Cascade Retreat in Mount Baker

• Good For a Group

  Good For a Group

  • Guest NWSkier
  • Date of stay 12/19/11
  • Review Submitted 01/04/12
  After reading the other review on VRBO, I went in expecting to find a disaster. Simply put, the house is adequate. It has alot of space for a large group that allows you to keep from being right on top of eachother. Contrary to the earlier post, we could not locate the "bugger" wall and did not have any issues with mold or other items. The house is in need of some updating and hopefully the owners will give it some love in the coming years. The interior finishes are beginning to show their age but are still serviceable. The only real complaint we have is that some of what we would consider necessities were missing from the kitchen - no baking sheets, no coffee filters for the coffee pot, and limited kitchen accessories. Having stayed at other places in the area, I would say this is about average for the neighborhood.

  Recommended for: Families with young children, age 55+, families with teenagers.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 1/1

• Can you say MOLD

  Can you say MOLD

  • Guest markm
  • Date of stay 07/28/11
  • Review Submitted 08/02/11
  This is going to be brutal review. I say that to preface my comments with the information that we are experienced VRBO users, we are experienced with the Northwest and the challenges that the cool damp environment present to property owners, and we are not persnickety snobs. OK, got that out of the way. Now on to why we were so disappointed with this property. Describing what is wrong with this property is like describing death by a thousand tiny cuts. No one thing was enough to make us feel angry but the sum of all problems was overwhelming. Living Room: It started with the first step into the living room; the carpet was filthy and stained. It seemed to have never been cleaned and definitely needed to be replaced. As you walked through the place all of the carpet was in the same condition. No bare feet in this place. The living room was appointed with a large old TV, a DVD player (no DVDs), and a VCR with some old VCR tapes. The wall behind the sofa seemed to have been used as a “bugar wall” by some prior visitor and no attempt to clean had been made. The inside of the windows were dirty with what looked to be a splashed drinks. Safety: The smoke alarms that had not been disabled were chirping due to needing battery replacements. There were not smoke alarms in all of the bedrooms. Kitchen: The kitchen table had not been wiped down and you could see the marks from the prior guests spilled liquids. The kitchen itself was fine but for a place that “sleeps 15” it had too few glasses (6-7), only 2 wine glasses etc… Other kitchen utensils were scarce. Although the refrigerator ran ALL the time the main compartment was warm, I’ll guess it was warmer than 45 degrees. The shelves had obviously not been cleaned for several visits and had spilled material on them. Bathrooms: All of the bathrooms had moldy shower curtains. I know this is common in many non-rental properties however when you are charging a very high dollar amount a night – go out and buy some clean shower curtains – they’re cheap. Cobwebs in the corners with dead insects topped off the bathroom features. Hot Tub: The hot tub was dirty and had extensive black mold on the drain vents. No one in our group was willing to put foot in it. Grill: The burners on the grill were so corroded that cooking was almost impossible. So to conclude, this property was dirty, dated, moldy, and in desperate need of updating, maintenance and repair.

  Owner response: I am writing in response to the review “Can You Say Mold?”. The writer proceeds to claim that there was black mold around the hot tub drains. We take pride in the fact that we completely drain and thoroughly scrub the hot tub after each use. The author says he is not persnickety, yet no one in his party would put a foot in a hot tub that had been filled with clean water, scrubbed, and had appropriate chemicals applied. Mr. M. and his party checked in around 3:30 pm. I received a phone message at 9:30 pm telling me he was dissatisfied with the property. I called my housekeeper prior to calling Mr. M, and we were ready to go to the property immediately to rectify any problems. Mr. M said, “no, it wasn’t really one thing” and he proceeded to talk about the hot tub mold. He repeated how dissatisfied he was with the property. I repeated I would be glad to remediate any cleaning issues he might have and I would look into reimbursing him if I saw anything that needed our attention. I told Mr. M. I would tear up his check for the 2nd night (against our rental agreement) and he could check out that day if he was truly unhappy. Again, he refused to have me come up and said he would talk to other members in the party and see what they would like to do. When he called back he said they would like to stay, but would like to have the 2nd night for free. I talked to the owner of the property and we agreed to take almost off the cost of Mr. M’s 2nd night’s stay (again, against our rental agreement). He took the discount, but still refused to have me come up and remediate any problems. I agree about the carpeting. It is stained, but was thoroughly vacuumed and is periodically steam cleaned. The line about “no bare feet in this place” is overkill. We have approached the owners about replacing the carpeting because of its light color, as it is difficult to make it look nice, even when thoroughly cleaned. I have been managing the Cascade Retreat for 5 years. It currently has bookings a year in advance for Christmas and Labor Day. We have returning guests every year. It is fully booked each weekend of the ski season, and has several guests who come 2 or 3 times in one year. With it’s 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, private sauna, private hot tub (mold free!) it has a wonderful group of clients who find it to be a great place to come to again and again.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 2/4

$3,150-$3,500/week
$500.00 Per Night: May 1-Oct 31.
$550.00 Per Night: Nov 1- April 30.
Plus 10.5% Sales Tax

Note: Until confirmed, rates are subject to change without notice.

Sorry this information is not available. Please contact the owner/manager for more information.