The Castle at Swan Lake Hotel — Hotel in Area B (Westside/Swan Lake/Kalamalka Lake)

We were attending a wedding at The Old Willow Farm Wedding Venue and needed a place to stay for three nights. We wanted to stay in Armstrong, where most of the wedding party lived, but were not confident that the stays there would meet our needs. Vernon had some good options, but if we could find something closer to Armstrong, that would suit us better. ||We discovered the Castle at Swan Lake, a 12-minute drive to Armstrong, a 10-minute drive to Vernon, and a 21-minute drive to the wedding venue. The first thing we noticed when entering our suite was the laminate flooring, not carpets! Excellent! Have you ever walked on a hotel carpet with white socks? Please don't do it! You'll discover the filthiest socks ever. I always take slippers when travelling and staying in hotels.||Another thing that amazed us was the size of the King Suite Deluxe room. It is a room for two people, but the living area was generous with two couches and a chair. It felt like "home" and not a hotel. If you want to do meals, there is a full kitchen, including a dishwasher and microwave. My wife and I enjoyed the Keurig coffees that could quickly be replenished at the front desk. I recommend buying a container of cream to put in the fridge if you do not like fake creamers. No grocery stores or coffee shops are nearby, and it is an easy way to start the day if you are a coffee drinker. You must travel to Vernon for coffee, groceries, or a restaurant meal. Two places we enjoyed in Vernon were the White Spot and the restaurant in the Vernon Lodge Hotel. Don Cherry's restaurant was also good for a pub meal and a beer. Their burgers are delicious. ||We planned to stay an extra day after the wedding and asked Trudi at the front desk about areas we could explore. She was incredibly friendly and helpful in introducing us to the Okanagan Rail Trail along the beautiful, clear, turquoise waters of Kalamalka Lake. She mentioned if you join the path in Vernon, you can rent bikes or e-bikes. However, this area can be pretty busy on weekends, so she suggested going to Kekuli Bay, which is only 20 minutes along Highway 97 and less busy. However, you would not be able to rent bikes, which was okay since we wanted to walk. The trail runs 50km to Kelowna, with some sections not developed yet, which was fine for us as we only walked 8km of it.||Trudi also told us about the Gray Canal Trail system. The Gray Canal Trail system has seven different trail sections. We walked the East Vernon section, which gave us great views of Vernon, the valley, and the mountains on the other side. The Gray Canal Trail and the Okanagan Rail Trail are very easy walks.||The night before we left for home, we decided to try the INTERMEZZO CASTLE BISTRO at the Castle at Swan Lake. The dining room was quiet and intimate, with pricing similar to a Cactus Club or Brown's Social House. I had Chicken Involtini, and my wife had Saffron Risotto with Scallops and Prawns. These dishes were excellent and delicious. We finished our meal with coffee, Mango Cheesecake, and Chocolate Decadence Cake. If you are in the area, give this restaurant a try. You won't be disappointed.||There were some comments in reviews about highway noise. It was slightly noticeable at first but soon became background noise for us and was not a problem while sleeping at night. The beds are very comfortable, and the quilt felt like a weighted blanket, making everything cozy.||A few more things to mention are they have a pleasant reading room with a small library of novels. There are two computers available to check emails etc. There is a laundry room as well.||When booking, give them a call .vs using the website as you could get a 20% discount (ask!). They also offer discounts for seniors and...

The location is not great. Right on the highway, far from the lake. But we knew that so, no complaints. Restaurant not open, and it is a problem, as now even for breakfast you have to drive into Vernon - for a remote location like this, at least serve breakfast. Hot tub not open, this isn't obvious when booking.

What really shocked though was the service. We booked through expedia, for 6 nights, with free cancelation. A couple days prior I called and asked if we can push the dates, because my daughter had to have a cast removed, they said they cannot help me I have to go through expedia, nothing they can do. Ok, makes sense. So I decided that we go, with the cast. On the day of, we start driving from Victoria, and 300km in I receive this email saying the hotel cancelled my reservation, something they said they physically don't do. The email was from Expedia, the hotel never contacted me, never warned me, just cancelled it and thanks to expedia, I knew about it on the way to the hotel, and called them to keep the room for me. When we arrived, the lady at the front who said she was the manager said that the rate is now $50 a night more than what I had through expedia. When I said - well YOU cancelled it, she went back and forth at it for a bit, and then agreed. Why would you ever suggest charging me more? Ok then after that for six days every time I needed something, and called reception, i usually spoke to someone named Lisa, someone named Cathy, and one other lady. Every single time i asked for something, their answer was: 'well can you come down to reception and get it?' What? No. Then. A day before check out, one of the 4 families that we were with called in and asked to extend for one night, the room was available. Yet again, they were quoted $50 more a night than we are currently paying. When they asked - well, why? We are already in the room, you dont have to clean it, the room is available, why do you want $50 more, makes no sense. This family were returning customers, who spent a week at Castle last year, and this year came back for another week AND brought 3 more families with them, all for a week, singlehandedly bringing the hotel $5000, and you would not honour your own rate that you gave them for the previous 6 nights ($209)? Where is the logic??

Finally, we had left my baby's favourite swim suite in the room when we checked out. 40 minutes after checking out, i called and asked if it can be mailed, i explained that the child is upset, etc. Cathy said she will look into it, and call me back. Guess what? Never called me back. Zero care given. I will absolutely not return, nor recommend this hotel because of this...

We just stayed here in the penthouse. The romance add on was well worth it! The soaker tub for two and large shower were most excellent. The size of the suite was impressive. The fact that they clean or reclean all dishes (due to covid) through the in-room dishwasher regardless if the previous guests washed them made me VERY happy. EVERY SINGLE REGULAR DISH was in the dishwasher when we arrived. Please keep this up after covid! I don't trust random people to clean dishes for me and otherwise have never eaten with hotel dishes. The power did go out for 7 hours during our stay which created quite a few issues for us, not their fault but effected lots especially work and use of our in room elevator. As not to interrupt another work day after the one during the power outtage they accomidated us by giving us a very late check out. We didn't have to leave mid day wrecking another work day and had a bunch of remote meetings. It all evened out thankfully as the room wasn't booked that night. After more wine and a soak in the tub I almost forgot about the power outage. We will be back!! Yes the sinks are for tall people but not much you can do about that. They are pretty though. Only changes I would like to see are an upgrade to toiletries and the ability to request a light work table that guests could request in room. We finally found a place that ticked all the boxes. And we felt like we were in a condo not a hotel. You really want to add on the wine chocolates and candle. It starts your stay off...