Pendry Natirar — Hotel in Peapack-Gladstone

I came for a Sunday to enjoy fall foliage and get to see the property. I'd been aiming to visit here for a weekend during the summer or fall and wasn't sure. The property touts a cooking school but that is more of a special dinner or lunch event thing rather than a school. From the website descriptions, I thought that the larger suites were standalone cottages and more intimate. What is really here is a 3 story building with rooms on two sides of a floor; one facing a nice mountain ridge and the other facing a driveway. Suites are just larger rooms, and the rooms themselves and the building exterior looks like an upscale Marriott. They are building some residences but they look like box houses one next to the other.|The main building is nice and has a very nice spa and decent gym. There is a large tranquility pool facing the mountain ridge, but it is not for swimming. There is also a bathing suit dryer. There is a large outdoor pool a few minutes walk away for summer swimming. The hotel has a tavern that serves breakfast and lunch; we had brunch on the terrace overlooking the ridge which is outdoors and great for non-winter meals. We did not overnight so we did not try Ninety Acres, the fine dining outlet. Food was mainly very good; they make good omelets and salad. Desert (toffee cake) was cold and tasted like it had been in the freezer. Our server went off shift after he took our credit card and never came back with it. What I didn't like was that we sat there for half an hour before any food came to the table, even a salad. I don't like that Pendry/Montage resorts don't put any food on the tables unless you order and pay for it. It's not hospitable given the very high cost of being there, and it's an important reason I don't like their resorts.|Compass Sports offers various activities, such as guided hikes. Do not assume that you will be able to get a guided hike on any given day; some days they won't have someone to do it and the fact that we couldn't get a reservation for a hike on a Saturday was the reason we didn't stay the weekend. Most of the complimentary|activities for guests are at 9am. Hotel guests want to be waking up and having breakfast at that hour. Our hiking guide told us that most guests want activities after 1pm but there is little on offer and that's why we didn't stay there for a weekend; we figured that if the weather was poor, we'd be bored as all heck. Hotel management tells employees that they want feedback from guests, not employees. These folks are the ones who talk the most with the guests. I always feel bad when I hear that from employees.|This place is for corporate retreats and weddings. They take over the place when they happen. At the list price, it's a really expensive place to spend the weekend with not much around to do unless you want to eat and drink, walk and cuddle, and go to the spa. |About the hike -- our hike was 75 minutes and pleasant with a nice and knowledgeable local guide. The fall foliage wasn't much to see (although it was a week past the peak, there wasn't that much there) and I'd recommend going further north or into the Poconos if you want to see fall colors.|We wanted to visit during the summer and had booked months in advance. The cooking school posts its schedules about a month in advance. We wanted to switch weekends to one in which the cooking school had an interesting program going on. The hotel wouldn't honor our rate for the other weekend even though it had rooms available. The rates had increased by over 50%. We went somewhere else instead. I think they are a bit inflexible here and, as a new resort trying to attract clients, it's not to their credit.|From the upper west side of Manhattan, on a Sunday morning, an Uber took 1:10 door to door. To get back a few hours later, we took an Uber about 35 minutes to Millburn station and then took NJ Transit 45 minutes to NYC. There are trains that go to Gladstone (closer to the resort) but it takes an extra hour on the train. Maybe six of one, half dozen of the other. But NJ Transit is $20 round trip to NYC and Uber...

