Edson Hill — Hotel in Stowe

I stayed a week at EH and couldn't have been happier. The property looks like a postcard (I can not overstate this. The beauty of it all actually made me cry!) and the inside has been perfectly redone by one of the interior designer owners. This is a LUXURY country inn with extremely comfortable beds, beautifully designed rooms (mine had heated floors and a bathtub looking out a picture window to the forest and a fireplace with a fire prepped with kiln dried wood and ready to go each evening with just 1 match, and my very own rocking chair on the porch.) The Lounge area looks straight out of the pages of a magazine and has darling conversational seating all in front of a gorgeous large fireplace.The whole process from scheduling to checkout was enjoyable. I started with the Jesse helping with booking and offering suggestions of what to do and where to eat. He was the consummate professional with a very friendly demeanor. I was immediately introduced to the property manager, Jesse, upon my arrival and I have to say, felt very cared for and doted on by her and her wonderful husband Erik throughout my trip. They are the very best!!! I had a wonderful breakfast (included with the price of my stay) made to order on the gorgeous patio overlooking a pond, forest, horse stables, and majestic mountains in the background and the smell of wood smoke in the air. The dining room is stunning as well and the food was absolutely scrumptious. I am a foodie and this is definitely on of the best restaurants in Stowe. I met many other people who had come just to eat there including a pair of friends who had come up from New York and were staying at the supposed top rated place in Stowe and they couldn't understand why this place isn't in the #1 spot. I can't either!!! This was honestly one of the best places I have ever stayed and I can't wait to go back. I have stayed all over the world and there aren't many places I would actually stay again. You won't be disappointed! I was back at Edson Hill for a week of self care and couldn't have been happier. I think it says a lot about them that I keep coming back. I am not usually the type of person that goes to the same place twice. I guess I am always looking for the next best thing. In this case, I think I found it. The property is just gorgeous, even coming out of winter. I went for long hikes by streams, trees, horses, barns, and a pond on the 40 acres. I was filled up by the sights and sounds of nature and felt more at peace than I had in months. The staff is so welcoming and ready to help with anything your heart desires. I had a wonderful gourmet breakfast every morning (included with the price of the room!) with a view to die for. All the interior decor is gracious and charming. Cozy, but hip with a nod to it's Vermont roots. It seems like you are on the set of a movie as everything is so picturesque. I stayed in the Show Love room. It was equipped w heated bathroom floors, a wood burning fireplace (made up for you each morning), coffee/tea maker, mini fridge, a glorious soaking tub, and the most comfortable bed that I have ever slept in!! The meals are truly outstanding and can be enjoyed in the dining room or cozy tavern downstairs with live music on some nights (Blackwolf was playing and were truly awesome. I felt lucky to see their performance and cool artistry!). Edson Hill oozes cozy, thoughtful and relaxed luxury. A country inn at it's best. You will love it!! Back for the 5th time and going again in March. As wonderful as it was 5 years ago and just as beautiful. We went snowshoeing on the wonderfully maintained trails. Had cozy scrumptious breakfasts with a glorious view of the mountains and property. This is THE place to stay in Stowe and why I keep coming back. The location is everything. The rooms cozy and luxurious with comfortable beds and care in all that they do. Nick was so helpful and personable at the front and Di helped make our experience memorable and special. Thank you to the whole team for keeping Edson...

My husband and I just returned from our second trip to Edson Hill- our first was actually to elope there shortly after the hotel opened about 5 years ago and I’m so sad to say it will be our last visit.

During our first visit we stayed in the manor house- our room was well appointed and had a large bathroom. We thoroughly enjoyed this room but had VERY noisy guests above us (frat boys who partied until 3am) and decided that if we returned, we’d opt for the guest house. During this recent visit, we booked the more expensive guest house option and were so disappointed with the accommodations. The rooms are incredibly stuffy- there are large windows in the front of the room that don’t open and two small windows facing a hillside, one that was taken up by the loudest and cheapest air conditioner that you can buy which wasn’t properly installed and led to our room having mosquitoes. We stayed for 3 nights and only slept for 1 of them because the room was so hot and uncomfortable- the AC unit absolutely wouldn’t work, it cut off constantly because it was being regulated in a dark corner near another window and wasn’t accurately measuring the temp of the room. Suggestions: Mount air condition in the wall, near the ceiling is best; add ceiling fans; replace front windows with ones that open. Also, unlike our manor house room, the bathroom in our recent room was TINY- no shelves, the smallest sink, not even ONE hook for towels. For $400 a night when the resort was nearly empty, it really was a sham. When we first stayed at Edson hill, our room was $233 a night and that’s a more reasonable rate for a hotel with poorly appointed rooms, no amenities outside of the location and a breakfast. Also, the main feature of this stay is the property but there’s no information given about what guests can actually do on the property- no maps of walking trails, no info about the “stables”, or anything else.

