Bartlett Lodge — Hotel in Unorganized South Nipissing

I booked this lodge based on a recommendation from a friend and the reviews online. I have to say it’s the first time I have found such a huge disparity between my experience and the reviews. I had hoped for understated luxury given the prices, location and reviews but that is not what this is. I believe the difference in the reviews is due to a few different things:||If you are joining just for dinner or actually staying there. It’s not obvious from the reviews who is reviewing having visited only for dinner.||what cabin you get makes the world of difference. We had two cabins booked- Sunrise which is new so clean with double glazed windows and a wood burning stove which means it’s warm. The new cabins appear to be the ones starting at Sunrise and moving away from the lodge. Sunrise is much bigger than Woodland Waterfall which is small, old and unrenovated with single pain windows and a tiny, futile space heater. You can touch both walls from the bed in Woodland Waterfalls and the bathroom is the same size as the big bathroom on the airplane. I rang to ask advice on rooms and I think that was a mistake.||The weather makes a huge difference even mid August because there are storms that come through and the temperature dips dramatically. It was between 6-8C at night the first 5 nights we were there and couldn’t get Woodland Waterfalls more than 4C above the outside temperature. The beds have a thin blanket and a quilt with another thin blanket in the drawer. My 9 year old and I slept really badly waking up freezing and ended up with colds. After the first complaint we were told other people are fine even when it’s snowing outside and the 8 x 10 inch heater is ample. The second time we were given more thin blankets. The third time we were given an oil heater which actually did make the room bareable. During the day if it’s raining there is nothing to do as the lodge holds about 12 people and has some games. If it’s just freezing and not raining you can go into the park and hike but unless the weather is warm enough to to use the canoes, kayaks and SUPs then it’s not great sitting in your freezing cold tiny cabin. I drove daily to Huntsville partially to stay warm and partially to find something to do besides sitting in the miserable cabin. My grandfather built his own cabin on the Bruce Peninsula about a hundred years ago and it was much bigger and definitely warmer even though it also wasn’t winterised. ||Your expectations. This is a huge one. We stayed for 8 days and so got to see many people come and go. Firstly 8 days is too long. I would say 1-2 days might be right. I would venture to say that their clientele are foreigners visiting Canada and people from Toronto wanting to get away for a quick trip to the countryside. I would say that despite this being in the Algonquin Park (and this is what you are really paying for) it’s not really the countryside as there are many people, you can hear the HWY 60, the rooms are cramped and there is little wildlife nearby. We spent 5 days in the far north on native land (1,200 miles north of Toronto where there are no roads and you have to fly in) at an all inclusive wilderness lodge with Wilderness North. The service was much better, the lodgings were the same quality although much more spacious, we had two motor boats which were kitted out for us every day, we had our own guide, we flew in on float planes, we had 3 meals a day included and lunch was barbecued for us individually on beaches we would boat to, the food was very good albeit not lots of choice (although it changed daily) and they packed our cottage with food after asking us what we liked and flew it in for us (and didn’t even charge us for it), the cabin was cleaned daily without asking, they moved all the luggage for us, there was lots of wildlife, there were 6 other guests and everyone knew us from the first hour….and it cost less than Bartlett Lodge. They had to fly in every single item at the lodge. It cost a LOT less for a LOT more and they only suggested a 10% tip and only when we asked. They also very much deserved the tip as they packed and unpacked our boats daily, packed us snacks and drinks, dropped off thermoses of coffee to our cabin in the mornings, made us bonfires, etc. ) So wilderness Bartlett Lodge isn’t especially when you have to line up to get into dinner and even by day 7 they are still asking who you are and if you have visited previously. I assume this is “quick jaunt to the wilderness” from Toronto, international tourists, people who want to believe in the dream and possibly what the countryside was like. Being Canadian and having travelled frequently and widely to over 70 countries, I did not feel this was a unique property or experience. If staying for the week, with the money, you can rent a very nice house on a lake even with Jayne’s which is very upmarket or head up north.||What genre you think this lodge fits into- is it a wilderness lodge? Well it’s priced as (and expect gratuity as) a full service wilderness lodge which it’s not as there are no real services as such, it’s not all inclusive, they don’t clean unless asked and even then don’t clean the cups, they don’t serve lunch, carry luggage, etc. it’s also off the 60 in view across the lake from two busy parking lots and boat launches, there is a lot of activity on the water, they take dinner bookings so the docks are full at night and there is a line to get into the dining room, the staff (aside from Marilyn and two of the waitresses) have no idea they have even seen you before even after a week of staying there and none of them know what cabin you are in. We watched a rather sad affair of an older, Canadian couple giving a heartfelt goodbye to the staff who are are fairly certain didn’t even know who they were. So it is a luxury country hotel? No it is not. Most of the cabins are old and uncomfortable. Ours was very small and cramped. Our room had dust in the walls that must be years old. The newer cabins are passable for that standard of hotel. The windows are not cleaned. The toiletries provided consist of a squirty soap bottle affixed to the wall. The towels are terrible and the service lacklustre. You get charged $5 for using more than 2 hours of WiFi. If you are expecting the equivalent of Soho Farmhouse, the Pig, Chewton Glen or the Newt in the UK then you will be disappointed. So in my opinion the problem is that they are sort of a very expensive holiday cabin with good food that people mistake to be one of the first two types of hotel.||About the food, no its not international top restaurant scale, the food is not fine dining. But given the options in the park, then I would say it definitely is comparatively fine dining. And Marilyn’s baking is excellent which gives a certain home feel. Again, it’s about perspective. Not serving lunch does seem a bit strange given the scarcity of nearby options, lack of kitchen in cabin and amount that they charge ($500 per person per day). The options for the packed lunch at $22 are not great nor is the children’s menu which doesn’t change. Our daughter doesn’t eat cheese as she used to have a severe dairy intolerance and that left steak (which is excellent) for her to eat 8 days in a row. Fortunately we discussed this with our server and they were flexible although charged her as an adult for the entirety of our stay.||||The management seem to respond to criticism with either that you should have told them at the time or to ring them. Unfortunately you don’t know until you arrive that you have grossly overpaid and cannot insist that the whole lodge be renovated. Also small touches like remembering who your guests are after meeting them the first, second or third time or more times, is just embarrassing for everyone and not something most guests want to point out as it sounds needy. Frankly after I had to mention several times that we were freezing, it didn’t make me more inclined to give feedback. ||However, it does seem that the management do take into account the reviews as coffee makers are in the rooms now. With that in mind I would venture to say that the towel situation needs to be addressed. There should be beach towels available and washing towels. We spent the first 4 days with these curious towels that were simultaneously scratchy and thin like old towels but then left fluff all over us like a new towel. By day 5 we were given normal towels that actually dry you and don’t leave you furry. ||Also on the housekeeping, while I agree that from an environmental perspective, no one needs their linens and towels changed daily. Asking guests to ask the lodge to clean their room everyday when they are paying $1,00-2,000 per room is frankly ridiculous. There is nothing non eco about making a bed and sweeping the floor. It’s also a bit disgusting given no lunch is served so presumably many guests have food in their garbage bins. We have stayed in several eco resorts all over the world and have never heard of cleaning the room as being not environmentally friendly.||Overall I would say the lodge needs to focus more on making guests comfortable and...

