Cliff House Spa
& Resort, Maine.
I just returned from a four day weekend at the Cliff
House Spa and Resort and I must say I was highly disappointed. I am a New
Yorker and I am used to paying top dollar for everything, so the price of
the resort didn't phase me, but what I got in return did.
First of all, there was construction
on the facility throughout the stay which they did not mention to us when
we booked the weekend. There is nothing more relaxing than hearing drills
during a massage or having a crew of men working around you while you are
trying to relax by the pool.
As for the service, the spa
technicians were very nice and cordial and the service they gave was great,
but that's it.
The resort appears to be
staffed by college students with absolutely no knowledge in hospitality or
customer service. I saw these "kids" turn away families from the adult pool
by grunting "They can't come in here, it's 18 and older" instead of cordially
directing them to the children's pool.
And, when I went to check
in for my spa treatment, the girl behind my counter said "Oh, I am not going
to even try to pronounce your last name." It's three syllables. Not hard.
If you plan to stay at the
resort, the rooms have no amenities or charm. The TV was a 19" Zenith circa
1987, no iron, no coffee pot, no premium cable channels, Formica in the bathroom
(not really a five-star resort). Any remnants of the 133-year-old inn is long
gone.
The hotel has a feel of
roadside inn and not what you would think a New England inn would look like.
Think concrete walls, no moldings, hospital-type elevators. When
I went to complain about all of the above, the front desk seemed angry that
I was complaining. They became defensive and the manager on duty said
she had no power to do anything. I was told the only person I could express
my grievances to was the owner, who is "sometimes there."
I was shocked that a resort
that size gave absolutely no power to their on-duty manager, or, the manager
didn't care to deal with us. So, all in all, if you want to go to Ogunquit,
stay more inland at one of the more charming inns and use the Cliff House
parking lot to visit the views. -- D.M., 2002
Editor's Note: After sending
a copy of this review to the Cliff House, neither the owner or management
replied to our telephone
calls or emails. However, after we published the negative review, we
received a rebuttal allegedly from a guest who
felt the negative review was unfair and untrue and as a result "we'll
never look at your website again." The amount of spa-management and
administrative detail contained in the protestor's
email suggested it was from or by an employee or staff member. We again invited a response from
the owner. We did not receive one. Instead, within days thereafter,
we received glowing reviews from "several other patrons", each with a different name and address
in various parts of the USA, but all using the same IP address from Maine. We would have preferred
a similar degree of effort be made at the outset, by management, instead of after the fact, and surreptitiously. --
SpaIndex.com 2002
.