Taylor-Made Deep Creek Vacations

This year we rented «commander’s quarters.» A very nice house that mostly fit our needs though the layout and use of space was strange. Eg. one bedroom had bee turned into a game room, so the game room had a full bath, while the lower level bedrooms were sharing a bath. Strange. And, again, we encountered issues in the kitchen. This year, there were no trivets and no oven mitts, no whisk, and the dishwasher was of such poor quality that it didn’t actually wash any of the dishes. With a crowd of 12 people, that’s an issue. We enjoyed the fire pit, though at arrival it was littered with broken glass bottles.
Here’s a recommendation to TMV: please can you put together a basic list of kitchen equipment that has to be there in every house? I get it — not every owner has the same amount of equipment, but trivets and oven mitts cost 5 bucks at IKEA. It’s really hard to guess what will be there and what won’t, since every house has a different set of equipment.

My boyfriend and I rented the Red Pines cabin for an extended stay to ring in 2016. We live 7 hours apart, and Deep Creek is almost the perfect halfway meeting spot. Before booking with Taylor-​Made, we looked at a number of different rental companies and offerings. After checking out the website, reading customer reviews and looking at a number of different rental companies, we came to the decision that Taylor-​Made was a good choice for us.
We were able to book our stay and our cabin without issue. While it was expensive, the Taylor-​Made website led us to believe our stay would be worth every penny. Whenever we had questions, representatives were extremely pleasant and happy to help. When the week of our trip rolled around, we were SO excited to get there. Two days before we arrived, my boyfriend received a call saying the fireplace in our cabin (which was one of the primary reasons we rented it in the first place) was not up to code and would be out of order during our stay. Because this was one of the main amenities advertised for the cabin, we asked to be moved to a cabin that had a fireplace. We were told there were no other cabins available and were instead given a $ 75 refund. We assumed that would be the end of our disappointment.
My boyfriend arrived at the cabin first. Much to his surprise, he spent the first 15 minutes getting rid of cobwebs in the kitchen and living room. After I arrived at the cabin and we unloaded all of our food and bags, we started to unpack in the bedroom. There were no curtains on the bedroom window, so we opened the closet to grab a few blankets to hang up on the windows to keep the sunlight from waking us too early. We found 3 extra bed blankets, and when we opened them up to hang them — they were full of dog hair and smelled even worse.
While making dinner that night, I reached into the kitchen cupboard to grab a baking dish. When I put the dish on the counter, there was dried food caked in the corner of the dish. The utensil drawer was broken to the point we couldn’t even get it open and had to get under the drawer to pry it open. We finally just grabbed enough utensils to use for our four day stay and kept them on the counter. There were at least 150 dead bugs trapped in the florescent light. When I turned on the light to start setting the kitchen table, I found even MORE cobwebs wrapped around the drop light fixture over the table. We wiped those down as well.
By this point, my boyfriend mentioned he had been coughing and sneezing since he arrived. We started looking around and noticed there was a dehumidifier next to the door. We found mold all over the side of the dehumidifier.
Needless to say… we were really frustrated — not only by the condition of the cabin but because of how much money we had spent on this vacation only to be disappointed. We called Taylor-​Made, and we were told that there was no possible way they could make any alternate arrangements for us and we would need to wait until the next day to speak with a manager.
The next day, my boyfriend spoke with Kris (the manager on staff). Again, we explained our concerns and asked for a partial refund. While he was speaking with her, I was frantically calling other rental companies in the area to see what other options might be available. He was told that she could in no way refund any of our money. She told us, «Everyone has different expectations and levels of comfort. Just because your expectations weren’t met doesn’t mean there isn’t something wrong with the cabin.» She went on to tell us the only way we could get some of our money back was to contact the travel insurance company (that you’re required to pay for when renting the cabin) and tell them we traveled to Deep Creek to ski. When we arrived, the ski resort did not have snow and therefore, we wanted our money back.
Not only were we completely dismayed by the lack of customer service, we were shocked that Taylor-​Made would suggest that we make a fraudulent claim to the travel insurance company and blame the ski resort for our disappointing stay.
Because of how much money we had already put into the cabin, we just didn’t have the money to be able to pick up and pay another $ 700 – 800 to stay in another cabin. Ultimately, we decided to stay and had a wonderful weekend together ringing in the new year. Deep Creek is a lovely little area. However, we certainly won’t be renting from Taylor-​Made.
A quick word about Red Pines — From the outside, the cabin itself is quite cute. Once you walk in, it looks like you’ve stepped into a time warp. The décor is outdated. The kitchen is VERY outdated — think late-​1970s appliances. The shower heads are positioned on the wall at a height that makes it very difficult to use. While the actual bedding in the upstairs bedroom looked clean (although dated), the bedding in the downstairs bedroom was extremely dirty.

