Gateway Pines House: A Cozy Black Hills Retreat

Perfect Cabin near all the Best Places to Visit. Positive: Great Location! Beautiful cabin. Close to so many National Parks & attractions. Restaurants & stores nearby. Away from the city! Very Clean. Great communication. Personal Hot tub was perfect after busy day. Negative: A little noisy at times in front bedroom due to the road, but not all night long. Other cabins available. This one had 2 bedrooms & slept 6-7

Easy check in with excellent communication from the host. The cabin was very quaint so not much to maintain upon discharge from the cabin .We spent most of our time enjoying South Dakota. Very little time in the cabin to experience and share.Thank you!

Do not stay here. Positive: The place was decorated nicely and was adequately clean. The bed was comfortable but the pillows were awful. Negative: The cabin is described as "A Peaceful Black Hills Escape" but it was anything but peaceful. We intended to stay four nights but left after only one night. Despite all the issues, we were not offered any type of a refund. Literally, we pulled off the highway with a sharp turn and our cabin was right there. The noise from the highway was so excessive that when I tried to call for clarification on how to get into the cabin, I could not hear the person on the other line. When we finally entered the cabin, it was VERY hot. The AC unit had NOT been turned on prior to our arrival, and since it was upper 90s outside, the cabin was probably mid to upper 80s. We immediately turned the unit on before leaving for dinner and site-seeing. We returned 4 hours later and the room had not cooled down at all. The AC unit alternated between blowing out cool and warm air. Since the outside temperature was cooler, we tried to open the windows, but they were difficult to open and filled with cobwebs. Management offered to try to find a maintenance man to come over that evening or the next day, but it was already after 9:00 pm. My husband immediately went to the back to sit on the patio to cool down. Although the privacy fence gave the illusion of seclusion, the noice from the highway was ridiculous. He attempted to sleep outside since the cabin was so hot, but it was too loud. Around 3:00 AM, the room had finally cooled down enough for him to try to sleep inside. The next morning, we packed up and left even though we had already booked and paid for three more nights. We didn't want to risk another awful night and concluded that even if maintenance fixed the AC unit, a cold room would not negate the excessive highway noise. We could hear the highway noise over both the AC unit and ear plugs. Other issues with room: black ants and daddy long legs, back door was very difficult to open and close, the cabin was around 200 sq. feet and NOT the 624 sq.

The place looked alot bigger in advertisement than it was. Very small, very noisy from the traffic. Could not really get comfortable as the bed took up much of the room. Had to place everything by the back door to private patio which was dirty and too loud to even sit out and enjoy. I really don't like to write bad reviews, but I honestly did not enjoy our stay there. The pillows were rock hard could not even use them. Felt very uncomfortable whenever in cabin. We had to use our own home streaming services to even use the tv, which I felt very unusual. I must say the location was great for going sightseeing to everything in the black hills but as for staying there I would give maybe 2 stars.

While the property was notably clean there was an obvious odor of urine that lingered the entire time. I'm assume from pets previously in the unit. Unfortunately, the biggest issue for us wasn't the urine smell but instead the inability for the window A/C unit to cool the small cabin. This caused us to check out 1 day earlier as we were unable to rest each night from the trapped heat inside. The cabin is very small and the unit should have been able to keep the space somewhat comfortable. The space would reach a comfortable temp around 1 or 2 in the morning. The window unit needs to be replaced. The cabin does have a nice large enclosed patio that we tried to retreat to in order to cool down in evening/middle of the night since we couldn't sleep. Since the patio is located roughly 30' from a 6 yard trash bin that was overflowing waste the odor made the porch also unpleasant. The host was notified about these issues. I was thanked for brining them to their attention.