Brookeland - Lake Sam Rayburn KOA Holiday

We made reservations for 4 nights for a deluxe camping cabin with full kitchen at this campground. We normally camp in our fully contained motorhome but wanted a different experience and a restful few days with a bit more room in the middle of a week. There was only one or two other cabins rented and very few RV sites occupied while we were there so they were not busy or full.

KOA national has a very good website with all the amenities for each park listed right on that campsites page. Not that you go camping to have full TV with channels but you do have nighttime and the 2nd day was to be really bad storms all day long so we knew we would be cabin bound. This KOA had listed ‘200 satellite DirecTV channels in all cabins’. The day we checked in we didn’t turn the TV on until night because we were enjoying the pond and walking the park etc. The problem with our stay started the 1st night.

We turned our TV on and realized we could only pick up pay per view channels and Roku advertising channels. There were a few random ‘news only’ but no locals or regular ABC, CBS, NBC etc. We figured it was just a connection issue and the office was closed so we just figured on asking in the morning. I found the owner was on site and talked to him in person. I told him our concern and he responded that ‘DirecTV had doubled in price so he cancelled it a couple months ago’. He told me we could use the Roku but we don’t pay for NetFlix, Hulu, or other Roku pay per view channels. I then asked if we could receive our three nights we had not stayed so we could leave. He inaccurately told us that ‘corporate would not allow that’. When I spoke w ‘corporate’ the next day I found that the franchises have total control over their policies. He told me ‘the camp policy is after you stay the first night or don’t cancel within 7 days prior there is no refund’. The fact that the amenities are deficient and fraudulently advertised meant nothing to him. He continually refused even after several calls and a dispute had to be filed with the CC company. We left early the morning after our 1st night. SO BEWARE…. The owner cares about one thing…. His pocket book. This is NOT an indication of KOA in general. We are rewards program members and regularly stay at the camps.

Deep, East Texas camping. Friendly staff. Very clean facilities. 2 pools although it was too cold to use them. Quiet. Not a fancy "resort"but just good family camping. Full hookup rv sites, rustic cabins, and horses welcome.
Big horse barn with nice stalls. Way exceeded my expectations. Would definitely come back.