room I would insist on it being recleaned. Frankly, I understand that mistakes can be made so I'd give them a chance to fix them. If housekeeping doesn't respond the way you like then ask to speak to the manager. Any good hotel manager will see that a room is unacceptable and get it taken care of...so long as your complaints are legitimate.

I will have to admit though some people are really pigs,people dont care about anything,will always stay at Lighthouse Point.

Well, that is the part I didn't address. The family appeal to the CP resorts does tend to impact housekeeping. How do I put this? A lot of people stay at CP Resorts who don't travel much. In fact, it isn't uncommon to see people bringing in garbage bags full of clothes because they don't own luggage.

Then, because the prices are so high you have more people cramming into a single room/suite which also impacts housekeeping.

So yes, there are things I saw in my time at Cedar Point that absolutely STUNNED me. I mean..."left a lasting impression type of stuff."

BUT, that still doesn't excuse the next guest paying full price and having to deal with the aftermath of an unrespectful guest.

Agreed on both accounts, Chief, and I am very glad for someone here to actually look at both sides of the equation.

As a reference to your p.ov., the Grand Traverse Resort here in TC has a check-in time of 4, and includes a 14 story tower, plus an entire hotel area surrounding the tower, not to mention the condos all over the property, all managed by the same housekeeping staff, (paid a lot more btw).

A, the rooms are a hell of a lot cleaner, and B, the type of people that stay there have money, because in order to stay at most rooms in this resort, you have to have money.

Is GTR open year round? If so, that'd be a big difference. If not, then it's not surprising. World class resorts really do lack when it comes to CP.

I just think you had a bad experience. I have stayed at Sandcastle at least 8 times since 1989 and never had a bad experience.

Although I have never went on a trip this early in the year either.

But I definitley would recommend Sandcastle as a place to stay.

Sandcastle isn't the nicest place, but it's certainly not the worst either. It's showing some signs of aging, but it is well over a decade old now.

I've stayed there 7 times in 8 years and it has never been too bad. Once we were given a smoking room, which obviously has its own set of problems, but no more worries of that state of Ohio!

What you pay to stay at Sandcastle isn't for the room anyway. It's so you can walk to Magnum gate, get in early and ride Magnum 10 times with no wait. That's why I stay there anyway.

Sandcastle isn't too bad for familes. Mom and dad can stay in one room and put the kids on the sofa bed to have a little privacy. Plus, the water view rooms have some of the best views in all of Ohio...and perhaps all of the midwest. Breakwater doesn't have the most thrilling food but it is also a nice atmosphere and is usually pretty quiet at lunch time.

Sandcastle was built in two phases, '89 and '91 if I'm not mistaken. The two wings closest to the lobby are the oldest and were built with some challenges that they corrected in '91.

But, as I have asserted to in the past, Sandcastle was built before Dick and the gang had a real handle on what potential the resort side of the business had. Remember, this was before Breakers East, Express, Radisson/Castaway Bay, etc. As such, Sandcastle was built perhaps more conservatively (cheaply) than they would have done so had they known the potential.

You need only walk down the halls at Sandcastle and then do the same at Breakers East/Tower to feel/hear/see the difference. That property has paid for itself and then some.

It is my opinion that the land Sandcastle sits on will one day be used to a better advantage and a higher (more rooms) facility will be built there. I still think it would be a great place for an indoor waterpark that took advantage of the proximity to Soak City during the summer. Even without that, a stand-alone hotel of a larger scale would make sense (with an ATTACHED) restaurant.

Of course, they could go all out, eliminate Circle B of Camper Village, and build a hotel with an entertainment component that could be utilized by guests of Breakers and Lighthouse Point as well. A Disney's Boardwalk-type concept, if you will.

In any event, Sandcastle was the crown jewel of CP resorts for a decade or so and launched the explosive growth that we have seen since.

Chief - I can totally see your points about WHY the housekeeping situation at the CP resorts is tough. But, that's really no excuse for the state of the rooms people have reported. If they want to have resorts, they need to deal with the consequences.

I can't imagine the people staying at the Value Resorts at Disney being much different than the people staying at CP resorts. Those resorts and rooms are spotless every single time. Also, people staying at their Value Resorts tend to stay fewer days than the higher priced resorts. So, turnover is also frequent. Plus, they have several THOUSAND rooms per resort. They also cost WAY less per night than CP's resorts. So, it's definitely possible to turn a profit and have a beautiful room. Granted, CP's resorts are seasonal, but so is the staff.

You can't compare CP to Disney..even though the prices suggest you can. Disney has a full time staff working on their hotel rooms...for starters. The staff working at CP in housekeeping has likely never held a job before and probably did little, if any, cleaning at their own home.

I'm not making an excuse for why you should deal with a dirty room. You shouldn't. Again, I think they need to change their policies to give housekeeping more time to get the rooms clean.

But, I would also say the clientele at Disney vs Cedar Point IS different...having experienced both first hand.

For what you pay at a Cedar Point resort you should have a clean room. On this I totally agree. If your room isn't clean...get someone on the phone or at the desk to make sure they are aware of it.