Ledges Hotel — Hotel in Hawley

This is the first time we went back to the hotel after the pandemic: we used to go there every year for about 3-4 years. We love the beautiful view and the food at Glass. What a disappointment this time! The staff had a big welcome smile on the face, when we were walking in. But that was about it. One month before checking in, I specifically requested a quiet room with a good view (a good view if possible). I pointed out in the email that I'm a light sleeper, and I need a quiet room. I received an email response acknowledging that they have received my email.

Despite of the request for a quiet room, on the day of check-in they put us in a room facing the parking lot, and facing directly to the road entrance! I talked to front desk trying to change to a quieter room. I was told they couldn't do anything. All the one bedroom suites were taken. The only thing left for one bedroom suites was the Deluxe, available to me for extra $$$ (I forgot the exact amount but it was insane). The front desk said because I didn't book directly with them, there's no way they could communicate with me before check-in (hey they did communicate with me one month before check-in!). The front desk also said because I didn't book directly with them but through a travel site with cheaper price, so I got this room. -- I think this is actaully his point! Sounds to me not all one-bed room suites are treated equal now, but based on how much you pay. Well if this is the case the hotel should have made it clear on the booking website! Certainly it was not the case a couple of years ago. Back then the front desk patiently explained to me what rooms were available, and what might be a room fitting my need, through email before my arrival. They tried to accommodate my need back then, even though I did not book directly with them. Clearly things have changed now!

Of course what we got was NOT a quiet room: it's a room facing the parking lot, and facing directly to the road entrance. The first morning starting 6am there was a truck started to unload things in front of the entrance. I slept only a bit over 4 hours because of all the noise.

What's worse, the first night when we tried to take a shower, we found the drain was clogged. We couldn't even take a proper shower! There was no phone in the room so we had to use our cell phone to send text messages...

The next morning the clog problem got fixed. Then internet stopped working. I texted the service line about it. No response. Later my husband went down asking about it, and was told it's on the SP end. They were trying to fix it... Well even with the internet working, it was unreliable. I had to use my cellular network from time to time.

When we were there it was raining heavily, so we couldn't do much outdoor, but stay indoor most of the time. Unfortunately not in our room, because there were no reading lights.

The furniture on the deck was very filthy: covered with bird p o o p (see pic). It seems the staff has not been doing the cleaning job.

Glass, used to be one of my favorite, changed its menu completely. Not as sophisticated as before. We were a bit disappointed but ok.

On the day of leaving, we had late breakfast at Settlers Inn, its sister property. The service was slow we waited for almost 30 min to get the menu. Since the check-out time is 11am we were tight on time so I called the front desk trying to see if we could get a late check-out. No one picked up. I then texted them multiple times starting around 10:30am. No response. In the end my husband had to leave the breakfast table early for checking out. We didn't get a bill and were told a final bill would be sent in a week. In the end, we had to contact them passed one week for the bill. On the bill there's a Settler Care donation we were unaware of. Since it's only one buck, we let it go.

This whole experience made us never want to go back to the hotel again. Well if you really want to go there, having dinner at Glass on the deck watching the waterfall might be good enough... I personally would not stay...

Please be careful! Do NOT book here, it’s not what it seems. Not worth the money or the time, and the customer service (especially from a very rude staff member named Elena) was absolutely terrible and is what caused us to ultimately not waste our time at this establishment.

Website VS. Reality

Website: Displays beautiful rooms, with gorgeous scenic views everywhere. We booked a room here for $270 based off of what was advertised, with a WAGS package.

** Reality: we received a very small studio room on the first floor just enough room for the queen bed, and that’s about it, directly over looking the parking lot/cars, overhearing car music thumping through the walls (rm. 105). If this room was $135-$165 wouldn’t have been as much of an issue.

Website: “WAG” package for our pup, which was supposed to be, “our pet concierge will ensure that your cozy accommodations are ready for your arrival...Our HosPetality includes daily treats, brand new chew toy upon arrival, food and water bowls, and a supply of waste bags”.

** Reality: not a single thing was set up for our pup, when we asked about it after we checked in, they apologized, walked my husband to the janitor closet, and gave him water/food bowl, a bunch of generic treats, a mop head (as a chew toy), and a cat toy. Seriously, what a joke.

Reviews: state the customer service has been great.

