The Equinox Golf Resort & Spa — Hotel in Manchester

A friend of mine and I decided to take a mom‘s celebratory vacation to Vermont. I grew up in the Manchester area and she had never been. This was something to celebrate two single mothers who accomplished their children graduating high school and moving onto their college years. We had booked a double queen room with a Mountain View back in July as the rooms for the week we were traveling were booking up fast. I took the prepaid option just to ensure that we indeed got the room that we wanted……|Upon arrival Wednesday we were informed that there was an engineering issue with our room. And they offered us an upgrade.|….. I asked if we still had the same Mountain View. And James politely said no. But we still had a view. He also stated that due to the engineering issue there were no other options for the Mountain View rooms available…. Mind you we paid an inflated price for this room.||We were escorted to the Orvis house and after going up two flights of stairs, we came to the Sweeney Todd room. Which we were greeted with another flight of stairs….. we realized this only after we realize that none of our key cards worked. We dragged our luggage back downstairs to the front desk, where James had escorted us to our room and had to use his master key to let us in. Mind you we got there at 5 PM and had a plan to go on an evening hike……. he stated the engineer would come out and fix the lock so we should have access to the room. Upon arrival of the engineer, he was unable to fix the room so every time we needed to unload our luggage from our car and hike it across the parking lot up to the room we needed to stop at the front desk and get James to unlock the room. We were not offered bag service or any assistance with the stairs.||After the engineer said that he needed to fix everything we were asked by James to stick around the property so we can gain access to the room. Needless to say we were unable to participate in our hike. We changed and went down to the Falcon bar to have dinner. At 7:05 PM James informed us that our room was operational and our keys should work. We finished our dinner had a cocktail and went back to our room from which we still had no access. We did not have access to our room until about 11:15 pm…. from which James had to come across the property and let us in yet again. His solution was not to leave the room for the evening because we had no way to gain access back to our room. He also offered to comp us the night since we missed our hike and also did not have reasonable accommodations. Not to mention the room is dirty. The toilet seat is broken. The refrigerator was not working and there is absolutely no view whatsoever. It is in an attic…..|The next morning we were greeted at the front desk by another young man named TJ who assured us that the room would be fixed that we should wait around in the morning for engineering to come and take care of it. At 1 o’clock in the afternoon, we still did not have access to our room. Not to mention the refrigerator failure cost me my medication as it had gotten above temperature and we had no access to ice. When I let TJ know about the situation, he handed us a couple of plastic bags and told us to go to the bar and ask them for ice…… Which is unreasonable.||I had asked to speak to the facility manager and they gave me a business card for a gentleman named Kyle. I left Kyle a voicemail and did not receive a return call but was informed by the front desk that he had left the property for the day instead of returning my call And that I should try again tomorrow.|We left and tried to salvage the afternoon and arrived back at 5:30 PM, where we were greeted by TJ stating that they had to change out the entire lock system in our room and we should have gotten keys. We asked him how that would be possible as we were not on the property and did not receive any call, email or text. He then went and got the engineer to create new keys for us. But unfortunately, we missed our dinner reservations at the chop house….. I did ask again about the refrigerator and he Told me I needed to speak to Kyle and the best bet would be to hang around tomorrow and wait for him to come in.|The next day, I waited in the lobby to speak to Kyle. I explained the situation to him in detail and he said that he would be willing to comp our rooms and if we wanted to extend our stay, he would make sure that it was up to standard. I tried to call him later that afternoon as we had still not received the refrigerator he had promised that morning. When I tried to get a hold of him, there was another young woman named Taina Who intercepted the phone call. I told her I wanted to speak to Kyle as we had spoken previously and she said she would take care of it from there……. at 5:30 PM, we finally received some ice and a small refrigerator.|She informed me that I needed to speak to her in the morning before I checked out in regards to the comping of the rooms.||The next morning during checkout, I waited at the front desk for about 30 minutes as she was showing rooms to a potential wedding party. They told me I should come back later to speak to her. I let them know that I was supposed to meet with her before I checked out as this was going to delay our departure and future plans. When she arrived at the front desk, she said she only offered me compensation for the first two nights, even though we paid an inflated price for the Mountain View for the Friday night stay. I informed her that we were not in the room that we had paid for. She said she needed to speak to Kyle in regards to what he had offered us for compensation…. She also informed me that my $20 drink credit credits per night were not going to be honored even though I am a preferred member and it is listed in my reservation.||At 4:30 in the afternoon, I received a phone call from a private number and it was Kyle. Stating that he was going to compensate me back for the three nights... minus the credits I used for meals at the bar. Which is absolutely reasonable…. an hour after that conversation Taina called and said that she was only going to send me back $538.00 mind you I spent almost $1100 on the room plus another $150 upon check in for incidentals. She then stated that she was having a hard time refunding my card on file that accounting would have to do it on Monday. She assured me she would email me a copy once it was refunded to my card and give me a phone call to follow up.|I tried to give the resort a call today as no email, credit, or phone call was received. I asked again to speak to the facility manager. I was once again told that I should call back tomorrow to speak to her or Kyle. I informed them of the situation and they gave me the name of the facility manager and told me I was welcome to leave a voicemail.…….||The saddest part of this experience is that there was another couple that was experiencing the same kind of situation we were in, in front of us. And they were offered a king suite with Mountain View.…. this was after we were told that there was no other options for us….||I’d also like to further state that I understand that I am a younger individual. I am a retired combat veteran and I do have some significant scaring and tattooing that is very visible.|When I came in with everything covered, I was treated in a very professional manner. When I arrived post hike, in athletic attire. I was treated as if I was a nuance and they tried to usher me away from the lobby telling me I just needed to call at a later time or date.||It’s very unfortunate as this iconic hotel had a prestigious reputation that it did not live up to.||* Update to original review* |I have since spoken to the rooms manager, Kyle and have still yet to speak to the general manager as he does not return your phone calls. I was promised yet again that my rooms were being refunded to me. They have not. It has been now 10 days since I was originally told that I was going to get a refund for my rooms. I received a phone call on Tuesday from Kyle stating that they were indeed refunding everything and sent me an invoice With all of the refunds reflected, yet No refund has been issued. He did make it contingent on Tuesday that I take down my review in order to get my refund, which had already been promised during our stay. …. Even confirmed that it was issued. I called my financial institution and sent over the recorded phone calls and emails in order to dispute the charges and have now contacted the better...

