Holiday Inn Lake Ozark

Awesome resort....great poolside activities..tons of fun for all!!

Husband and I got a quiet dinner, while the kids enjoyed activities.

Dive-In Movie was a blast!! Can't wait to go back!!

Visited lake ozark in may with a group of friends. We decided to stay at the resort because it looks so gorgeous from the top. Its close to the dam and its located on top of the lake's largest marina. I think it was marina max, can't remember. I had the opportunity to snoop around to look at all the beautiful boats. But anyway, the staff was friendly upon arrival. This hotel is huge. It made me feel like I was in paradise. The swimming pools were really nice. As for the rooms, it was well equiped. They also have a very nice and relaxing restaraunt and bar. Overall, I had a fun time at this hotel. I expect to go back this summer. There is so much to do here. I recommend this place if you are looking for a fun and relaxing place to stay.

Our entire family always had something fun to do! Terrific poolside entertainment and tiki bar for my husband and I while the kids were enjoying the great activities! Babysitter provided was wonderful while we enjoyed fun entertainment in the lounge. We will be back!

We stayed two nights in September and had previously stayed two nights in December 2004 when it was then a Holiday Inn. I chose this hotel because it is pet friendly and under the new management it's become even more so (complete with a goodie bag when checking in, but the room rates seem to have risen with the change). Both stays we were in the building with lake views that's connected to the indoor pool. (I think it's building 4). I prefer this building because it has interior corridors. It is steep walking around the property but with a dog that was great because Lucy had a lot of space to explore. There's a nice lawn area near the indoor pool for quick walks and some woods nearby that were great in the morning for "business." The rooms are a good size with lots of room. I really like the armoire for clothes. The staff is excellent and friendly. This is one of the friendliest hotel staffs I've ever seen and they work hard to accommodate all requests.

Besides being pet friendly, the best part of the hotel is the food! The rates come up breakfast and you can upgrade for a nominal fee (cheaper than you'll pay elsewhere for a meal). The Sunday brunch is yummy! Lots of hot foods and selection. I just drool remembering the waffles and made-to-order omletes. Nice views of the lake from the restaurant. It's also near Riske pizza, which was quite good and close to the outlet mall. The service at the restaurant is really good too.

A wonderful place to stay and I'll be returning for sure!

The staff is very friendly and the rooms are clean. We were given complimentary breakfast and we expected very little, but received great food. We also ate dinner at the restaurant and found the food to be very, very good! You have to try the NY strip! The vegetables served with dinner were to die for! We heard from the locals that the Sunday brunch is fantastic! We don't doubt it, we found the food to be very good! Some of the features were not operating yet, such as the dive in movie, but the season was just getting underway. Lots of in season things to do at the resort! We will stay here again!

Awesome resort....great poolside activities..tons of fun for all!!

Husband and I got a quiet dinner, while the kids enjoyed activities.

Dive-In Movie was a blast!! Can't wait to go back!!

upon reading the other reveiws i didnt understand. I stay here atleast 2 times a year. my business brings me to the lake area often. ive been staying at R.A.P.A for the last 3 years, several times a year. I have never had a bad experience there! The staff is great, and always call me by my name(which to me means that they care). Every department that works there is great, from the very helpful and friendy front desk to the resturaunt staff. I havent had a chance to bring my family during the summer but Ive heard the summer activities ROCK. I do recommend this to anyone comming to the lake area. just a tip, ask for "D" building with the inside pool, or "A,B" near the outdoor pools,lakeveiw resturuant, bar and tiki bar. I do love this place, and will keep comming back! Thanks for all the great stays!!!

Back in May, I wrote a review of this property. I had a really bad experience then. But I recently had the opportunity to give Port Arrowhead another chance, and it was much better! The room was clean, the employees were nice, and it didn't smell. My recommendation for those of you booking a room here, ask for Building D. It's more "hotel" than "motel" there. The property is really beautiful and peaceful. I am glad I gave it another chance.

