Railey Mountain Lake Vacations

We arrived at our lakefront rental today for memorial day weekend to find overgrown grass in the front yard and bird crap all over the chairs on the front porch. The inside was basically in a similar condition and it took us over an hour in 80 degree weather to figure out the emergency shut off switch for the A/​C was shut off. We called the maintenance/​housekeeping phone number and the attitude of the woman who answered the phone was along the tone of «oh no, I have to get off of my ass and deal with a problem». My wife spent an hour sweeping down all of the pollen and and spring droppings from the decks. Railey Mountain Vacations: my advice is to actually check your properties before you have customers rent them… that is what you get paid to do.

Perhaps maintenance has improved, but apparently not according to other reviews. The following comments relate to a rental 2 yrs ago that I unintentionally posted to another Railey business. It was so bad that I am taking the time to repost here. Unfortunately they have a dominant market position, presumably charging owners a lower fee — but then doing a lousy job.
Very disappointed in a weekend rental they manage. It was a large house for almost $ 3k (for 2 nights) so one would think we deserved a clean place, but they obviously did not check inside the cabinets or do other normal cleaning. Renters are expected to clean as leave but no sponge or cleaners are provided. Lots of dishes, glasses and utensils had food and grease on them; while prior tenant (s) should have done better, the management company has ultimate responsibility. Picnic trash was on the deck, screened porch and yard. Kitchen counter sticky and porch table had so much caked on liquid it was visible from yards away. Ice and packed snow at entrance sidewalk was treacherous. There was no key for the lock to the pool. I could go on, but you have probably heard enough! Railey does not deserve your business.

On February 19^th, my family and another family rented a house through Railey Mountain Lake Vacations. Since it was winter and we were there to ski, having a hot tub was our #1 amenity when searching for a rental. We were immediately disappointed upon arrival at the house, Abbot’s Bliss. Earlier in the week, it had snowed yet no exterior snow removal had been done. The driveway is extremely steep and was covered with ice. Please note that the roads leading to the property had all been treated and were not icy. The walkway leading to the entrance of the house, including directly in front of the entry door, had not been shoveled. We had to stomp through over a foot of snow just to enter the property, back and forth, carrying in our luggage and supplies. Maintenance should have been sent to the property at some point prior to our arrival to make sure salt was put down on the driveway and that the entryway was properly shoveled. There was a (broken) shovel on the deck, but A) I don’t think we should be responsible for shoveling upon arrival especially when we were paying $ 800 per night, and B) the shovel was useless anyway. The house itself is a great rental. Once we got settled, we decided to check out the hot tub that we were all looking forward to using. Unfortunately the water was cloudy and scummy. Yuck! The temperature was fine, but cleanliness was not. Also, the jets would not work-​only enough to cycle the water. We decided to get something to eat in town and call maintenance regarding the issues. (Note that it took us over 30 minutes to get out of the driveway because of the ice.) Railey said they would send someone out while we were eating. When we returned, there was no evidence of anyone being there. The hot tub was still cloudy and scummy, the driveway was ice and there was still snow leading to the door. About 5 minutes after we returned, a truck drove down, dropped salt and left. No shoveling, just salt (which we were thankful for). We assumed someone would still be coming to address the snow and hot tub. The next day, we went spent the day skiing at Wisp. Couldn’t wait to relax in the hot tub after dinner (assuming someone had surely come while we were gone)! The water was still foggy and scummy and now the water temperature was freezing cold!!! Needless to say, we were all very disappointed seeing as the hot tub was our #1 priority! While we were finishing breakfast and packing up to leave on Sunday, the hot tub maintenance man knocked on the door. We told him everything that had happened and he wondered out loud why Railey hadn’t called him Friday evening to come out since he was working that night. As soon as he looked at the water, he drained the tub. The filter was nasty which he said, could’ve been part of the problem. Not sure what was wrong with the heater or jets, but I surely hope they got everything fixed before they next renters came in. I spoke with an employee at Railey when we were checking out and was told they would be discussing it with management at their weekly meeting on Tuesday and that someone would be contacting me Tuesday afternoon. I finally called them on Thursday to follow up since nobody bothered calling me. I was offered a credit of $ 150 ($ 75/​night) since the hot tub was actually «functional and usable» while we were there. What!!! I pleaded my case again and was told someone would be calling me back that day. Friday, I had to follow up again since nobody called me. The best they could do was a $ 300 credit which was supposed to show up on my card in 3 – 5 days. It’s now be over 3 weeks and I have not seen the credit. I called today, was given an apology and told that they would email the accounting department to request the money be credited. I spoke to the reservations manager and she assured me she would talk to them herself. We’ll see what happens! I still think the measly $ 300 credit is a slap in the face under the circumstances, but I’m tired of dealing with them! Had I not followed up today, I’m sure the credit would have been forgotten forever. Bad business!

