Banned from Swinomish Casino and RV Park WA

[omega]

I left this review on Tripadvisor about Swinomish Casino, RV Park, Bingo Hall and Lodge 12885 Casino Drive Anacortes WA 98221, which has resulted in me receiving a threading phone call to my home from Dallas Widmark (Lodge Manager) and being banned from Swinomish. Swinomish will go to any lengths to manipulate their ratings and travel reviews. To a point where they will ban people who post a review they do not like, you have to wonder what they do to get so many positive reviews? You will see in his response on Tripadvisor he confirms the review as correct. After I reported the threats to Tripadvisor and the banning from Swinomish I found out my account with TripAdvisor had been disabled.
This review is my first hand experience and is meant for my fellow travelers and RV’ers. I do not expect any action by Swinomish as their responses to my reviews has been inappropriate in the past
They charge RVs to park, $10+ in their parking lot, they do not charge cars. I do not understand why they want to send customers to other RV friendly Casinos, which are close by. Their RV Park is substandard.
They have become RV unfriendly and have redesigned their parking lots making it difficult to park RVs or any over sized vehicles.
They have no washrooms (or services) in their RV Park, I have witnessed some disgusting activity by RV’ers that did not have adequate self contained RVs. It is a long walk to the lodge to use the washroom and at night the sprinklers may be on, you can hear them but cannot see them.
The RV Park has low power, which can damage the electronics and electrical systems in your RV.
Most food is spicy, I think due to their customer base of Mexican/Spanish customers.
They supply coffee whiter not milk in the Casino and Bingo Hall for coffee. They do have free soft drinks in the Casino located by the Sports Bar.
There is a busy train track that runs beside the RV Park, behind the Lodge, that sounds its horn, night and day when it crosses the Rail Bridge.
There is a large A/C about the size of a city bus at the rear of the Lodge that can be quite noisy, making it difficult to sleep in the RV Park.
There is a sewer treatment building just west of the RV Park. The smell can be quite strong around the Bingo Hall and RV Park when the wind is blowing in their direction.
From time to time they have live entertainment on the stage in the Casino that can be extremely loud I carry earplugs to protect my hearing.
They have some very nice people working in the Bingo Hall.
· Stayed January 2015, traveled as a couple
o Location
o Cleanliness
o Service
Was this review helpful? Yes 36

Ask Bill W about Swinomish Casino & Lodge
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Dallas W, General Manager at Swinomish Casino & Lodge, responded to this review, 3 weeks ago
Thank you for reposting your review.

Unfortunately there will be no immediate action on the construction of an rv building, the increase of individual site power capacity, the relocation of HVAC equipment at the back of the property, or a new sports bar menu, nor is there a plan to turn our RV Park into a free park. Should you decide to return, please be aware that upon your return you will discover these aspects of our property unchanged. Hopefully this is helpful in your decision to return or not.

We here at Swinomish Casino & Lodge aim to provide memorable hospitality & gaming experiences to each and every guest with our guest service & array of amenities. We take great pride in our successes, and enjoy reading positive reviews from our guest on this site and others.

Best Regards,

Dallas Widmark
Lodge General Manager
Report response as inappropriate
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC
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[PRodacy]

So the OP stayed in the parking lot instead of the casino's RV park and then wrote a critical review of the parking lot. Is he serious? If so, he needs a big dose of reality.

[chracatoa]

I stopped there last month for lunch with my TT & family. I did not pay for parking, nobody told me to pay anything. Lunch buffet was cheap so I liked that. I wish it had more steak but hey - it's all you can eat. It also looks like every other casino around. I used to stop at Tulalip's. Their buffet is better but way more very expensive (maybe because there's a giant mall nearby).

[westernrvparkow]

Dog Folks wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:

2oldman wrote:

toedtoes wrote:
Seems many people forget (or never learn) what it's like to have to deal with the public day in and day out.

I'm so curious.. what are the top irritants from the public? Talking on the phone? Unreasonable demands? Just being cheap?

I don't want to be that person!

Top of the list are people who insult my employees. Number two would be people who lie. Number three are people who blame everyone and everything but themselves (if you run over the power pedestal, just say you screwed up, don't imply it jumped out in front of your rig) Number four are the self important people who barges in front of three other people in line seemingly unaware those people are even there.
Yes, people talking on their cellphones is annoying, but it happens. Unreasonable demands are just that, unreasonable and I will tell you as much. As for cheap, if you don't want to pay the price, fine. Just don't expect me to change it to accommodate you and don't call everyone 4 letter names because you don't like the price.
It really doesn't take much to be a good customer. Show respect for others and you are 99% there.

Really? I would have thought it was the customer that refuses to follow the rules and then wants to argue with you about them rather than comply.

"I never picked up after my dog before."
"I can't park on the grass? I always have in the past?"
"What do you mean, I never heard of that rule. (Which is clearly printed on the map given you when you checked in.)

Solid number five and in the running to move up a notch or two more. But it will never pass disrespecting my employees or flat out lying.