Please be aware this is a nice camping site with great food but not a hotel or a lodge. The price is 5 star 4 seasons, JW pricing but a 10th of the service. I'm sorry I have to write this but I feel obligated to warn others about the exuberant pricing here for bare basic minimum camping facility. They are charging $1000 per night for 2 guests with a 2 night minimum bringing the total to over $2000 plus tax for night that include breakfast and dinner no lunch. The value is not there or even close. The problem is they are charging $500 per person per night so 2 people is $1000 per night it should max S500 for the room not per person. The food is very good but not worth these prices and there is literally no activity other than canoeing. For example St. ann spa would be similar pricing but has treatments and all meals included. ||||Pro's||Beautiful location secluded from busy areas in the park.||Very nice people to work with polite and easy going||Food is amazing first class||close to great hikes in the park||||Cons||Rooms are outdated nothing more than a youth hostel ||No maid service unless you request it ||Way over priced by at least $500 per night||lack of activities to do only offers a canoe even thought it is a motorized lake||bring your own alcohol they didn't want to invest in the license||asked for gratuities at the end even though they charge over $1000 a night makes it feel very uncomfortable at checkout for no reason. ||Misspelled my surname and even though I told them the first day they made no effort to correct my surname and kept miss pronouncing it.||||Would not come back or recommend. they are charging JW pricing, st ann spa pricing wonder pricing so many other resorts to choose from similar pricing which I have been too and are much better value. It was this one or Kilarney lodge which apparently is nice but I chose this one that on me based on all the positive reviews. A lot of customers are from international countries who come here so maybe they are unaware of alternative places. I hope someone does not make the same error I did in choosing this over priced place. ||Not a happy...

Stayed 2 nights at the Lodge. ||The location is stunning, peaceful and relaxing.||All the staff are very friendly and helpful - we had exceptional service from Julia, Emily and Malcolm.||As we have no experience of canoeing, we decided to take advantage of one of the private tours on offer and went out with Malcolm on the Cache Lake tour (this sounds like it's just a boat trip around the lake, but it really is so much more than that, with plenty of photo opportunities). His knowledge and love of the area are staggering and we learnt so much from him and he answered all our questions no matter how silly they may have been. We are so pleased that we did the tour as we could never have discovered as much on our own. Thank you Malcolm. ||The food, both at breakfast and dinner (and the packed lunch provided as part of the tour) was wonderful. Plenty of choice, and obviously home made. Nothing was too much trouble for our server Emily. ||Julia, the general manager, went over and above to make sure we had everything we needed to make our stay as enjoyable as possible.||One tip - remember to return your room key when you leave!||Please bear in mind that as the lodge is only accessible by boat absolutely everything (and I mean everything) has to come across by boat - people, food, fuel and even waste! The logistics involved are not only mind boggling but also costly and this has to be considered.||For us Brits, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay and would highly recommend it to anyone and would advise pre-booking a trip with Malcolm to get the absolute most out...