I could write a dissertation about the horrific experience I had here. ||||We booked our stay for the purpose of hosting my daughter’s senior prom send-off; we indicated this on our initial booking (through Amex travel). The only real reason to stay here is for the picturesque views as the rooms are average at best (compared to other upscale hotel brands). In our case we live about 15 minutes away from this property so again, just booked basically to take prom photos. In addition to the initial booking, we indicated we were having a prom send-off via email correspondence with their concierge and via telephone. I thought it was odd that their concierge did not offer accommodations (such as decor, food) as most hotels would, but that wasn’t an issue for me. Upon check-in we, again, indicted we would be having a prom send-off and were shown areas on the property which were ideal for photos. Keep in mind, this is a property that often hosts weddings so there are a lot of places to take photos here. Again, the morning of the event I communicated with the concierge several times via text and telephone regarding the prom send-off and photos. At no point were we ever told that any advance permission needed to be obtained nor were any policies or procedures mentioned in regards to photos on the property or any limited amount of guests. ||||The day of the event we began taking photos in the designated area we were shown the day prior. A staff member immediately chased us away, citing a corporate event was being held there, however there were no other guests in that area. We complied and went out front to the parking lot to continue taking photos as directed by that staff member.||||We continued taking photos in the parking lot as directed as security personnel and staff members began to follow us around, whispering and glancing. Eventually, escalating to a very uncomfortable level of harassment. Of note, there were no other guests in the parking area at the time and the parking lot is not gated, meaning anyone from the street could enter. Also, photos were being taken by close family members, there was no professional photographer present. Eventually we were told by several staff members that we were not allowed to take photos due to a corporate event, even though as mentioned we never saw this corporate event and there were no guests in the area and certainly not in our photos. We were told we were disruptive even though no one was loud, or impeding the space of staff or guests. We were referred to as an “entourage”. When the incompetent and extremely condescending manager Genevieve was asked to provide us with the policies to support her statements regarding policies against photos and “entourages” at a property that is primarily used to host weddings and other events involving much larger parties and photography she failed to do so. She also could not explain why said “policies” were not reviewed and addressed prior to our stay after multiple points of communication with hotel staff regarding the prom send-off. I requested a refund and to leave the property immediately as my daughters prom (which was the sole reason for booking) was ruined due to the harassment of staff, and we now felt extremely uncomfortable continuing to remain on the property after the treatment we had received. she refused. Thankfully I contacted Amex travel and they refunded that nights stay and we left the property immediately. I think it’s important to note that although I am Caucasian the majority of our party were people of color. I have never had this experience at an luxury hotel or even a mediocre hotel. I am completely appalled by the treatment we received here. You will have a better experience at the Ritz, Waldorf, the Four Seasons, Raffles or the JW. Truthfully, I would rather be at a Holiday Inn. Do not...

I could write a dissertation about the horrific experience I had here.

We booked our stay for the purpose of hosting my daughter’s senior prom send-off; we indicated this on our initial booking (through Amex travel). The only real reason to stay here is for the picturesque views as the rooms are average at best (compared to other upscale hotel brands). In our case we live about 15 minutes away from this property so again, just booked basically to take prom photos. In addition to the initial booking, we indicated we were having a prom send-off via email correspondence with their concierge and via telephone. I thought it was odd that their concierge did not offer accommodations (such as decor, food) as most hotels would, but that wasn’t an issue for me. Upon check-in we, again, indicted we would be having a prom send-off and were shown areas on the property which were ideal for photos. Keep in mind, this is a property that often hosts weddings so there are a lot of places to take photos here. Again, the morning of the event I communicated with the concierge several times via text and telephone regarding the prom send-off and photos. At no point were we ever told that any advance permission needed to be obtained nor were any policies or procedures mentioned in regards to photos on the property or any limited amount of guests.

The day of the event we began taking photos in the designated area we were shown the day prior. A staff member immediately chased us away, citing a corporate event was being held there, however there were no other guests in that area. We complied and went out front to the parking lot to continue taking photos as directed by that staff member.

We continued taking photos in the parking lot as directed as security personnel and staff members began to follow us around, whispering and glancing. Eventually, escalating to a very uncomfortable level of harassment. Of note, there were no other guests in the parking area at the time and the parking lot is not gated, meaning anyone from the street could enter. Also, photos were being taken by close family members, there was no professional photographer present. Eventually we were told by several staff members that we were not allowed to take photos due to a corporate event, even though as mentioned we never saw this corporate event and there were no guests in the area and certainly not in our photos. We were told we were disruptive even though no one was loud, or impeding the space of staff or guests. We were referred to as an “entourage”. When the incompetent and extremely condescending manager Genevieve was asked to provide us with the policies to support her statements regarding policies against photos and “entourages” at a property that is primarily used to host weddings and other events involving much larger parties and photography she failed to do so. She also could not explain why said “policies” were not reviewed and addressed prior to our stay after multiple points of communication with hotel staff regarding the prom send-off. I requested a refund and to leave the property immediately as my daughters prom (which was the sole reason for booking) was ruined due to the harassment of staff, and we now felt extremely uncomfortable continuing to remain on the property after the treatment we had received. she refused. Thankfully I contacted Amex travel and they refunded that nights stay and we left the property immediately. I think it’s important to note that although I am Caucasian the majority of our party were people of color. I have never had this experience at an luxury hotel or even a mediocre hotel. I am completely appalled by the treatment we received here. You will have a better experience at the Ritz, Waldorf, the Four Seasons, Raffles or the JW. Truthfully, I would rather be at a Holiday Inn. Do not...