[toedtoes]

I think that falls in under his Number 3 category - people who blame everyone and everything but themselves. "It's not my fault for not following the rules, I've always been allowed to ignore them before".

[Dog_Folks]

westernrvparkowner wrote:

2oldman wrote:

toedtoes wrote:
Seems many people forget (or never learn) what it's like to have to deal with the public day in and day out.

I'm so curious.. what are the top irritants from the public? Talking on the phone? Unreasonable demands? Just being cheap?

I don't want to be that person!

Top of the list are people who insult my employees. Number two would be people who lie. Number three are people who blame everyone and everything but themselves (if you run over the power pedestal, just say you screwed up, don't imply it jumped out in front of your rig) Number four are the self important people who barges in front of three other people in line seemingly unaware those people are even there.
Yes, people talking on their cellphones is annoying, but it happens. Unreasonable demands are just that, unreasonable and I will tell you as much. As for cheap, if you don't want to pay the price, fine. Just don't expect me to change it to accommodate you and don't call everyone 4 letter names because you don't like the price.
It really doesn't take much to be a good customer. Show respect for others and you are 99% there.

Really? I would have thought it was the customer that refuses to follow the rules and then wants to argue with you about them rather than comply.

"I never picked up after my dog before."
"I can't park on the grass? I always have in the past?"
"What do you mean, I never heard of that rule. (Which is clearly printed on the map given you when you checked in.)

[Pangaea_Ron]

toedtoes wrote:
Tom/Barb - the OP stated "There is a sewer treatment building just west of the RV Park." Can you confirm whether this is a building owned by the casino or is it off their property and owned by someone else?

I ask because if the latter, then it IS out of the casino's control. If the former, then there might be ways for the casino to mitigate the smells.

The casino, hotel and RV Park are on the Swinomish Indian Reservation. The settling pond for their own sewage/drainage system has recently been located to the West from it's original location in the parking lot South of the Casino.

The prevailing wind is from the SSE so any potential odors should be carried away from the RV park, and would be an improvement.

Google Map of Casino

[westernrvparkow]

2oldman wrote:

toedtoes wrote:
Seems many people forget (or never learn) what it's like to have to deal with the public day in and day out.

I'm so curious.. what are the top irritants from the public? Talking on the phone? Unreasonable demands? Just being cheap?

I don't want to be that person!

Top of the list are people who insult my employees. Number two would be people who lie. Number three are people who blame everyone and everything but themselves (if you run over the power pedestal, just say you screwed up, don't imply it jumped out in front of your rig) Number four are the self important people who barges in front of three other people in line seemingly unaware those people are even there.
Yes, people talking on their cellphones is annoying, but it happens. Unreasonable demands are just that, unreasonable and I will tell you as much. As for cheap, if you don't want to pay the price, fine. Just don't expect me to change it to accommodate you and don't call everyone 4 letter names because you don't like the price.
It really doesn't take much to be a good customer. Show respect for others and you are 99% there.

[toedtoes]

westernrvparkowner wrote:

wbwood wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:

magnusfide wrote:

Naio wrote:
I found the review informative, and I don't see why people here are so down on you. And if the casino banned you, they should be ashamed of themselves.

If people only write positive reviews, then reviews become useless.

Same here. All positive reviews are useless in that kind of system. Sad that others badger a person who had a terrible experience and reported it. My wife is allergic to the soy in creamers and has to have milk so we understand that too.

We do use Trip Advisor and we do read the negative reviews for a balance to the positive. Negative reviews will sometimes mention issues that are important to us like the food allergy issue.

Thanks for the heads up.

I'm sorry, but there is no way reviewers should slam RV parks and other businesses because YOU have food allergies. Many people go by the scores that are generated on those reviews or they wouldn't have the scores in the first place. To give a business a bad score because they don't have real cream for coffee and instead offer a soy creamer is ridiculous. Bring your own cream or drink it black. It isn't like the RV park's primary business is serving coffee. On the same lines, would it be fair to give a grocery store a low score because they sell bagged nuts and you are allergic to them? Give an RV park a low score because it has grass, flowers and trees Because you have severe allergies to pollens?

ditto....I guess because they didn't have pumpkin spice or caramel macchiato flavored creamers would be a good reason to give a bad review too. Food was too spicy? seriously? Didn't have a washroom? Did you check the amenities out before hand? Low power? If you are aware of the park having low power, then you should be aware of the products you can purchase to protect your rv. Could it of been just your pedestal? Did you have them check it or move you?

When people nit pick on stupid items in a review and then toss in one that really should concern people (i.e bad power), it is almost a given that the bad power or whatever didn't occur. We have seen it several times where we get a bad review because we told the people they had to clean up after their pets or we don't allow people to hang their laundry from the trees and they go on and on in the review how we are a bunch of site Nazis with pages of rules and at the end of the review they say something like "Oh and the restrooms were filthy and the water gave us dysentery".
Suffice to say if the park actually had a bad noise problem and had power problems, the reviewer wouldn't have cared whether or not the Mexican food was too spicy. If that was actually the case, the prudent RV'er would get the heck down the road.

