Shade Acres Campground, Port Clinton

I called July 19th in advance to reserve mobile1 that sleeps 4 for two days the second week of August, had to pay 1/2 down immediately.... The day before our arrival, Julie (manager) called and said that her employee, Jill, had double booked and that she was going to put me in a cottage that sleeps 4 on friday and move me to mobile1 on saturday, telling me that friday nite will be free.... When we arrived, she decided that we would get a cottage that slept 3 and that we had no choice but to stay there for both nites.... When, I spoke to the campers in mobile1, that was across the street from the cottage, we got stuck in (there was no availabilty anywhere) they said that they had booked mobile1, two days prior to their arrival.... I think the manager didn't want to lose a sale! She lost a faithful customer! The cottage was dirty and musty smelling. I do not recommend this campground to anyone!!!!

My boyfriend and I wanted to tent camp at a place that was close to the islands. I found this place online and thought by the website that it looked like a nice place, I was very wrong. We got there and checked it with a little girl that was very rude, felt like she didn't enjoy life too much. As we drove through the campground, we passed cottages and rental units that looked like dumps. We finally found our site that we had to drive around twice to find. The place has ONE tent site that we made reservations for and found that there was already a tent set up there. I think they just put as many tents as they think they can fit on one site. The whole site was full of weeds, looked like nobody stayed in that site for 20 years. The whole campground smelled like sewer. Didn't even get a chance to check out the bathrooms, but I can almost gurantee you they were nasty. We we're planning on staying two nights which was 52 dollars that we payed when we made the reservations. We let them keep all 52 dollars because they wouldn't refund us our money and we found somwhere else to tent camp. We let them keep $52 dollars of our hard earned money because it was THAT bad. Later that day after we already found a new place, we got a call back from I guess the owner named Vicki. She wanted to send us to their "sister" campground called Tall Timbers for no charge. She said it was the only place in town that she would camp on, So let me get this straight.. Vicki has Shade Acres and she wouldn't even camp there??? I didn't want to take the chance because we were very happy at the new place we found. I would not recommend anyone staying there, it is seriously worth about $5 dollars a night. It would probably be better just to pull over on the side of the road and set up a tent.

We are a group of 6 fisherman who book 6 nights at Shade Acres each year. May of 2011 will be our 4th trip at Shade Acres. We rent the house which has 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, kitchen with stove, refrigerator, microwave, coffee pot, dishes etc., a big living room with cable TV, DVD and VCR, and a 3 season room. The house is air conditioned. This is not a 5 star hotel but is very comfortable and affordable. Our group has a great time staying here. The owners do not live at the camp ground but when I needed to talk to them I could contact them on their cell phone. They live close by and always responded to our requests. There is also a couple who helps out at the camp grounds.

my fiance took me on my very 1st vacation. He wanted to take me to Put-In-Bay, He has been there before, but i was in charge of making the reservations. I found shade acres on line, and the stay was very reasonable. My fiance has never been there and neither was I. But when we got there & got the cottage key, much to my surprise, Mark had a birthday cake & a bottle of wine waiting for us in the room. It was the BEST VACATION (even though it was my 1st) I can't wait til Pete & I get to go back again next year. Thanks for Everything!!!! Connie

This by far was the most disgusting place I've ever been in!!!! We stayed recently and couldn't believe the conditions in this place. The grounds as well as "cottages" and the rental trailer are dirty and the places are falling apart. We tried to find another place to stay but everything was booked. The only person to contact rarely answers his phone, and acted like staying a place with cockroaches was no big deal. Yes, cockroaches for a place that charges $119.00 a night. I have yet to try to talk to him! We want our money back!!!! I immediately came home and washed everything from our trip several time because I felt so dirty!!! Anyone who left a decent review must work there or know the owner because I know anyone who stays here cannot be satisfied!!!

We found the place very nice. We found out the place is under new ownership, and the new owners are extreamley nice, They went out of their way to make our stay very fun. We would recommend it to anyone looking for fun and value.

The office is always empty, and the number they leave to reach someone always goes straight to an answering machine. We were lucky enough to run into one of the staff as we pulled in right before he was leaving, and that was the last I saw of him. I tried several time to call/find someone in the office for the 2-day stay and it never happened. Luckily we got the AC adapter for our tent, and got firewood before they disappeared (which ended up being damp/wet and made it a pain to get a fire going). There is no privacy with the sites because the lots are extremely close and right next to each other in every direction. The map on the website is completely different then the size of the place. It shows it as somewhat spread and looks as if the roads are much longer, but it is all compacted in. The sites aren't maintained whatsoever, and the only cleaning that was done was by a staff member when we first arrived brushing may flies off his own cabin.

The location to all attractions was wonderful. The Staff was great. I didn't like the idea of no good channels on the TV, otherwise it wasn't a bad stay overall.

We were told we would have a television and three beds. So, we showed up that afternoon at 6pm and found the office closed. We then called to find a staff and only got an answering machine. We found our keys to our cabin next to the office. We then found our "cottage" and went inside to find a smelly, disgusting room. It had two beds no TV and the pillows and carpet had stains on them. And there was still no one to be found to help us out. So we called other campgrounds and told them our situation and they told us they have have dealt with dissatisfied customers from Shade Acres before. There website is also very deceiving in its depictions of the campground and cottages looks extremely different from the real thing. Shade Acres runs a shady business.