Bruce I.
Yelp
First, I will say that the Eden House is a place that "was" always a favorite destination for my family. We have stayed there dozens of times since the late 1980s, bringing many friends and family members as well, most recently with my Son in May, 2021. However I cannot recommend the Eden House to anyone, based upon our experience with them this past year.
In July, 2022 we made a reservation for a stay at the Eden House from September 17 through September 21, 2022....to celebrate our 34th Wedding Anniversary. We placed the required $787.00 deposit on our credit card. A day or 2 before we were to depart Rochester to Key West, we were concerned with the path of Hurricane Ian...because there was the potential for Key West directly in it's path. We contacted the Eden House front desk to inquire about the local situation and to get their recommendation. The front desk insisted we should not travel to Key West due to the storm, and that the Eden House would not be able to guarantee services depending on how hard the hurricane hit Key West. She also stated that the Eden House was actively changing reservations and was assisting evacuating some guests in advance of landfall. Taking the front desk's advice...we cancelled our trip. The Eden House cancellation was handled by that same front desk clerk during that phone call. The front desk rep told us that we would not receive a credit card refund if we cancelled, but instead would receive a "house credit" which we could use for up to one year after our original reservation. We did not receive a cancellation confirmation number or email but assumed the staff person had made the necessary notations on our reservation profile. We were not concerned based on past experience with Eden House staff (always great) and the fact that they were dealing with Hurricane Ian. We subsequently received refunds for all elements of our planned trip to Key West...except from the Eden House.
Several months later we made a reservation to stay at the Eden House in March, 2023. In the process of making this reservation it was discovered that the "house credit" we were told we should have received was not added to our profile and therefore could not be applied to our new reservation. Until this issue could be cleared up, we decided to cancel the second reservation...giving the Eden House time to find their records and to apply our past $787.00 deposit. Since then we have had numerous emails with the Eden House trying to get our deposit from July, 2022 on a new booking. Our credit card issuer would not assist because the initial deposit charge that was processed was too old.
Apparently, the Eden House is under "new management" and no one can locate any records pertaining to our "credit" toward a future stay. The Eden House customer service rep was insisting that we provide an email confirmation of cancellation/credit. Unfortunately, as the Eden House never provided this to us and never indicated this was part of the credit process...we could not submit a form we never received.
We have submitted all proof to current management regarding our reservation, the deposit they received and an explanation of what transpired. The person with whom we have been communicating since March, 2023 wrote us "I completely understand your feelings and I would feel the same too" but "without any proof that there is a credit I can only rely on the Management to approve it". She says she forwarded our message "to the Manager asking her help. But they are so busy that they may haven't seen my email as I am only working remotely I cannot follow up face to face". She doesn't know what else she can do to help us "other than wait" on management's decision. She closed her last communication in June, 2023 by stating she would forward our email to them and ask them to reply directly to us "to avoid further issue". To date we have received no response whatsoever from "management".
We have not had any resolution to the situation we have experienced. The Eden House retained our full deposit. We are saddened that this situation has marred our memories of the Eden House that was built by Mike Eden and his tremendous staff.