Then there’s the service. The gentleman who checked us in was pleasant enough- We didn’t see much of the staff during our stay, except for the wonderful woman who runs the breakfasts. On our last night, we decided to cancel our reservations at Hen of the Wood in favor of enjoying a nice walk to the restaurant. We were treated like garbage when we asked for a table in the half full dining room and told to wait on chairs outside “to see if something opened”- this allowed us to watch the flow of the restaurant for a couple hours, which revealed that nobody ever filled those empty tables- we were eventually approached and told that “someone cancelled” so we could be seated. We were the last people seated and the entire dining room was clear by 8:50, we were the last to leave shortly after 9:00 having spent $250 on drinks, two appetizers, a burger and a dessert to split. The food is what we expected- the service from management is really inexcusable. Guests (there were maybe 6-8 guests this night) should be told there might be a wait for a table, but never turned away from dining at the property they are staying at, especially when other dining options are limited in normal times- but especially during covid. This was also the only night during our stay when the restaurant was open.

We decided to stay an extra day in Vermont, but after not being able to sleep in our room, we traveled to Burlington to spend our last night at the Hotel Vermont instead. Quite a hassle, but nothing made us want to spend another night at Edson Hill.

For the price, I wouldn’t recommend this hotel. The rooms aren’t conducive to sleep (even when the weather is cool they are impossibly stuffy), there are no amenities, there is no hospitality. We are really sad that such special memories are tied to a place like this which we had hoped to patronize for years to come, but we’ll opt to stay at Woodstock the next time we...

I chose Edson Hill for my anniversary getaway largely due to the reviews online. While I really enjoyed certain aspects of my stay, other aspects were really disappointing. ||On the positive side, I have to say that the beds were super comfy, the views are beautiful, and we loved seeing five bears on the property!||The less enjoyable aspects largely relate to this “five star” accommodation feeling somewhat impersonal, less classy than I would have expected, and a rather embarrassing complimentary ‘breakfast’. |- I was asked before I arrived if we were celebrating anything special. I told them it was our wedding anniversary so I sort of thought that based on the question they would do something - even a token gesture - to share their congratulations, but there was no mention or acknowledgement of it after we arrived at any point. |- The plastic cups, “tea-bag” coffee and paper wrapper on the toilet paper felt more like a motel than a classy lodge. The wet towels that were left on the floor of our shower were also quite strange and disappointing that the TV was broken. I would strongly recommend, at a minimum, single-cup coffee machines in the room. |- The hardest aspect to wrap my head around was the “complimentary” continental breakfast that consisted of one croissant per person, a small bowl of fruit (to share) and either a cup of tea/filter coffee or juice. While I would have been ok with the very limited spread, I was shocked that the hotel valued this breakfast at $20 per person ($40 for the two of us) and added an obligatory 20% ($8) tip on our complimentary breakfast each day! Is this even legal? I was told by the receptionist that this “required tip” was because the server (who literally just dropped off a shoebox of food on the table and poured our water) needed to earn enough money. I’ve never in my life been charged an obligatory tip on a hotel’s complimentary breakfast. I would have also expected more of an offering for a continental breakfast - particularly when valued at $20 per person! Overall, it’s really concerning that: 1) the hotel is not paying the server well enough to cover her costs, and 2) that they feel that it is worthwhile to inflate their costs to make their guests compensate for this pay gap. ||I’m not sure if Edson Hill is just really quiet in the summer (although Stowe was very busy) or it is past its prime, but we were among the only guests on a three-night say over the 4th of July week, so maybe other guests have had similar experiences but chosen not to vocalize them…||In conclusion, it’s a beautiful location with heaps of potential, but at the moment sadly...