Omni Mount Washington Resort

We had an incredible experience this weekend celebrating our engagement. Hannah was wonderful in helping us capture the proposal, Jessie took amazing care of us at dinner, and Keller went above and beyond in setting up our table. Each of them helped make an already special weekend even more memorable. We’re so grateful for everything they did!

The hotel and the surroundings are beautiful--the prettiest we have ever stayed in. The staff was friendly and efficient and very receptive to our needs. The restaurants served quality meals with a big selection of different restaurants and bars to go to.

What a magnificent and beautiful hotel. Just the perfect place to simply relax and appreciate the spectacular Mountain View’s great food. From top to bottom the entire hotel staff is polite, friendly and willing to make the experience a great one. A great example is Stickney,s Restaurant where we ate most of our meals. From the manager to the entire staff and in particular Sangecta ,our sever each and every time, who made the experience a fun one and pleasure to remember. Thank you for making our stay such an enjoyable one. Hope to see you again soon. Richard and Karen Sullivan.

Went to this resort to experience some me time, spa treatments, good food, atmosphere and old world charm. Instead I got… A tiny room with a huge mysterious wet stain on the rug near the bed Loud neighbors all night long A closed and drained indoor pool A dirty whirlpool filled with sand A noisy, crowded convention Kids running amok everywhere Mediocre food ( breakfast—eggs were cold, pancakes like rubber) Ridiculously priced and under seasoned dinners An uncomfortable massage A $6 cookie. Actually the cookie was good. 👍🏻

