Cherry Valley Hotel — Hotel in Newark

“I can’t promise that everything will be functional when you get here” is what we were told over the phone at booking, and we probably should have just hung up at that point.

(Yes, it was about the hot tub.)

If you need a room, this place has rooms. Fair warning, the rooms have barn doors on the bathrooms, which pretty much only block the view if you catch my drift. I personally found it weird. If it’s an accessibility accommodation, then it probably works really well, but the shower and toilet lacked accessibility features so that can’t be it.

Overall, my experience at this hotel has left me feeling disappointed. I do not stay at hotels very often - perhaps once a year or every other year. I seem to have missed some of the changes that have happened in the hospitality industry since 2020. Some of the details of my experience left me feeling like I had been taken advantage of. We will likely book with a larger chain next time. Our stay was one week ago today.

We checked in Friday, showered Saturday morning, and went out for the day. We returned to our room at 3am expecting, at least, fresh towels. The front desk attendant informed us that the rooms are only cleaned every three days, and we should have been told this at check in. A careful review of the newsletter document revealed this information (it’s stuck under the “note from the manager” section where you don’t expect to receive critically important information). However, no one verbally informed us of this either at booking or at check in. Why did they bother asking for tips from guests who were only staying two days? What services were we meant to tip for? I would propose that if you’re going away for a weekend, especially if you’re attending specific events, you’re doing it because you don’t want to have to worry about the housekeeping bits (or having to ask someone else to do the housekeeping bits). However, I’m informed that this has become semi-standard after 2020 and I simply need to conform to the times.

At this point, I began a thorough investigation of the latest Google reviews to see what I missed. A review from a week ago says that the hot tub wasn’t working and hasn’t worked for months. This is curious because we remembered an exchange we had with the front desk when we called to book the room. We asked if the hot tub was currently working, and she said that it is currently functional. However, she couldn’t guarantee that the hot tub would be working when we arrived. I obviously can’t say whether the hot tub was repaired for a few days and just happened to break again before we arrived. However, the specific wording used by the agent makes one wonder if perhaps the hot tub was never actually working at the time.

At this point we began to question where the $21 million in renovations went. The vent in our bathroom was the same as the one we replaced in our house. It was thirty years old when we replaced it, and it functions and sounds like it’s thirty years old. The din is astounding. I guess this is to help with the whole barn door issue. The closet, by the way, is on the bathroom side of the barn door. In case that’s important to you.

The front desk attendant apologized for the kids running around the pool space when we arrived. I thought this was odd until I read some reviews and I realized that this is basically an event rental facility that also sells hotel rooms. It would seem that fixing the hot tub just isn’t a priority in that context, though it passed inspection. We usually book based on hot tub availability, and it seems that we’re not the only ones. Not sure the review-bombing is worth it, but it’s literally not my business. They were also unresponsive to our complaints at check out.

I’m now passing this info along to you so that you can make an informed decision. We paid for what was advertised as a quality hotel experience - a hot tub and refreshed towels is all we wanted - but all we got was a vaguely weird room. Simply: the price we paid didn’t match what we got. I feel that the experience was misrepresented...

I don't even know where to begin, the entire experience was nothing but a buildup of unneeded stress, and hiccups that I wouldn't wish on any bride.

My husband and I had booked our hotel reservation/room block for our wedding back in late 2019/early 2020 for our wedding that was supposed to be in June 2020. Due to covid, we obviously had to to move our wedding to 2021. I was ensured, by multiple people that my entire block (along with the reservations that were made) was moved to our new date. Well, surprise, it wasn't.

So our guests start calling to make reservations and they are being told there isn't a block. We then get one redone, and because our block was never transferred we can't get the rooms we originally had blocked... Moving forward guest are calling to reserve their rooms in the block, and they are being told the block is full. Typically not a problem, but I was ensure that as long as we were still before our deadline, and there were still hotel rooms available that they would honor the price for my guests. So I again have to call to figure this out, and come to find out my hotel block wasn't even full. Dawn (one of the front desk ladies) was nice enough to figure it out and get those guests moved over, but when I call my main point of contact because I wanted to make sure that this wouldn't happen again and that I could just be notified when my hotel block was full, I received nothing but attitude and her telling me "I can't worry about this."

