The suite was very nice, the room was clean and extremely comfortable. The fireplace was a nice touch. The balcony over looking the lake had a gorgeous view. Highly recommend staying at Silver Birches. Can’t wait to return!
I have thought long and hard about whether or not to write my complaint, but having just paid my credit card bill for the outrageous charges applied, I had to write today. Having said that, I can't say if this hotel is better in the height of summer but it is NOT a place you want to go in the off season. We reserved 3 suites towards the end of October 2022, and though the prices were astronomically high I decided to book it for my wife's 70th birthday anyway, considering the views we were promised of the lake and the expected service based on this being a resort. HAH! The views were wonderful but the +comments end there. Our arrival was a muted success. The front desk person nice but very low key. She explained very little about the hotel except where our rooms were located. Our rooms were old with very old decor that did not match throughout. Some of the furniture was falling apart; legs on footstools about to fall off, etc. For a resort and the prices charged you would have expected much much better quality. The rooms were decent, not great. The views, as I said, were wonderful, but in no way worth over $500/night, an insane price for the quality received. On checking out, it was apparent we were being charged a resort fee that was never explained when reservations were made, to cover transportation from the hotel but unavailable at the hour we needed it at around 10am. (They didn't open till later.) The fee was also supposed to cover use of the outdoor pool-joke right? The pool was closed for the season considering it was late October in the Poconos, a wine tasting but was not accessible considering the young parents with their 5 children, all ranging from 1-7 years old who were never going to be able to take advantage of that wine, or the kids the non alcoholic beverage tasting. It was also supposed to cover a seating area with a fire ring, however, again, with young kids and bedtimes of 7:30 PM at the latest, that was never going to happen. When I called to make my reservation I told the manager I would like to arrange a cake for my wife. She assured me the restaurant manager would be glad to help. He NEVER called me back. It took me over 2 weeks, and multiple phone calls to finally reach him, and he assured me there would be no problem, either to accommodate a party of 11 for dinner, or to have cake for desert. We arrived a few minutes late for a 5:45PM restaurant reservation at the on site restaurant. There were 4 people eating in the place when we arrived yet we were told that because we were late, our reservation was cancelled. (ASTOUNDING-Are you kidding-an empty restaurant!!!) Outrageous!!! As we were walking out someone came up and said, "OK, we can seat you" and they ushered us in to what seemed like a conference room where we were served by young waitresses with an attitude. Definitely not customer service oriented. The food, once delivered was fine but it felt like they were doing us a favor. When dinner was over, there were maybe 8 people dining in the restaurant, so why was our reservation cancelled? That left a TERRIBLE taste in our mouths from the beginning. The next morning we went back to the same on site restaurant where we had a food plan associated with our reservations for the breakfast buffet and found, at about 8:30AM: #1 Cold food #2 Few choices mainly of 3 types of dry cereal, approximately 5 pieces of cold french toast sitting in a tray, and cold unappealing congealed oatmeal, plus stale cinnamon buns. #3 Service provided by young kids, not old enough to be finished with college but old enough to know better. When asked for hot chocolate for our kids the answer was "it's not in season-we don't have any." When asked for chocolate milk we were told "we don't have any." When asked for plain milk-same answer "we don't have any." When asked for other food choices we were told more would be brought out and a FEW extra pieces of warm french toast were then presented. The appeal of the place for a breakfast menu was atrocious and no one seemed to #1 care # 2 have any idea what they should or could do about it. This felt like a back woods breakfast bar without any quality, of food or service. Then, to top this off, we found out we could not avail ourselves of the hotel transportation because it was too early in the morning. On complaining to the management by phone a week or so later, Rose, the manager, immediately told me "we can't refund the resort fee" stating everyone must pay that. She then put me on with the food manager who gave me an apology that sounded as unappealing as the food for breakfast. It was obvious, neither he, nor Rose were in the business of addressing complaints though when they respond to this on line I am certain it will sound like they are very sorry and that should I ever want to come back I will find it more to my liking. I'm not coming back! This was an extraordinarily expensive overnight stay pretending to be a "resort" in an off season that had nothing "resorty" about it. It was not even up to the standard of a medium quality hotel, let alone a resort. They should be ashamed of themselves!!!…
The place is amazing. We had a beautiful room and tge outdoor sitting with the fire pits and champagne was so relaxing. Friendly service and beautiful surroundings. Free voucher for breakfast at The Doc and awesome restaurants in town. Bakery at hemlock farms: Grandma Goldsacs. Beautiful hiking nearby. A Romantic, Restful 2 day getaway. Loved it very much
Be advised…. check your bill upon check out! My wife and I used a $50.00 voucher at the Dock Restaurant, adjacent to the Silver Birches. We were advised, by Gabby, our delightful waitress, that we could use the voucher which we showed her. Sherry, the overnight Inn keeper also advised up we could use it. We were surprised to see a charge back from the Silver Birches. We spoke several times with Mark at the reservation desk who finally put us in touch with Rose, the owner. Rose was adamant that we could not use the voucher and refused to return any other attempts at contacting her.