The Equinox was one of the five properties we reserved room blocks for our daughters wedding. For the approx 20 rooms we reserved, there is not one guest/friend/family member that will ever return. Rooms were worn and dirty, shower and bathroom tiles moldy and dirty, HVAC/AC units do not properly cool rooms or gave off bad smells (my sister had the smell of rotten cabbage), curtains ripped in some of the rooms, wall sconce in my room was coming off the wall, no safes in the room since they removed them all (Per the maintenance staff the "old" safes from the 80s were removed and the new ones yet to be installed. Although after I complained they installed one. They let me know it was the first installation of a new safe), and was service very inconsistent. The young men/boys they had as bell boys greeting guests were mostly useless. For example, they would watch you pull up to the front, you would unload your bags yourself, they would watch you bring your bags up the stairs, and if you were lucky they would open the door for you. Food at the restaurants was marginal at best, and the bartenders would go "missing" for lengths of time. In one room there was blood stains on the sheet. Although the sheet had been washed the stains remained. We made three requests to have the sheets changed in the room and also three requests to have the room service manager call. All requests went unanswered. We had more issues and challenges, but I think you get the point. ||||One of the bigger issues deals with SECURITY. My door to the room had no strike plate so anyone could easily take a credit card or plastic card and slip between the door and the door frame and enter the room. Even after maintenance put a strike plate on the door frame, you could still enter the room by using a credit card. They put in a "temp" fix by building out part of the frame with a foam strip but that only lasted a few days. By the time we checked out you could again enter the room with a credit card. No key card required! If they haven't yet correctly addressed the problem in the room we stayed then current as well as future guests in that room have a security risk. We had other guests with the same problem...although the GM said their maintenance team checked all our guests doors and said those rooms didn't have this security problem. Very unlikely in my opinion since we entered a couple of the rooms with a credit card/plastic card. I also walked down a few halls with the maintenance guys that put the temp fix on my door. We/they checked the spacing between several of the doors and we pretty much agreed there were multiple doors just in that hallway that you could most likely enter without a room key card. My guess is that there are numerous rooms on the property that you can use a credit card or plastic card to enter the room. I believe this is a room security issue that the Equinox and its management team still needs to address.||||I also watched their services team on Friday afternoon set up outside on the back lawn for a reception/function. It was sunny and 80 or so degrees. The bar with wine, beer and liquor was setup in the sun. It sat in the sun for at least two hours before the functions started. Pity the group that had to drink warm red and white wine.||||Like I said earlier, myself or any of our friends and family will never return. Some of our friends had stayed at the Equinox years ago and commented how far down the property has slid (rooms, service, food). They remarked how it use to be such a wonderful place, but no longer. ||||There are so many wonderful options in Manchester. The Kimpton Taconic and the Barnstead Inn are just two examples. We held functions at those properties over the weekend and many of our guests stayed at those properties. What a delight!! And their teams did an outstanding job!! Too bad the Equinox couldn't do the same.||||The Equinox has changed hands multiple times over the years and is currently owned by Brookfield Asset Management and is managed by a third party, Pyramid Global Hospitality. Unless more capital investment by Brookfield is made to this once wonderful property then I believe it will continue to go downhill. And Pryamid really needs to step up their game!||||Stay away from the Equinox unless you want to pay a premium price for a marginal to...