** Reality: The customer service was absolutely terrible/extremely disrespectful. I had mentioned to the front desk that we felt extremely misled about the room from the website, that this was not what we were expecting, and that I wished to speak to a manager about it. I was told that a manager was not available, but was given her email. I was then told that they did have a one bedroom available upstairs and I mentioned anything better than what we were in, was absolutely fine with me. When the one concierge was checking to make sure the one bedroom was ready, Elena (the second) concierge mentioned that there would be a price difference for the one bedroom (around $350) and if we were ok with that? I mentioned that we were not ok with that, and asked if they had any studio rooms available with a better/decent view because that’s all we were expecting. They informed me that their were no other studio rooms available, but I should take a look at the one bedroom, and then can talk about price difference. I went up and looked at the one bedroom, and that is exactly the type of room that we were expecting from the website/advertisements. It has a beautiful view, and was a very cool room. I then went back down to talk to the concierge. Elena said, “now you can see why their is a price difference between the upstairs and the downstairs rooms”, I said I understand that, but if you have any other rooms on our floor not overlooking the parking lot, we would take that instead. Elena, then started becoming demeaning and disrespectful. She went on to state that “it’s a perpendicular building with 20 rooms so as I’m sure you can understand not all rooms have a view”, I then went on to say, “that $270 is a good amount of money to spend on a room as I am sure you can understand”.

Elena, then snapped and in an aggressive goading manor said, “you know what, no one is going to book the one bedroom tonight, JUST TAKE IT! JUST TAKE IT for your current rate, JUST TAKE IT! I then mentioned that I was uncomfortable, and that was not what I was trying to do, but I wanted to see what we could work out price wise because we felt completely mislead. Elena the concierge’s only response was again repeating herself another three times in the same aggressive/goading manor to, “JUST TAKE IT”. Mind you this was after I told her I was feeling uncomfortable. I left the conversation by stating, “okay?” and went back to our room to speak with my husband.

We came to the conclusion that we would rather drive home (4 hrs) than support a place that disrespects its customers to that...

My wife and I went to Hawley last week for a two night “getaway” as a break from the sense of limited travel still in place due to covid concerns and seemingly persistent airline travel problems. We chose the Ledges in Hawley as another selection from Select Registry, the online network of charming, historic inns we have used in the past and have always been delighted with the properties on their list. Unfortunately, this visit had a rather negative beginning. The Ledges is an inn created from the building that was previously a glass factory, hence, the name of their restaurant, The Glass. Well, whether from some earlier photos or descriptions, we knew that the building was located on the edge of some “ledges” which, essentially, are rocky outcroppings that formed a limited but still significant chasm, with what we thought would include an attractive stream and generous waterfalls. However, when we checked in and looked at the overlook of the property, there was hardly any water, just large, irregular, overgrown rock ledges with a barely discernible trickle of water visible from the check in office! Then, since the property was built on the side of the hill, our room on the first floor was in the hillside of the building surrounded by shrubbery to the extent that it was so dark and closed in that it gave my wife a sense of claustrophobia! It was so much so that I went to the front desk to see about cancelling our reservation. Then, however, the joyful and deeply positive aspect of our trip began. First, the hotel manager on duty, Patricia, expressed immediate concern with the reaction of my wife and offered to do anything to help, including cancelling our reservation. She also offered us any available room on the “ledge” side overlooking the stream bed. Unfortunately, I discovered that those rooms were suites consisting of two floors in which the bedroom was in an upper level accessible only via a narrow, metal circular stairway! Not a good alternative for a wife that was already feeling ill from the effects of the ground level room. When Patricia learned this, she offered to transfer our reservations to the other hotel in the Ledges management system in Hawley, the Settlers Inn. So, we went there, met the duty manager, Kevin, and discovered another wonderful, supportive and personable staff member who introduced is to the available rooms, and registered us when we discovered the delight and charm of the inn. We then proceeded to enjoy our two days stay at the Settlers, taking advantage of their very nice included breakfast in their charming restaurant. It also offers a warm and comfortable lobby/lounge a bar, outdoor dining and a beautiful array of surrounding gardens obviously prepared for outdoor events. Since it was in town, we enjoyed walking around Hawley, an historic little town with a varied history that continues to create events and activities to support what is obviously an important tourist business for the town. Finally, we returned to The Ledges to have dinner at their unique restaurant, The Glass, and had a wonderful evening. While we chose an indoor table, they offer outdoor dining with various levels some of which have very nice views of the small waterfalls that do exist. Then, as advertised, it offers an array of small plates of cuisine designed for sharing. And, again, the bartender, Bobby, was another staff member whose personality and kind nature contributed to our evening as well as Mike, the delightful waiter that served us and was the son of another delightful manager at the Settlers, Aishah. So, bottom line, while we had some initial adverse reactions to our visit, rest assured that both the Ledges and the Settlers offer wonderful, unique and charming settings for a picturesque, historic setting that is safe and supported by an...