Tripadvisor gives a Travelers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travelers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Tripadvisor gives a Travelers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travelers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Black Swan Lee - Lenox, Ascend Hotel Collection®, is our boutique hotel in western Massachusetts. Discover hidden treasures and local flavor, rent a pontoon boat and explore Laurel Lake when you stay at our boutique hotel in Lee, MA. Sitting on the shores of Laurel Lake and at the foothills of October Mountain State Park, the outdoor recreational possibilities are numerous and exciting in our neck of the woods. You can stay on the premises and take advantage of fare from our onsite restaurant. Our modern fitness center provides everything you need to keep your wellness goals, while our business center ensures you have access to the resources you need professionally while traveling. We also offer free full breakfast each morning! If you’re not sure what you want to do in the region, our friendly team members are happy to help you brainstorm and coordinate. But if you decide to stay on our premises, we understand. We aimed to create a hotel you wouldn’t want to leave, after all. Being in the heart of the Berkshire Mountains, we encourage you to spend some time away hiking, exploring, or otherwise enjoying the land that surrounds us. You can also take a short drive to Albany, Hartford, Springfield, Rutland, Boston, and Providence. But when you return, we’ll make sure you return to a memorable experience.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
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The Black Swan Inn Lee - Lenox, part of the Ascend Hotel Collection, garners high marks for its cleanliness and well-kept facilities. Guests revel in the tranquil atmosphere, enhanced by picturesque lake views and inviting rooms. Its advantageous location is a hit for ski enthusiasts and those seeking a peaceful lakeside retreat close to local attractions.
While the hotel's amenities, including a complimentary breakfast and round-the-clock coffee, are generally well-received, some visitors suggest a few updates could be beneficial. Nonetheless, the hotel's value proposition and stellar service contribute to a recommended stay, particularly for rooms with superior views and amenities like balconies and jetted tubs.
Location
Convenient
Atmosphere
Tranquil
Rooms
Comfortable
Value
Affordable
Cleanliness
Spotless
Service
Friendly
Amenities
Satisfactory
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We have stayed at the Black Swan Inn in the past, and always enjoyed it. The Indian restaurant is really good, and the view of the lake is relaxing, especially at sunset.
However, we recently had an unsettling experience that gave us pause about staying again until the Covid-19 crisis is well past. We had asked the manager (who I believe is also the owner) the length of time they left for a room to air out between one guest departing and another moving in. He said it was 24 hours, for safety.
The first night and morning we were there, the room next to ours was occupied by a couple with a teenage boy. That same night, it was occupied by a different couple with two young girls! We ran into them in the hall the next day, and they verified their arrival time. There was no 24 hours left for THEIR safety. And we suspect there was no 24 hours left for ours either - when we had arrived the day before, the parking lot was packed, and it was still packed the day we left. During our stay, we saw people checking in. There was no way in hell they were getting rooms that had been allowed 24 hours for their air to clear of Covid particles.
I might also add that we saw several objects in our room, such as the alarm clock, that had not been dusted when we moved into the room. I saw maids walking around the rooms and the hall without masks on. So if you think all the stuff on the Ascend Collection website about the staff at their hotels being taught advanced cleaning protocols is not just a lot of PR, designed to get bodies into the rooms, be my guest.
In the end, no one in our family caught the virus. But neither did we feel safe, for two weeks afterward.
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Date of stay: July 2020
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:Get a lake view room. Costs a little more, but worth it.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I am have been coming to the Black Swan for about seven or eight summers now and have seen the ebb and flow of the property from changes in ownership and management to significant alteration and revamping of the property. But there are some constants that keep us coming back --- 1. the location of the property on beautiful Laurel Lake (see photos) and 2. easy access to major Berkshires attractions (it's 10 minutes to Lenox and Tanglewood, 15 minutes to Jacob's Pillow and 15 minutes to Stockbridge and the Rockwell Museum).
The rooms are not fancy but more than sufficient for two people and most important, always CLEAN! To get the most enjoyment from your stay at the Swan, request a room facing the lake on the first floor. The rooms on the other side face the parking lot and Route 20.
The staff brought in by the new owners are friendly and very helpful. During the time of COVID, housekeeping did not clean the room each day. If you wanted fresh towels you left them outside your door. By this policy I am sure that the owners are trying to protect their staff because they do not know if a guest is fully vaccinated.