We just returned from a little weekend trip here. This resort is in a great location and has the possibility of being a really great place. However, it really needs a top to bottom updating. I stayed here in 1999 for a conference and the place is in the same condition.

We stayed in the whirlpool suite, which had a very large and deep 6" whirlpool tub in it. It was in decent shape. The room had a slight odor and the carpet was worn. The room was poor to average, but we don't need much so we had fun anyway!

The photos on the website are very misleading, the pool is older, the waterfall is in bad shape. One of the outdoor pools has water issues (very cloudy) but the other was nice. The indoor pool looked newer but the management did not take the time to keep the windows clean and over looked a number of other small details (broken doors, painting that needed to be done, general cleaning) that made the whole facility look very dated.

Overall, if you need a room and can get it for the right price go in knowing this is not a modern or fancy resort.

Overall a good hotel. Attended for a convention in March 08. Was a solid, if spread out, property. Room had newer furniture and included a microwave, mini-fridge and coffee maker. Bed was comfortable and room was clean. Hotel location was good.

Aside from the meeting rooms we did not use any of the hotels other amenities. I saw the indoor pool which looked nice. The outside pool was closed as it was early spring and too cold. The property seemed well maintained overall, I saw several staff members working on the landscaping, pool and other exterior areas. This may have been clean-up from the winter as they transitioned to the spring/summer but everything looked good.

The only negative experience was the (typically) overpriced hotel restaurant. Went for the morning breakfast buffet which was just tolerable. I do not recommend eating there unless you really have to.

We booked our room before reading reviews on Tripadvisor. Thought about cancelling after reading the reviews, but since we had to forfeit one night's rate at that time, we decided to chance it. We were very pleasantly surprised by the room, which is nothing luxurious, but it was spacious, clean and everything was functional (mostly - the A/C malfunctioned on the last day, but we were given another room promptly.) It was very good value for what we paid for.

My family and I stayed at the this hotel last summer and really enjoyed it. It was a great place for families, my kids really enjoyed all the activities around the pool and so did my husband and I, the pools are very clean and inviting, they have a bar right next to the pool and we enjoyed the drinks, they also have a nice restuarant and lounge with live music. Hey this isn't the Hilton, rooms are a little small, but very clean, we had a great experience here!!

The hotel was clean, and well maintained, the staff were efficient, friendly and courteous. We thoroughly enjoyed our 4 day stay. We picked a good time of the year, the hotel was not so busy and so we enjoyed the pool and hot tub each night almost in our own privacy. The restaurant was very good, we did order an appetizer and instead of the sour dough bread that came with the brie cheese we got saltine crackers, although it was good we would have appreciated it if they had told us before and we would have ordered something else as the price was a little expensive for saltine crackers. However everything was delicious and each morning we had a full hot breakfast buffet. It was great! and it was part of our deal when we booked the hotel stay. Port Arrowhead has a nice Marina and we enjoyed the lake view from both our room and the restaurant. My only advice would be that the hotel complex is built on a hillside and for anyone with walking problems the hills and steps might be a little difficult. There are elevators, however they do not take you to each floor, at least we could not find one that did. The whole area of the Lake of the Ozarks was beautiful, we took a great Lake Cruise from the Lodge of the Four Seasons on the Scenic Cruise, would recommend that as well as you really got to see homes and views from the lake. Also great shopping at the Osage Beach Outlet Mall.

Location is excellent in relation to other restaurants, shopping, etc. at the lake. Service was excellent and breakfast and lunches were above average. The rooms are a little "tired" and need some attention such as new carpeting. We were with a small group of 27 people. We had a group dinner which was promptly served and was above average. We will be going back in 2006.

