Vickie I.
Yelp
My family has been visiting Fontana Village for 45 years. We had grown to love this place. However, for the past 10 years we have seen a steady decline in the resort, the management and the overall customer service in general. The fact that the general manager changes hands on a yearly basis could have something to do with this. Every year we get our group of 100+ people together to vent our pros/cons and the following year there is new management and yet we see no changes. The cabins are run down and we still see no results. Last year we had to be moved from our cabin to another location because we were infested with termites. This year we didn't have termites, but we did have a broken kitchen table, ants, hardly any pots and pans, no screen door, leaky ceiling, etc., etc. The floors were so dirty you could not dare take your shoes off, but that is always the case. The cabin is supposed to sleep six, but for some reason, they always put four towels and two wash clothes in the cabins. I still have not figured that one out. We ALWAYS have to drive down to the lodge and ask for extra towels. Oh, yeah, and two rolls of toilet tissue for a week.
Even with the horrible conditions that we pay almost $300 a night for, we tried to book to come back for next year. You see we have been coming for 45 years. We meet the same group of friends every year, same week. Like I said, we come for the people, not the place anymore. When we tried to book, they once again told us they had all of the three bedroom cabins blocked off for a group, who in the heck knows what group. Well, this time, I decided enough is enough. We didn't book. After 45 years, we are not going back. We are looking for a new place. There has to be somewhere out there where we can gather as a group that has a lake, clean updated cabins, volleyball court (with a ball), hiking, an ice cream shop (and maybe it will stay open past 8:00 pm), a workable laundry mat, recreation hall (they let you use and don't keep locked), friendly staff. I mean come on people. Let's face it, the only reason people are staying here are to drive the Dragon Tail. It's certainly not for the overpriced food at the grill. The pizza oven was broke. You could only get a few select items, and they were horrible. The putt-putt course had half the lights burnt out and full of debris. They claim to offer golf carts, but I believe they had maybe three or four that were actually working.
Oh, to go back twenty or thirty years when Fontana was a true vacation paradise. People just don't care anymore.