The Bernerhof Inn — Hotel in Bartlett

We were disappointed in our experience at the Bernerhof. I had made special plans for a long weekend in one of their suites (celebrating my husband's birthday). I booked directly with the front desk weeks ahead of time and had extensive conversations with the owner leading up to the weekend. He even offered free limo service to a restaurant. I thought we had hit the jackpot. We arrived after-hours on a Friday evening (9:30pm), but I had called ahead to confirm that our room was ready and to notify staff that were late. We were told "no problem," given the access code to enter the lobby, and were assured everything would be fine.

We arrived to find that our room was not available. After calling the on-call staff member, he reported they had placed another party in our suite by mistake due to a paperwork issue (someone took the wrong "slip"). They placed us in a different, smaller room, but stated they would fix everything in the morning and the owner assured us they would move everything for us while we were out during the day. And they said they would discount our rate for the night because it was a less expensive room.

After a long night of banging (the heating/ pipes made loud banging sounds starting at 2:45am and lasting till 4am) and being unable to close one of the skylights (it was 14 degrees outside), we prepared for our day and left a note at the desk with the key, outlining what the owner had told us (just in case).

After we came back from our hike, we had received no updates, so I called/ texted to confirm. At about 2:00pm I was told that the owner was "not sure" because things were "so busy" at the Inn, but he would check. At 3:30 pm, we were informed by text that we would not be placed in our booked suite, because the room was double-booked and the current occupants "refused to leave." We were told we would have to stay in the smaller, unsatisfactory room for another night before being able to be moved to our intended room because the couple would be checking out then. After multiple text exchanges, we called and were dealt with in extremely rude fashion by the owner himself. Some highlights of the conversation include: -"I don't know why you are upset. You arrived late and had a roof over your head." -"What would you have me do? Like, seriously, what would you have me do?" After specifying that we wanted our suite, and that we had planned for a very specific experience, we were told "Well that's just not happening." -"If you want to come down here and make the current guests leave their room, be my guest." -When outlining the issues with our night's stay (pipes etc.), we were told "I don't believe that. Nobody has ever said that about that room. We have the highest rating in the valley, and honestly that's probably the reason you decided to stay with us in the first place, right?" -We were also told that Expedia had "bumped" us out of our room (some kind of computer glitch that prioritizes Expedia reservations over the ones the staff makes). After that explanation we were then told "Of course, I don't have to explain any of this to you."

At no point was there an "I'm sorry." No "this is our fault." There was no "I can't do this, but how can I make this right?" No attempts to be hospitable or apologetic. Just acrid defensiveness about how we should be grateful for what we have, and how this was not the Inn's fault.

As a business traveler, I have patronized literally hundreds of chain and independently operated establishments over the years and across the globe, and none have treated me in such fashion. I was made to feel angry, but also embarrassed because my husband (for whom I had planned a surprise weekend celebration) had to witness all of this unpleasantness as well as help find alternate accommodations. The Inn may be a lovely place to stay when everything is going well, but our interaction with the owner is enough to disqualify it outright from any...

Honeymoon. Made reservations and paid for two nights well in advance. The week before arriving we decided to stay only one night AND change our room. I called and spoke with Nick, the owner. I was reassured the extra night would be removed from our reservation with no penalty and all I had to do was mention it at check in. I did. The desk hand was super kind, however, we were reassured Nick would need to be present for that deduction/credit to take place. We would see Nick before we left. Our room was awesome and bed was super comfortable. The rest of the grounds were covered with half finished projects and and outdated liquor license. Every single sitting area or walking area had tools or spare parts in the way. We quickly figured out who Nick was because as we walked the grounds upon arrival the gentleman doing the gardening was the same one answering the phones for the front desk, interrupted by having to cook dinner as orders arrived. They only cooked for the guests, nothing public. We paid almost $100 for steak dinners that could not be eaten. We never said a word or complained, we just had been married and hey....$hit happens from time to time. I ordered my first drink and the 'bartender' made it with some mushy fruit mix that had been sitting room temperature on their bar all day. I have seen these in fancy bars but the fruit is fresh and already mixed with either rum or vodka. This was similar to a left over fruit dump mixed with water. Bacteria city. I had booze in my truck, so I dumped the bar drink and stuck to my own White Claws from that point out. Not only was Nick the 'chef', front desk man, gardener and limo driver - he was the all round fix it man. I'm assuming it is why the place was such a mess, they just had no hired help to save expenses. Upon check out we were barked at by Nick's dogs so much to the point where I just sat on the couch out of fear and waited for someone to come running from the bar area to help. The dogs are always on the sofas and in the eating area, too. I am a dog lover as well, however I would never let them welcome my guests if this was my place - there are people that have legit phobias and fears. The dogs should at least be supervised and not left unattended. Our honeymoon package was supposed to have come with massages, however there is no way in hell I was waiting to find out Nick also played the role of massage therapist. I cancelled those. (In retrospect, we were never even given a time or date for the messages, so who is to say we were even 'on the books' for them) Upon check out the very next morning, Nick was not around for us to get our credit from for the extra night I was promised on the phone the week prior nor did we ever get our credit for the honeymoon package. We left, trusting we would get our money back. I have called numerous times, emailed their 'customer service' and contacted them from their website. Nick won't even answer the phone when it is our numbers now. Don't stay here, eat here or drink here. We really wanted to love it. We were looking for a place to return to annually, to remember our special day. There is no chance in hell we would spend another dime here. Good luck if you choose to after reading this - consider...

Even though Nick works hard with very little help, I feel he has totally overextended himself in running this inn. We stayed in the Villages of Conway room. We arrived at 3:45pm which, according to our reservation confirmation, was within the appropriate times (3-11pm) to check in. When we got to the door and found that it was locked and the lights off, I saw a note that said check in time strictly starts at 4pm. It should then be changed on the confirmation that guests receive. Luckily Nick was just arriving when my husband called. Our room wasn’t ready until 4:30. The ear plugs by the side of the bed should have been a clue as to how noisy this room is. It faces Rt. 302. Need I say anymore? The walls are very thin. We could hear our neighbors as they arrived back from a night out. Luckily, they quickly settled in. The bed was very worn and sunken. According to the amenities for this room, there were supposed to be bathrobes - there were none, 2 TVs – there was only 1 (who needs 2 anyway), garden views – maybe out the side window (of course no mention of the Rt. 302 view), bottled water (none was provided), DVD player (M.I.A.), and the linen was certainly not luxury. Regarding the breakfast, my broccoli and cheese omelet was not cooked in the middle. Nick defended it as water from the broccoli. As a past breakfast waitress, I will tell you it was raw egg I saw! Nick did offer to cook it again but at that point I just wanted to leave. Just like the first day we arrived, Nick seemed very stressed out and over extended. I didn’t want to add to it. We suspected that he was cooking AND serving the breakfasts to the guests. This was confirmed when my husband came down to look for Nick to get some fresh towels. He found Nick cooking in the kitchen along with a pile of dirty dishes that looked like they were left over from the previous night’s dinner!! We really could not get out of there fast enough. Wait! We still had to shower. The shower that I was looking forward to had very little pressure (not good for someone who has very long thick hair) and just would not get hot even though the water to the hot tub and sink was hot (probably just a mixing valve problem). We both ended up taking a morning hot tub instead! That was the best feature of the room. Maybe Nick should turn the big old place into a spa if he could ever hire enough help. It is a beautiful old house in need of lots of repairs. We hope Nick can somehow work his way through the mess he got...