Westgate Tunica Resort

While we believe this was once a great resort, it is in a state of disrepair. If something breaks, then it either doesn’t get fixed or only halfway.

It took over 12 hours to get a shower handle fixed and we ended up fixing it ourselves.

The staff is nice but the overall feel and accommodations are much less than what we normally experience. THERE IS NO WI-FI. What hotel in this day and time does not have Wi-Fi. It is a relatively inexpensive way to accommodate your guests.

We ended up turning one of our cell phones into a HotSpot at the cost of about $100 worth of data.

In addition to the resort, Tunica was much less than we expected. While the casinos were all individually good, they were some distance (requires driving) between the different ones and separated by corn & cotton fields – I tell you there is nothing in between.

We drove for about 30 mins just looking for a drugstore or grocery store without any success.

We will not be returning to Westgate Tunica or Tunica in the future.

As Westgate owners of another property, we believed that this location would have held up to the same standards as what we have seen or heard of other Westgate locations.

We really wish that we had read the reviews for this location first.

So while we were en route (we got a late start), we needed to call to ensure that there would be a means to check in late. We were advised that the office would be closed, but there was a box for those who were checking in late that had envelopes with the name of the guest on it.

When we arrived, we found the box…on the outside of the building. With the gates to the property wide open. And no security. Which means that anyone (literally anyone) could have walked up, picked up an envelope, and made themselves at home with no one to be the wiser until the guest arrived.

So we picked up our envelope, which contained all of the information we would need (including our key cards) and attempted to find our room. Granted, there were only three buildings, but there was no clear indicator of which building had which room numbers. This lead to a bit of searching that lasted for about five minutes. Not too much of a big deal, but we didn’t want people to think that we were snooping around or up to no good.

When we entered the room, the very first thing we noticed was that it was very warm…as in actually uncomfortably warm. The temperature was set for 81 degrees F, yet the notices inside clearly indicated that the refrigerator and room were supposed to be set to a power saving/energy efficient setting. 81 degrees F is neither power saving nor energy efficient. And it was stifling!

Another thing we noticed was that the vertical blinds were not up to date, and allowed anyone to casually see very clearly into the villa’s living room area, and slightly into the bedroom area as well. This made us uncomfortable, but the problem was quickly solved by turning off ALL of the lights, completely minimizing a casual passerby’s ability to see anything. I think that something that covered the corners of the windows would have gone a long way, even if newer blinds were not feasible.

My wife wanted to take a shower before she went to bed as we had been out all day and had a long drive. She immediately discovered that the shampoo and conditioner were already half used. The bathroom was generally clean, but not much effort was made to clean up what was clearly debris that people tracked in (grass). When she brought this to the staff’s attention in the morning, they were not concerned about it nor did they appear contrite that a guest may be having a negative experience. They simply offered her a couple of each and that was it. They weren’t rude, per se, but they didn’t seem to really care either.

I found the villa itself to be rather dated: Doors that didn’t sit well on their hinges, not closing completely, very thin walls, toilet paper dispenser that kept falling every time it was touched. The villa was generally clean, but the carpet could have used another pass with a vacuum or a decent steam cleaning.

I mentioned that the walls were “thin”. We were able to hear everything going on behind us, next to us, and above us. We could hear someone filling up a jacuzzi/tub, we could hear…other “nocturnal” activities, as well. Anytime someone walked by outside, it was as if the window were open as we could hear conversations clearly (and during those late night hours, people walking by woke us up with their carrying on).

As far as in-room entertainment and media options, there were two televisions, one in the living room and one in the bedroom. The living room television had bad colour balance and made my eyes hurt, even though it was a flat screen LCD. The television in the bedroom was an older CRT-type that was evidently old (and indicative of the dated nature of the villa). There was what appeared to be one of those turn-of-the-millennium fancy CD players sitting on the kitchen counter…unplugged. I didn’t even attempt to plug it in as we did not have any CDs to try in it.

Then there was the internet issue. As in, there was no internet. Not even a paywalled WiFi service. The cheap hotel down the road had free WiFi, but this Westgate facility didn’t? I get that some people bring their own MiFis, but we don’t travel enough to really require one. We were able to keep in touch and check our email through our LTE-enabled smart devices, but it would have been nice to browse the web on a laptop without straining our eyes. The lack of WiFi (free, freemium, or paywalled) was very disappointing.

The resort was a lot smaller than implied, thanks to creative photography and almost well-crafted descriptions. The location description needs to be updated; Harrah’s closed last summer, and their golf course is clearly closed and overgrown. The area is rather bleak and punctuated only by the visible casinos in the distance. It’s saving grace is the fact that it was conveniently close to Memphis, which was the true purpose of our trip for the weekend.

Housekeeping did not make an appearance on Sunday, which was bewildering. We have stayed at a number of hotels over the years, both separately and together; my wife and I have never been somewhere that the housekeeping staff did not work on a Sunday. Very peculiar.

I do have a need to reiterate the fact that the lack of any kind of security was very concerning. Other Westgate resorts have security that is very visible, but Westgate Tunica had absolutely none. No restricted access to the property, no roving security, not even an extra-duty officer/deputy to drive in and check things out (as far as we could see). Very disconcerting to us.

Checking out was another thing that bothered us. Remember that late check-in box mentioned early in this review? Well, it is an unlocked box that anyone could access if they wanted to. This box also served as the early check-out box. You were to put your name, room number, address, as well as date/time of checkout on an envelope containing your keycards, and drop said envelope into the box. I would have felt better about it if the box were at least secured (like a lockbox), but again someone could have easily come and took one of the envelopes and data mined the guests if the information was written on the outside of the envelope.

In the end, it was not a horrible stay, but it was not a relaxing one either. Not what we expected of a facility carrying the Westgate name, and we would not recommend staying here to anyone. In fact, when we come back to the area at a future time, we will seek alternative accommodations with better amenities.

We decided to give Westgate Tunica Resort another try. My husband and I stayed there again November 1-4, 2013. This time, we stayed in a deluxe room. Although it is a little larger than the regular room, it is a far cry from other Westgate properties. I can’t believe it is part of the Westgate family of hotels.

The room could have benefited from a REALLY good cleaning (especially the bathroom and kitchen).

The microwave was clean but the stove was disgusting. Also, in the bedroom, you only get two candelabra lights–definitely too small and too dull for dressing or reading. There was no lamp on either night table. I could not see in the closet and every time I put my shoes in there, they came out with a bug on them (both shoes). The only positive about this hotel is proximity to the casinos and many dining options in the area.

There are much better/nicer/cleaner hotels in the vicinity. This is my last visit to Westgate Tunica. I will not waste any more money giving them additional chances to get their act together.

I agree with another reviewers’ comments that Westgate needs to take this property as a loss and get rid of it.