My husband and I went for a conference last weekend. The staff was wonderful, rooms clean and complimentary breafast buffet was beyond amazing! Only thing I can complain about is that if it is off season and it was, there is NOTHING else there. However, if you go in season the conference center itself was terrific and ski center beautiful.

I first visited Carroll Valley Resort in the 1980s. I've returned every three or four years since then. Wonderful place that I'm told will be renovated in a year or two. Visit while you can for a feel of an old-fashioned resort where you feel like you're dealing with real people, instead of corporate types. Not saying it will lose its charms, but modernization might make the place too popular for my tastes. Otherwise, golfing is great for the average player, scenery is wonderful.

We've been attending the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival at nearby Granite Hill Camping Resort just a few miles down the road twice a year for a few years. I think this is the fourth time we've made a 3 night stay at this resort. Once we've been slopeside and the other three we've been golfside. I'll insist on slopeside or parking lot side in the future. I'm not there for the view.

Check in on Thursday was fine. We got there about 1:30 PM and were pleased to find out our room was ready. If you're on the golf side, getting your stuff to your room is kind of a pain. Parking is not convenient to this section of the hotel. We loaded up the luggage cart, wheeled it across the parking lot, across the road and started down the hallway. Ah, there is a three step terrace about half way down the hallway. Unloaded the luggage cart, pushed it down the steps, reloaded it and got to the room. Took the luggage cart back up the steps, up the hallway, across the street, across the parking lot and back to the lobby. The walk, steps and no elevator would be real unpleasant if I was schlepping a family's worth of ski or golf equipment.

We brushed our teeth, put on some sunscreen and headed to the festival. Thursday's music shuts down early so we were back at the hotel by 10:00. The bar/tavern was already closed. Good thing I travel prepared, because if you wanted a bite to eat or a cocktail, you were out of luck. You can't even get a bag of chips or a candy bar because the vending machines only have soda and water. I think they have more dining options during ski season, but this time of year it is limited to the Inn and the Tavern on the Green. Can't speak for the Inn, but I've eaten in the Tavern a couple of times and it's okay. They're not shy about their prices considering the quality of food. Also, the attentiveness of the wait staff left a bit to be desired.

We tried to sleep in late (more on that later) and missed the 10AM cut-off for the included breakfast buffet at Tavern on the Green. Our room had a coffee maker but wasn't stocked with coffee. We asked for coffee in the Tavern and were told they only have decaf left. Seems to me for the money I'm dropping there, someone would have offered to make a fresh pot. So, we headed back to the room and grabbed a packet of coffee from the housekeeper's cart. What can I say, Maxwell House made in one of those little two cup hotel room coffee makers tastes just like Maxwell House made in one of those little two cup hotel room coffee makers. Won't make that mistake again. Get out of the room before 10AM and get to the Tavern for a decent cup of coffee.

I think the housekeeping staff does a nice job and they're always friendly and speak English. If you have your "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, they will leave a laundry bag on your door knob with fresh towels and washcloths. Other than the obvious human waste stain greeting us in the toilet bowl when we arrived, I have no complaints about housekeeping or cleanliness. Well, now that I'm being nit-picky, if your balcony or patio has chairs they don't seemed to get wiped down too often. So, wipe them down yourself with one of those spare towels or sit on it before your clothes get filthy.

