Jami S.
Yelp
This hotel was absolutely awesome! The Whiteface lodge and Mirror Lake Inn are both fancier properties, so I'm not giving this five stars because it's the top of luxury in Lake Placid, but it's still gorgeous and won't cost you over $300/night. I think the most competitive resort for this price and quality would probably be the Golden Arrow, and really don't think you can go wrong with either property. We stayed in the Waterfront Collection, so I'll do a review on the hotel itself first then go into more detailed about the Waterfront Rooms.
What made me LOVE High Peaks:
*The cookies and hot cocoa sitting patiently near the check-in desk, just waiting for you to snatch a few.
*Their pet friendly policy coupled with the fact that it's only $50 for your TOTAL stay. Usually places charge $25-50 a night (even cheaper chains) so having a luxury property charging such a reasonable rate was a nice surprise.
*The location. You're downtown, easy walking distance to all the shops. Parking is free, and between that and being able to hoof it everywhere, you never have to worry about paying for crowded street parking. And when I say easy walking distance, I don't mean only half a mile. I mean you're actually right on the downtown strip and even in the single digit weather, everything was close enough for us to walk to.
*Friendly and fast service. I ordered Eggs Benedict (delicious!) to my room and it took less than fifteen minutes to arrive. Checking-in was a breeze, everyone was friendly, professional, and helped us with questions about where to do/rent certain things in the area.
*There's a nice fireplace in the lobby, as well as big, comfy chairs and a cozy bar.
*Dancing Bears has a really great happy hour from 4-7, and the food was delicious!
*The Whiteface Shuttle. If you plan on going skiing and want to have a few beers at the lodge without worrying about driving home, the shuttle is awesome. It takes about 10-15 minutes to get to the mountain, and has a stop right in front of the hotel. You can look online for its schedule, but I think it was every hour.
Now, for specific details about the Waterfront Collection!
Pros:
*The rooms are GORGEOUS. The king size bed had amazing linen, and I loved the pillows so much that I want to call the hotel and find out what kind they were to order the same.
*You're right on Mirror Lake. They set it up so all the rooms are lake level, and we had a blast getting to walk right out our door and play on the frozen lake!
*It's very secluded and private. There are only a handful of rooms over at the waterfront collection, so you don't really see anyone else and it just feels nice and peaceful. And again, you look right out your sliding glass door and see a huge snow and ice covered lake, white trees, and falling snow!
*If you do bring a dog, it's really convenient to be able to open your door and be right outside.
*Awesome service, even from across the street. We had salads and realized we forgot to grab forks, and it's hardly a far walk across the street to the main lobby, but in the dark and cold... walking even a foot feels far. I phoned the front desk to ask if there was any sort of break-room in the Waterfront Collection area because I was hoping to get a fork, and she said she'd have some sent right over. And was very nice about it, not the snooty sort of nice. A minute later, we had forks! Definitely worth the few dollar tip we gave the girl who brought them over to NOT have to trudge through the snow.
*THE BATHTUB. Oh.my.gosh. At first we were worried about it being a pain to walk across the road and use the hot tub in the main building, then we saw the bathroom and realized we wouldn't even want to use the hot tub. The walk in European style shower is awesome, and you have the choice of the overhead rain faucet or a detachable one. And the jacuzzi tub is perfect. Large enough for two people (one of those two people being a tall, 200 pound guy) and still comfy! The small bubble jet things aren't super powerful, but they're still really nice and create zillions of bubbles if you dump in some of the eucalyptus body wash.
*Cons:
*The internet signal was pretty weak. We never mentioned this to the front desk because we didn't really care, so they might have had some sort of fix for this.
*You are across the street from the main building, so if you think you're going to want to be at the hot tub a lot, run down to the Dancing Bears without leaving your hotel, go into the lobby area for a nightcap... and so on, you might not love the waterfront collection. Obviously we didn't see the rooms in the resort, so I can't say if they're the same quality as the WC rooms.
*If it snows and they plow the parking lot, it's loud. The rooms are below the raised parking area for the cars, and you can hear the plow go over it in the morning. It's only for about 5 minutes though.
High Peaks and the Waterfront Collection rooms made our getaway romantic, relaxing, and perfect!
