Wow. What an absolute letdown. First off, waiting until 10:00 AM to announce that the pool would be closed "due to the storm" overnight-- which, let's be honest, was an over dramatized excuse for brief rain and a few leaves. This isn't about weather. It's about mismanagement and a complete lack of regard for guest experience. From the moment we arrived, it was obvious the place is understaffed, underpaid, and overhyped. The staff seem beat down and defeated--not because they don't care, but because leadership clearly doesn't support them. No one is focused on real customer service. Promises mean nothing here. After talking with staff- I realized this isn't a one-time issue--it's a pattern. Over promise and under deliver! From delayed check in times, lack of communication on hours, dirty room, and unmet promises. Guests are left to deal with the disappointment while management shrugs it off and moves on to the next family willing to gamble their hard-earned money on what should be a fun getaway. As long as people keep booking, the quality will stay rock-bottom. If you're considering Bridges Bay for your family trip, ask yourself: Do I really want to risk wasting my money and my kids' excitement on an experience that's just not delivered? Do better, Bridges Bay. (And whomever "John Gravel" is...time to take pride in your job! And if the responsibility lies on those above you-might be time to think about a career change! You should be treated better. Owners- get John some darn support! The service is failing! ) read more

I did not have any internet for my entire stay in Summer Lake Building (Friday to Monday). I called immediately and a maintenance person did come over. Said he would reset the router and came back and still no internet. Said a repair person was on the way for other building & would also fix my building. Never happened. I called Saturday AM & was told that the internet company never responded to them. Friday night, I came back to my room and a VERY LOUD live band was playing nonstop horrible music. Even with all windows and patio door closed it was unbearable. I called and was told they did not know the restaurant was having live music but they should be quitting when they finished their set??? or at 10pm when restaurant closed. At 11:15pm they were still playing. IT WAS HORRIBLE!!!!! The toilet is very outdated-height from floor very low! Only had half roll of toilet paper and had to walk over to checkin building because house keeping was gone for day to be given one small roll of tp. Window only opened a crack and no screen on patio door. Opened door for very short time and immediately huge mosquitoes were all over room. Some of towels were thin and stained. For average of $435/night it was a total ripoff! I think the entire area is way overbuilt -can't imagine how much water is used. Minnesota has so many better options! read more

Terrible place to stay. Overpriced and way past due for a renovation. Seriously, to pay over $200+ a night to have masking tape on lamps? Spend your money elsewhere. read more

Bridges Bay Resort - Resorts Near Me - Arnolds Park, Iowa

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I originally booked three rooms needed to cancel one, was on hold for two hours finally had to have someone drive over to physically cancel room. emailed the GM with absolutely no response!! had to stock own toilet paper and Kleenex upon checking in! needed clean towels only to be told there weren't any , how does that work?! for the price of the room you only get two passes for pool but $25 will get you another and it closed at 5 On a Sunday during summer‍ very disappointed for such a great facility in the heart of Okoboji!! read more

Outstanding restaurant sitting right on lake Okoboji. Great indoor seating with lake front views And a terrific patio. Highly recommend the pizzas that are wood fire baked, the salmon and the aged pork chop. read more

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A fun place to swim outside in the summer but for the past few years it's always been SO cold in the indoor pool/etc. I understand it's hard to keep clean with the traffic but that part is okay as well. The children's play area is much warmer than lazy river and have to go warm up there often. Water will drip from the ceiling in the river as well read more

Would pick zero stars if possible. Drawn in by the water park for the kids. You can't bring any food or ANY beverages into the water park so plan on spending a lot of extra cash there is you stay for any amount of time. The rooms are gross, I've not been in a hotel room this disgusting in over 15 years and I'm paying over $360 a night before Memorial Day. The beds and are horrendous, any adult can't sleep in theses, our king has a sink hole in the middle that's laughable for what we are paying. My young kids even complained how dirty and uncomfortable the room was. Pillow are SO bad, I travel for work and can spend $100 a night in a Hampton that is far cleaner and comfortable than this!! No one slept, so uncomfortable. Even if you want to use the pool, stay elsewhere and pay the pass fee, your WAY better off!!!!! Terrible read more

