Whiskey Flats RV Park - Hawthorne, NV - RV Parks

We arrived on time, May 7th, 2020. Found the space assigned to us—it was occupied by an RV. Drove around for 10 minutes to confirm that there wasn’t duplicate sites in different rows with the same numbers. Called the phone number for the office, and left a message because there was no one to talk to. Drove to the main building, found the restrooms and office. There was a sign there indicating that the Host was in site 18. Drove to site 18, knocked on the door of the RV. A very angry man answered the door and what followed next was shocking.

When we attempted to introduce ourselves he interrupted, and in a threatening tone said, “I know who YOU are. You’re the guys who said you were going to stay here yesterday, and you didn’t show. I waited up for you!”

We were shocked by his attack, and realizing that he had the wrong “guys” tried to calmly correct him, saying “no, we are the ones who called you yesterday afternoon from Portland Oregon, with an arrival for tonight” and we tried to give him the details of our reservation for this evening.

He cut us off: “you told me you were in Tonopah” (a town that, until I looked it up the next day, had never heard of, and was in the opposite direction from where we were coming), “and that you’d be here in two hours!”

We again attempted to correct his misunderstanding, explaining “There’s no way we could have driven here in two hours from Portland Oregon (so we couldn’t have arrived yesterday and wouldn’t have said so), and we never said we were coming here from anywhere in Nevada, so you obviously have us confused with someone else. In any case, we’re here and see that someone is occupying our assigned space. What space should we use?”

Nasty is a good word to describe the way he spoke when he replied: “I’ve already charged you, I will not be giving you a refund, and there’s no where for YOU to stay here TONIGHT.” His entire demeanor made it clear that he wanted us to get lost.

What?! Was this really happening?!

In a futile attempt to correct the misunderstanding I asked him “why would we say we were in Nevada if we were, in fact, calling from Oregon?” It was such a bizarre accusation I was struggling to make sense of it.

He wasn’t having it, and made it clear that he was convinced that we were lying. He was certain that he heard correctly, that it was completely our fault, and he had no intention of accommodating us in any way. How bizarre. How astonishingly inappropriately bizarre for someone representing themselves to be a part of the hospitality industry to act this way!


Some background:

We were driving from Portland Oregon to Mesa Arizona to see a member of our family who is dying. Time was short so it came as a pleasant surprise the day before when we called and he informed us that he could accommodate us. We confirmed the details, provided payment (in advance), got the site number and access code to the restrooms from him (since the office would be closed by the time we arrived). Everything was perfect!

We left between 6 and 7 of the following morning, driving for 14 hours to get to the RV Park. (We decided to stay here because it was about half way to our destination, and it had restrooms and showers, which we needed.) We were pretty tired and ready to get some much-needed sleep.

Imagine how we felt when we arrived at the agreed upon date and time (we told him it would be around 9:00 pm), and were met by a very confused, hostile, anything-but-a-Host—instead of the seemingly pleasant man we spoke with the day before.

So now what?

We attempted to suggest possible resolutions (since he was not inclined to do so). He said we could park out front next to the road!

We reminded him that we needed access to electricity, that we talked about that during the call the day before (that’s why we decided to stay here—I need it for a medical device, and we wanted to charge our electric car and electronics overnight). He made it very clear that he didn’t care and had no intention of helping, and repeated (even more angrily) that we had given him incorrect details, that it was our issue, not his.

We circled back, suggested that accusing us of lying wasn’t helpful. Why would we tell him that we were just down the road in Nevada, and would be here in two hours if we were, in fact, in northern Oregon with plans to arrive the next day? Who does that, and how would telling that lie benefit us?! If it was a cruel joke as he was insisting, why did we arrive at his doorstep at all? Of course it didn’t make any sense, but he was convinced that we were liars who liked to give innocent people in the hospitality industry a bad time, only to lose our money in the process, and then drive 645 miles so he could yell at us and call us A** HOLES. (Yep. He really said that.)

We decided to walk away because he was not in a place mentally to change the direction this was going.

So many questions:

Why did he angrily inform us that he had been inconvenienced when he stayed up waiting for us the day before, if he already provided us with all of the details we needed for our stay “because the office would be closed?” Obviously he had no intention of greeting us, so that didn’t make any sense.

Why did he remember the details of our credit card, but get everything else so wrong? Funny about that, huh?!

Why did we not receive a confirmation message after we made and paid for the reservation? That is standard in the industry.

Why did he not contact us to inquire why we did not show up at the date and time he had mistakenly entered in the system, if he, as he said, immediately “knew” who we were? (He was anticipating our arrival when we appeared.) He must have thought at some level that something about the reservation was off. But he made no attempt to resolve what he “knew” was about to happen the next night, even though he had our contact information.

We both are confident he has either confused us with another guest and/or is simply not cut out for the hospitality industry, because the opposite of his characterization of us is true. We are honest, very organized, were both together at the time we called to inquire about staying (so we both remember what was said, AND wrote it all down during the call—we have the hand written notes), and are not in the habit of making up stories about being in Nevada, saying “we’ll see you in two hours,” when making reservations. It’s preposterous and shocking to see someone act, not just unprofessional, but hostile by yelling, swearing at their guests, and accusing them of being liars.

All we did was show up when we said we would (we were not angry, just confused when we knocked on his door) and this is how he handled it.

How Things Ended:

Lacking any hospitality and fearing potential hostile actions against us from the park “Host,” we decided to park in a nearby empty field overnight because it was getting late and we had no where else to go.

I don’t expect to get any money back from him, knowing now what kind of a person he is (but it would be nice if we did). I just wanted to share my experience here to help others avoid what happened to us at Whiskey Flats RV Park. Stay away. Far away. Far far away.

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Who Am I?

I know what good hospitality is. For over 35 years I’ve enjoyed a successful career in the Special Events Industry where I have designed and produced large scale events from Washington DC, to Las Vegas. From the Super Bowl VIP Pre-Game Party, to Disney. I’ve worked in amusement parks, world class zoos, national resorts, and produced many events of my own where we cared for the needs of up to 35,000 guests at a single gathering. On a smaller scale I’ve also hosted guests from all over the world through AirBNB in my own home and have earned a solid 5-star rating in every category, along with universal praise in rave reviews from each and every guest. So again, yes, I know a lot about what being a good host is.

I recognize when things are going well. And I acknowledge that, in spite of all of your planning, sometimes things go wrong. But as a professional, I also recognize that the one thing you never do is immediately blame everybody else and yell obscenities.

Maybe the “Host” was really tired. Maybe he was drunk or high. Maybe he received some bad news and took out his frustrations on us. Maybe this is a way he increases his income by falsely accusing guests of misdeeds so he can keep their money and give the space away to someone else. I don’t know—we just met. But regardless of any imagined scenario, it’s hard to come up with any reason that justifies his behavior.

Hopefully he responds to this review with something positive, and not just excuses or blaming others. But after our horrific encounter with him, I have my doubts it will be anything but appropriate or honest.