Fast forward to the wedding weekend, I booked my room for Friday night, and Saturday night. Friday night, me and two of my bridesmaids stayed together in our room. We get up there and there aren't any extra pillows, sheets or blankets for the pullout couch. We had to call four times to get pillows and blankets. Once they finally came, they didn't bring pillows, so one of my bridesmaids just used one off of the bed... Saturday (day of the wedding) when we left, we did not put the DND sign on the door that way sheets would be changed and towels would be refreshed, that never happened. My husband and I came back to dirty towels still on the floor, the bed not made, let alone the sheets not being changed...talk about special, huh? Oh, it doesn't stop there, one of my wedding guests who booked there room in plenty of time (was specifically in our wedding block) gets there at 11pm after the wedding, and they did not have a room for her.....

So, we get back and changed and start hanging in the lobby bar (that was closed) with all of our guests and get told that we can't have our alcohol out there because it wasn't the hotels alcohol. Ok, I could understand that if the bar was still open and serving drink, but in addition, I specifically had this confirmed back in 2019 when I made this reservation that it would be ok because we were obviously celebrating. I would have never booked this hotel if this was going to be the case where we couldn't all continue to celebrate.

The worst part of it all....The staff needs to 100% be trained better for elderly guests and handicapped guests. My great Aunt, who is in her 80's with a walker had to take the STAIRS to her room because they couldn't tell her where the closest elevator was to her room. Thank god my brother-in-laws parents where checking in the same time to help her.

There was nothing easy, or relaxing about this experience, let alone special for being a bride and groom. I would NEVER wish this unneeded stress on any bride and groom. The WORST experience I have ever had...

First the hotel itself is very nice, although difficult to navigate because its a maze. Our room was nice but honestly thats where it ended. We took a couple days away because my husband and I have been working incredibly long hours at very stressful jobs. I have been dealing with some health issues as well and we just needed a nice peaceful getaway. This was not that. Kids were allowed to run up and down the halls yelling and screaming in fact the room across the hall the parents apologized in advance that it would be loud because their kids fight and they were leaving them in the room alone while they went out.

Then there was the food.. I inquired about room service to which I was told wasn’t offered, so I walked down to the lobby to get a menu for the restaurant which I was told at check in was fine dining. When I arrived there wasn’t a host/hostess at the station, I stood there a few minutes before walking inside to find myself some help. I asked for a menu and asked if I could call down and order and then pick it up since they don’t offer room service. The man who was standing in an EMPTY restaurant told me they preferred I walk back down to order so it didn’t get left sitting down there. This isn’t a short walk by any means to get to the lobby and again, I was there for a peaceful, restful weekend. So I go back up, get mine and my husbands order, walk back down and there is no one at the hostess table again. I walked over to the bar and ordered our food, there as the menu is almost identical and Im told prepared by the same kitchen. The food is very expensive, and flavorless. My husbands steak was ordered to be medium rare it was blue. It was raw. And had absolutely no seasoning on it at all. My steak was to be medium and it was rare. I didn’t want brussel sprouts and got them anyway. The only part good about the meal was my husbands beer. I spent 15 minutes standing in the bar listening to employees talking about someone that was quitting to go to another hotel chain because of how “bad it has gotten here”. And she personally didn’t care because she was leaving in two months also.

Then breakfast… We arrived at the restaurant in lobby at 6:50 because I thought it started at 7:00 am. No one greeted us, the clerk was at the front desk didn’t even say breakfast starts in a few minutes.. nothing. We were completely ignored. Then at a few minutes after seven a women in the restaurant saw us and said she would be with us in a few minutes. But farm to table? Thats what the website says about the food here what a lie! The food was processed, microwaved thrown in fancy warmers and disgusting. The eggs were powdered and floating in water. The pastries and crescents obviously aren’t checked because our crescents were so stale they were hard as rocks.

And then the fitness room…. I used it Saturday evening and the treadmill worked but SundayI wanted to use the elliptical and there wasn’t even a plug to plug it into the wall.

If you are going to charge upscale prices and fine dining prices be that. This was not that experience. Ive been wanting to try this hotel for a long time, I’m...