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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. 132 out of 461 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 153 out of 461 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 84 out of 461 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 51 out of 461 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 41 out of 461 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

8/10 Good

Kristie

Travelled 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

Travelled with family, Travelled with family and small children
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

Travelled with family, Business traveller, Travelled with partner
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

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

10/10 Excellent

Higinio

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

4/10 Poor

Nancy

Travelled 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

Travelled 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

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

4/10 Poor

Ross

Travelled 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

Travelled with family, Travelled with family and small children
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

Travelled 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

Travelled 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

Travelled 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

4/10 Poor

Leigh

Travelled 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

8/10 Good

Emelda

Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2024

2/10 Terrible

jennifer

Travelled 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

8/10 Good

erika

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

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

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

Travelled with family
Stayed 4 nights in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Laura

Travelled 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

Travelled 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

Travelled 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

Travelled 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

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

10/10 Excellent

Heidi

Travelled 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

Travelled 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

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

10/10 Excellent

Malika

Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

4/10 Poor

Amber

Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
I liked that the property was neat Starved Rocks State Park. The water park was only partially running and the resturaunt and bar were closed. The water smelled terrible in the room.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

4/10 Poor

Haley

Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

Jorge

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2023

10/10 Excellent

Bianca

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

8/10 Good

Vesela

Travelled with family and small children
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
The pool was dirty and it was close during the week days.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

6/10 Okay

Beth

Travelled with partner
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
Patio chair was broken light didn’t work everything was closed up because it wasn’t prime season. Would not stay again
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

4/10 Poor

Geoffrey

Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

10/10 Excellent

jordan

Travelled with family and small children
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
My kids loved it they didn't want to leave
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2023

4/10 Poor

Laura

Travelled with family and small children
Disliked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Location was fabulous. Our toddler enjoyed the water park but it was pretty dirty. The villa was very spacious but also dirty…had mice poop and spider webs. Needed to be updated badly.
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2023

10/10 Excellent

Anita

Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023