Briars Resort and Spa

Lovely experience, friendly staff Overall, it was a good experience. They were very accomodating for the entire marathon weekend by having a special take out breakfast the morning of the race for everyone involved in the marathon. The staff were friendly. The pool and hottub area was nice with a sauna. Dinner was very tasty. The resort is "tired" and many updates needed but they are working away at it. An increible historical building that needs a lot of maintenance!

My husband and I are well-travelled nationally and internationally and usually stay at 4+ star hotels. Rather than staying at a chain hotel, I thought it would be nice to stay at the Briars, based on your website and pictures. I regret not having read the reviews prior to direct booking. It generally takes A LOT for me to write a bad review but our recent stay at the Briars necessitated I write this review, to bring awareness to the management of our experience but also hope this lights a fire under some person or department to improve the several deficiencies we saw, if you want to see any repeat or future business. We stayed there Aug. 9-10, 2025 in the "premium studio king/suite with bed and breakfast". Thinking this would be a luxurious getaway, we were very disappointed. The pictures you see online are not what you see in person. The exterior and interior are tired-looking with peeling/cracking paint, overgrown vegetation in bed, weeds growing through the cracks in the sidewalk, empty outdoor pool that has been closed for some time. The indoor pool was also closed during our stay. Tired and dated furniture in the reception area. Cobwebs around the hallways leading from the Bouchier Wing (where we stayed) to the main building, more peeling paint, stained and unvacuumed carpeting in the Bouchier wing, cobwebs around the staircase and windows. In our room, dated dark and stained furniture. Curtains off their tracks hanging at the end of the rod; An old robe and used cotton swabs in the cupboard under the counter next to the room fridge. This is NOT the kind of accommodations you would expect at a luxury resort. We took the staircase at the end of the hall nearest our room to use the exit nearest the parking lot. Beside a vending machine (with "out of order" on the front), were two bags of soiled linens in clear plastic bags that stayed under the stairwell the entire time we were there (from the Friday night to our departure earlier this morning). As it was also very hot outside (29 C), we had to sleep with the air conditioning on at night. We set the thermostat for 73 F but several times in the night, the AC unit work us up as it was so loud. I had to sleep with a pillow over my head. Needless to say, I find myself exhausted today after arriving home. Lastly, the towels in our room were like sand paper - rough to the touch, thin white, small and worn and tears on the edges - you should be embarrassed to have this poor a quality of linens for customers paying $350+/night. When checking out, I did mention the lack of cleanliness of the hall ways, staircase and cover doorway leading from our wing to the area where morning breakfast was served. I said I don't know if you're short-staffed but your REALLY need to get someone in that hall to sweep the leaves and overhead cobwebs and dead bugs by the lights. The negative impression this leaves on your guests is very detrimental to your reputation and brand.

NO! We stayed at The Briars several years ago (pre-2024) and found the service and management staff attitude to be HORRIBLE. We decided to give them another try, and booked some rooms for family. When we called back to ask about services we were told the outdoor pool was closed, so we cancelled our reservation and asked for a refund of our deposit. THEY IGNORED ALL MY MESSAGES AND EMAIL for 6 weeks. Are they so hard up for cash that they refused to refund my deposit?! ONLY AFTER CALLED MY CREDIT CARD COMPANY DID THEY REFUND MY DEPOSIT. STAY AWAY FROM THE BRIARS!

My friend and I stayed at the Briars May 24-26 to celebrate my birthday. The grounds are beautiful and the food was very good. But unfortunately, our experience was far from satisfactory due to the following problems. ROOM There were several issues with our washroom: The shower did not work properly. The water was either freezing cold or scalding hot. We couldn't adjust the temperature b/c the faucet was impossible to adjust The toilet was leaking. We had to put a towel on the floor The blow dryer did not work There was no soap in the shower We called the front desk several times. We couldn't get anyone on the phone. The only communication we had with the front desk was when they called to ask us about dinner reservations. SPA The spa was closed entirely on Sunday The spa was open on Saturday but none of the services were available The one exception was massage There was just one massage therapist there. That therapist was good but we did not find out until after my friend's massage that the therapist was not registered. That means the session could not be covered by insurance. CHECKOUT When we checked out, the dollar amount on the invoice was $50 more than quoted. We had to request that we be charged the proper amount. When we expressed our disappointment due to the issues outlined above, the woman at the front desk agreed to give us a $100 refund. The manager refused to honour that.

This was our 3rd stay (wedding anniversary) and unless they can prove a future stay would meet reasonable expectations we will not return! We were beyond disappointment to the point of anger. Internet and TV stream all dropped constantly. We could not watch anything. When we complained they acknowledged there was a problem with the internet reaching our room “through walls”and knowingly assigned this room to us. We could not upgrade as “nothing was available”…however 5 rooms on our floor alone had doors wide open with beds stripped and room not turned over for our entire stay. They must have been vacated after a weekend wedding but never cleaned. These were renovated rooms but all we could get was a tired outdated room at the end of the hall. Aside from a business group they catered to we are sure that there was only one other couple each night of our stay. The lounge was padlocked at 9 pm so we could not even go there. We went into one of the dirty open rooms to get internet. Hot tub closed. No housekeeping for 3 days. Not a sole available that looked like housekeeping or hospitality except the front desk. Our room only had supplies for 1 person when we arrived but was a king room booked for 2. The housekeeping closet was wide open facing our room. It was junky and the first thing we saw when exited room. We had to side step a housekeeping cart parked outside our door for our entire stay. No towel exchange, coffee, garbage or amenities for our stay. We helped ourselves to the closet. No soap for the shower. Had to ask for a plug to even have a bath. The ‘lake view’ was of giant cedar trees. No lake in sight! We had to call someone to clean the balcony when we arrived (filthy with cob webs everywhere). This was a spring package deal with meals included. They ran out of steak, put mushrooms in an omelette when asked not to. The meals were average. The staff were very nice but this fiasco was beyond their capabilities to fix. This place was so deserted that it was like a horror movie. Why they are open in the spring is beyond me. They cut all services for their guests and treated us like a sub par hostel! Ruined our anniversary .

25 years ago this resort was incredible. It appears that nothing has been done since to maintain it. Roof is in terrible shape, the gardens overgrown, pool is closed, hottub broken, everything needs a lot of repair. The food is the not chef curated 5 star they advertise and only the “pub” is open. The room was another story, ants and stains, the bed is so old we felt like we slept on a pull out. The balcony that had “lake view “ lol was so dirty and plastic gross chairs with weeds growing in the eve trough. For the cost of this I’m so disappointed and won’t be returning a 3rd time sadly. I read it was sold in 2017, it’s obvious they don’t care to keep it up to its previous standards.