Some Southern Un-Hospitality

While the majority of my stay in the South thus far has been marked by unprecedented friendliness, good cheer, and relaxed attitudes, one experience was not up to par. Despite a prominent feature in "Southern Living," the 74 Ranch, where David took me for a birthday surprise, was nowhere near the epitome of Southern life, Southern comfort, or Southern Hospitality. Check out the review below, posted on TripAdvisor:

"If anything on the property breaks, be prepared to take out YOUR wallet. The beautiful property and novelty of the ranch can’t compete with poor customer service, rudeness, and verbal harassment.

We scheduled our visit to 74 Ranch to coincide with a person special occasion. When we arrived, we were told the booking had been lost and we’re offered two alternatives to the room we’d originally booked: the honeymoon suite, or a cabin without power. Pam seemed a little miffed that we would choose the honeymoon suite, but took us up anyway. We enjoyed our afternoon, exploring the property, our generous room, and playing with the animals. That evening, we ran a bath in the clawfoot tub. Shortly after sinking in, we noticed the water level in the tub drop dramatically. We could’t figure out how or why this had happened. After a few minutes, we heard knocking and yelling at the door. It was Larry, demanding to be let it in. He was shouting that the room downstairs had flooded. We quickly jumped out of the tub, trying to dry ourselves and put some clothes on; all the while Larry keeps shouting, haranguing us, and banging at the door. When he gets in the check on the tub, we explain that we’ve done nothing out of the ordinary—we ran a bath and then got in. He accuses us of overflowing the tub, despite us pointing out that the sides of the tub aren’t wet. When we try to show him where we think the problem might be—a leaky pipe and a poorly connected faucet, he waves us off and leaves, telling us not to use the bath.

The next morning, upon checkout, we are greeted with the news that Larry and Pam expect us to pay for the plumbing and damages. Apparently Larry had told Pam that we had admitted to causing the damages--a blatant lie. My boyfriend politely and tactfully tells Pam that we'd never admitted that, and since we didn’t cause any of the damage, he was uncomfortable leaving his credit card information. She marches us out to Larry, and before letting us speak, or work anything out, mockingly parrots what my boyfriend had said to her. Larry tells us coldly to get out. Ok. We start to walk away, and he yells after us, “And grow up!” My boyfriend, frustrated with the poor treatment we’d been getting, yells back that we’d found a mouse in our room as well. Larry counters with, “I’m sorry it didn’t bite you!”

Needless to say, we were VERY disappointed. We might have tried harder to come to an agreement if Pam and Larry hadn't handled the whole situation with such absurd rudeness. And in fact, the whole situation never would have happened if we'd gotten the room we had originally booked."

All that to say, the property was very picturesque, and the afternoon time we spent on the ranch before the owners went pyscho was well enjoyed indeed. If only Pam and Larry could have been as sweet as their horses.