The process in which you go through to find the perfect vacation getaway in this 4 seasons area of Maryland seems simple. However; I can assure you that it is not! We recently planned a trip to the deep creek area for my birthday weekend to take in the beautiful winter scenery that the highest elevated point of Maryland had to offer. We started out by searching the company‘s website for different properties that would suit our party of 9. Every place we would see would for the most part be breath taking not to mention the advertised cost wouldn’t even come close to what each place ended up costing for a 2 night stay. In way kinda seemed like it was towing the line of bait and switch. We fell in love with a particular property called Valhalla. Now I have to say, words cannot describe this place and epic mountain side views over looking the creek or the fact that the architect of this multi million dollar property knew what they were doing by designing the entire back side of the home with a full panoramic view that looked down over this enchanted resort Maryland Mountain Town. My wife had obtained this weekend rental as a birthday present for me and to accommodate some of our closest friends. Pretty amazing. I’m giving this 3 stars because when you pay the upwards of $$$$ for two nights. One would expect hot water to never be an issue or an exhausting issue with climate control that never was overly comfortable. For the most part it stayed too warm. The last and most important reason the 3 star review is because of the disclaimer about 4 wheel drive vehicles needed to even access the property. It does mention that these type of vehicles may be required. But no where does it say that there is no question that you need it in order drive up drive way. I know what you’re thinking… winter? Snow? Mountain? Use Common sense! Well I did. I actually called a few days a head of time to speak with someone regarding whether the drive way or lane leading up to the property would cause any problems if we didn’t have a 4 wheel drive vehicle. I was told that would not be a problem that they keep that area clear. Wrong I had to park my vehicle at the local bar parking lot and wait for friends who had 4 wheel drive to get up to my weekend palace. Don’t get me wrong. I would use this company again but with more discretion to what I expect for my experience that I am seeking when putting out top dollar.

I stayed at Chalet on the Hill with a group of 12 adults over MLK weekend. Everyone enjoyed the cabin immensely; it was definitely more than anyone had imagined! This home has 5 bedrooms (1 king, 3 queen, 1 bunk-​bed) and 3.5 bathrooms (bring extra TP!!!). There are also three large open areas (loft, living room and basement) in which several air mattresses will fit. An additional 8 — 10 more people could have comfortably joined the trip (that’s if you don’t mind sharing an open space with others and sleeping on air mattress). The living room comes with the MOST comfortable reclining leather sofa & single reclining chair; 10 people fit (not a sofa bed). The fireplace in the living room makes the main floor and loft floor incredibly toasty. The TV remote did not work which made it difficult to change the channels. There is a very nice stereo in the living room in which you can plug your iPhone into though.
There were a few items that I was not pleased with and brought to the rental staff’s attention on Day 2; they handled the issues swiftly (heater in basement not working, ice maker not working, and air beds had leak). The kitchen is very well equipped with pots, pans, baking ware, waffle maker, blender, cooking utensils, etc. You literally do not need to bring anything from home except for coffee filters (we used paper towels brought from home). I ALSO did not notice until late in the evening that the kitchen sink had a major drain issue (very slow drain and garbage disposal does not work) — I reported this during check-​out. Tip: Bring extra dish detergent for dish washer.
Overall the experience was wonderful and I would make plans to go again in a heartbeat before the winter season is over. The view is breathtaking and the cabin was well equipped with extra blankets/​pillows in most of the closets. The only reason I am not giving five stars is due to the basement temperature. This inconvenienced 5 guests the first night. The second night we were supplied with space heaters for the two bedrooms.