We had a weekend event and we rented two 5-​bedroom houses.
0. The staff are very nice and their time of key pickup is flexible even after hour. If you arrive at late hours, you can use the coded box in the back, while, everyone knows the code.
1. One of the house is not what they showed us upon reservation, and it is one bedroom short… We have to call the office. Fortunately, they gave us the key for a third house.
2. The gardener happened to put fertilizer around the house the night before our event. So, you can guess how the outdoor dinner smells like.
3. The house are very clean, maybe because we are the first for the season. You have almost everything you need to host a party of 10~15. The view from both houses is very pretty. Half of the windows need proper fix as they can only be closed by force from outside.
4. You received $ 100 coupon next visit.

We’ve rented from Railey for many years, but the quality of their properties has declined severely. Besides the fact that the two properties we rented weren’t ready at check-​in time we’ve had the following issues:
–Damaged dock, partially sunk with steps missing from the ladder
–Broken and mildewed deck furniture
–Unmaintained trees with branches ready to fall
–Yard unmaintained with leaves and weeds everywhere
–Refrigerator/​freezer that failed on day 3
–Items in kitchen drawer covered in mold
–Kitchen sink partially rusted through
–Partially torn carpet and repaired with duct tape
–Septic system not functioning upon arrival
With weekly rental fees in excess of $ 4,000, we expected a bit more. Don’t be misled by the beautiful pictures on the website, it’s clear that the maintenance and cleaning are being totally neglected.
We’ve made these concerns clear to management, but they explain that this is their busy season so no other properties are available. Railey is the dominant provided in this market, but I’d recommend finding another property management company if possible.

My friends and I have been renting homes from Railey for our annual winter weekend getaway for many years without a hitch. This year we had a reservation for a home that turned out to be at the top of a steep hill. It had been snowing all day and as the sun went down the roads became icy. Our non-​AWD vehicle could not get up the hill, despite many attempts. We headed back to the office to see what could be done, ready to argue with the staff, if necessary. After explaining our situation, the staff offered us a nicer, bigger rental property that was on a flatter road for the same price (although I suspect it actually rents for much more). No argument necessary! And they gave us extra amenities (i.e. late check out) for no additional cost due to the inconvenience of having to move us. We will definitely be going back next year!

Great House, but BAD experience with Railey Mtn. Lake Vacations.
We rented Cherry Creek Chalet on State Park Rd. We had 6 adults and our 4 grandsons (ages 4 and under) in the house. It was a great location. The house was well equipped and the furnishings and decorations were beautiful. However, the housekeeping service was terrible. In the bedroom where our 3 yr. old grandson slept, our daughter found a syringe and needle on the floor. WE were all horrified at the thought of what could have happened if one of the children had found the needle first! We were very disappointed that no one in management ever personally contacted us. Their only response was a $ 100 voucher for a future rental. We will NEVER rent from Railey Mtn. Lake Vacations again.

