Melanie S.
Yelp
We had a terrible 3 night stay here. BE SURE TO READ ALL POOR REVIEWS on other trip review websites beforehand! We saw positive reviews (restaurant mainly), but I wish we had found them ALL beforehand - especially the owner's responses. If you have any complaint (even small), be prepared for her wrath!
We booked back in Nov for a ski getaway in Feb. We have had many great stays in the Sugarbush & Stowe areas and looked forward to trying a new venue. I called and spoke to the front before booking and all seemed fine.
You can HEAR EVERYTHING in this place from your room. From the owner yelling at an employee over a scheduling conflict (we heard him yelling & swearing over an hour about this), to people thumping up and down the wooden stairs, to children running around unsupervised, to staff discussing/investigating an odd smell on property, to conversations from the privacy of other rooms. We knew we may experience some extra white noise due to an old building, but this was beyond imaginable. Ultimately, the guests lacked any consideration for other guests and the owner basically shrugged her shoulders saying look elsewhere. Shocking, to say the least. Noise wasn't even the most disappointing element of our stay, it was the owners' reaction.
It was SO loud after the first day that we tried to have our room moved. We were in B7 that is right atop the stairs - we constantly had the room shake with people banging and running down the stairs/halls. There were kids up loud late into the night (11pm+) and we could even hear parents coming down to the room reprimanding them. Then, early in the morning (around 6:30/7am) we woke up to kids yelling and bouncing off the walls in the hall. Unfortunately, the owner, Heather, said all other rooms were booked when I requested a room in a better location. She said we should have looked at the website to see that it's "family friendly". For the record, our complaints were not kids in general - but the LOUD disruptive noises we were experiencing. The majority of our stays at many inns/hotels have been family friendly, but never experienced this level of noise. I do not think "family friendly" normally means "be loud, run wild, let kids go unsupervised, who cares!" There was no apology or suggestion of quieting them down, just a "it's an old building, you should have read the website." The website does not depict the experience we have had. It should be much more clear about the NOISE and lack of consideration. It is simple common courtesy.
We tried to find other accommodations without any luck. On our second day, we came back from skiing to a pleasant quiet and took an afternoon nap. We were woken up my the other owner, Andrew, yelling at a member of the staff about her schedule. We experienced this directly from our room over an hour - periodic yelling, swearing, etc. We are pretty lenient, but even this felt unprofessional for guests to witness and made us uncomfortable.
We went to dinner offsite for an extended time so didn't witness much through the evening. At 11pm, we woke up to loud noise outside our room which was apparently a group that checked in. Frustrated, we went out to tell them to quiet down and in return the owner Andrew said he was just moving new guests in. Seriously? I know people are excited, but that kind of noise at 11pm? Enough to wake and keep us both up? This isn't a party town, it's a ski town - in all our years of skiing, people commonly wind down or at least respect those that are resting to wake up and ski. We were up the rest of the night which left us unrested and not able to ski the next day. We had dinner commitments that night otherwise we would have left a day early. We counted down the hours and left first thing the next day.
We were excited about this stay as the decor is appealing and it appears nice on the outside. We even had a good dining experience in the restaurant previously, which made us want to stay here. The inn's esthetics do not match the owners' behavior nor hospitality. I do not recommend this inn to anyone.
**UPDATE: Heather's reply below is not accurate. She said she'd only let me out of my reservation if she found a replacement, which she did not. To claim she offered to just let us off is a lie. We would have left immediately if so, but unfortunately had just given her $700. Also, she wasn't there for the two incidents we had with her husband that she claims she was, so again another lie. We have a recording of one as proof. Two things I agree with: first, life is too precious - and frankly that's why I think others should know our experience so they don't waste their time here! Second, an educated consumer is a good consumer - unfortunately the website does not give proper insight here, but the owner's attitude in responses does... so BEWARE of this venue if you are single or couple that would like normal hospitality & a decent night sleep to ski, as it is quite obviously for long time guests and family only!