My wife and I recently spent two nights at the Omni Mount Washington Resort, and unfortunately, we left underwhelmed by the level of service we received. Given the reputation of the property and the level of service one reasonably expects from an Omni resort, our experience fell well short of expectations. The inconsistency began at check-in. The guest checking in immediately next to me received a detailed explanation of the property and its amenities, a property map, and helpful suggestions about the resort and available activities. We received none of this information. The staff member assisting us was pleasant, so this is not a criticism of his demeanor, but the difference in the check-in experience was striking. In fact, throughout our stay, we learned about several amenities and services available to guests only by overhearing conversations with other guests. A larger problem was the effect of the three weddings taking place at the resort during our two-night stay. We completely understand that weddings are an important part of the resort's business and that private events will inevitably occupy some facilities. However, it repeatedly felt as though the weddings had become the resort's overriding priority and ordinary overnight guests were secondary. Restaurants were either fully committed with reservations or closed entirely for private wedding functions, and significant portions of the staff and facilities appeared dedicated to those events. The most frustrating example occurred when we changed rooms between our first and second nights. Because this was a last-minute trip taken somewhat "on a whim," the same room was not available for both nights. We were told that Bell Service would transfer our luggage from our original room to the new room while we were out enjoying the White Mountains. When we returned that evening, our luggage had not been moved. I contacted the front desk and was told they would contact Bell Service, but that "it might take a while" because they were busy with the three weddings. That explanation was particularly frustrating because it suggested that the resort understood it lacked sufficient capacity to provide normal service to its non-wedding guests, yet expected those guests simply to accept the resulting delays. Nevertheless, I waited approximately another 45 minutes. Our bags still did not arrive. At that point, I returned to the front desk and asked that someone simply locate our luggage and give it to me so that I could take it to our room myself. By then, the delay had caused us to miss our original dinner reservation. To her credit, the front desk employee was helpful in finding us another reservation. Unfortunately, the next available reservation was not for several more hours—again, largely because of the demands associated with the weddings. I also want to specifically recognize the Bell Service attendant who ultimately helped locate our luggage. He was exceptionally kind, apologetic, and helpful. His response was exactly what one hopes for when something has gone wrong, and our frustration was not with him personally. While waiting for our much later dinner reservation, we decided to salvage the evening by having drinks and a small bite to eat on the veranda. We saw the sign instructing guests to seat themselves and did so. We then sat for nearly 15 minutes without a single staff member acknowledging us—not a greeting, an indication that someone would be with us shortly, or even recognition that we were there. Eventually, frustrated, we simply got up and left. Even then, no staff member appeared to notice or show any concern. Unfortunately, the same problem followed us into dinner at Stickney's. We began by ordering drinks and an appetizer. The appetizer arrived within an appropriate amount of time, but our drinks did not. Our waiter apologized and explained that the bar was delayed because they "were busy because of the three weddings." By this point, that explanation had become an all-too-familiar refrain. Our entrees ultimately arrived before our drinks. At approximately the same time our meals were delivered, our waiter finally brought the drinks and explained that he had actually gone behind the bar and made them himself because the bar staff had not been able to fill the order. I want to emphasize that our waiter handled an unacceptable situation as well as he reasonably could. He recognized the problem, took responsibility for solving something that was not his fault, and personally made our drinks. Our criticism is not directed at him. If anything, his effort highlighted the underlying staffing and operational failure. For a resort of this caliber, having a restaurant server leave his normal responsibilities to make guests' drinks because the professional bar operation cannot keep up is simply unacceptable. More importantly, we were again given precisely the same explanation: the three weddings were consuming the resort's available resources. The restaurant removed the drinks from our bill, which we appreciated as a gesture, but that misses the larger point. We, like I suspect many guests choosing to stay at the Mount Washington Resort, are considerably less concerned about the price of two drinks than we are about the quality of the experience we came to the resort to enjoy. Removing an item from the bill does not give us back that experience. That distinction is important because **this is ultimately where the resort failed us**. None of these incidents standing alone would necessarily have defined our stay. Hotels get busy. Bags occasionally get misplaced or delayed. Restaurants fill up. A bar can occasionally get backed up. Service can sometimes be slower than expected. What was disappointing was the unmistakable **pattern**. At check-in, we received substantially less information than the guest beside us. Restaurants and facilities were unavailable because of private events. Our luggage was not transferred as promised. When we asked for it, we were warned of further delays because staff were occupied with the weddings. That delay caused us to miss dinner. We were then completely ignored while attempting to have drinks on the veranda. Finally, at dinner, our appetizer and ultimately our meals arrived before our drinks because the bar was again overwhelmed by the weddings—to the point that our waiter had to make the drinks himself. And throughout these experiences, the same explanation kept appearing: **the three weddings**. After hearing that explanation repeatedly over two days, it ceased to be an explanation and instead became evidence of the underlying problem. The resort had accepted more simultaneous demands on its staff and facilities than it could service while maintaining the level of hospitality that its other guests reasonably expected. We understand that weddings are an important part of the resort's business. We do not expect wedding parties to receive anything less than exceptional service on such an important occasion. But providing that service should not require diminishing the experience of every guest who happens not to be attending one of those weddings. If the resort chooses to host three large weddings simultaneously while also selling rooms to leisure guests, then it has an obligation to staff and operate the property accordingly. The weddings should have been virtually invisible to us from a service perspective. Instead, they became the explanation for nearly every service failure we encountered. That left us with the unfortunate impression that there were effectively two classes of guests at the resort during our stay: those associated with the weddings, whose events were commanding the resort's resources, and everyone else. That is particularly disappointing at a property such as the Omni Mount Washington. The resort itself is beautiful, its history and setting are extraordinary, and several individual employees we encountered were genuinely pleasant and helpful. In fact, some employees clearly went beyond what should have been required of them to compensate for broader operational shortcomings. Those positives made the service failures more noticeable, not less. We chose the Mount Washington Resort because we expected the experience associated with a destination resort of this caliber. We were not looking for discounts, complimentary drinks, or other concessions. We were looking for attentive hospitality, access to the resort's amenities, and the opportunity to enjoy the property together. The resort can refund a drink. It cannot refund an evening spent waiting for luggage, a missed dinner reservation, time spent sitting unnoticed on the veranda, or a dinner where our meals arrived before drinks because the bar was overwhelmed servicing private events. Those experiences are what guests remember. We had been looking forward to experiencing the Mount Washington Resort and wanted to leave feeling that it was somewhere we would eagerly return. Instead, we left feeling that the magnificent property lived up to its reputation, but the hospitality and service during our stay did not.