The Algonquin Resort St. Andrews by-the-Sea, Autograph Collection — Hotel in Town of Saint Andrews

I had been wanting to try this hotel for a while. Our experience was not good, we had issues every day of our 4 nights stay, and had a major security concern. Here's our experience, hoping I am not forgetting anything. We were in a 3rd floor king room.||Issues with front desk: as I finished checking in, the receptionist told me all about where breakfast was and that it was included. Having my doubts, I asked if it was indeed included. He checked. Then told me, no, its not included for you. You can still go, its just 30$. Sales tactic?||We then proceeded to our room, and called reception to request a luggage rack to put our suitcases on in the room. The receptionist said 'Housekeeping is closed, but maybe there is something'. I then had to ask that if 'maybe there was something', could they check and call me back? Then the bell boy arrived with a luggage cart - that he had just seen my hubby bring back downstairs and showed up to our door with a puzzled look. He was able to go back and find us a luggage rack. Throughout the stay, the 3 bell boys that we interacted with were the only good thing about the place.||Security Issues: Our our first morning, we went out at about 11 o'clock and came back at 4:30. As we left, the cleaning lady was cleaning the room besides us. When we arrived at 4:30, our door was completely open. No one in sight. No cleaning lady. The room had been done. I went into utter panick mode. What if someone got into my computer? What about my jewelry (I had a lot as we had a wedding during our stay)? What if someone was hidden somewhere to hurt us? I was truly scared and worried. I called reception. Same person as the night before. Who told me that housekeeping was closed. These were things that could happen. To look around if I was missing anything. I said that I wanted to make a complaint. He basically said no one is here. I said I wanted a call-back from housekeeping. He was very dismissive and did not take my worry into account at all. The next day, I went to the front desk and said that I didn't want my room touched at all because of the previous day's occurence. Reiterated my complaint. The person at the desk now went and got a supervisor. Which was not aware of my complaint of the previous day. He did apologize, took notes, and I received a call from housekeeping when I returned to my room. However, this whole incident left me worried for the whole weekend. So if you have computers whose content you'd rather be kept private, or expensive stuff, don't trust this expensive hotel. BTW, we hadn't found the safe on that day, we found it after the incident. Its under the TV, in a drawer looking cabinet. ||Food at the pool: we showed up at the pool expecting to have lunch there as they had a menu of shareables both on their website and on the window of the pool attendant's booth. No food that day. The attendant said that the staff the previous day forgot to order it. No other options provided. We stayed until about 4 PM, still no food.||No activities as advertised: A 25$ resort fee per day is mandatory. According to the program, this fee is for activities. We tried to participate in 3 activities that were on the program we were provided at check-in: ghost and history tour, 4 PM frozen treats and 9:15 smores and stories by the fire (this was before the fire ban). No treats, we looked everywhere. No smores' to be found. Ghost and history was just ghosts... and 30 min. long.||No cleanliness: The room itself was OK. Bed was very soft. The conforters are those wrapped in sheets (so they don't wash them I assume, just the sheets). Of course, when you move, the sheets get out of the conforter - and when it happened, I saw that under the sheets, it was dirty (not stained) with something that looked like self tanner or foundation. The curtains had stains that looked liked cigarette stain; and the lamp shade was stained.||Location is OK if you like to walk.||Will...

What a great disparity between our expectations and our experience. This place truly is haunted by its past of grandeur, and cursed by the inexperienced staff that it chooses to employ.

This place may be different during high season, but no staff that we engaged with on this long-weekend stay knew anything about hospitality- and certainly not to the standards of a 4 star resort.

All check-ins are at the somewhat late hour of 4 PM, so we decided to get lunch at Braxton's. Our service took maybe 30 minutes to get our drinks in an empty bar- we were told that our drinks were on the way. Meanwhile our food showed up first. When drinks finally arrived, our 18 dollar cocktail was in a broken glass and mine couldn't be made because they lacked the ingredients (Even though this whole time they were on the way (Also, this was mid-day, don't forget)). The food was overpriced and although the food was fine, it was underwhelming for that price-point.

St. Andrew's main street is quite cute and a short walk from the resort. Although it was a Stat Holiday, we did still enjoy our walk through town.

Our room on the 3rd floor faced the front yard and the ocean. We paid a premium for these "views" and right outside our window was a bird-deterrent of some kind that screeched and squawked at an obnoxious volume every quarter minute or so.

