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Reviews of Grand Bear Resort at Starved Rock

3 out of 5
Grand Bear Resort at Starved Rock
2643 IL-178, Utica, IL

Reviews

7.4

Good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 138 out of 472 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 154 out of 472 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 85 out of 472 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 52 out of 472 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 43 out of 472 reviews" "

7.6/10

Cleanliness

7.8/10

Staff & service

7.2/10

Amenities

7.2/10

Property conditions & facilities

7.2/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Jawahar

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Quiet place, Very friendly staff. Any issues addressed immediately.
Stayed 2 nights in May 2024

2/10 Terrible

Cynthia L.

Traveled with partner
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Melissa who checked us in and ran shifts at front desk was incredibly rude and was not willing to help with any requests we asked her. When we arrived after hiking all day and went to our room there was no working air conditioning and could not get couch to setup correctly. My husband went down to Melissa where she said very shortly that he would have to wait on maintenance then turned her back on him. I then went up there asking when maintenance would be there because I wanted a shower. She said there were calls ahead of us (which we found out there were not) and we had to WAIT! I then asked if we could switch rooms with everything else going on and she told me "there was a process" with a snarky attitude. I said can we switch rooms i would like a shower and she flat out said no! We then said we wanted to leave and were requesting a refund where she stated "no" again! She was rude and would do nothing to make us feel like we were valued there. Nick, maintenance, came in and was fantastic and Jamie at front desk was also understanding to our concerns. I have never been treated so ignorantly when I AM PAYING for a service and I expect to be treated like a guest. I almost walked out and completely forfeited our super expensive stay there for no amenities because it was "off season" Website needs to explain the use of the water a lot clearer or we would not have stayed there. The pool/whirlpool and our Waterpark was what we wanted after long days of hiking. Melissa has horrible
Stayed 2 nights in May 2024

10/10 Excellent

Kayla

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Yolanda

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Everything was suitable
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Kristin

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2024

4/10 Poor

Johnny

I was there 2 days and they didn't come clean the room or change towels
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Nora

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Extremely accommodating staff, one of the cleanest rooms I’ve ever stayed in, the amenities were great! Highly recommend
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2024

8/10 Good

Kristie

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Everything was great, except for WiFi and a few other small things. WiFi was terrible which made it difficult to even watch TV. The TV kept turning off randomly. They had a wedding in the open area which made it very loud in hall with kids running late into the night and loud music that could be heard throughout the hotel. Pool was closed for portion of the time and hot tub was down most of the time.
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2024

8/10 Good

Cheryl

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2024

2/10 Terrible

Jasmine

Traveled with family and small children, Traveled with family
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Our room was infested with ants, roaches and spiders. Additionally, one of the bathroom toilets was broken, therefore we wasn’t able to use the bathroom the entire stay! When we asked for room service related services such as clean towels, we were informed that we had to come and get the items ourselves. The water park itself is very small (I would not recommend for children 10 )! On top of that we often had to wait 30-45 minutes for dry towels at the pool. We definitely will never come back to this establishment again!
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Andrew

Business traveler, Traveled with partner, Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The resort was very convenient. It was so close to both State Parks in the area!
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2024

8/10 Good

Richard

Traveled with group
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
No
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Higinio

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Nice place!
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2024

4/10 Poor

Nancy

Traveled with family and small children
Disliked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
We sat and waited and watched many people come in and check in before 4 o’clock. Finally at 3:30 I walked up to the counter, asked why everybody else was able to check in and we weren’t and they said oh we can check you in now. Then we get up to our room, use the shower and the water is up to our ankles. Tried calling for maintenance found out that our phone room did not work had to walk all the way down to the front desk to get maintenance to come up maintenance came up asked my husband if he had , an object that he can stick in the drain to remove whatever was in there. We gave him one of our plastic knives. He pulled out a very large clump of hair. Shame on the cleaning people I’m sure if they cleaned that tub they should’ve realized that it was clocked. The maintenance guy never did anything about the phone. I informed the front desk of the phone as I checked out. Very dangerous in case of an emergency we had no phone for three days. A few things in the waterpark were also not working the entire time, so I believe we should get counted for that and we should get comped for part of our room , I emailed guest services at grand Bear resort as that is what we were informed to do by the front desk person and they never got back to me. All in all of very bad experience at that hotel.
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