We rented Log Heaven for spring break for a family vacation. The cabin name fit perfectly! It was a beautiful spacious cabin for all 7 in our group. Many activities to do at the house including a pool table, air hockey table, movies, games, a grill for BBQ, and a fire pit outside. It was in a nice location with many outdoor activities nearby including Swallow Falls State Park, hiking, boating, fishing, and more.

We rented Stairway to Heaven last year and had such a great experience that we are returning again this summer. Although we haven’t reserved yet, we received great customer service from Devyn in Reservations. I told her our requirements both mandatory and not, and Devyn forwarded us three perfect options within minutes. We are excited to pick a place and visit this summer!

We stayed in their Bella Vista lake house on Presidents’ Day weekend and it snowed literally every single day we were there. They plowed the driveway early on that Saturday morning but the next day when we were scheduled to check out, no one ever came to plow the driveway, even after we called them about three times. Their answer was always the same, «the truck is on it’s way, it’ll be there soon». So from 8:30am to 10:30am the truck was «on its way» yet it never showed up. With check out being at 12, we literally had to shovel our way out the deeply inclined driveway, with a flimsy plastic shovel nonetheless. I finally lost it when my car slid back down the driveway and almost crashed into the house, I called the office and the woman that answered had an attitude problem. I finally was able to make it out of the driveway with three men pushing my car up the slippery incline.
Also when we first arrived at the office to check in the day we arrived, I stood there waiting for someone to look up and realize we needed help and the girl proceeded to tell us that they usually don’t rent to groups of people who aren’t family. Half of us staying in the house were actually related/​married into the family and didn’t have the same last name. I didn’t appreciate them trying to accuse us of being loud rowdy bunch of young people right off the bat.
Bottom line: I will NEVER rent from this place again, mainly because of how rude the people that work there are.

We recently rented a house in Deep Creek called Lake’s EndThe house is nice, big and fairly well kept but overall we paid too much for the issues that we encountered over the weekend. First, the hot tub was not hot. After a number of calls, someone finally came out to tell us that they needed to order a part, so it was out of service, which was a big disappointment. Secondly, the basement, where 4 of the 8 bedrooms were located, was freezing — to the point where we had to sleep in layers. We notified Railey and the sent a portable heater from 1970 (aka fire hazard) and a bag full of blankets. Gee, thanks. How about you fix the heat? And lastly, while the kitchen is large, it was inappropriately stocked. There were only 6 wine glasses for 16 people and about 6 potato peelers. So strange. Oh, and make sure you clean every dish, utensil, pan, etc before you use it. The kitchenware was disgustingly filthy. Sadly, this place was a real disappointment.

I have to say this is probably one of the worst experiences I have ever had booking a trip.
When I booked the trip, I thought the cabin was a bit over priced but I decided to go with it. My boyfriend was out of the country at the time on a mission and this was scheduled for the weekend when he returned. I purchased the trip insurance just in case.
About 45 days before the trip, I had paid the first half. I decided maybe I should cancel the trip. When I called them, they said I could not cancel at all. And I was like really? I have only paid for ½ the trip? They would absolutely not let me out of the obligation to pay the remaining amount. I felt helpless. I decided to continue going on, but something told me things were going to get really bad.
The weekend my boyfriend was supposed to fly home, he got stuck at sea. He practically almost died on the mission. Him and his crew ended up missing their flight back to America. When his organization rebooked his flight, he was arriving in America passed the vacation time I had booked. I called Railey to let them know I needed to cancel because he wasn’t going to be back in time and explained to them what happened. They told me again, you can’t cancel. You will not get any money back. The only way I would, is if someone rebooked the same time. At this point, it was Friday, and we were arriving on that Friday or supposed to be anyways. I asked them if I could please reschedule for another weekend, they refused to allow that as well. They told me I could go through CSA for this (the trip protection agency).
So I file my claim with the agency. I sent them all the documentation I could, including trip itinerary, an explanation of what happened, and turns out my «excuse» which is not an excuse, it was a real life event, wasn’t covered. There went $ 920.11.
To add kicks to this entire roundabout joke of a place that Railey Mountain is, they called me to let me know that someone rebooked the room for one of the nights that I was staying. But, they would charge me a $ 150 cancellation fee and then another $ 65 administrative fee. So I would end up getting like maybe $ 75 back. Not sure how they felt like adding insult to injury would be a plus on their end, but it really disgusted me.
I would never go through Railey Mountain again. I have never ever experienced such ridiculous cancellation/​rescheduling fees ever. I lost $ 920 because my boyfriend was overseas and almost died. Meanwhile they made out on top by double booking the room for the same weekend I had already paid for. They mind as well should have given to the person for free.