Nice family hotel, great for conventions or family reunions. The rooms were nothing fancy, but they were clean and the beds were comfortable. Fun activities for kids at the pool area--which is the best part of the hotel. Great food at the restaurant, and the poolside bar served a fabulous non-alcholic smoothie. My only complaint--the poolside DJ's music was so loud it distorted and made anyone over 21 want to leave the pool area in a hurry.

My family, 2 young boys and I have stayed at this resort the last two summers while I have attended meetings there. We found the staff to be very helpful, and the rooms above average for the area. We greatly appreciated the babysitting service and the wonderful activities for my two boys at the pool. My boys asked me last week if we are going to go back there this summer. I do recommend this resort to my family and friends.

The Resort at Port Arrowhead is well located near the Dam. It has a very good view of the Lake but you can't walk near the water. For me to call this a resort is a bit of a stretch. The large indoor pool is very nice and the weekend Brunch is good but when Holiday Inn sold this property I think the name was all that was changed. They have a newer Hotel building with an indoor pool and an older section that is more like an old drive up Motel. We had our dog so we stayed in the older section. Our building had a power failure the first night and I had to walk to the office to get it resolved. The landscaping is very nice, Flowers and a waterfall. There are not a lot of grassy areas to walk a dog. There is a miniature Golf Course and a Large Outdoor pool with a very nice view of the Marina. The Resort is not a bad place to stay but there are cheaper accommodations for the quality, and better quality hotels for your money.

Came for new years, had a pleasant stay. The band was great, and to my surprise, they made the smokers go out in the hall. It's nice to attend a "fresh air" event now and then, even though non-smokers don't get that opportunity often. Unfortunatley, I was disappointed when I saw the whirlpool tub in my bathroom. It happened again to me, like it always seems to, the guest in the next room ran their whirlpool tub after midnight for 45 minutes. The humming through the walls was almost deafening. Hotels never want to specify an acceptable use policy, such as "for consideration of other guests, please do not use the whirlpool between the hours of 10 PM and 8 AM". Until then, I won't return.

The rooms in this hotel are dirty. A few times I have found dead bugs behind the curtains. The only reason I choose to stay here is the GREAT brunch. It is worth a non-updated room with a few bugs in it.

The Positives

- Friendly and attentive staff at the hotel's restaurant for breakfast

- Fun atmosphere at the pool (DJ, games w/prizes, etc) - friendly pool activity staff

- Refrigerator and microwave in the room

- Bathroom was free of mold

The Negatives

- MOLD in the air conditioning unit (which had to be on because of the temperature outside) - all I kept imagining was breathing in mold spores while I slept

- Day I checked out, looked like it happened to be air-conditioning mold cleaning day. Had about 6 or 7 units out on the parking lot being hosed down (I didn't mind that) but would suggest it be done more often than it is currently being done.

- Carpet felt damp the whole time (Ewwww) so I kept my shoes on the whole time I was in the room unless I was taking a shower or in bed (which apparently wasn't much cleaner ... see below comment)

- Ordered off the menu for breakfast (referenced above) - food was really greasy

- Day I checked out (not sure why) but all the furniture from the empty rooms were placed on the made bed - don't know if that is a standard practice for vacuuming the room or if they were getting ready to do a much-needed steam-cleaning of the carpets or what but my point is ... I thought it was gross to put the dirty furniture on top of the bed that people are going to sleep in.

My daughters and I visited the Resort at Port Arrowhead the last weekend before school started as a "girls only" weekend. I booked the hotel using their internet site, taking advantage of one of their advertised specials. Lake of the Ozarks summer season was wrapping up and the package had a really good rate listed - $105 per night with a two-night minimum. It even advertised free gas which is something that really grabbed me given the price of gas these days. After booking, the rate was listed at $109 per night before tax and fees, but I figured it was because I requested two beds or that I booked the weekend. Still $20 off their regular rate of $129 so I'm not complaining at this point.

