catnjim1
Google
My husband and I have visited Vermont every year during fall foliage for the past 30 years. We have stayed in Northern Vermont, Central Vermont, and Southern Vermont-Always in an Inn or Bed and Breakfast. We love the intimate atmosphere and experiences that a small establishment typically offers. So this year, I booked the Rabbit Hill Inn for two nights in the Samuel Hodby Luxury room during the beautiful Fall Foliage season this year. I have been following RHI on Instagram for quite some time and was excited to see they had a luxury room available back in August for a two night stay in October. This was a late add on to our Vermont road trip as I made a Manchester reservation that was booked last November. Keep in mind, you have to reserve your stay early for Fall Foliage Season. I was so excited!||I always say the journey is just as exciting as the final destination. My husband and I were prepared for the 7+ hour journey and I was filled with excitement and anticipation to finally get to RHI. After all, they advertise and boast “they are the #4 Top Resort in New England” The pictures on their website are gorgeous and the reviews are amazing. So to say I was shocked at our “luxury room” well, that brought me to TripAdvisor once I received a follow up email from RHI asking for a review of our stay. ||I must say the Inn itself is lovely, charming and everything you would expect from a Vermont Inn. The staff couldn’t be nicer too. |Please keep in mind that the cost of our “luxury room” was $659 a night so with tax and a $40 Historic Preservation Fee, our grand total for 2 nights came to $1,476.62. |After our stay, my husband researched and found the RHI does not advertise any Historic Preservation fee. Therefore this fee was a surprise to us. I think anyone considering reserving the Samuel Hodby room should be warned ahead of time. I wish someone would have posted something on TripAdvisor for me to see. If they did, I probably wouldn’t have booked it. So I hope I’m saving someone the disappointment we felt after checking in. ||I think the easiest way to put into words how we felt we were duped and taken advantage of is best put into a pros and cons list:||Pros: |The room was very clean|The Inn is absolutely adorable |The staff was very friendly |The restaurant and pub served delicious meals|Easy to use gas fireplace in the room|Nice location to visit NH||Cons:|The bathroom to this “luxury room” is straight out of the 80s. The toilet is about 13 inches from the floor. I kid you not-I thought it was a children’s toilet as found in a preschool. ||The shower is a pre fab plastic fitted shower-not tiled. The jacuzzi tub is up a step on a platform under a makeshift wooden canopy fixture. ||The color is a bright blue robins egg color. No wonder they don’t post a picture of this bathroom on their website! I say do a complete renovation on this bathroom -rip out the tub-put in a two person steam shower. They have the space-make it into a spa bathroom retreat! ||Housekeeping: well we didn’t have any. In their words on their memo: “As an earth-conscious Inn, we offer fresh towels daily upon request and a full housekeeping service every 2nd day of your stay.” I’m not sure how being an earth-conscious inn means housekeeping can’t clean out your waste baskets or make your bed. So on my vacation, I made our bed and tidied our room before going out. ||An envelope was left in our room so we could leave a tip for housekeeping. Are you serious? That’s insulting!||Breakfast was included during our stay and it was delicious. Kudos to the chef! But before we left, I had to sign a receipt confirming our room and if I would like to add a tip. I’ve never experienced that before. I don’t feel that is in good taste at all||Afternoon Tea is available and served in beautiful china. No pastries or cookies to go with teatime but they did have one sweet selection-a tiny lemon square one afternoon and a chocolate/cheesecake square the second afternoon. They were the size of a sugar cube. Another woman I met during my teatime couldn’t believe what they put out either. ||Will we be returning to Rabbit Hill Inn? That’s a firm NO.||Will we recommend Rabbit Hill Inn to friends and family? Nope. ||I feel the cost of the room did not meet the services offered. Boy were we disappointed!