I have been a Railey customer for many years and have very much enjoyed numerous trips to the lake. I recently booked a reservation, or so I thought, for Labor Day weekend. I had searched many different locations, houses, etc to find a place which would accommodate our four families. While perusing the Railey website I noticed the «specials» listed and found a house perfect for our large group. When I called to make a reservation I was asked to call a main number as this particular gentleman could not provide the discounted rate listed on the website. So, I called back, inquired about the property and the advertised rate. I was then put on hold so things could be verified. After a lengthy wait things were confirmed as advertised. I inquired about their cancellation policy and was told there would be fees involved if I canceled and if the place could not be re-​rented. Basically, I ‘m on the hook if I book. After a 30 minute phone call, numerous assurances that the rate was a good and a received confirmation via email, my reservation was complete.
The following day I received a call from Railey indicating that an error had been made and they could not honor their agreement and advertised rate. I was then transferred to Elizabeth (a manager I presume). While she was very polite and very apologetic, she was adamant that they could not honor their reservation. They also could not find me a replacement home for my party within reason of my agreed upon rate.
From my experiences, most business, honor their advertised rates even if they have made an error. Granted, this was a significant error, but sometimes you have to own up to your mistakes and absorb the cost. Perhaps someone should be checking their website before ads are posted for the world to see.
Keep this in mind the next time you book with Railey. If you need to cancel you will pay cancellation fees, and portions of your rental rate, but if they cancel they get away free and clear. Sounds like a great business model. Perhaps they also do weather forecasts.

We recently rented The Herrington for a week from Railey Mtn. Overall we enjoyed our stay however I caution anyone thinking about renting from Railey that their literature may contain misrepresentations of the features of the home. For example, the Herrington is advertised as having two washers and dryers when in fact they only have one of each. When we inquired of management (just after arrival) they insisted that there was never two sets even though the floor plan shows two laundry rooms (as did our contract). They did make accommodations for us as they swapped out towels for us two days during the week. Not a big problem if you know ahead of time and can pack accordingly but we were misled by the literature and with 8 families it was an unexpected inconvenience.
The literature and telephone inquiry of Railey both state that the home comes with high speed Internet access and web based apps for the TV’s such as Netflix. This is extremely misleading as the home is equipped with satellite Internet access which is very slow (think dial up at best) and has a very low bandwidth limitation especially considering it is advertised in conjunction with Netflix and that the house accommodates 34 people most of whom had smart phones.
Due to our inability to access the Internet during our stay, we called Railey for assistance and an IT tech paid us a visit. He informed us that the daily bandwidth limitation would limit any Netflix viewing to 30 minutes per day assuming no other Internet usage at all. Long story short, there is for all intents and purposes NO Internet access at this house. Don’t let the allusion that the property is used by businesses for gatherings and meetings fool you into thinking that you will have good connectivity. You should make other arrangements such as a «jetpak» for 3g or 4g access. Again not a big problem if you are aware of this ahead of time and can make other arrangements and/​or prepare for the lack of connectivity beforehand. There is a McDonald’s a couple of miles away that offers free Wi-​Fi access (Mc Office).
Regarding cell phone service, it can be very limited depending on your carrier, this of course has nothing to do with Railey, but just a fact of life in the mountains and I mention here just as a reminder to check with your carrier before you go, to see what kind of coverage to expect.
We have stayed at four other very large houses (5 years) in the DCL area, all through Railey and the Herrington is significantly more expensive than the others without providing a significant increase in «bedrooms». Due to the layout of the Herrington, we had about 8 to 10 people without a bedroom whereas this was not the case in the other homes. There are many sofas, sleeper sofas and cots but people using them must sleep in public space such as the game room or ball room. In short, the Herrington is not worth the extra rental amount per week.
The property is very nice and comes with a «lake» but you really cannot swim in the water. We learned this via telephone conversations with Railey (the literature does not disclose this fact) prior to renting so on this matter, we were not caught by surprise. We did enjoy the pond for fishing (catch and release) and kayaking. I would also like to mention that although there are two gazebos down at the lake, they are completely Unfurnished. There are no chairs or tables in the gazebos or at lake front.
There a numerous refrigerators and freezers located throughout the house, we had no trouble storing food and beverages.
Lastly, I want to warn you of the «Required» tour upon check in. This tour of the house took 45 minutes and could easily have been accomplished in 15 minutes. Do your best to avoid it. Interestingly enough, the ‘tour guide” stressed to us how great it was that we had Netflix capabilities on all TV’s. She was rude too.

