Old Edwards Inn and Spa — Hotel in Highlands

Amazing property and great hospitality. My wife and I have been coming for years and got married here (I believe before they were a Relais & Chateaux property, but I could be wrong). Years ago I believe they would use foreign hospitality interns who would rotate and it seemed like they had an unbeatable energy to provide service. Not sure if they’re rotating the interns, but I hope so. The food, architecture, and environment is amazing and it’s the kind of resort where you pay a premium just make sure you’re simply taken care of without getting nickel-and-dimed. Check in and then relax. Each time we come we leave fully satisfied and would rate them five stars and recommend visiting; however, we also notice tiny things missed each time that individually aren’t a big deal AT ALL (gone unchecked for years, could degrade the high stature of the property and experience). They don’t offer a survey or Contact Us method to provide insight into their customer experience so I’ll put it here, but I hope anyone reading this isn’t dissuaded from visiting. The pool-police cleaning lady didn’t really fit their service model of hospitality for the guests. We sat in a lounge chair and she came over with fuzzy Uggs, jeans, headphones listening to music on her phone, and told us to sign a clipboard as if we were doing something wrong. She then sat with the cleaning door open with all the supplies behind her watching everyone who walked by and occasionally chatted up the bartender (this pulled the bartender to the side where he couldn’t see that I was waiting at the counter). Felt akward with her staring at us the whole visit. It detracted from their million-dollar+ pool/bar area. I feel it would fit their model better if the bartender brought the menus to OFFER something to the guests like water and the menu first while asking us to sign-in. With their property being so open they probably have non-guests using their pool, so signing in is definitely understandable and preferred for the guests who are paying. Other small things were room-service calling us back suggesting that we don’t order to the room because there’s a $10 additional charge and they wouldn’t be able to keep the grits warm during the 45 minute wait. I want to pay a premium to not have to worry about stuff like that, I’ll pay more for the room night and then they should just take care of the guests. We were very perplexed by that so we went to Mountain Fresh instead. Men’s pool bathroom had an amazing pyramid jumble of toilet paper stacked on the paper towel dispenser. Impressive that it didn’t topple over and surprised they leave all their cleaning stuff out in the open instead of putting a cabinet there. The new room bathroom community soap dispensers in the shower are a surprising penny-wise pound foolish management decision taken from a Holiday Inn Express. Definitely not something I think of being top dollar luxury when I push the dispenser and think about all the other people who have been naked sharing the same bottle. That one actually bothered us and didn't expect at a luxury resort. Some power outlets next to each other that don’t match in color. Stupid simple stuff that won’t keep us from coming each year, but still makes you scratch your head why they do certain things because we wouldn’t do that in our own homes or with guests that visit. That probably sounds like a negative review and back-handed compliments, but it’s probably to that minor level where it’s the only minor things they’ve lapsed on. It’s really a five-star property, food, and service worth every penny that we’re emotionally invested in because we enjoy coming every year. If they had a survey or way of asking our opinion I would just say this stuff there, so it sucks having to put it out in the open. Hope you visit, you’ll really feel relaxed here with their culture where anyone will stop what they’re doing and bend over backwards for their guests while still...

DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT HOST ANY OF YOUR EVENTS AT THE OLD EDWARDS INN!!!! If I could give The Old Edwards Inn ZERO STARS I would. I'm here writing this review to hopefully save any newly engaged couples from stepping foot in to this place. my fiancé and I were going to book here using the Hutchinson house for our wedding...My fiancé is active in the Navy, and we decided to have a Destination wedding. We were working with JESSICA SILVER on Planning our wedding. SOPHIE DELANY took us through the Hutchinson house and we fell in love with the Venue, it was everything that we were wanting. While on the grounds, SOPHIE was telling us what all was included in our package...she said that there were only 4 things that they didn't provide and that we had to hire for the wedding and that was the DJ, Officiant, flowers/decorator, and the photographer/videographer. she list off so many things that were included in the ALL INCLUSIVE PACKAGE.. she said The Rooftop Terrace was included if we wanted to host the rehearsal dinner there--we only needed to call ahead and reserve it for the day/night. she told us as long as we didn't damage the venue we can have it decorated any way we like. She went on to tell us that--the day of coordinator, the white foldout ceremony chairs, Mahogany Chiavari chairs for the reception, tables, linens, napkins, glassware, plates, silverware, dance floor, and so much more was mentioned all this she said was INCLUDED. BUT after sending multiple emails to JESSICA with our questions that we forgot to mention during the tour, we find out that almost EVERYTHING that SOPHIE told us wasn't true. It would cost us $1000 to reserve the Rooftop Terrace, PLUS A MINIMUM OF $2,500 FOR THE FOOD AND BEVERAGES. JESSICA went on to say that we weren't allow to invite any of our family to the house while we were staying there for the WEEK.--ONLY people allowed was the family that we were sharing the house with.--We have family coming from all over the United States that have booked airbnb's in town...and she tells us even if they come over just to hangout...eat pizza, have a few drinks in front of the fire,--just hanging out for a few hours--that would have cost us MORE MONEY!!! JESSICA said that they would considered that an EVENT and they would have to provide the all the food and Beverage. JESSICA went on to say that "Highlands is a small town" and if we were caught having other family members/friends over (not spending the night--just visiting for a few hours) we would be charged a $3,000 fine, even though we would have been paying almost $2,000 A NIGHT to stay there for the week!! This is absolutely ridiculous! My fiancé and I feel that SOPHIE was trying to blindside us into signing the contract. We have never been married before, so this is all new to us, and we had a lot of questions. The more questions we asked the worse it got. This even caused my mother to get involved with some questions of her own. I don't know if it was because all our questions/concerns JESSICA became extremely rude. We tried to call the main office to speak to JESSICA'S supervisor or someone above her with no help. After all this, JESSICA calls up my mother to tells her that she thinks because of "All the questions" we've had that she feels that they wouldn't be a good fit for us and they will not be working with us to host our wedding. I'M THE BRIDE and she didn't even give me a courtesy call or email explaining further why she no longer wanted to work with us. After our experience, we were starting to question if we wanted to go through with having our wedding with them or not. Our experience was one that we will never forget and I will be warning others of the treatment we were given. I hope you all will learn from my experience and stay far away from this establishment. They DO NOT deserve your business or money. STAY FAR AWAY FROM...

We booked a two night Joy and Comfort package at the Old Edwards Inn and Spa, a Relais & Châteaux hotel, so our expectations were high. This was our first trip to Highlands, NC. We stayed in a one bedroom suite with king bed at the Lodge. The room was very nice and included a heated floor and towel rack in the large bathroom. Though we received a note from the Inn to turn off the water while brushing our teeth due to an ongoing drought, the luxury multi-head shower burst forth with volumes of comforting water.

Our package included a three course dinner at Madison’s and a Spa treatment for each of us. Dinner at Madison’s was phenomenal. Both the food and service were outstanding. The restaurant staff kindly moved us to a nicer table because a family sitting next to us with young children ordered fried food which smelled awful and made my wife nauseous. The food was cooked to perfection and was delicious.

Unfortunately our stay wasn’t perfect. The Spa treatments were nice, a facial and a massage, however we were not advised in advance that the men’s whirlpool bath and sauna were closed for renovation. After complaining, we were provided a slight discount for this inconvenience. Also, I had planned to tip our Spa therapist in cash following treatment; however I was told by the Spa staff that the tip was “included” in the Spa treatment package. I was very surprised when I saw the 23% Spa service fee on my final bill at check out. We mentioned the Spa service fee on our bill to the checkout staff but they were indifferent to our concerns.

Also, we signed up for and attended the Fireside at the Farm with Mike Kinnebrew Holiday concert. Mike and the band were extraordinary good; however the volume level of the music they played was excessive for the size of the venue and type of music – aka Holiday. I had to remove my hearing aids and my ears still hurt and rang from the loud music. Sadly, we had to leave the concert at intermission due to discomfort. We would not have paid for or attended this event had we known the volume would be so loud.

Lastly, the road signs at the Old Edwards Inn and Spa are awful. The lettering is too small to read, not enough contrast and they are non-reflective making seeing them at night nearly impossible. Also, parking attendants at the Mike Kinnebrew concert should wear reflective vests and carry flashlights. Lighting was extremely poor. One concert attendee almost drove over a parking attendant because it was so dark out and the attendants were wearing black clothing.

Our over-all experience was good, though we probably won’t be returning. Highlands was nice, but overrated in our opinion. It didn’t help that I was stopped by the Town police less than 30 seconds after we arrived in town and was asked to move my vehicle from in front of the Old Edwards Lodge because I was supposedly blocking traffic. It was a one way road and I had pulled over to the side of the road, so anyone could get past me. The actions and words of the Highlands Police seemed excessive and overly aggressive.

The highlight of our trip was visiting Dry Falls – a very beautiful waterfall. As always, your...