Why did I say avoid #175? This is the Parlor King which is only one step down from their top of the line room, The Suite. Last year when we made our reservations, we were a bit tardy and could only get a double. I'm a big guy and like to share a bed with my wife. We ended up sleeping in separate beds. Not to make that mistake again, she booked our reservation online for both our May and August visits back in February. Got a regular King room for May and she noticed the Parlor King was available for just a bit more per night (maybe $40 or $50) for the August stay. She booked it and upon check-in the front desk clerk even remarked about how nice the room was and it is, until you want to sleep. When we got back from the festival Thursday night, the issue became obvious. The door to the patio has a window with a Venetian blind and no curtains. The patio and the one right next door have exterior lights that cannot be turned off (for security purposes). So, we had fairly bright light shining in all night directly on the bed. I hung a spare blanket over the door and it helped a bit but not enough to truly make it dark. The fact that housekeeping did not remove the blanket when they serviced the room leads me to believe that the staff has been made aware of this issue before. Of course, with the porch lights shining in during the night, the morning sun coming in isn't as noticeable a disturbance. Another, caution about this room and probably any of the first floor golf course view rooms...golfers start early. Golfers are usually pretty quiet once they're on the course, but the practice green & first tee chatter (which I could hear in the room) usually gets started before 7AM. The lawnmowers and weed wackers start a bit after that. I still haven't figured out the loud music coming from near the first tee around 8 AM Saturday. Being a late night and late morning bluegrasser, I've learned I'll need to get my sleep away from the golf course.

Saturday night/Sunday morning really ruined my stay. Finally got to sleep despite the light shining in. Around 2AM, there's banging on the patio door. I look out through the venetian blind from behind my blanket and no one is at the door, but there's a group of guys on the patio two doors down. Obviously, loud and drunk, I'd guess from their attire they were the late night portion of the wedding party earlier in the evening. My wife kept me from getting in a confrontation and insists on calling the front desk. Assured that security would handle it, we go back to bed and are again calling the front desk at 2:30 & finally at 3:00 she calls the desk again and says, "You might as well move us to another room. Obviously these guys aren't quieting down." So, the security guy and the night clerk come get us and our stuff (fortunately we were mostly packed) and move us to a second floor, not golf course side, double room #272.

*The double beds had really nice pillow top mattresses so my wife and I got a few hours of quality sleep in separate beds.

Upon check out, I told the front desk I'm checking out of room #175 for two nights and #272 for one. And, I'm not paying for the third night. The clerk turned me over to the manager, Jeannie. After hearing my saga about having to get moved in the middle of the night after three calls to the front desk, Jeannie agreed to no charge for the last night. I tried to get Jeannie to cede a bit more of my rate for Thursday & Friday nights because of the lighting issues. She said no, because I wasn't making them aware of it until now. I can see not getting any break for Friday since I didn't complain until Sunday, but that still doesn't fix Thursday. I think the blanket over the door should have been some sort of sign. The night clerk and the security guy said they had heard of this in the past. Jeannie even told me they had lowered the wattage in those bulbs because of past complaints, yet Jeannie wouldn't budge on the rate. She did say she would speak to her manager and call me on Monday. She called me on Tuesday and left a voice mail telling me that her manager agrees that by comping Sunday night they had done all that they would do.

There's nothing outstanding about this place but it provides a place to crash. Staff is friendly. Rooms are rather clean & updated but the standard rooms are a bit small, particularly for the prices charged. I'll stay here again but only because it is convenient to the bluegrass festival. Otherwise, it has no allure or attraction to me. I used to golf and I used to ski. I don't do either anymore. What I could see of the golf course, it looked decent. What I could see of the ski slopes, I would bother taking my skis off the car.

We stayed here in the summer on a trip to take part in the 150th anniversary celebration of the Civil War at nearby Gettysburg. The battlefields are about a twenty minute drive away from the resort which features skiing in the winter and golf during the rest of the year. Our room was adjacent to the golf course with views overlooking the lake and the mountains. Accommodations were spacious and clean; housekeeping was fastidious and efficient. The buffet breakfast is ample and offers a variety of choices. The on site restaurants provide a variety of choices, though prices are a bit high and food tends to be on the bland side. The pool is larger than you would find at a standard hotel, but could stand a cleaning. Everyone that we encountered on the staff was courteous, helpful and professional. Because of its location, there are few shops or restaurants nearby, but, if you enjoy a respite from the crowds, this is your kind of place.