The Roxbury at Stratton Falls — Hotel in Town of Roxbury

Last we were here it was the definition of hospitality, cleanliness, and high-end boutique hotel vibes. The new owners seem to have lost all of that in record time.

I’ll start with the worst and most serious experience - which was with the completely unhinged individual who was in charge of the spa/hot tub/game room area on our first night. We had our allotted hot tub time and went to shower and dry off, well before the cabana building was set to close. While we were showering he started banging on the doors and shouting at us that he needed to leave. I thought it was odd and impolite, and just called out “ok have a good night” in response. As we tried to finish showering he again started banging on the doors and yelling with malice at us and then ACTUALLY CAME IN to both bathrooms, eyes ablaze. He started (literally) screaming and pointing at us to “get the hell out”, screaming he needed to leave and started slamming all the doors in the facility. He walked in on my wife while she was undressed and my son changing as I was in the shower to yell at us. We were seriously afraid of him, especially our child, and considered just leaving that night. I have never been worried we might be hurt by a staff member at a hotel before. I did run into the manager just after, visibly shaken, and told her we had just had an inexcusable experience in the spa but I was too upset and angry to go into it. She did not push for details and went back into the office. Needless to say it totally put a damper on our vacation. We actually pulled a coffee table in front of our room door for the rest of the stay so we could feel more comfortable at night since he knew our room number. On checkout we told the manager about our experience and she did apologize, but not in a way that made me feel she really cared or understood how serious a violation that was. When I asked if other guests had issues with him she shared that there had been complaints about him before but not like that. She said “maybe we will try to comp something on your room” (which she knew had no charges from our check out discussion moments earlier) and I’ve heard nothing since. I really thought a fail so completely egregious would warrant a follow up apology email- but no.

I can’t really speak to general hospitality as there seemed to be no staff around. They have decided to go the not cleaning your room or providing fresh towels unless asked route. Questionable at 500+ a night, but they don’t even come in to collect the garbage. When I requested someone come and clean out three days worth of trash the lady just knocked on the door, handed me some garbage bags and told me to leave the trash outside. Overall our room felt very downtrodden, not at all like our previous experience. It smelled musty, the bathroom mirror was cracked, the toilet paper holder was broken so the roll just sat on a shelf above the toilet, and the caulking around the tub was falling apart. The courtesy umbrella was missing, which was unfortunate because it did rain during our stay. And for some reason they left robes only for two of the three of us in the room. I guess they don’t feel kids want to share in a fun part of the vacation experience like their parents get to.

And so many amenities were out of order. We stayed on the ‘motel’ side and they did tell us that the hot tub was broken before we came up. But then when we got there we found out the main pool heater was also broken when we jumped into icy water. Another family came over to say it was too cold for them too. Every guest in the hotel was fighting for hot tub time in the one remaining usable spot. The gym was also closed, and the motel fire pit remained covered the whole time we were there. It just felt like everything was in a state of decline. We won’t be going back, it’s not worth the money and it no longer feels like a charming and happy place to be.

Do better new owners or you will not be having repeat customers. Except maybe the police if you don’t fire...

A friend of mine has been talking about The Roxbury motel for years, so as a final vacation as we save money for our wedding and honeymoon at the end of 2026, my fiancé and I spent three nights at The Roxbury Stratton Falls’ room, The Lost Horizon which, and I cannot stress this enough, is a gorgeous cottage.

Roxbury is a very remote location in the Catskills with beautiful scenery and without the traffic and other noise of home. Views of the mountains, forests, rivers, waterfalls – we had a great time exploring the area but were looking forward to relaxing the most, which was unfortunately a problem.

We checked in on Thursday and that night, as we were watching TV in the second-floor bedroom, we noticed over a dozen ladybugs on the ceiling. One was crawling on my fiancé’s sock and I found another in the toilet. The next morning, more than a dozen had made their way into the first-floor bathroom. The general manager, Chuck, was quick to come and vacuum them up, but that didn’t solve the problem. There were still some finding their way around the cottage for the remainder of our stay. It sounds as though the staff is aware of this but have yet to implement a permanent solution. Apparently, the ladybugs are only a problem at The Lost Horizon cottage, and only during certain times of the year. Had I been aware of the possibility that dozens of ladybugs could be crawling around The Lost Horizon, I would have picked a different cottage.

Though the worst of the ladybug situation had passed by Saturday, we still didn’t feel comfortable sleeping in the second-floor bedroom – something which we’d wanted to do. It was just the two of us, so why not sleep in each bedroom? Regardless, the water stopped working for the entire location on Saturday – no way to wash our hands and no way to flush the toilet. It stayed that way for several hours. Chuck was very forthcoming about the situation, so I do appreciate that at least, and it isn’t as though he or any staff there did this on purpose specifically to us. But it did completely throw off our plans.

Ultimately, Chuck deducted the charges for snacks we took and alcohol my fiancé consumed. That was a nice gesture for sure, but still a drop in the bucket compared to what we paid. This place is expensive, and perhaps if only the ladybugs were an issue, or if only the water not working for half a day was an issue, I wouldn’t have felt so badly about our stay – about the money we spent.

It's not that I wouldn’t recommend this place as it’s wonderful for a getaway. But the issues we had over the course of nearly our entire stay severely diminished our relaxation, which is a problem considering...

This was a super-disappointing experience.

After learning about this place on the Internet, and seeing the amazing photos posted on their website, (and reading many glowing reviews), we decided to drive the three hours up from the NYC area to stay overnight at this bucolic country "resort."

Our stay at the "resort" was confirmed, and we were even inexplicably charged a hefty "resort fee;" but, when we arrived at the beautiful reception area, we were told that the "suite" I booked wasn't actually there -- it was at a motel in town two miles down the road.

Upon arrival at the motel my wife asked the receptionist why our "Suite" was a regular motel room , and why "Suite No. 1" was actually "Room No. 2." She looked uncomfortable but said that she did not know. She was also asked why we were charged a "resort fee" for a motel room that wasn't at the resort; why the company's website doesn't warn guests, when they book, that their lodging they are booking is not on the site where all the pictures were taken; why, at no point in the booking process is the consumer told that their room is at a motel. She sadly said that they were "having problems with their website," and added that many others had complained. I should note that there was also nothing said, in the confirmation email I received, about our room being at a motel, and my wife was none too happy with the musky odor that greeted us when we opened the motel room door.

After I confirmed that I hadn't missed anything on the website or the company's confirmation letter, I sought out more reviews and saw that another disappointed lodger wrote a review, just last month: about the "bait and switch" practices being employed at the venue. He or she said "Lots of cool things about this place, but it’s totally overshadowed by the deceptive advertising. All that you see in the website is the beautiful old inn with the wraparound porch - but when you try to check in, you’re sent 2 miles down the road to a motel. (See pics below — had to pull the picture of the motel off of Google street view, as it’s nowhere to be found elsewhere. ) It’s baffling that the owners want guests to feel hoodwinked like this."

I read, further, that while the place used to great, since the "new owners" had taken over, not so much....