East Coast in Brainerd on Round Lake (Gull Chain)

You have a wonderful home! We enjoyed our visit to Brainerd competing for the US Curling Club National Championship. While it was freezing cold outside, the family room could not have provided more warmth. Your house provided all the amenities we could have asked for. Thank you so much from Team Illinois!

We spent the last week of August, 2016 at this property with our family! The home worked perfect for our daughter and her young children. We enjoyed the deck and grassy area up by the cabin and also spent a lot of time down by the lake and enjoyed the great beach and spacious yard by the water. There were 7 of us and we all felt like there was plenty of room! Great location on the lake with beautiful views. Access to Gull Lake was awesome as we pontooned (rented) daily around the many lakes. Karen is a great hostess....she was able to quickly remedy a few minor issues and was very attentive and prompt!

I spent a week with my relatives here on round lake. This is a beautiful home with a cabin cottage feel, it is also very clean and well maintained. We had a wonderful time enjoying the lake and plenty of yard space to cook out and play games. The shallow lake is great for our small children who were able to play in the water off the dock. The neighbors up here are also great, everyone is friendly and welcoming. It is also conveniently located right off 371 so navigating was very easy. Our favorite part was that we were able to get to Gull Lake from the cabin on Round Lake, there is an access channel that connects the two. Karen was fabulous and truly cared about our experience. I would highly recommend renting this cabin!

Two days into our stay a very bad storm hit, with tornado force winds. There was terrible damage in the neighborhood, with hundreds of trees down (one unfortunately fell on my SUV, totaling it). We spent much of Monday starting yard cleanup, which had debris everywhere, along with other things such as recovering their paddle boat which had blown away. Late Monday evening the owner called and asked that we leave, due to the power and water being out indefinitely (and the septic system requires electricity to function), promising an appropriate refund. We understood and agreed to leave, which we did early Tuesday afternoon (after trees blocking the boat ramp were cleared, to get our boat out).

The problem came when it was time to discuss a refund. We figured we would only be charged up until the point of the storm (two days), as after that point we did not have power, water, or usable toilets (not exactly what you are paying for), and due to how we helped out. Instead Karen believed we owed four days since “it was our choice to stay until Tuesday.” We were surprised and ended up negotiating to three days. This was not a positive experience, but we accepted it.

Then it got weird. The refund check arrived in the mail only refunded back to four days, and came with a letter from Karen saying we left her property in poor shape, which included untrue accusations such as that we dragged her picnic table across the deck and scratched their new staining job (including an indignant remark that how dare we drag it rather than pick it up and move it!). We responded that this was unfair, pointed out the ridiculousness of some of the accusations (that obviously the tornado force winds had pushed the picnic table and it was out of line to assume that was us), informing her of how we pitched in to help, and asking her to honor the agreed upon refund. Karen responded that she would not budget, reiterating her accusations and going back to her line that it was our choice to stay until Tuesday. In the end, we were effectively charged for some of her storm damage. I’m still in shock that someone would treat her customers this way, with so little understanding or recognition of the facts and circumstances.

In short, most likely if you stay here things will go according to plan and you should have a good time. But if things don’t go according to plan, beware the owner that will focus on maximizing her own interests, with no consideration for her customer.

We spent a week at this wonderful lake home in August, 2011. We home was perfect for our family of 10.

Great location near great shopping, golf and fine eating establishments.

We look forward to returning next year.