2/10 Terrible

Jorge

Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

6/10 Okay

Nancy

Disliked: Cleanliness
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

6/10 Okay

Jennifer

Traveled with family
Disliked: Staff & service
Several maintenance issues with the villa we rented (ceiling fan and fireplace didn’t work), cleanliness was a concern (the previous guest’s sock was on the floor when we checked in), kitchen adequately (but not well) stocked, and a good bit of cosmetic issues (but nothing crazy). The waterpark was only running half of their attractions for the bulk of our stay (water slides and wave pool not running), about which we did not know beforehand. I will say the staff (when we could get ahold of someone at the front desk) were attentive and tried to make our stay enjoyable. In all, a solid C getaway with the family.
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Steven

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Friendly staff and spacious and cozy.

4/10 Poor

Ross

Traveled with family
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
We had a horrible experience here. The room was so dirty. The pull out bed was broken with dried up mold food stuck on it. The rugs were sticky. The box spring covers were very dirty with fresh stains. We were there for 2 nights. Made a call and visited the front desk 3 times. Never heard back or had a maid stop by. Also, filed complaint when leaving and we still haven’t heard back from a manager. We checked out Monday, March 25th.
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

6/10 Okay

Juan, miami

Traveled with family and small children, Traveled with family
Disliked: Staff & service
Arrived at 10am with my wife 2 year child and 78 year old mom. Started snowing .. they said I couldn’t check in till 3pm the room was ready but they just couldn’t let me check in . I offered $200 to let me check in they said no. After speaking to a manager I was charged $75 but had to wait till noon… sink didn’t drain jacuzzi didn’t work toilet pressure was really bad .. all dinning options open at 5pm
Stayed 3 nights in Feb 2024

8/10 Good

Christine

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

6/10 Okay

Patrick

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Erin

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
My two kids and I had a fantastic stay at Grand Bear. Indoor water park was a lot of fun. Rooms were very clean and spacious. Food options were really good. Great location, close to Starved Rock.
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

8/10 Good

Lynn

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness
Booked online with the expectation that there were restaurants on site. We’d been traveling 10 hours. Everything was shut down. Got to our room and had to move due to ants. Then a trip back to town for food. Was worried that because the sofa in room 219 was visibly damaged, that would not be passed on to us. Still I think this would be a great vacation stop for a family.
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

6/10 Okay

Jacob

Traveled with family and small children
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
I heard mixed reviews of the property so I proceeded w/ caution. Upon check in I was informed that the big water slides were down as "something happened over the weekend". I was also told the restaurant will not be open despite my reservation saying free breakfast was included. There were not many people there, there MIGHT have been handful of guests overnight. We are in their off season so I understand. The waterpark was fun, we were the only guests there for the last hour and had it to ourselves. The arcade is a legit arcade where you can get tickets and all. The only drawback is that you need to buy a prepaid card that you swipe to play the games. The cheapest option to get a card is $25. The crane game prizes are stuffed far down and are next to impossible to get. The room was dated, needed some TLC. There is no cable TV. All they had is a very slow Vizio streaming interface on a small TV. The wifi is very slow and trying to pull anything up on the TV, along with the slow interface, was painful. Plan on bringing you own streaming stick. The room was passable but for picky travelers, they may not like it. I wish this place invested some money into upgrades. It has all the potential to be a family central Illinois destination

8/10 Good

Lacey, Savoy

Liked: Cleanliness
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2024

8/10 Good

Karen

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2024

6/10 Okay

Janna

Traveled with family
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Horrible weekend
Water park way over crowded ran out of towels both days. No place to sit or put you things. Kids crafts where horrible. Kids ran up and down halls all hours screaming. We had 2 rooms 1st room tv was so old it barley worked beds where broken down so uncomfortable and shower barley trickled water. 2nd room remote had to be replaced 2 xs before it worked. The tub held water after shower drain plugged up nasy foot of water had to drain before next person could use it. Food was way over priced no flavor. Very run down. Sunday the pool was closed down all together. Big bucket was broken down for 2nd year in row. Very under staffed unfriendly on site general store no inventory. And the beds are olds lumpy bad pillows horrible would not recommend at all. Big let down for over priced lodging
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2024