We stayed in the bunkhouse. PROS- great view from the front window. Bed in the main room was comfy. Staff at registration were very nice and helpful with questions. Bunk beds were very sturdy, even for 2 teens. CONS- linen needs to be updated, it is gross and feels like it is from the 80's and washed 1000 times. Update the flooring and bathrooms. For the cost, it needs to be stepped up for sure.
Silver Birches is a property owned/managed by Settlers Hospitality. Their COO is Scott Eitelberg. I placed a 1k deposit on their largest property for my mothers 85th birthday for a family celebration. COVID then hit and now they won't honor my deposit after being told many times it would be. I wasn't looking for a refund initially but now I am. If this is how they do business considering the extenuating circumstances of COVID, I'd be weary of this property no matter what other reviews say. As far as I'm concerned, they're a bunch of thieves.
There was a really sweet woman at the desk when we checked in. Very helpful!! After that, it went down hill. The room was not the one I booked that was suggested and location explained to me when I called to book it. The help at the pool bar were disengaged. The adult pool is very small with hardly any chairs. The room was horrible. It was worn and dirty. The bathroom was disgusting. How is it over $500 a night and the shower curtain is dirty???? When we checked out a day early because we couldn't take it anymore, I was met with a rude woman at the front desk. I would never stay here again. I don't mind spending the money if it's worth it, but this place is NOT worth it at all.
I feel disappointed and not happy about what we reserved. They rooms smell bad, it is not too clean! It is not how the website led us to believe we were getting. If you see the pictures and when you do reservations you will think it is exactly like they show. They don’t give clear description but it is confusing! But is NOT like on the website ! The “ beach “ is all with rocks so not sand how the pictures show. The pool is not close where we are staying . It is 5.5 miles away! the restaurant’s are 5’5 miles away! Not enough parking even if you drive there! Terrible with a toddler 2 years old!
Horrible all the way around. They gave me the wrong room from what I originally booked when I called. Went to the pool bar and ordered a drink and food. No utensils and the bartender just said she was out of them. No help!! I’ve stayed at places that cost this much and expected more. The room is rundown. The sink has a huge crack and the shower curtain has mold and mildew on it. I can say The Dock restaurant is very good and has a great staff. Other than that, don’t waste the money here. I’m sure there has to be better places. Still confused on how it rated so high.
We just returned from a really disappointing stay at Silver Birches. We booked “the Big House” at a hefty price tag of $3,000 for 3 nights over Memorial Day weekend. The condition of the house left a lot to be desired. Several of the blinds were broken in the DOWN position so we could not see the lake (we used rubber bands to try to tie them up again). Many of the window cranks were broken so the windows didn’t open, and many of those that did open had missing or broken screens. (Why rent a lake house if you can’t see the lake or open the windows?). Stains on the carpet, water marks on the ceiling, not enough flatware in the house to accommodate the 10 people the house sleeps, closet doors that were off track, deck furniture dumped in a pile and not set up for us, a grill that was so dirty it caught on fire when I tried to make dinner, broken furniture, nametags still stuck on doors I guess indicating assigned rooms for the previous renters??... I could go on – but the most upsetting part was the response from senior management. The manager on duty and the groundskeepers informed us that a group of college students had rented the house just before us and held a house party with more than 50 people sleeping over. They said the kids “destroyed” the house and Silver Birches wasn’t able to address all of the issues before our stay. I told them that I understood their predicament but that I didn’t think I should be expected to pay full price when the home was not in the condition it should be. The manager understood and called the CEO (COO?) to see what could be done. According to her, his response was, and I quote, “Absolutely not…things happen…there are no refunds or reimbursements.” She reminded him of the house party and he said, “I will not take that into consideration.” I’m sorry, what? Seriously? Other notes – communication around the place is problematic. When you call the “front desk” you are first directed to a call center not on the property and then bounced to the main desk (where frequently no one answers). When we called about the scheduled live music we were alternately told “it’s happening outside now” (it wasn’t); “there is no music scheduled this weekend” (there was); “it was canceled” (it wasn’t); “it’s been moved to the restaurant” (bingo). The one and only restaurant reservation we could get mysteriously disappeared from their books and I had to beg them to accommodate us on our final night. The place is dog-friendly and not all guests pick up after their dog so in addition to all the geese poop there’s dog poop lying around too. If you are mobility-impaired and not staying at the Inn or the close-in cottages, you’ll have a lot of trouble navigating the extremely steep hill b/c there are no pathways. The place boasts a lot of activities but heads’ up that they own multiple properties and not all of the activities actually take place at Silver Birches. The sunset toast which was scheduled to happen never took place (I waited for it). Again, I could go on. It was just overall an (extremely costly) disappointment with a shockingly rude COO. On the positive side – beds, sheets, and towels were comfy. Paddleboards and kayaks were fun. View from the bar area was stunning. Too bad we couldn’t really see it through the broken blinds from our overpriced lakefront house.…
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim Your Listing