We had dinner that evening at the Right Whale Pub (which is in the hotel). It was a 40 minute wait for service, which was strange because the pub had several empty tables. Once again I did not get the drink that I ordered, and after waiting a long while for our food I learned that it had been accidently served to another table (who had not even ordered food) and they were out of the ingredients to make more. At this point, we had several staff visit our table to equivocate and make excuses about the poor service. My wife and I felt that we were playing therapist to the staff, which was quite embarrassing for all parties involved. We were told to order anything off the menu- my wife ordered the grilled salmon with seasonal vegetables with red wine vinaigrette and potatoes, but was served sadly seasoned salmon on a bed of shredded lettuce with french dressing. My steak was alright, but I received mine probably 15 minutes before she did. We were gifted breakfast vouchers for our troubles, and I overheard at least one other table being comped in a similar way.

I was pretty thankful to get out of the pub by then and retire to our room. Being that it was the dead of night I was surprised that the bird sounds hadn't stopped. I don't think there are many nocturnal birds that would be deterred by these sounds. I called the front desk, and I was assured that the sounds would turn off in a couple of hours. Relieved, I readied myself for bed. However, at the 11 o'clock hour the sounds continued. I called again to the front desk and they then informed me that the sounds can not be turned off. I have no idea how anyone can sleep through this alarm, which seemed to do better to scare me away than it did the birds. I requested a new room, and at 1130 PM my wife and I packed up our belongings and walked through the hotel in our pyjamas to our new room.

After awaking from a relatively sleepless night, we found no coffee cups in our room. I'm glad breakfast was free, because I would not have paid 25 dollars for such a basic breakfast buffet. Service here was still slow, and we seated ourselves.

It's a shame that such a beautiful property with a rich heritage has fallen to such a state of mediocrity (to put it generously). If you're reading this and saying to yourself "it can't be that bad",...

My boyfriend surprised me with a birthday stay at the Algonquin, and it was a meaningful experience, especially having grown up nearby. I’ve always known the hotel through stories: family work parties, friends working there as chambermaids, and even my grandmother taking her first gourmet cooking class here in her early twenties. It’s a place full of history, and I’m happy to say the restoration seems to have honoured that heritage beautifully.

The hotel has a charming small-town historic feel. Sitting on the veranda in a rocking chair with a drink was a lovely touch. Our room was very comfortable and well air-conditioned. Some of the hallways and main areas were not, but I didn’t mind. The breeze from open doors and windows added to the heritage vibe.

Staying in a historic hotel, a bit of noise should be expected, and I was prepared for that. However, I do think manageable issues like a very squeaky door opening repeatedly early in the morning should be easy to fix without needing a guest to bring it up. I hate feeling like a complainer, especially when it’s something that seems obvious.

We went to the adult swim at the pool from 10 to 11 pm, but there were still kids using the slide loudly until around 10:30 when their parents came to get them. It was a bit hard to unwind with the noise, but once things quieted down we enjoyed a relaxing soak in the hot tub.

The hotel is very dog-friendly, which is great for pet lovers but may not suit guests with allergies or dog-related anxiety. The hotel dog roams the lobby off leash. She was sweet and calm, but being approached by an unleashed dog in an indoor space can be unsettling for some, and I think that could be better considered.

We took the ghost walk tour, which was a highlight. It was fun and informative, and the employee tunnels with photos and plaques were fascinating. The hotel does proudly display its history in the lobby and several common areas, which I really appreciated. I just think it would be lovely if they added even more, especially some of the fascinating items and photos used in the ghost tour hallways. Without the context of the hotel’s history, it could be mistaken for just an older hotel with a luxury price tag. But when the history is front and center, it brings everything together in a much more special way.

Dinner at Braxton’s was delicious. We had a brief wait for a table despite seeing some open ones, but we were seated quickly. Service was excellent, and the food was even better. I had the lobster gnocchi and expected a small, fancy portion, but it came out in a beautiful large bowl, packed with lobster and zucchini in a gorgeous lemony garlic cream sauce. My boyfriend helped me finish it. He also loved his seafood penne. I especially appreciated the thoughtful non-alcoholic cocktail menu. My mango mint spritzer was refreshing and creative, not just a virgin version of something else.

All in all, it was a memorable and lovely stay. A few quirks come with staying in a historic property, but that’s part of the charm. Between the atmosphere, great food, attentive staff, and rich local history, the Algonquin made my birthday feel...