The Henderson Castle Inn

Reviews 3

JA

Jaime Laisure

We came in on Jan 23 for our scheduled reservation in which I paid for in Nov 2014 through Expedia. Yes, a year ago, but 3 kids and had to reschedule 3 times for various reasons. Paid a fee of $25 once, but were told that we would loose our rate if we cancelled, so we picked another weekend. Before we were given our key, we were told our card was declined, aka we owed $101 more dollars on the already paid $149 reservation through Expedia. Staff said the rates went up, or maybe it was because it was a Sat. night, etc. This was NEVER mentioned during any rescheduling over the phone. The young man didnt know how to answer so he got the manager who didnt even greet us. No smile or welcome, just that we owed the money and there was nothing she could do about it. Since we had no back-up plans, we went ahead and paid. We werent given much information about our room or stay, but that was ok, we were ready to get out on the town for dinner. We came back to our room that night and set the alarm for our 8am couples massage in which the staff reminded us to schedule when I confirmed reservation. This was the only available time, so we took it. This was purchased Groupon that we had and in all fairness, it had been over 90 days. The staff on the phone verified that we should schedule our Groupon massage so this is why we went through with it. At 7:50am Sun morn, we couldnt find any staff. Flagged down a wait staff that seemed puzzled that we had a massage scheduled. Didnt really know how to direct us and were told we wouldnt miss breakfast when we inquired. We were then greeted by two therapist, headed next door in the cold. No coat, slippers. We werent prepared to go outside. We got back from massage at 9:34am and staff who reassured us, apologized and said sorry, no more breakfast, kitchen closed. So we got over that and figured we would use the hot tub/ sauna that opens at 9am. It was now about 10am. It was locked and no staff knew how to unlock the door to get to the sauna or hot tub. No manager on site!!! 20 min later, as we waited, the door was finally opened. We went upstair and located the sauna. It hadnt been turned on, so ice cold. We headed to the rooftop hot tub. It was definitely a dangerous hike with snow and ice. The view was great, but the hot tub hadnt been cleaned, there was an old lemon slice, hair by faucet, and water very dirty with gritty sand particles. So with that said, it was time to head out. Not to mention, the room was ok. Hodgepodge decor. French rm. Floors were cold and room temp cold. Dial did not work to warm up rm. Gas fireplace, no heat. Floor not clean, but it sufficed. For $250 a night, we were hoping for a nicer spread. Yes, it was a beautiful castle, but cheap toilet paper, wallpaper coming down, hand written note with misspellings and tacky for a hopeful tip, old fire code drawing on the inside door that was not reflective of the building. So the cherry on top was checking out. We were asked how we were going to pay for the massage? Not how was your stay? Nothing like that. We were puzzled knowing that we already prepaid and this seemed clear from staff when we called. Again the staff had no clue and didnt know how to help us. The rude manager from last night came out to the counter. No apology, etc. just said we owed $155 for the massage and that she couldnt do anything about this. I was very frustrated, embarrassed with others around. This turned into a very expensive trip when we had already prepaid. Manager then went through records and phone calls that I made to reschedule. She said that staff that scheduled this was really good and no longer worked here, but wouldnt have made a mistake. I was baffled knowing that when I call, I always make certain that I ask questions for no surprises at the end. I was never once notified about the increased rates or that our massage was not valid. This ended up costing close to $500 for our 1 night stay WITHOUT breakfast. Needless to say, we will NEVER stay there again. We felt that the manager did nothing to remedy. POOR COMMUNICATION.

KE

Kelly Murawski

Our experienced was mixed. The gardens and grounds were beautiful, the breakfast was good and was very fresh. The Castle had some beautiful details, like ornate woodwork and leaded glass windows. Our room was simple but cute and generally clean. However, when my boyfriend booked the room, the confirmation said wed be in the Tibetan room at the Castle. When we checked in, we were informed wed be in a different room at the guesthouse across the street (though the nightly rate was the same). We did not read reviews of the Castle beforehand – had we, we wouldve learned that this seems to happen regularly and without any recourse. Reviews of the Castle seemed pretty mixed and my boyfriend and I wonder if this may be due to the different experiences of guests staying in the main castle building vs. the guesthouse. The castle is on a big steep hill... the guesthouse is down the hill, across the street in a residential neighborhood. The staff repeatedly reassured us that we would have access to all the same amenities as guests in the main building. It was beautiful outdoors during our stay so the walk wasnt bad and we were able to take a short cut climbing up the hill rather than walking around to the road, but this wasnt what we were expecting and it wouldve been an unpleasant walk if it had been cold or rainy out and unlike the guests staying in the Castle, we couldnt saunter down to breakfast in our PJs. Parking at the guesthouse is also very limited and parking on the street is prohibited overnight. The guesthouse is a historic house but it seemed a bit run down (especially the kitchen) and was significantly less impressive and less fancy than the castle. Also - the website says that every room has free wifi, however, it seemed that only rooms in the Castle had free wifi, not the guesthouse. I called the front desk for help accessing the internet from our room - the staff person I spoke to provided the wifi password but when I asked which network guests could use, I was told it should have Henderson or Henderson castle in the name. No such network was available from our room. We looked around the house but couldnt find a router. When we went to breakfast the next morning, we were able to access the wifi from the main house but every room did NOT include free wifi as their website suggests. If youre interested in booking - I would suggest calling the castle directly and specifically requesting a room in the main Castle building. In general, this place seems overpriced and mismanaged and I couldn’t recommend it.

JE

Jennifer Behnke

We bought a living social voucher for a tour with wine tasting and charcuterie tray for two people. The "value" was $170.00. I paid $75 (with tax and mandatory gratuity, see below). It was maybe worth $20 a person and that is being generous. If you dont want all the detail below, we did not get the full tour described on the site, the wine mediocre and the "charcuterie" tray was supermarket cheese and sliced meat. First we arrived and though there were 3 people at the desk they were too busy talking to help us check in. After a line formed someone came over to help us. We knew we would have to pay tax and gratuity, but we did not know it was up front and gratuity was a mandatory amount. After the service, I can see why they would want it up front. Also, we did not understand who receives the gratuity? The guide? The wine server? I would have preferred to tip them personally to ensure they receive it. The tour was a huge disappointment. We enjoy going on tour such as these and the lack of historical information about the previous owners and the property in general was severely lacking. This is not the fault of our guide, who seemed friendly, but knew very little about anything about the house. There was no history on the Henderson Family. At one point in the tour it was mentioned a college used it as a dormitory, but no idea on dates, or any information. The most information about the home was on Mr. Royse, but even that was fairly limited to the work done on the home. The tour was also much shorter than described. We missed most of the third floor because there was an event. No one mentioned this when we made the reservation, we could have chosen another day. The tour description was to include the grounds, orchard and winery but we saw none of this. At the end of the tour we asked about it and was told it was not included. We then went to the wine tasting in the new cave. The server was very nice and very knowledgable about the wines. The wines themselves were drinkable, but really not good for the $25 a bottle they were changing. We did not get the trays until after the tasting. This is apparently how they do it, as the group before us had the same treatment. Except it started raining at the end of the tasting so we had to carry our trays, uncovered in a downpour to the front porch and huddle in the corner because all the other table were taken. It was very strange. Save your money. We could have had a very nice meal and bottle of wine for what we paid for this and gotten far more enjoyment.

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