I bought a package for pre Christmas get away. You can't check in until 4pm which I understood. The problem was pool closed at 8pm. Checkout is 11am and the Waterpark didn't open until noon. We had some very disappointed grandkids. Considering once you check in and get kids ready stand in line to get wrist bands it's 5pm and Waterpark closed at 8pm. The next day we had to checkout before Waterpark opened. We feel very deceived. Considering the brochure that Bridges Bay puts out has different hours. We were also given a $20 bonus card to use at concessions, however the system was down. Positive was room was clean. Sure was a disappointing getaway. read more

Overall this is an okay stay. However, we booked a double queen room only to get two full size beds. There is an indoor and outdoor pool area, but the hotel is not staffed enough to have both open at the same time. read more

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These people where very rude like a mean bitchy the watermark wasn't opened at all even tho water is made to cool you down. if you come here be aware of how rude these people are and i dont recommend wasting your money here. read more

Summary: Great Value in the off season. (Have not been during peak). Staff were wonderful. Rooms reasonably clean with nice beds, nice floor plans, and a great indoor water park for younger families. We plan to return! Don't follow GPS in from the East or you will do 8 miles of dirt roads. Go hwy 9 to 71.. The Details: We took our grandchildren here the first weekend of January for their Christmas present. Check-in was easy, the price matched the quote I had been given, and the 2 lead ladies at the front we amazing throughout our stay. The rooms were nice and large, clean enough, nicely decorated, and well maintained. There was a massive deck balcony overlooking the lake and the beds were comfy. The indoor water park was included, easy to get to without going out into the cold, it was clean, and great fun for our group..... 5 kids ranging from 2-9 years of age. Pros: ---Nice rooms ---Great indoor park for kids about 12 and under ---Located near many services ---Off season prices nearly 1/2 of what the Dells are charging for off season ---the 2 ladies who run the front Cons: ---our room was not gross, but there was dust and minor debris in every corner of most rooms. Almost as if their vacuum cannot get into most corners. If cleanliness of the room is your pet peeve, you could be unhappy, but to 95% of the people... it was fine. ---it did not bother me, but several guests had their pets with them. This could be a con for some. read more

This review is for the water park only. This is a wonderful indoor water park. There is a large water play ground in the center which was great for my 2 and 5 year olds who don't know how to swim yet. There is a deeper pool with balance floats to walk on and water basketball. There are two large slides for the bigger kids. And a river to float in with tubes. It's $15 to swim and $5 to just sit and supervise, but it's worth the price. read more

Bridges Bay Resort - Boji splash indoor water park is at the resort. - Resorts Near Me - Arnolds Park, Iowa

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The worst hotel experience that we have had! Rooms not available until 5 pm. When we got in - only one person at check in desk with a long line. Got into room, NO towels/soap/shampoo, etc. we were in a suite. The one room had NO air vent so was extremely HOT all night long. The indoor pool was NOT open that evening so had to take the toddlers outside to the pool. We were told by confirming our rsvp that indoor pool would be open. NOT! The indoor pool did not open until 10 am the next day with check out at 11 am. Makes no sense. This place is a rip-off. Won't refer or go again. Young staff who could care less about the customer service. So disappointing to have had this experience! BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!! read more

We stayed in one of the condo buildings. Everything was clean and modern. No maintenance issues. We were on the third floor with our own huge outdoor deck and nice gas grill. Parking can be tight at times. Nice view of lake. All cooking utensils and cookwear were present. Nice gas fireplace. Big fridge, nice granite countertops. Very nicely decorated. As expected sofabed was a nightmare. Other beds very comfortable. Washer dryer was very nice to have right in the unit. Lack of more recliners by both pools is causing the lack of a star for this review. I would definitely stay again. Very happy with our stay. read more