Stayed with them twice now, with several families. Most recent stay was a property called «Oak Haven» which is rented as «no pets permitted.» We had wanted to rent the property we stayed at about 6 months ago, but when we asked if the pull out couch had been fixed (no support on foot end), it had not. I appreciated their honesty about that.
I had specifically discussed our pet allergy issues with the reservationist, who was very helpful. On arrival at Oak Haven, we found a dog food bowl and mat in the dining area of the home. As it was late and we had small children along we decided to see if we could tolerate this. On reporting this the second day of our stay, nobody seemed able to explain it. Nobody ever called to discuss or remedy the situation.
Home is very spacious. Jetted tub in bath works. We appreciated the small starter bag of paper towels, etc. Home was clean, and we are all pretty neurotic about this. Most dishes had food on them, kind of like they had been washed in dishwasher without any pre-​rinsing. Dishwaster detergent cup is broken, so this may have had something to do with that. Heat is difficult to control but tolerable.
Most beds were pretty comfortable, perhaps excepting the two twins. But, kids will sleep just fine there. Hot tub was also clean. Internet worked well. Fireplace was nice, with plenty of large wood, but no smaller wood to get fire started easily.
Furnishings are a bit rickety – some are dangerous if you have children. For example, a clunky VCR cabinet in the loft actually falls apart if you try to move it at all. The air hockey table advertised is also broken – still works and the children weren’t wise enough to know that it wasn’t quite right. :)
Unfortunately, the hot tub didn’t work. There were some error codes flashing on the control panel. When we called to report this, Elaine was very nice and had the hot tub tech, Nick, call us. He suggested we fill the hut tub with more water with the hose out back. (If they service their hot tubs weekly as they indicate, why wouldn’t there be enough water in it?) We connected the hose to the spigot, only to find that the hose was evidently filled with frozen water, so we could not fill it. We found a bucket and filled the tub, but this did not restart the system and the error codes remained.
So, we called Elaine again. She explained that the tech was in a class, so he would be out in about 1.5 hours. When he arrived, he did not speak to any of us, but serviced the hot tub and left without explaining whether we could use the tub or what had happened. We called Elaine who was very apologetic about his behavior. She asked that we get the card from the side of the tub and read it. We then read that he had added chemicals, so we could not use the tub for at least another hour. Funny, we didn’t need chemicals when we added water, but I guess it meant Nick didn’t need to return to service that hot tub in the next 1.5 hours. :)
Elaine stated she would follow up with us and would see to it that a discount was provided for the hot tub malfunction. It has been over a week and nobody has called or connected, but they cleary have our email as they keep sending automated messages.
Today when I called to follow up, both Keisha and Elaine are mysteriously unavailable. Christie, who took my call, was rather short and not very helpful. Regarding the «pet free» issue, she stated she didn’t have any notes about that. She actually asked me, «Well, was the home clean?» Clean seems a different issue that suffering allergy symptoms on your vacation after you’ve paid a premium for a nice place.