I've seen that happen. I've also seen it go the other way - the reviewer has a really good honest complaint, but they choose to nitpick with all the little stuff so the honest complaint gets ignored as untrue when it really was true. It's what is known as "pick your fights carefully".

[toedtoes]

2oldman wrote:

toedtoes wrote:
On the extreme side, don't do your bathroom business in the dressing rooms or the "discount bins" (I never buy from discount bins after having to clean them out).

Seriously? Good lord.

Seriously. It was truly disgusting.

[toedtoes]

Tom/Barb - the OP stated "There is a sewer treatment building just west of the RV Park." Can you confirm whether this is a building owned by the casino or is it off their property and owned by someone else?

I ask because if the latter, then it IS out of the casino's control. If the former, then there might be ways for the casino to mitigate the smells.

[westernrvparkow]

wbwood wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:

magnusfide wrote:

Naio wrote:
I found the review informative, and I don't see why people here are so down on you. And if the casino banned you, they should be ashamed of themselves.

If people only write positive reviews, then reviews become useless.

Same here. All positive reviews are useless in that kind of system. Sad that others badger a person who had a terrible experience and reported it. My wife is allergic to the soy in creamers and has to have milk so we understand that too.

We do use Trip Advisor and we do read the negative reviews for a balance to the positive. Negative reviews will sometimes mention issues that are important to us like the food allergy issue.

Thanks for the heads up.

I'm sorry, but there is no way reviewers should slam RV parks and other businesses because YOU have food allergies. Many people go by the scores that are generated on those reviews or they wouldn't have the scores in the first place. To give a business a bad score because they don't have real cream for coffee and instead offer a soy creamer is ridiculous. Bring your own cream or drink it black. It isn't like the RV park's primary business is serving coffee. On the same lines, would it be fair to give a grocery store a low score because they sell bagged nuts and you are allergic to them? Give an RV park a low score because it has grass, flowers and trees Because you have severe allergies to pollens?

ditto....I guess because they didn't have pumpkin spice or caramel macchiato flavored creamers would be a good reason to give a bad review too. Food was too spicy? seriously? Didn't have a washroom? Did you check the amenities out before hand? Low power? If you are aware of the park having low power, then you should be aware of the products you can purchase to protect your rv. Could it of been just your pedestal? Did you have them check it or move you?

When people nit pick on stupid items in a review and then toss in one that really should concern people (i.e bad power), it is almost a given that the bad power or whatever didn't occur. We have seen it several times where we get a bad review because we told the people they had to clean up after their pets or we don't allow people to hang their laundry from the trees and they go on and on in the review how we are a bunch of site Nazis with pages of rules and at the end of the review they say something like "Oh and the restrooms were filthy and the water gave us dysentery".
Suffice to say if the park actually had a bad noise problem and had power problems, the reviewer wouldn't have cared whether or not the Mexican food was too spicy. If that was actually the case, the prudent RV'er would get the heck down the road.

[2oldman]

toedtoes wrote:
On the extreme side, don't do your bathroom business in the dressing rooms or the "discount bins" (I never buy from discount bins after having to clean them out).

Seriously? Good lord.

[toedtoes]

2oldman wrote:

toedtoes wrote:
Seems many people forget (or never learn) what it's like to have to deal with the public day in and day out.

I'm so curious.. what are the top irritants from the public? Talking on the phone? Unreasonable demands? Just being cheap?

I don't want to be that person!

When I worked retail (20+ years ago), we didn't have to deal with the cell phones thank goodness. For me, the worst were the people who thought screaming at me would get them what they wanted. The next worst were the people who patronized me and thought if they called me by name I would be so flattered that I'd let them do whatever they wanted. A common "bad customer" is the one that doesn't know how to separate the clerk/waiter serving them and the company making the policies. I didn't make the policies, but my job requires me to follow them - if you don't like the policy, talk to the company don't scream at me.

On the extreme side, don't do your bathroom business in the dressing rooms or the "discount bins" (I never buy from discount bins after having to clean them out).

[Tom_Barb]

Dance Chick wrote:
Trains with noise, sewer smells...yes, those are valid to let people be aware of so they can make an educated decision if they would like to stay there. But, no cream for the coffee...puhleeze..that's whining and complaining and gives the reviewer no credibility in my book.

I have no idea where their sewer lagoon is, but I do know that backwater bay at low tide smells like sh--. and there is a refinery around the corner.

[Tom_Barb]

Dog Folks wrote:
Let's look at the rant and what he expected to be changed;

1. Change sprinkler time or illuminate the sprinkler coverage.
2. Upgrade the power system
3. Change menu
4. Supply milk for coffee
5. Move train track or force trains to break the law by not sounding horns.
6. Relocate A/C unit
7. Make city relocate sewer treatment plant or change prevailing winds.
8. Eliminate live entertainment

Now once that is all complete he may come back and spend his pricey sum of $10.00. Too funny.

Dog, you must realize, this casino is on the Indian reservation, they own and run it, the city has no say in what happens on the res.