I was in middle school, maybe even younger, the first time I stayed at Swiftcurrent Lodge. We've been there numerous times in the last 20+ years. From family reunions, my honeymoon, and eventually vacations with our own kids. We have a ton of memories from a child to adult at Swiftcurrent and wanted to hand them down to my own kids. Some memories can never be replaced, like those spent at Swiftcurrent with my grandparents and brother, who have all since passed away. My family and I had, and will always have, a soft spot for Swiftcurrent. My dad, who is the biggest nature lover I've ever known, was constantly picking up pieces of trash or moving things back where they needed to go. As many times as we've stayed there, we started treating it like our own home. Because of all the memories we've made through the years and the memories we were planning on continuing to make for years to come, we took great pride in making sure we did our part to help make it a great resort. However, the last couple times we've stayed there its had a different, not so friendly feel. Stricter rules (which I understand most but some were a little over the top), staff that wasn't nearly as friendly as in the past. We all talked about it and wondered what was going on. We shrugged it off as you don't always know what's happening in other peoples lives and went on about our vacation.
Last Christmas dad called to make another reservation at Swiftcurrent for this summer. As he was making the reservation he was told that our rooms were left a mess last time we stayed and one of the rooms was so messy (the room my husband and I stayed in with the kids) that we were one point away from not being allowed back. Dad was so confused as we've never had this problem anywhere we've been... EVER. He was told the housekeeper grades the rooms on a scale of 1(good)-5(bad), ours was a 4, my parents was a 3, at 5 you're not allowed back. You don't know your "score" until you call to set up another reservation and she didn't leave any notes or anything about what was wrong with our rooms so it leaves you wondering what the problem was. He was told in a way that was almost a warning to do better next time or you wont be back but was also told maybe the housekeeper was having a bad day. I would have expected more of a "you've stayed here 2 dozen times in the past and we've never had an issue, I'll look into it." Dad made the reservation anyway then hung up and talked to us about it. Luckily, I took pictures of the room after we had everything packed up in the car to go home. I took them just for my own memories but dug them back up to show dad. The only thing we didn't leave was a tip for the housekeeper. I washed the floors, vacuumed, cleaned off the counters, washed, dried, put away dished, wiped down the fridge, cleaned the sink, among other things. I even put the TV remote back where we found it. I left everything just the was it was when we came..with one exception, I didn't wash the bedding, and remake the bed. That was the only thing I left for the housekeeper. They leave an envelope on the table to tip the housekeeper. The fact that I did everything except make the bed, I didn't feel that a tip was necessary, neither did my parents. Staying at Swiftcurrent isn't cheap and I'm assuming they pay her a wage. The longer we talked about it, the more offended we became. We've been loyal to this resort for years but were treated this way. We called back and cancelled the reservation. We're heading back to Estes Park this Wednesday to a new resort, and new memories.
My advice, follow ALL the rules.. there are a lot. And, TIP THE HOUSEKEEPER, whether they have to do anything or not, or you may not be allowed back.
I'll attach images of our room also. read more