Outdated? Sure, we love ourselves a good haunted mansion, but poorly maintained we were not prepared for. We stayed here on our honeymoon because we read some mixed reviews and were hoping that we would fall into the group that found it to be charming and quaint... unfortunately I think actually sleeping with the glow worms in their caves may have been more comfortable.
We booked online and were out of cell range hiking most of the day. We arrived to the hotel late and found a curious check in situation. They apparently close their front desk, which was not noted online, and we saw an email from them that they were leaving our key at the back door. It was very dark and no lighting and we could not locate the key in the area they'd designated. We were lucky the hotel's board members were having a late meeting as our rummaging around got noticed and someone opened the door to let us in. We'd been out there about 15 minutes in the winter cold but who knows how long we'd have been there if they hadn't heard us.
We were given a key and pointed towards our room. The rooms are not as depicted online. Not only is the hotel itself an older building, but it does not appear to be well kept. The room had a small bed they were advertising as a queen, but was certainly smaller than my husband's and my queen bed at home. It had minimal bedding that did appear clean, but certainly not as nice as the photos.
The outdated decor was only beat by the archaic bathroom with damaged mirrors, fixtures, stained tub and floors, and threadbare towels.. I kept my footsies in my sandals to shower. The worst was that the room did not offer respite to the cold night outside. There is no central heating and the small portable furnace was unplugged and had not been turned on to prepare the room for us. We huddled together in pants/socks/ and beanies like we were camping and it was a challenge to fall asleep until the room finally warmed up a bit.
Overall the building itself has a lot of potential, is a great historical asset to the local community, and the location proximity to the caves is great. If a little remodel was done to improve the comfort and guest service I think this could be a great place to spend a night dreaming of glow worm adventures. read more