Bridges Bay Resort - View from our deck. - Resorts Near Me - Arnolds Park, Iowa

The hotel is nice enough. It's easy to check in, and the staff are generally very friendly. The shower has good pressure, although the bathroom is small. The room we stayed in had a door to the outside, but there's no lock on the outside, so it's not a very useful door. My biggest complaint is that the restaurant's kitchen closed before 10PM on a Saturday night. An employee said the kitchen staff were "too tired and wanted to leave." This is unacceptable for a remotely located resort. There are no restaurants nearby. I had to walk 20 minutes to the nearest gas station to find something to eat. Would not recommend. read more

We were so excited to surprise the kids with this water park stay. However, after having slept here one night, I don't know if I care to return. Our kind bed was super hard and noisy and uncomfortable. The halls and rooms above us were NOT quiet. We came in the off season, but were woken up multiple times by hallway noise and the people walking around above us (even at 4 am.) We tried putting towels in the floor cracks but it was no good as you could still see light shine thru the side of the door frame. Staff at the Waterpark were dressed sloppy and looked uninterested in their jobs. They took multiple breaks and were unavailable to serve food at the food stand and hand out towels for a solid 15 minutes plus. The worst part was being woken up by a smoke detector needing a battery replacement at 4am, and after calling the front desk we were told we needed to go get a battery and change it ourselves. Ridiculous. People rant and rave about this place but I would not come back. The Waterpark area is good for ages 2-8, but our 10 and 13 year old were bored with it after an hour. The water was disgustingly warm. There are two bigger slides, a lazy river, lily pads and then a zero depth entry with some kids slides and spray toys. The rooms were spacious and it appears to have Great Lake access. read more

Bridges Bay Resort - Room entrance - Resorts Near Me - Arnolds Park, Iowa

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It's not clearly stated on their website, but the water park is not open during the week between Labor Day and Memorial Day. If you are planning a trip here (off season) and the water park is the main attraction, make sure you book for the weekend. Otherwise, you're going to be disappointed. read more

I had a tough time deciding how many stars to give here. The resort is much newer and nicer than the majority in the Okoboji area. That said, there are some notable oddities. First the good. The units are nicely appointed and really well designed, with ample common space in the suites and different configurations available when adding one or two adjoining rooms. Overall, the interior and exterior are modern and attractive. Since this resort is fairly new, it has some nice features not found other places like gas fireplaces, granite counters, etc. The attached water park is really nice too. Two different big slides inside and lots of other fun stuff for younger kids. An indoor hot tub, a great snack bar, and a nice outdoor pool with swim-up bar too. While it's open to the public (for a fee), access was at no extra charge for us since we were hotel guests. Now the odd stuff. We encountered several things that were unexpected at a resort of this caliber. It started with check-in, where the front desk had somehow given one of our rooms to another family. As a regular traveler, I know this just happens sometimes but the family they had to move from our unit said they'd already been moved twice and the front desk clerks argued openly about what to do and who was to blame. When we were finally given the room, it was clear that it hadn't been cleaned (e.g. wet towels, hair in shower, and wet underwear hanging from shower rod. Lots of little maintenance issues too. Our shower didn't drain well at all. The shower curtain was torn in one room and missing in another. Our dishwasher was missing it's knob. Same with one of the lamps. Patio door handles did not latch or lock well. Spotty housekeeping, especially with emptying garbage and the number of towels provided day to day. Of the two washing machines in the laundry, one was out of order. A broken stool at the swim-up bar. And some other random things that seemed to be overlooked. Also, the wifi was barely functional. The signal was very weak in the rooms and the connection dropped so often it was hard to use. This was especially noticeable with how poor cell coverage seems to be across the entire area. Despite all the issues, we had a great time here. Bottom line, if you go in with the right expectations you probably won't be disappointed. It's still a nice place. It just needs a some operations and maintenance help to ensure it doesn't age too quickly. read more