This June was our 3^rd stay at DCL and our first time going through Taylor Made. And, most likely, our last. My husband and I enjoy going down to Deep Cree because it is close and we enjoy the relaxing atmosphere. For the past two years, my cousin and his girlfriend have joined us.
Listen…I could write a book about our most recent experience but I will try to sum it up as much as possible. We rented what we thought was going to be a very nice house on the east end of the lake…3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths. The place looked very nice. Our only requirements were that it is pet friendly, has at least partial AC, and a washer and dryer, and was lake front. We found a place through Taylor Made that was reasonably priced and booked it back in February for June. My cousin discovered that the rental was also for sale… for a hefty price. We assumed that this meant that the rental would be in even better shape than we first expected, since they are trying to sell it.
At first glacé, our property was ‘cozy’. However, after further inspection, we noticed several issues. I will name just a few, because I could sit here and type all day: the dock slip was missing the ladder (which was discovered at the bottom of the lake), there were several stains on the carpet, the door to one bedroom would not shut because of a dent in the track, the door to the same bedroom had a big hole in it like someone punched it, there were huge scratch marks on the master bedroom door (most likely from someone leaving their dog in there), the 2^nd bedroom had a ladder that you need to crawl up into it, and both gates on the deck were broken. Lastly, the partial AC meant that only the 3^rd bedroom had air… since it is obvious that there was an addition put onto the house and the AC was not vented into the new addition. There was also water damage everywhere.
We were never made aware that the house was listed, even though it had been on the market since November of last year. We knew this because there was binder with the disclosure statement on the table.
We arrived on a Saturday, and it rained all day Sunday. We didn’t do much, just hung around the house until the afternoon. I went to grab a shirt out of the bedroom closet and noticed it was wet. We soon discovered that there was a leak, coming from the fact that several shingles were pushed up under other shingles on the roof. There was water everywhere! The entire closet was soaked and I had to remove all of my clothes. The water was leaking out onto the carpet, so we had to put towels down on the outside of the closet door. The water was leaking down through the closet as well, into the small den off of the kitchen. There was also water coming Out Of The Wall on the stairs!
Needless to say, we contacted the rental office (we stopped in), who said that someone would come take a look at the place and let us know what they can do. My cousin inquired about a partial refund, since the place was not up to our expectations. We were told that we needed to speak with someone the following day and that she would have her call us. We were also informed via a note on our door upon our return to the rental, that maintenance would be back in the morning to repair the roof. At 10:30, no one had arrived and we had not gotten a call from the supervisor chick.
I was given the honor of being the voice of the group from here on out. I contacted the rental office was took that rental chick was in a meeting — Mondays were busy, you know. Anyways, she returned my call and was extremely irritating. When I mentioned that the room was starting to smell musty due to the carpet, she offered to have housekeeping come out and bring more towels and spray febreeze. Um, whatever. Fix the roof. Maintenance did finally arrive at 12:30 and mentioned several times that they place was in need of many repairs. The two handy men were the only saving grace from the entire episode. They took pictures of necessary repairs, temporarily repaired the roof, and put up a ladder on the dock slip. After several phone calls with the supervisor girl, I asked again about a partial refund. I said that we did not expect to get all of our money back, but we did expect something. She said that it was not typically Taylor Made’s policy to refund, but to repair the damages. She also put it on the renters, like we are supposed to be the ones to Inform Them of property issues. «I mean, how else would we know?» I told her that I didn’t understand this, since they are supposed to be checking the properties in between renters. Regardless, I told her that we expected nothing less than a partial refund, and she finally conceded. She made no effort to get us interested in using Taylor Made in the future. No complimentary restaurant coupons, etc. I was astonished.
The very next morning, the same girl calls my cousin and asks if we mind if they bring someone by to look at the place, since it’s for sale… unbelievable.

I just got back from a glorious Memorial Day weekend at Deep Creek. Our group of 8 rented the Cocktail Cove property, a 4bedroom and 2 bathroom property with private dock. The place was decorated to the nines with skis and western theme which was really cool. Everything was really clean and the beds were very comfortable. I like that every inch of the property was usable and we never felt cramped. My friends and I all agreed that we would come back to this property in a heartbeat since it was so beautiful and plenty of activities for everyone. I recommend renting a boat nearby for at least a day and driving it straight to your private dock!
My only suggestions for Taylor-​Made is to provide hand soap for the bathrooms (even the ones mounted to the wall would be nice). I would also recommend bringing your extra toilet paper and paper towels (because 1 roll is not enough). Other than that, the property is very nicely maintained and the customer service is also very helpful.

Take pictures as soon as you get to your house to protect yourself from these crooks. They said that our dog peed multiple times on the floor which is ludacris because she’s 6 years old and hasn’t had a mess since a puppy. They ended up charging us over $ 100 for bogus claims but we didn’t take initial pictures so we can’t prove it. I would not recommend them for anything. Take pictures to protect yourself. What a joke!

The townhouse was roomy and had a great view, and the hot tub was fabulous. I used most of the appliances in the kitchen and they were all in working order. However, the property is in serious need of an update. The kitchen and bathroom don’t look like they have been touched since the ‘80s, the beds were hard, and the couch beds were unusable. Though I plan on returning to the area soon, I won’t be using Taylor Made.

My wife and I always take a getaway weekend the second weekend of December. The destination is always a surprise for my wife. I chose a home through Taylor Made Deep Creek Vacations. The reservations were very simple, there were no surprises on the Agreement as all was as disclosed during my conversation with their office. We arrived late so we were not able to stop at the office but they provided the necessary code to enter the property. The property was amazing. Very clean and everything in excellent condition. We stopped by the office the following morning to «check-​in» and we were warmly greeted. The staff was very friendly and provided advice on dining, etc. Overall our entire long weekend was a great experience. We have never visited the same place for our December getaway but this trip will definitely be one that we will repeat in the near future.