We drove from our home near St. Louis, MO on a Friday night and arrived close to 9 pm for checkin only to be told that the 2 double bed rooms were full. Good news, though! Free upgrade to 2 queen beds poolside. The poolside ambiance was wonderful from our second floor room; however, upon opening the door the first thing I saw was a dead fly that someone had smashed up against the opposing wall. Housekeeping obviously missed it - but how did they miss the stains on the coverlet of the far bed? Nevertheless, we girls did our best to settle in as the sheets under the coverlet were fresh, the pillows plentiful and the fresh air exhilerating.

The next morning we ate at the Portside cafe located on the property. Children eat free from the buffet if accompanied by a paying adult. We tend to eat lots of fruit in the morning and were disappointed at the lack of selection - not a strawberry, banana or orange to be found. Just mountains of donuts, some mushy cantelope, and canned pineapple. Thank goodness for yogurt and watermelon! But our server was wonderful and the views from the patio included hawks soaring overhead.

And so we left the resort after a round of miniature golf. One thing about the golf course - it is built into the side of a hill between the hotel entrance and the marina entrance, so if you take a little too enthusiastic of a swing, your ball will end up dockside - which happened to us twice.

Returning to the hotel later that day, the kids were exhausted and the six-year old actually wanted a nap! Too bad for her that there is a poolside DJ that was not mentioned on the website. Twenty minutes of boom-boom-boom-BOOM-boom and I was ready for escape. After shuffleboard with some chipped disks and another round of miniature golf, we returned to the room and attempted to drown out the sound of the music with the TV. The DJ finally shut down at 7 pm and we decided to finally hit the pool we had been staring at since our arrival.

The water was about 65 degrees and visibility was about 2-3 feet - and that was with goggles on. Trying to warm up, we walked over to the hot tub. No kids under 14 states the sign, but there is not one body in that tub to complain and my kids' lips are blue. One foot in the hot tub, we know why no one is steaming in it - it isn't hot. Pilot light issues.

Back to the room and since there had been no nap, there was no way the six-year old was going to be able to stay up for the poolside movie that started and 8 pm (her normal bedtime). So time for a nice hot shower - that is until I pulled back the curtain and saw the mildew and mold stains along the bottom of the shower curtain. I am so tired at this point that despite the fact that I am highly allergic to mold, I walked her through the routine and put her to bed. After asking the twelve-year old why she hasn't showered, she states that the water from the six-year old's shower hasn't drained yet. Over an hour later, the tub is finally empty.

The next morning, we check out. Overall satisfied until I realize an hour away from the resort that I didn't get my free gas card. After calling the office, I was told I would have to call Monday AM and speak to Jennifer.

To make a long story short, Jennifer (the "Revenue Manager") informs me that I do not qualify for the gas card. Apparently, I picked the wrong package on the website - which I can understand was my fault for not triple checking (despite clicking the link marked "free gas" on the site). But then she states, "The hotel can't give you the gas card because they will be losing money." And she tells me that the general manager will tell me the same thing. So not only did I pay more than the advertised $105 per night, but I had to pay for my gas after all.

I'll chalk it up to experience and, thankfully, my kids had a great time in spite of all this. I don't know about you, but in my world, image is pretty important and while everything appears shiny at Port Arrowhead...well, you read the review.

There is a real need for clean quality lodging at the Lake, especially on the this side of the Lake.... The Resort at Port Arrowhead isn't it.

Great location, Nice amenities, nice pools, tiki bar, and common areas, but the rooms are pretty sad. Mold growing in the bathroom, even on the shower curtains. Filthy carpets, trash under the beds.

We even asked for a recently remodeled room, which to them meant one sprayed heavily with room deodorizer. Must have been to cover up the smoke smell. We asked for non-smoking, no ashtray's but it had definitely been smoked in.

Too bad as they are missing a real opportunity to provide clean, moderate lodging. With Horny Toad having recently added it's condo/hotel, Lodge of Four Seasons doing the same and Marriott announcing their project at the Grand Glaize bridge, it appears that The Resort has given up and no longer investing in any room improvements.