My husband and I stayed at the Equinox last week on vacation, hoping to experience the same amazing stay that we enjoyed 5 years ago after our wedding. However the experience was shockingly different - and I maybe should have anticipated this seeing how low the cost was for a room compared to 5 years ago (around $200 today, previously over $750/night).

Back in September 2017, we arrived and were promptly greeted by the valet, who took care of our bags and our car while we checked in at the front desk. Upon arrival we were also created by the concierge who helped us set up our activities and restaurant reservations for the week. We enjoyed a week of golf, spa, and exploring Manchester. The views of the mountain were beautiful, especially during our round of golf where you get some great close up views. The massage and facials we had at the spa were 5 star, some of the best we have ever had. The Land Rover experience is also quite fun, and I have been back to do that again since with family members. One night we had an intimate dinner at the Chophouse, where our server even offered to bring us dessert and a nightcap up to our room (served to us in bed). We also dined at a near by restaurant The Reluctant Panther which is also exception and I highly recommend still to this day. We had grilled cheese and soup one rainy afternoon in the cozy Tavern by the fire - one of the best I had ever had. We left this trip with so much love for the Equinox and Manchester, and couldn't wait to come back again in the future.

Flash forward to last week (July 2023), we arrive to the Equinox with our car out front. The valet does not ever approach, and so I went inside to check in while we waited for them to take care of our things. While the front desk staff was very friendly and doing the best they could, I could not help but notice that the monitor that the front desk girl was using for her computer was being held up by a highlighter marker which once removed caused the entire monitor to collapse in front of her. She gave us a map to our room and then stated we could park our car in the far back parking lot (portions of this were not paved and it was raining).

Once we got to our room, at first glance everything looked great. Until we started to get more settled in, we noticed a pair of socks in the corner of the room (presumably from the guest before us), the table tops were sticky, our TV and AC did not work (78 degrees in the room our entire stay even after having staff come to "fix" this). Upon taking a shower, the drain did not work properly and was leaving about half a foot of water in the tub which took a long time to drain.

We brought a bottle of champagne with us and called room service for a bucket of ice and to see if someone could assist with the AC/temperature in our room. I will say the staff was extremely prompt in getting up to our room, and were also friendly just as the front desk was.

We had a 7pm reservation at the Chophouse, and decided to go down to have a cocktail in the tavern at around 6pm. The Tavern was not at all as we remembered. The tables and chairs were crickety and wobbly, and the bar itself was worn and dirty. We ordered a vodka soda and an old fashioned, to which I think we may have had better service at a college dive bar. As we are trying to make the best of this experience, we notice over at the chophouse there are about 3 children running around playing "tag" in the restaurant while others tried to eat. We decided last minute to book a 6:45 reservation at the Copper Grouse in the Taconic Hotel about a quarter mile of the way and walked over. That meal was spectacular and we did have a celebrity sighting.

TL;DR Summary: For $200/night you can expect to get about the same experience as staying at a Comfort Inn. The staff was prompt and pleasant, however do not seem to have the tools they need to be successful and proud of the place they work. Manchester is beautiful but if you want a "luxury" experience, I would...