The complimentary breakfast is sufficient, but not memorable. A few mornings we grabbed coffee and a few things, brought them back to the room and ate on the porch. On other days we had a nice breakfast at an area restaurant. Haven Cafe in Lenox has an amazing breakfast.
I hope the new owners will invest a few dollars in sprucing up the property. For example, the porches facing the lake are a great place to have coffee in the morning or a drink in the evening, but they really need to good paint job.
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Date of stay: July 2021
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Room Tip:Request a room facing the lake
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Black Swan, Owner at The Black Swan Inn Lee - Lenox, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Dec 10, 2021
Thank you for taking the time to complete our online survey regarding your recent stay at our hotel. Your feedback is very important to us and we can assure you that we will use this information to do everything possible to create an enjoyable experience for each of our guests. We hope to see you again soon!
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
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Friends of ours had been gifted a night at this hotel as a Christmas gift and they asked if we would like to travel with them to explore the area. We booked our room directly on the hotel's website with a pay in full promotion, but I overheard as other people were checking in that it sounds like most people book this hotel through a third party. We had booked a standard king room, but upon arrival we asked to upgrade to a lakeview room. We were able to get a first floor lakefront suite with a balcony for an additional $35 plus tax. The hotel grounds and room were both clean and comfortable. Our room had a private balcony, although it is only private as far as having a railing between it and the balcony next door so if you and your neighbor were both on your balcony at the same time, you really don't have any privacy. Views of the water from the room and balcony are both very nice. There are Adirondack chairs outside by the lake, but no chairs or small table on the balconies. Our room had a fireplace that looked as though it might be electric, but there are signs on the fireplaces indicating that they are not functional. It would be nice if they could be turned on, even just for looks. Our room also had a jetted tub which we did not use, but it was a nice touch. Rooms are equipped with mini fridges, but no microwaves, but there is a microwave in the breakfast room which was very close by. Speaking of the breakfast room, it is very nice. The hotel offers a free breakfast and despite them not providing hot items like eggs or meat, it was more than adequate and certainly offered plenty of options for everyone (Bread, bagels, english muffins, danish, muffins, cereal, hard boiled eggs, frozen breakfast sandwiches, yogurt, some fruit, three different types of juice and a machine that makes pancakes for you). In addition to the substantial breakfast room offerings, there is a 24 hour coffee machine that offers multiple different types of coffee beverages, hot cocoa and dispenses hot water for tea. This hotel definitely offers plenty of complimentary food and drink options. There are also soda machines in the hall and more beverage options offered at the front desk. We did not dine in the onsite restaurant. The breakfast room has floor to ceiling windows that look out over the lake and doubles as a lakeview lounge during the day. Every employee we encountered during our one night stay was friendly and helpful. The breakfast room attendant was doing a great job refreshing all the food offerings and cleaning up while we were dining. Aside from the non-functional fireplace, my only other complaint is one that is really out of the hotel's control. There is no cell service right in the area of the hotel so the only way to be able to make and receive calls is by connecting to the hotel's wifi, which is free for hotel guests. Overall, we had a great stay in this clean, comfortable and affordable hotel. I would stay here again if in the area.
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Date of stay: January 2024
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
At first I was going to say something like this: “The rooms are mediocre at best, but you stay here for the private beach on the lake.”
Until I spent a couple of hours on said beach. There’s a pretty view , but it’s not so pretty close up with un-swimmable weedy water, uncomfortable chairs.
The rooms are basic with somewhat dated decor apparently chosen by and for those who adore the color brown. Brown furniture, beige wall coverings, brown carpet, brown curtains, brown bedskirt. Even brown-ish nondescript art in brown frames. This property will never be a quaint country inn, but it could be a lot nicer experience with, say, colorful prints by local artists, a couple of toss pillows, a few cut flowers in s vase. People come to the Berkshires for concerts, performances, museums, visiting quaint arty shops. I usually don’t make recommendations in reviews, but the solution to all the brown blandness — to lift it above the vibe of a motel, of which there are many in this area at much lower rates — seems pretty obvious.
