Miraval Berkshires Resort and Spa — Hotel in Lenox

We visited at the beginning of Sept - 5 days. We were hesitant to keep the reservation based on poor reviews. It was the wrong choice. #1 our room type was not honored. The room we booked said porch/ balcony, king room. We tried to remedy with the front desk, but were told that they only had a queen room available in the old part of the hotel and didn't recommend it because it was old & not as nice. Not encouraging to hear from 2 employees. I picked this hotel so we could be outside & social distanced. There was no outside common space near the room.We did try one night to sit in the outside space by the main pool after 30 minutes of waiting we gave up. While the activities were the best part of the stay, it was not worth the time it took to book. They also say to book 3 to 4 weeks ahead of time. Multiple calls, facebook chats and emails to try to get a September schedule were unsuccessful. We finally got the schedule, but too late since most classes had been booked. We were offered to take private classes for twice the price... It took about 75 emails, multiple calls with long wait times and long time with an agent to get programs booked. A lot of misinformation in this process. Agents were not familiar with how much credits or what the classes consisted of we were told one was with the horses, but it was really just a lecture inside. There was no initiative on the part of the planning team to make a schedule work or suggest activities. No feedback on what might work together or not be the best. Even more frustrating than the HOURS and HOURS I spent planning - it wasn't even necessary. In almost every class they just made room for the people that wanted to participate even though they were over the maximum. I was told multiple times that I had to premake the schedule ahead of time and that multiple classes were full and I was on a waitlist. No updates on the waitlist ever came - I had to check in multiple times to find out if we could get into classes. I was told they would call the room - not really the best way to communicate last minute changes. Lots of time spent onsite as well trying to get activites sorted out. No easy way to do this, long lines and slow process. The food itself was very good, but the process of getting it was disappointing. Service overall was not what we expected from a luxury resort. You had to find things out on your own or from other guests. No one told you you could take food away from the buffet for lunch. You need to ask for the specials. Don't plan to get all the food that you ordered. Meals dragged on & took much longer than normal. Order all food and drinks you want at one time otherwise you will never be able to get the server back to order more. Avoid sitting at the back of the patio - very hard to get service or catch someone's eye if you need something. We didn't have one meal where we got everything we ordered. Lunch was a buffet, we didn't have the time to get the specials most days. Breakfast was painful, slow we never got what we ordered. One day they put someone else's breakfast in front of me and actually walked away then came back and picked it up and said it was for someone else and brought it over to their table. In non covid times this would be concerning - during covid it was SHOCKING. Portions were small, we figured out we could order multiple dishes even though the menu says one per person. Somethings never worked, we asked for a bagel and my husband only got the bottom half, tried to get a whole bagel the next time - not possible. On the last night we saw a couple with bread on their table so we asked and got some. Would have been nice to know earlier in the trip - many nights my husband was still hungry after dinner and there are no easy options onsite. They charge for in room food. We wound up skipping due to we didn't have an outside space and didn't want to eat in the limited space room. There was no service to the rooms-getting things like towels and trash removal required multiple calls. This was our anniversary trip it was disappointing I...

I'd appreciate if someone from Hyatt could reach out to me about the experience I've written about below.

Over the course of many months, it was made clear to me that the reservations / event planning staff had no interest at all in making my event a success. Dealing with them was incredibly aggravating and they truly didn't care.

After staying at the Miraval in summer 2023 and having a great time, I decided to invite some friends to join me for a milestone birthday trip in summer 2024. I started planning with ten months lead time. However, the staff in the events department gave me the runaround for months and didn't return emails or phone calls. Then no one could tell me what the sales would be or how they would be able to accommodate my group. Finally, the director of the resort intervened and I was able to talk to someone about the event in March of 2024. Given that no sales were available, I purchased eight day passes for group.

From there began a multi-month nightmare of trying to get the guests registered for events, plan for a dinner at the resort, and order a gluten free cake. Those three items should be fairly straightforward, but (spoiler alert) the Miraval dropped the ball. I was told that I had to receive this information and make plans through one particular experience planner, Nicholas. However, the events staff didn't give me his contact information and he ghosted me. After months of checking in with another events person, who kept saying that this other person would get back to me, and he never did, I finally had to get in touch with the resort director again just to get his contact information (he never answered his phone or returned calls). When I finally heard from him four days before the guests arrived, he refused to accommodate a guest's medical issue. So after months of back-and-forth we had to go elsewhere for the dinner.

Because events was so slow to get back to me about any of the details, I was then told it was too late for my guests to book spa services. Given that I had started the booking / planning process literally ten months in advance, to hear this four days before the event was incredibly frustrating. An experience planner told me - not kidding - that I should probably just go ahead and "change everything to another weekend" even though guests were flying in from around the country. Seriously?!

