We decided to splurge and use the MLK holiday as a family mini-vacation so we booked a hotel with a pool and headed to Wabasha to see the National Eagle Center.

After seeing the Eagles we checked into our hotel. The front desk person was very friendly but the lobby itself smelled of cigarette smoke. I was a little worried but we were very pleased by our room. It had no smell, it was exceptionally clean, nicely decorated and even had a refrigerator.

We headed down to the pool with our elementary school child and found there was a birthday swim party in progress with 6-7 girls and a family of three were swimming none of whom were guests of the hotel (all left wearing clothes and coats). I had no idea at the time that this was a sign of things to come. We spent about two hours in the pool, the birthday party left during this time and a family of five came to swim also wearing coats. We've stayed in hotels before in small communities and are familiar with the non-guests swimming so this wasn't a problem until after we came back from dinner and headed down for another dip in the pool.

To my complete shock, the entire pool area was FILLED with local kids, none of whom had a parent in attendance. I counted a few different times and there were 25-30 kids there all night. They sat shoulder filling the entire whirlpool. They sat shoulder to shoulder packing the sauna. One group of kids was playing basketball in the shallow end of the pool playing since the hoop in the deep end was missing the rim (not hard to see how this was broken) which meant the kids in the deep end were just throwing the balls at each other.

I asked the clerk what was going on. She explained that for $5 anyone from Wabasha could swim. What time do they leave I asked hoping that some time would be reserved for just guests. No such luck, they can come and go anytime. They usually start to leave around 9:00 p.m. she said. Great, just when our child drops into bed every night, exhausted.

Since swimming in that hoard of people with a child who is still developing her swimming skills was not an option I had her play some games using the computer in the lobby while I read by the roaring fire. The fire was lovely, the chair was very comfortable, and there was a nice reading light, too. Sounds lovely doesn't it? Well, it would have been if not for the constant stream of kids getting dropped off, coming into the breakfast area dripping wet to sit and talk and talk, and yell and talk some more.

Back in our room, it was quiet, the beds were very comfortable, and each bed had four pillows and a bolster pillow, too. We had all slept very well and had a wonderful breakfast. My husband went down for an early swim and found a member of the community enjoying the hot tub and then when we went swimming after breakfast another member of the community came in. Soon a guests of the hotel came down with 5-6 girls to swim, I hadn't seen them the night before. I did notice two older women came up to the pool door carrying bags and wearing their coats. They took one look at all the hotel guests in the pool and left. I knew exactly how they felt.

I am not in the hotel business but as a consumer that you set and advertise public pool hours. If I had known there is a good possibility that they will be sharing the pool with 30 teenagers I would have stayed at a different hotel. I heard another couple complaining to the manager about the pool situation in the morning. She was not in the least bit apologetic or sympathetic to them so I didn't bother to talk to her myself. I understand there is not another pool in the immediate area but if you don't advertise the public use you'll find there will soon not be a hotel either. As lovely as the hotel was (except for the smoke smell in the lobby and some of the hallway) your guests will not return if there are unable to use your advertised facilities. After paying a premium for a pool they expect to be able to use it – whenever they want. Set and advertise public pool hours then everyone will be able to make informed choices.