Holiday Inn Club Vacations Villages Resort at Lake Palestine - Flint, Texas

Adam M.

We enjoyed our stay at Villages Resort Lake Palestine. To compare with other reviews of this resort: Were the rooms a little outdated? Yes, but in our opinion the rooms are just for sleeping in and hanging out as a family - we don't need all the "bells and whistles" to enjoy our time together. We stayed in the 2 bedroom unit and it was large enough for four adults and two kids. The kitchen was small, but worked just fine for our stay. It was cold while we were there, so we did not spend much time outside. We did enjoy the indoor waterpark! However, we felt the waterpark was more appropriate for ages 7+ -- there was not much for our littles to do/enjoy, such as a splashpad, small kiddie pool, etc. They still had a good time. ||Our first night we ordered food on site from the Grill - all the food and drinks we ordered were ready within 20 minutes and were delicious!||We will definitely be back to the Villages Resort.

Brandon M.

Where to start? Checkin very late Saturday night, great experience. Staff was friendly, gave suggestions of local places to get donuts and gave us all the material on the property. At that point they told us that the water park is only open on the weekends. No where in the email confirmations or website did it say this. So we drove from Illinois to stay at a waterpark family resort in Texas where the waterpark is closed Monday through Thursday. It reminded me of the Grizwolds, “sorry folks parks closed”. Looks like we’ll go to the waterpark Sunday because we had plans the following Friday and check out the following day. Next up, we unload everything into our room, and who doesn’t like a few roach friends? At this point it’s 12:00am and we’re exhausted so we just slept in the roach room. We got moved the next morning to a different building with an I’m sorry, here’s your keys. Upon getting into the next room, while a step up it was still pretty dirty. Baseboards had a dirt on them that was scuzzy looking but it wasn’t unlivable conditions, just proceeded with caution conditions. I was kind of expecting to grab coffee that morning in the kitchen with the roaches from M.I.B. At this point. It wasn’t until check out the last day that our little friends revisited us in the new room. It was at this point I was glad we were leaving and not going back.

CG1115

Our family enjoyed our stay at The Villages. We really liked all of the activities available, and had a great time at the water park. The staff were very friendly and helpful. We wish we had known ahead of time that our 2 bathroom villa only had 1 shower, and no door on the second bathroom (open to the bedroom). With 5 of us, this created problems. The water heater was also limited, so showers had to be staggered. We also wish we knew that the restaurants are not open for breakfast during the week, only on weekends. Our stay was over spring break, so I would have expected more availability.

Dianna21

This is resort is Wonderful! The staff was very informational about the activities. We got the two bedroom/bathroom room with a sofa bed. It was very clean and spacious! Everything thing you need from food to activities are all in one spot! You don't have to leave the resort. We will definitely be back!!

bigpapi0682

This is an excellent place to stay if you have children. Great family atmosphere, plus you will be able to utilize the kitchen. Having a kitchen is a must whenever we travel, because we like to cut out going out to eat everyday and choose to cook instead. This allows us to spend that money on other things.

Kim W.

We had an okay time, but only because the weather was warm enough to tough out the freezing cold outdoor pool temps.

Helpful Suggestion to resort - HEAT your outdoor pools instead of being dishonest with guests over the phone to get them to come during off peak times.

We were lied to and told that the indoor waterpark would be open on Monday and Tuesday during spring break, just to get us down there. Then, they tried to gaslight me and say that noone at the front desk would have lied to me and told me that (as if I were making up stories.) It happened to several other guests while we were there and my husband witnessed them comping a boat ride to a family because they were unable to stay until Wednesday when the waterpark would be open. Granted, the website and Facebook does list out the correct hours, but I called since it was spring break and some places have unique hours for this. They said yes ma'am, the waterpark will be open on Monday and Tuesday and she sort of giggled as if it were a silly question when I asked. We would've waited to come later in the week had we known the truth and they know that. The two guys at the front desk ended up yelling at me and told me that they could only give me a partial refund if I chose to leave since I had already used their facility. I had just checked in several minutes before. Very very shady practices! They asked me what number I called to book and I informed them it was the only one listed. They again argued and said that is our generic resort line and I was rerouted etc and that noone at the front desk would have lied to me. Again, it's the only number listed so there's no way I would know exactly whom I was speaking to. Noone at that phone number should be giving out false information anyhow. They did end up transferring me to someone at the facility over the phone because I asked questions they could not answer in which they told me the same exact thing. No point in arguing with liars though.

Micro-Mini Waterpark
It's teeny tiny! My 6 year old had a blast because he likes the medium sized slides. My 11 year old was begging to leave after 30 minutes because she was bored. She doesn't like water slides though and there is nowhere to really swim. All you can do here is wade. The wave pool is the size of a regular indoor hotel pool and has a little bit of wave action. We kept getting bumped into, so we just got out. The whole place is more of a splash pad really.

Rooms - Bait and Switch Tactic

They are very vague concerning the details of the room you book. We stayed in a 2 queen bedroom villa lodge. The confirmation email showed a multiple story building with a beautiful, updated exterior and interior. This is NOT what we stayed in. We're not real picky. So it wasn't a big deal to us, but guests shouldn't be led on with false info. It was more like a tiny run down cabin and only 1 person at a time could fit inside the kitchen. This wasn't in our pictures.

Anyway, if you're going to stay here just for the waterpark my personal opinion is either don't, or wait until the summer when it's warm enough to use the outdoor pools. The outdoor pools and hot tubs are nice but freezing right now because it's March. My family was pretty much the only ones crazy enough to swim. The mini golf was fun too. I would not go again just for the splash pad type park though.

Ultimately, it was a fun family trip because we adapted and made the best of it. We don't appreciated being lied to and gaslit by employees though.

Also, yes, there are bugs in the admissions area as well as the rooms. We only saw a couple and we're not bothered by seeing a couple here and there since it's near a lake, etc. Some people may flip out over this though, so be warned.

Scooter9o9

Customer service was great. Every staff member we encountered seemed happy to see us and happy to help with all of our needs. If I had to point out something negative it would be old couches lack comfort. However it was not a big deal to us. We had a great time and enjoyed the whole experience.

Shelby P.

Fair, took for forever to check in made the 2 hour drive over with 3 young kids needed to use restroom was ready to get settled ! Finally got checked in then one of the guest services member starts asking me if I want free water park tickets and cash..?! I was ready to get to villa and said yeah sure why not then I had to pay for 5 tickets upfront to water park and 50 to reserve a spot for presentation again I was ready to get out of there!!! Didn’t use 2 of the 5 passes and no refund ! outside pool broke down a day, truck loads of families showed up the day the pool was open, staying in 2 bedrooms with 19 kids ! indoor water park to crowded, bought advanced tickets and still waited an hour! Booked 3 nights and came home the 3 rd day. This place is good for a day trip or maybe 2 anymore than that I would not recommend!