4/10 Poor

Leigh

Traveled with family and small children
Liked: Staff & service, amenities
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
The staff here were super friendly and the facilities would potentially be ideal for a family weekend. However, cleanliness was a let down; the room was dim and dusty and the pool area was pretty dirty with food trash, beer cans and even used bandaids discarded around the facility.
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2024

10/10 Excellent

Lori

Stayed 1 night in Feb 2024

4/10 Poor

Verified traveler

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Better Advertisement
We were there to celebrate my sons birthday. Upon arrival (over 1.5 hrs drive) we were told waterpark wouldn’t be open till Thursday and were told they couldn’t do a cancellation.
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2024

8/10 Good

Emelda

Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2024

2/10 Terrible

jennifer

Traveled with family and small children
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Took my kids to the waterpark & had extreme chlorine levels which caused my child to go to the emergency room coughing and sick . We couldn’t even stay in the pool longer than 15 mins without eyes burning and feeling like you cannot breathe. Completely unacceptable for what you pay here
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2024

2/10 Terrible

Korey

Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Meh not want i excepted
Was charged $211 for a room that was quoted less than $100 Lady on the phone was rude as well as the front desk. I get nothing was open because of the season so that okay the water park was irrelevant but being charged 200 for one night at a place that was supposed to be a resort but not even getting a tv remote in the room is a bit strange lol. Overall id just go anywhere else unless youre okqt with rudness and everything being closed but them not telling you till they take your money..
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

4/10 Poor

alesia

Traveled with family
Misleading water park hours, scary Emma, kids sad!
The waterpark and arcade closed at four on Sunday Sunday and we were not made aware by the website or the hotel. Why would we book a room somewhere for our kid to play if he can’t play? The waterpark staff member, Emma screamed @ us out and told us to eat her ass.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2024

8/10 Good

erika

Traveled with family and small children, Traveled with family
Great atmosphere
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2024

6/10 Okay

Verified traveler

Liked: Property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Room comfort
Give it another visit
Unfortunately our visit coincided with the extremely COLD weather of January 2024.Because the resort was no where near capacity, the restaurants were not open every day. When we did dine at Jake's, the service & food were good. We dd not avail ourselves of the water park, but those who did seemed to be enjoying themselves. Suggestion was made that we return in the summer.when all activities are available. We still enjoyed ourselves. Our ratings are based on the weather factor.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2024

4/10 Poor

Laura

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2024

6/10 Okay

Amber

Traveled with family
Stayed 4 nights in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Laura

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Had a wonderful time with my family here. We were very comfortable.
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2023

2/10 Terrible

aysha

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
We had a mouse in the villa we were staying at, talked to a staff member was told that maintenance will be there first thing in the morning no one cane checked out and wont be thinking about going back ever again.
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2023

8/10 Good

Mary

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Francisco J.

Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Angelica

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Maria

Traveled with family and small children
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Love the convenience of having food without running out of building. Breakfast buffet could have had a better variety, especially when you are paying for it.
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2023

2/10 Terrible

Jeffery

Traveled with family and small children
Disliked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Pool was dirty the bedding didn't look that clean and the rugs need cleaning
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2023

6/10 Okay

Jenifer

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

Heidi

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Super quiet and clean! Want to come back again and stay when the weather is warmer
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Teresa

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Family get a way
Villa was nice but could use a little maintenance the downstairs shower was horrible no pressure at all and in the upstairs king bed room the hide a bed on the sofa was broke but they did have an areo bed so we just use that for our grandson to sleep on everything else was excellent. We had a very great time in the water park but it did look as if it could use a good cleaning but our overall stay we all had a good time.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

sherry

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023