My group had a business luncheon at the hotel in October. I have never seen anything like this before, but the server proceeded to scrape the leftovers from our plates onto one plate in the corner of the room. I assume that this is usually done out of view of those who are dining. We watched in disbelief as the pile of meatloaf grew higher and higher. In another corner of the room, a second server was doing the same thing with our salad plates. Needless to say, it caused us to lose our appetites for any dessert!

I contacted the hotel about this after our stay, but never received a response.

Resort at Port Arrowhead- We have stayed there several times in the past in 2004 & 2005. Man has this place gone DOWNHILL fast.

Room smelled & looked so dirty.

A/C did not work in our room.

Dead bugs in bathtub, alive bugs on floor. (big black crickets)

DIRTY pool and broken outdoor hottub at the pool.

Pool furniture-chairs, umbrellas,- look like they are falling apart. If you could find one to use.

They have not put ANY money back into this place in years.

Could not sleep, because of the kids screaming in the halls from 2am till 3 am - I finally called security. Why did I have to call? Security should have taken care of it as soon as the yelling started.

They allow dogs in the rooms- I walked by a room and could see in the open drapes. A big dog was laying on the bed. YUCK-

I don't want to sleep where someone else's dog has spend the weekend. Maby that is why the rooms SMELL so bad.

We checked out early after only one horrible night.

Our room smelled , the carpets where stained, our ac was broken, we called front desk, they sent up some overnight guy, scary man high on drugs. BEWARE OF THIS PLACE!!

The rooms are in really bad shape. Water leaked into my room from an outside faucet. Carpet was soaked. These rooms are in need of an update. Stains on the carpet, stains on the drapes. Even the walls are dirty. My company paid for my stay, but if I were paying, I'd ask for a refund. I hope I never have to go there again.

We have stayed at this "resort" for the last 4 years because of a banquet / award ceremony. when it was the holiday inn it wasn't bad but over the years it has gone down hill. First the room was dirty. i think it was cleaned ennough to say they cleaned it. They could not give us another room because they had none.The door wouldn't shut unless you slammed it or pushed really hard the weather stripping had come off the door so we had to put a towel down along the edge of the door to keep the cold air out., the bathroom exaust fan did not work .....lets just say in a tiny tiny room when someone used the restroom and no exaust fan wasn't nice. For god's sake there was hair in bathtub. Oh let me tell you they were in a remodel and we were woke up at 8 am to someone in the room next to us throwing bed rails out over the railing. I hope when they do the remodel they think of the guest and hire some new cleaning ladies, And we all had to make reservations to get these room and half the people got there and they did not have a room. And i have to mention when we were at the dinner for the event , food was much better, but the wait staff i had one that would not leave me alone granted she was a nice lady she would interrupt when i was in conversation with someone and the other had no kind serving abilities she would reach over your plates and then say oh excuse me. She had no social skills she was just rude and crude.This was the worst year ever there. i'm going to stay elsewhere next year and drive over. i just hope things are better after the remodel it is nice hotel more or less, just need someone to put the employees on track.it's has a pool, indoor and out. mini golf. and a nice veiw of the lake although you can't get to it from the "resort".

This sleeping rooms at this "resort" are disgusting. The moment I walked into the room my eyes were drawn to the large stains on the carpet and all of the dated fixtures in the room. The rooms at this hotel are basically the same as a Motel 6 or red roof inn, including having the bathroom sink outside of the bathroom. The second night I was there the toilet stopped working. The following morning, the electricity went off for all of the rooms on my floor. I use the term floor loosely because since you enter the rooms from the outside (again like a Motel 6), you really don't have a floor.

I was hear with a conference of over 70 people, all of whom had their own rooms. So I was able to see a number of different rooms and none of them were any better. The vast majority of the people in our conference expressed displeasure at the accomodations as well. And lastly I have no idea why this is called a resort. The name resort implies that there are lots of activities to do on the grounds of the hotel. This "resort" has a couple of small pools and a tiny mini golf course. That's it folks! DO NOT STAY HERE!