Day 1... room is clean, however this establishment double charged my card for the reservation. When attempting to clear the situation, the desk clerk was very rude and insensitive to the situation. This problem was caused by the resort and should be rectified immediately by the resort. I've heard from other guests that they experienced the same situation. I will not be returning or recommending this establishment in the future. read more

I did receive a phone call the outdoor water park was closed due to maintenance issues. Options given wax the indoor water park and 3 outdoor pools at the condos. Upon arrival found the 3 outdoor pools at the condos have no restrooms or parking available. We requested of exception would be made and was told do what you want. They own properties but can't make decisions to accommodate. read more

Stayed here for a few nights. Its a nice place- nice enough. I have no complaints. Clean, shower was nice, staff was nice. Pet friendly. read more

This place is 9 years old, and is kept up well. Our biggest issues were the lighting, the hot water, and the tub draining--see below. We chose to pay for a lake view room. While it was nice, there are a few things to know about this. The balcony on the rooms is recessed between the lakeview suites. So you don't have a really wide view. There were also a lot of bugs, so bring something for that. If you have a suite, it would be the best of views. Also, this end of the building, when the building isn't full/busy, the hot water took minutes to get there. A lot of water running, not really convenient, but OK. They offered to move us to the other end. When entering the room, it was a nice clean smell, not too much like perfume or previous odors. The bathroom was not cramped. The toilet handle was very difficult to move and flush. A child wouldn't be able to do it on their own. We had a very slow draining tub. You can't take a shower without standing in water from the beginning. It took 5 minutes to drain after the shower was done. The lighting was also bad in the room. We had one entry light, one lamp between the beds, and one floor lamp. Not even a desk lamp.This was not enough. Almost went to buy something to help out. You might bring something. The TV was a 32". Many hotels have larger. Beds weren't bad, but we missed our pillowtop. The waterpark area was fun. We were there at a slow time and without kids. I can't speak to when it's busy. The lady that works there is chatty. She's lived here 20-some years and had lots of information about where to go around here. More than the front desk staff--they were kind of lost when we asked questions. The lazy river is enjoyable and moved well. It's 2'6-3'6 deep. There are single and double tubes. The water slides (one sitting on a tube, one with body only) were good. We're not experienced with waterparks, though. Kids area had zero entry and a 1' pool. There was also a chair lift pool, which I've never seen before in a hotel. Nice outdoor pool area and it was 3'6" at deepest. There was also a covered picnic table area with four gas grills. read more

this review is just for the waterpark. I have been here twice. The park is small but still pretty fun. Kids will really have a blast! There is a big hot tub and an outdoor seasonal pool with a swim up bar for the adults. There is a lazy river, couple slides a kiddie area. Staff are ok, not that friendly read more

For the last few years my extended family and I stay in the condos at Bridges Bay every summer. Kids range from 2 to 12 years. We all love it here! Indoor waterpark is tons of fun for the younger ones, but all of us enjoy the water slides, lazy river, and outdoor pool and bar. Super busy, but we never had a problem finding a spot or table for our stuff. The condos avail to rent are amazing and worth the price. Each condo includes 6 daily passes to the water park. Great lawn space for yard games in between the condo buildings too. read more

We drove from out of state for a weekend here. Spent thousands of dollars on many rooms for our large family. Aaaand the outdoor pool is closed. Apparently it has been closed for over a week and they did not have the courtesy to let any of their guests know ahead of time. Had we known there was no pool to swim in we could've brought boats or planned for time at the beach, we did not. Staff was extremely rude when attempting to "solve" this issue aka give us like 5% back on the thousands we spent. We've stayed here a couple times but I am assuming we won't be back read more