Ditto for the complementary breakfast. When you step into the boring, institutional room Froot Loops is the first thing that catches the eye. A dispenser with Froot Loops, Cheerios and Raisin Bran. Also offered are muffins, a toaster with white bread, yogurts and juices. There are farms and dairies around here! How about local breads and cheeses, jams and fruit? I asked for and got wheat bread and then discovered (overcooked) hard boiled eggs. Not the worst breakfast ever, but far from the best.
I figured all would be forgiven once I swam in the lake. Nope. At the beach (lawn, pebbles) area, almost all the chairs were “saved” and it was a little too noisy with chatter. And no swimming! Why? I was told that they don’t have a permit from the city of Lee. I don’t understand. Get a permit, clean up the water, make the chairs more comfortable with cushions and foot rests. Then this place will be worth the money.
So why did I give it any stars? They had a vacancy on the days we wanted. The room was clean. Good location for everything we wanted to do.
Maybe that’s what passes for “worth $250 a night” in these parts. And that’s for the rooms facing the parking lot, not the ones with views of the lake.
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Date of stay: August 2021Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Black Swan, Owner at The Black Swan Inn Lee - Lenox, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Dec 10, 2021
Thank you for taking the time to complete our online survey regarding your recent stay at our hotel. On behalf of our entire team, I would like to apologize for failing to exceed your expectations. Your satisfaction is important to us and we will be using the feedback you provided to make improvements to ensure we offer an exceptional experience for our guests in the future. I hope that you will consider staying with us again so that we can have another chance to provide you with a superior experience.
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We made a reservation for a lake view balcony room through our personal travel agent and received a confirmation for a 5 night stay. Upon arrival we were told by the hotel agent that our reservation confirmation was invalid, the hotel agent who had made the reservation no longer worked there, and we would have to pay $60 a night more for the room, or go elsewhere. An argument ensued and I was told I was being videotaped. We agreed to the extra fee since we had a performance to attend in an hour. Upon returning, a much nicer agent told us the manager had seen the videotape and decided to honor our original reservation. The rest of our stay was pleasant and everyone else was very nice. However, the experience was extremely upsetting and dampened our vacation. We visit this area every year and were trying out this lodging for a possible extended stay the next year, which we will obviously not do now.
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Date of stay: July 2019
Value
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from BlackSwanInnLEE, General Manager at The Black Swan Inn Lee - Lenox, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Jan 9, 2020
On behalf of our entire team, I would like to apologize for failing to exceed your expectations. Your satisfaction is important to us and because of what you were put through, we parted ways with that particular employee. If our guests are not happy and they are not taken care of then we do not deserve to work in this industry. Guest satisfaction is the number 1 concern and our number 1 priority. Around that same time, the hotel was bought out by a new ownership and a new management team was put into place. Since then a number of employees have been let go because their number 1 priority was not guest satisfaction. I hope that you will consider staying with us again so that we can have another chance to provide you with a superior experience. Sincerely, Mayur Patel General Manager
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Room was nice, furniture was a little banged up. Scratches on the closet mirrors. We paid extra for a lake view and we got one. Room was clean mostly but door handles not so much. Luckily I had lysol wipes with me. In this time of Covid I feel like frequently touch surfaces should be disinfected. Bed comfy, bed skirt had a weird stain though. Fridge was convenient. Check in and check out staff super friendly! Maintenance workers talking loudly, painting doors around 9am. No wet paint signs :( We had a bad experience at both restaurants we tried so I won't venture back to the area but overall my hotel experience was decent. Off season price was a little steep but I'm sure they are just trying to make up for money lost during pandemic.
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Date of stay: March 2021Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Black Swan, Owner at The Black Swan Inn Lee - Lenox, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Mar 11, 2021
Thank you for taking the time to complete our online survey regarding your recent stay at our hotel. On behalf of our entire team, I would like to apologize for failing to exceed your expectations. Your satisfaction is important to us and we will be using the feedback you provided to make improvements to ensure we offer an exceptional experience for our guests in the future. I hope that you will consider staying with us again so that we can have another chance to provide you with a superior experience.
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The Black Swan Inn has a nice location on a lake in Lee, MA. We spent a couple of nights there exploring the area with our furry friend (Inn is pet friendly with $25 per night fee). The Inn was very well maintained with a friendly staff. Our king bed room was super clean and very comfortable. Both the room and bathroom were good size. Because of the virus, breakfast is not available (coffee, muffins and fruit were availabe as a "grab and go") nor is daily room cleaning. The Indian food on site restaurant was available for take out and was quite good. All in all, The Black Swan Inn was a very good choice for a pet friendly stay! Highly recommend!