We did not get anything that we reserved and when we brought that fact to the attention of the "manager on duty" we were treated as if we were inconveniencing them.

The rooms were very small and was told that there was nothing any bigger. We saw rooms that were unoccupied that were definately larger.

The resort fee was never mentioned in the reservation process, the check-in process or check-out process. It just showed up on the bill.

I would never recommend this resort to anyone for any reason. They made what could have been a wonderful 10 year anniversary trip miserable.

They do require a 7 day cancellation notice and now I know why!!!

I had never been to this "resort" but have been to TanTara and Four Seasons, so when my friends and I found this resort online, we expected a resort with full accomodations for the price that we paid (almost comparable to TanTara) for the "Girls Weekend Getaway" package. From the very beginning, the experience was NOT pleasant. The room we were first given had an unclean shower, hair in the bathtub, and when we asked to have the room cleaned, we called back 2 hours later and were told that we would be moved rather than them cleaning the room for us. Also, the Girls Getaway package seemed to be a complete hassel for them, none of the staff knew about the breakfast coupons, margarita coupons, or the "shopping bags" with the gift cards and coupons to the outlet malls. In my opinion, the shopping bags and coupons should have been there READY for us, instead we had to ask for everything and it was a huge inconvenience to the staff. We had 5 girls in our group instead of the 2 that they advertise on their website for the Girls Weekend Getaway, and we paid a hefty price to accomodate the package for 5 women. But when we got to the resort, we were told that we DID NOT get 5 shopping bags, margaritas, etc, and when we went to the management to find out why we PAID for things that we were told we would get, and we were treated like we were teenagers trying to get things for free. My friends and I are all educated, adult professionals and we just wanted to have our once-a-year get-away at Lake of the Ozarks like we have every year for the past 10 years and enjoy nice accomodations that we expected to get and PAID FOR, but instead we DID NOT!!! I do have to say that breakfast was good and the waitresses there were excellent, as well as Katrina the massage therapist, and they were the only part of the motel that was pleasant. We saw broken glass on the stairwell from where a fire extinguisher had fallen and we reported it, 2 days later no one had cleaned it up and glass was still all over the stairs. I will definitely NOT be back and WOULD NEVER recommend this place to anyone!! I saw one review that loved it for pet owners, I can definitely tell that pets have been at this place. Maybe someone gave their dog a bath in the room that we first had with hair in the tub. For the price that we paid, I'd much rather have been at TanTara.

Some friends and I got a package deal at this resort and found our experience to be far from pleasant. The frist room they gave us had a dirty bathroom with mildew on the walls. They did give us a new room which was the only thing they did to accomadate us. All the staff memebers had no idea how to handle any of the coupons we were given as part of our package deal and every coupon we used was a hassel. We were suppose to have "free" breakfast both mornings and found out free doesn't mean free. Overall I would not return to this resort and would not recomend this resort to any one. We did make mention the problems we encountered to the mangement staff and no one made any attempt to make our experience any better!

Having stayed at several hotels and resorts in the Lake of the Ozarks area, I have been impressed by many and let down by more than a few. I chose to stay at The Resort at Port Arrowhead earlier this month based almost solely on the advice given in some of these Trip Advisor reviews.

Big mistake.

This is a motel, folks. The restaurant and pool barely help this qualify as a resort, but nothing else would. The view was nice, but the rooms were a surprise. Exterior entry... like an average Red Roof Inn or Motel 6. The front desk was outside and across the street..I'm not kidding.

Part of me expected golf or spa or something in addition to what I found that might make this property's name make sense. I didn't find it.

You won't either.

If you have the choice, it doesn't cost much more to stay at The Lodge of Four Seasons or Tantara, and you'll have a much better time.

I highly DO NOT recommend.