I have used Railey for three years now an have never had a bad experience. The reservation process is easy and convenient. All procedures, fees, deadlines, etc. are disclosed as soon as you make the res; the staff has consistently been responsive, friendly, and very helpful from start to finish.
The single-​family rental homes are immaculate and reasonably priced for large groups. When my friends and I (11 of us) go during the off-​season (March), we pay around $ 200/​person for Thursday night thru Sunday (and that is AFTER the taxes and fees).
Most of the rental homes have hot tubs, pool tables, cable, free Wi-​Fi, and beautiful views of the lake.
Checkout is a breeze — you empty your trash, wipe down the fridge, and roll out. No need to wash linens, towels, vacuum, etc. They take care of everything for you.
Deep Creek via Railey has become an annual event for me and my friends.

My family recently rented a townhouse condo at Deep Creek Lake. We chose to book with Railey because their website gave such thorough info about our rental. And guess what, the house looked exactly the way we expected. It was beeeeautiful, comfortable, had everything you’d need.
One thing to note is that you need to provide your own toiletries and consumables, such as soap, shampoo, dish soap, toilet paper, stuff like that. Whoever rented before us had left some of those items behind, for everything else we went to WalMart (10 minute drive).
Location was perfect, rental process was easy. I had never been to Deep Creek Lake before. I will 100% come back again and probably try to rent the same exact house until our family is bigger… And then I’ll use Railey and stay at a bigger house ;)
Thanks for a hassle-​free vacation rental!

We have rented through Railey for years. They are always super professional and organized. Their concierge helped me plan my 40^th birthday weekend and made excellent recommendations from events to the caterer. This past weekend we wanted to escape the heat of Northern Virginia and we called on Saturday morning and were in a 1 night last minute rental by the afternoon! Railey has such a wide variety of properties they can accommodate most requests.

I had a lot of ups and downs with my experience at Railey Moutain Lake Vacations.
First, I was notified that my payment hadn’t gone through but the computers were down so I wasn’t able to make a payment until I checked out. That wasn’t a huge issue. They let me check in early for free.
The cabin seemed new and had more amenities than I would anticipate in a small cabin. 6 of us stayed in a cabin with a loft.
* 1 king size bed, 1 queen size beds, & 1 queen sofa bed
* 2 bathrooms (with heated lamps)
* Small kitchenette (included a large fridge, toaster, microwave, panini maker, sink, and very small counter space)
* Hot Tub (aka the hot tub of death)
We were mostly excited about the hot tub. None of us had ever been in one. Unfortunately, a few of us decided to go into the hot tub, and the next day we all realized that we has a case of tub folliculitis. GROSS! I guess I should have thought something was wrong when the water smelled fishy, but I figured it would be fine. You will never see me in another hot tub again!
Railey Moutain Lake Vacations agreed to pay for my friends medical expenses. She ended up having to go to her doctor and then the ER. She was prescribed a bunch of hardcore medications too. She had it pretty bad.
So If it wasn’t for hot tub mess, I would have given this place 4 stars. If I were to go to Deep Creek again, I probably wouldn’t mind staying here. I would just stay away from the hot tub.

I have used Railey Mtn. a few times to rent a house for vacation at Deep Creek, both in summer and winter. The nice thing about it is, when you are trying to organize a trip the last thing you want to be worried about are extra hassles. They take care of everything, let you know exactly what you need to do, they make getting the keys simple, and at the end, you just need to throw all the linens, towles, etc. into a bag and you leave.
I usually know what type of house we want to rent, but the one time I called for advice they were also very helpful, the woman on the phone immediately had several suggestions of houses that matched exactly what I was looking for. Additionally, one year we rente a very large house and several different people each paid for their portion and this was handled just as easily as if it was one person.
I’ve recomended them to a few friends and they are definitly who I keep using for vacations in the deep creek area.