I just recently stayed at Bridges Bay. I was told that check in would be at 4. My friends and I get there at 3:00. We check to see if our room was ready. They told us anywhere from the now and 5 our room would be ready. At 4:30 we call and ask if our room is ready. They said "we are in there now sanitizing it and it will be ready in 20 minutes. Which put us at 5pm. So we go back in at 5pm and ask about our room. "It's not ready yet they" At this point we are frustrated. We drove for 4 hours and still didn't have a room even though check in was at 4. They said "I can give you a free pool pass"' Okay sure, we needed to buy another anyways. So we go back to the parking lot and hang out. Still haven't heard from them. So at 6pm we finally decided to go in for the last time to see if the room was ready. We come back in and it's magically ready to go. Check in shouldn't take 3 hours. Especially since I was paying 540 dollars for the weekend. Not pleased with the way the front desk handled everything. Also heard from another hotel guest that the housekeepers were watching Tik Toks. If someone checks in and that room isn't ready yet, it should be priority to get it done. Also throughout the weekend, we could hear kids running and screening down the hallways. Very annoying especially at 6am. 0/10 would recommend staying at this place. read more

Nice hotel and appeared very new. Were very disappointed that they advertise a restaurant all through out the hotel, but not opened for breakfast except on week-ends. When asked where to get breakfast since restaurant was not open they said "just get in your car and drive someplace"!!!!!! Room was clean and plenty of room. read more

I am usually not picky about hotels, but due to the lack of respect for privacy at this hotel, I had to give it a lower rating. My husband and I were in our hotel room around 4:30. Someone knocked quickly at the door but when I went to open it, no one was there. They returned again with a quick knock and I got up right away to open the door. Before I could even get to the door a man started unlocking our door and walking in the room. He said he was there to fix a light bulb. Non of our lightbulbs were out and we had not called about it. He then showed me a ticket that was 9 days old saying our room needed a lightbulb. He started walking into the room without asking permission or if it was an okay time to come in. This made me very uncomfortable for multiple reasons: 1. What if I had been in the shower or something and this stranger just walked into the room without any notice or time to answer the door? 2. My husband was taking a nap and he woke him up. 3. What if we weren't in the room and he was just going into our room with our personal belongings without us knowing? We assumed no one would be in the room because they currently are not cleaning the rooms everyday because of covid. It was even more frustrating when we told the general manager and she just made excuses for why they can't give notice when maintenance is coming. They just tried to justify that maintenance comes on their own time and then said "well he knocked". It's hard to sleep at a hotel when you are nervous that someone could come into your room at anytime without you knowing. I padlocked the door the rest of the trip because I didn't know if he'd come back. Overall, unprofessional management and lack of respect for customer privacy. If privacy was not a concern, they have a nice pool and nice view of the lake. They allow dogs at the hotel and our neighbor's dog was barking every time they left him in the room alone. Didn't feel comfortable asking management to switch our rooms after their response to the privacy issue. read more

Could be an amazing resort, but our experience was not good. First off check in is at 4:00 pm, a little late but ok. We were told we were staying in a new building that was opening that day, NICE. Well when we got in we were missing a tv remote and the bedroom with windows was missing a curtain, which would be fine if you like waking up at 5:00 am. Couldn't call front desk, no phones in the room. So went to front desk, they couldn't solve a simple math problem much less our issues. Finally got a control and was told they couldn't do anything about the missing curtain. Then my daughters went to take a shower and water went everywhere. All over the bathroom to the carpet in the room. Again had to go the front desk. They called maintenance and he eventually came. Don't remember his name but he was nice and apologetic. But again couldn't do anything to fix the problem. So now we are taking showers in a small pool in the bathroom. Then the cherry on top of the s**t cake we went to the restaurant and all of their systems were down so they could only take cash. The hostess could care less. Just said "there's an ATM over there". Pools and Waterpark were great, but that's about all. Get your stuff together and you could be great. Changed to a 4 they moved rooms and made it right read more

A little overcast so we checked it out.... Water was warm, resort was clean and the Waterpark Manager (TF) was awesome. He rolled a table in for us, took care of our high maintenance needs and more. Highly recommend! read more

This hotel is okay, not great, not bad just okay. The housekeeping is HORRIBLE. They barely attempt to make the bed and pretty much only took the trash out until we called the front desk and asked for towels and the floor to be vacuumed. We also found cardboard in one of the beds sheets so I wonder if the sheets were even replaced. The water park is good for kids up to age 10. Other than that it's nothing special for older kids. read more

