Shafee S.
Yelp
We stayed at Glenlaurel Inn this past weekend at the Drummond croft, and we would like to share our experience. On the day of our arrival, we called the management office in order to give notice that we would be arriving for a late check-in. We were instructed to pick up the keys to our croft from the lockbox located outside of the main office. During this phone call, the person with whom we spoke let us know that there would not be a hot tub on the balcony of our croft because the hot tub was not working. This was very disappointing for us considering that the primary reason why we booked this particular croft was because the pictures of it online advertised a beautiful hot tub on the balcony. The person on the phone stated that she would usually rebook the guests for another accommodation with a hot tub, but since everything else had already been booked, there was nothing that she could do. No discount on the room rate was offered to us at that point in time. Furthermore, had we not called in to notify management of our arrival that day, we would have never been told about the lack of a hot tub, and we would have been very disappointed upon arrival to our croft.
The following morning, we made reservations for the restaurant at Glenlaurel Inn. We were given the option to choose between chicken or filet mignon (for an additional $10). We chose the filet mignon and requested that the meat be cooked medium rare. When we arrived to dinner that night, we were given a salad to start with followed by a cold soup. The cold soup was an odd mixture of melons that more closely resembled melted frozen yogurt than soup. Following this, we were given our steak, which was served on top of a very plain bed of unseasoned noodles. Unfortunately, the steak was extremely dry, overcooked, and generally flavorless. As we were eating our steak entrée, I decided that I wanted to order a vodka tonic. My boyfriend motioned to our waiter who was talking to other guests at the time to come to our table. The waiter nodded that he would come over. We then waited another 10 minutes as the waiter continued to speak to the other guests. We decided to motion to another waitress who immediately approached our table. She then asked for our waiter to come to our table, at which time he obliged. When I requested my drink, he told us that the dinner service was over and that the bar was closed. Although he was apologetic, we would have been able to order the drink had he been attentive and come over to our table when we had asked. At the conclusion of the dinner, the chef came to the dining room to tell everyone that the dinner service had concluded and that he would light a bonfire outside for the guests. He also told everyone to, "grab a bottle of wine or a glass of whisky and make some friends," but it is unclear how we could have done so considering that the bar was already closed. The entire dinner service began at 7 pm and was over not too long after 8 pm. It all felt very rushed and was quite overpriced for the experience - $45/person for dinner, not including alcohol. It is also worth mentioning that there was no music, not even some white noise, in the dining room. This made for a relatively awkward experience. The few couples seated in the dining room including us were literally whispering to one another so as to not be too loud for the other guests. This is certainly not the feel that a high-priced restaurant should give to its guests.
Over the weekend that we were staying there, we went hiking every single day. This was the best experience of the entire trip. There are many trails in Hocking Hills that are absolutely beautiful. The trail near the Glen Laurel estate is rather basic, however, if you drive out to some of the other Hocking Hills trails, you will not be disappointed. Specifically, Conkle's Hollow State Nature Preserve is GORGEOUS. We took Rim trail which leads up the mountain, and it was a fantastic experience. It is a bit of a more challenging trail and one must be careful climbing it, but if you are paying attention and not rushing, the climb is worth the stunning views that you will encounter on top of the mountain.
Lastly, as a part of our trip to Glen Laurel, we had requested a couple's massage. Once we arrived, we did not receive any communications nor updates about the status of this request. We went to the management office to inquire about the massage at which time we were told that the masseuse would not feel comfortable giving us a massage due to the coronavirus. While we completely understand his concern and in no way hold this against him, we were disappointed that no one had communicated with us about the fact that there would be no massage. Similar to the hot tub situation, we had to actively inquire about it in order to get a status update. The woman who worked at the management office informed us that we could try to get a massage at the shopping mall, but this is no way equivalent to a private coup