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Date of stay: June 2020
Location
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from BlackSwanInnLEE, General Manager at The Black Swan Inn Lee - Lenox, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Jul 4, 2020
Thank you for taking the time to complete our online survey regarding your recent stay at our hotel. Your feedback is very important to us and we can assure you that we will use this information to do everything possible to create an enjoyable experience for each of our guests. We hope to see you again soon!
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Clean, great staff, friendly, updated bathrooms, plenty of hot water and well draining tub, coffee maker in room, everything so clean! We just needed to grab a room overnight while traveling and came across this gem. It was about a 5-7 minute drive off the ramp, but well worth it and the price was very reasonable. Just a great experience and highly recommend it. Also their Covid-19 precautions were excellent and we felt as safe as one can during these times - they wore masks, had partitions at the front desk and hand sanitizer. A+
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Date of stay: July 2020
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Black Swan, Owner at The Black Swan Inn Lee - Lenox, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Jul 22, 2020
Thank you for taking the time to write this fantastic review! During these hard times, we are doing our best to stay safe and keep our guests safe. We hope to see you again in the near future!
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I recently spent several nights in the black swan in and enjoyed the peaceful beauty of the lake, a comfortable quiet room, and for me the extra benefit of delicious fresh prepared Indian food onsite! My stay came towards the end of a long cross country journey and was the perfect spot to lay over for a couple of days and appreciate the Berkshires. I was also very impressed by and comfortable with the cleanliness and care that the staff took in maintaining a hotel with coved-19 guidelines followed. I would not hesitate to recommend this inn.
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Review collected in partnership with this hotel
Date of stay: May 2020Trip type: Traveled on business
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from BlackSwanInnLEE, General Manager at The Black Swan Inn Lee - Lenox, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Jun 7, 2020
Thank you for taking the time to complete this great review on TripAdvisor. We very much appreciate and value your feedback and will share it with our team. Your review will serve as encouragement to all of our staff as we strive to continuously improve the quality of our services to provide an exceptional experience for our guests. It is always a pleasure to receive positive feedback. Thank you again for sharing your experience, and we hope your next visit will be even more pleasant than the previous one.
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A nice place for a shot stay. The bed was comfortable. New bedding and covers. Renovated bathroom. New sound proof balcony door. Nice photos in the rooms and breakfast area. Breakfast was good. The staff members were around and helpful. However, I had to ask for a new pancake bag because the one in a pancake baking equipment was empty. There was some hesitance to bring the new bag because it was close to 10 AM, even the breakfast room was full of the guests. One of the coffee creamers was not working. Instead of taking it out or replacing, a staff member said that it is full. The room color and carpet could be updated for a fresher look. Not enough lounge places to the building. The motel accepts dogs, but I couldn’t find a dog waste dispenser nor complimentary dog waste bags. The motel is on the water, but its shore line has lots of debris that looks sad when you look at the lake. Why I gave 4? I want to believe that the staff members try to make their guests stay comfortable. Forgot to mention a beautiful landscape in front of the building. But, no place to all a dog. In my opinion, it’s overpriced. We stayed there because we have a dog and not many places accept the dogs.
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Date of stay: July 2021Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Black Swan, Owner at The Black Swan Inn Lee - Lenox, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Dec 10, 2021
Thank you for taking the time to complete our online survey regarding your recent stay at our hotel. Your feedback is very important to us and we can assure you that we will use this information to do everything possible to create an enjoyable experience for each of our guests. We hope to see you again soon!
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
I know there is public transportation in Springfield about 1/2 away. Lyfts and ubers hard to come by, but at the reception desk they use a regular driver.
North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina76 contributions28 helpful votes
We stayed at the Black Swan in March, at that time we did not need a reservation for the Mint restaurant, but now I would recommend that you did.
As for the boats, I don't know. Suggest you contact the hotel.
There are more places to choose from in the Lee area.
PRICE RANGE
$113 - $132 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
quality inn lee hotel lee, lee quality inn
FORMERLY KNOWN AS
Black Swan Inn Berkshires, an Ascend Collection Hotel
LOCATION
United StatesMassachusettsBerkshiresLee
NUMBER OF ROOMS
52
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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