Thankfully I called back and talked to Renee, who was kind, helpful and tried to get my guests into the spa. But once again, it was only through the intervention of Jessie, the resort manager, that anything got fixed.

I will say that - thankfully - the day itself at the Miraval was great. Guests enjoyed the experiences, the classes, and the spa treatments. The instructors were knowledgeable and fun. Everyone was happy with the lunch, and while initially I was disappointed that we had to go elsewhere for dinner because the Miraval fumbled the event, we had a great dinner elsewhere.

For the most part, I just kept to myself the incredible amount of wasted, frustrating times I had trying to plan the event from the guests. Why was it so complicated and difficult to get a straight answer from anyone at the resort about simple things like pricing for a dinner or booking a spa appointment? The last two weeks when I was ghosted were so aggravating. They not only didn't make my birthday special, they treated me so shabbily.

Look, if you are local and just want to roll into town with no expectations, a few week's notice, and want to do some spa treatments or experiences, I recommend the Miraval. That's what I did in 2023 and it worked out well.

However, I do not recommend the Miraval for groups, because the events planning department is so incredibly disorganized that it results in aggravation. You'd think this would be a great place for a birthday, girl's trip, etc. but it's not.

The planning experience caused me an extreme amount of stress.... at a wellness resort!

Again, I'd appreciate if someone from Hyatt could reach out to me about...

Not a luxury resort! Spent five days here in a “dreamscape” room first of all the mattress was so lumpy very uncomfortable. I took it apart, and I realized the mattress is old and all they did was top it with a 3 inch feather topper. (I guess that was their form of mattress replacement) the feather topper they put a sheet over it, and that’s what you’re laying on. I was getting stabbed by feathers all night!! They need to throw those OLD feather toppers OUT & replace them! As far as service goes, everybody is decent although for $1200 a night there should be a refrigerator full of flat, sparkling and other waters in my room. I shouldn’t have to walk up just to get a single bottle of water, I’m sorry I do not drink out of plastic and I would not use the plastic refill mug that you’re supposed use while you’re on property! Also there are water stations placed throughout the property, They are old and so disgusting. I looked up into one. I would not drink out of that if you paid me. In the women’s sauna & steam room area, there’s absolutely no water to drink because it’s broken, not that hard to put out some bottled water for people that are coming out of the sauna and dehydrated! It was Broken the entire week I was there by the way. Also the sauna didn’t work for two days! Some of the views are pretty, some you’re overlooking at residential homes. You have to cross the street if you want to go to the farm area, it’s basically right off a road. The pool area is pretty and relaxing and I did like the retreat area. Spa service you would expect paying $220 for a 50 minute massage that it would last a full 50 minutes, not the case here! my massage lasted 45 minutes, it was a decent massage not the best. If you are charging outrageous prices for a service make sure the therapist gives the full-time. I am a licensed massage therapist of 30 years. I work in a spa and we give people full-time. I know how long it takes to change the sheets and prepare the room for the next client it doesn’t take 15 minutes to do so…. {I ended up going off the property and getting a wonderful massage that I paid $130 for and I received a full 90 minutes that I paid for} Now let’s get to the food. I am a true foodie, & I love to cook. When I cook eat meat I do not like to char my meat as it is carcinogenic to the body. { mostly anything I ordered from the kitchen, it was just OK. I preferred actually eating off the buffet}. I tried the burger one day for lunch. It was so charred on the outside and tasted burned. I could barely eat it, one night they had filet mignon. I was looking forward to it again the same thing it was so charred I could not enjoy it and when I mentioned it, the waiter said yeah that’s the way they do it! Again this is my preference I enjoyed going into breakfast, grabbing stuff off the buffet also for lunch enjoyed the buffet better then kitchen items, and then you’re starving from working out and having activities all day & you are subjected to only what’s on the menu, { unless you want to go out to eat somewhere off the property for dinner}. Enjoy the soup and salad because the rest not so good although one dinner I did enjoy a few shrimp that were decent as an app. The grab and go area saved-me I could go grab some cheese or veggie chips after dinner because I was still hungry as I didn’t enjoy it. They have some cool classes that you can take for free. Lots of fitness and hiking. Enjoyed drumming, Pilates & yoga excellent. All the instructors are well-versed, expertise in their fields. Outside of that any type of cooking class, coffee, class, equestrian, costs extra$$. Overall would I stay again? NO, go for a day pass, do a class or 2, or hike w them use facilities & stay at a local BnB, or vrbo, eat dinner in town at one of the wonderful restaurants & get a massage for 90 min offsite & pay a lot less$. For the total close to $5000 for 4 nights, I could’ve taken myself on five...