This is for the waterpark and Cantina. Unprofessional staff. The two very unfriendly gentlemen in the cantina were awful. Ordered food and came back to get it and he said he forgot to put it in the fryer so he was going to do it then. No apology. Ranch sitting out was hot. No bottled water or soda to buy, only alcohol and slushy drinks. Chairs are very dirty and food debris all over. We sat down and saw drops of blood so had to move to another chair. Very unclean in here today! read more

Nice resort and nice rooms but there is no housekeeping service, it's really noisy, and we could not get hot water for our showers. Also staff doesn't seemed informed about anything. We asked when the outdoor pool would be open, when the restaurant opens, etc. and nobody ever knew anything. read more

Spent the weekend here with our kids and for the premium price they charge they sure dont deliver. In the bathroom their was dirt in two of the four corners, like they have never been cleaned, one even had a dead fly in it. You practically had to jump on the toilet handle to get it to flush. The curtains had several tears in it, paint was scuffed on the walls. The door handle to the patio fell off as we tried to open the door. The employees were less than excited to be there and sure didnt give you that feeling of appreciation that you came to spend your money there. My daughter slipped in the shower because their is no mat in the shower or texture on the tub floor. She ended up with a nice bruise on her hip. The queen beds are comfortable but the king bed is like sleeping on a piece of plywood. The tvs are small, but set in a huge opening that would allow for something bigger. But worse than the small tv, the tv sits on a 5ft high ledge and then are angled up. So good luck being able to watch it. We had to jimmy the hotel accommodations book under the platform so we could see the tv. The waterpark is pretty fun for the kids however an addition of a real swimming pool would be nice and filling up the lazy river so the depths are actually what they say, would be wonderful. I dont know about you but I dont float very well in 12 inches of water. read more

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WOW who is running this place... Pool half full like literally two feet lower then it should have been... Inside pool area was clearly in need of cleaning I saw spider webs filth in all the corners stains running down the wall etc..... wasn't going to go negative until just now calling about lost iPad I may have forgot in room and had to call 6 times before getting anyone to pick up my call... At one point when they did pick up they just set the phone down and I waited for someone to come back online for over 10 min before calling back... On my final call they did pick up the phone were very rude and short with me about my question regarding lost property.. we also had several family members staying at the resort 18 of use and all the shared living areas or condones walk into the bedroom from hallway so if you have several family staying in one condo they would have to walk threw the main bedroom to enter living space. I would say pick a different place.. F- read more

We've visited here before, but this time we were in the "new" building. Our room was STRANGE with a 12-15 foot narrow hall from the door to the actual room which fit only the king-sized bed; realized it was really designed to be an add on bedroom with a connecting door for the unit next door to extend the sleeping capabilities. NOT suitable as a separate room for two. Paper-thin walls between rooms and the hallway. It was incredibly loud and disruptive once we hit the weekend even at 2:00 a.m. The people next door had an adorable small child; never saw the child but felt like we knew the whole family from hearing them for 3 days. . . The room: no hangers, no phone (?), had to stand on a chair to see my outfit in the mirror over the sink, one desk chair for a small built-in desk, no place to even sit and drink coffee unless we sat on the bed; narrow window up against a corner. The king bed was excellent. The service staff at the pool and restaurants were fun, friendly and great at their jobs. Fortunately, the weather was terrific so we didn't have to be in the room much. Very disappointed as the previous time we stayed in the original building and it was "normal." I can't imagine we will stay here again. read more

Watch your credit card!!! We had reserved our rooms in advance thru Expedia and when we checked out I thought everything was taken care of... but to my surprise it was NOT... they ran my credit card again and it was no easy task to get it taken care of... Many calls and lots of excuses!! We weren't happy!! The staff was less then apologetic and could of cared less that this happened!!! For warned... watch your credit card!!! read more